Chapter 2
#17 — Acts 17:22
KJV (King James Version) - “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are TOO __________________________.”
NKJV (New King James Version) - “Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are VERY RELIGIOUS.’”
Note: The word superstition means, “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception; a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary.” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary)
The word religion means, “the service and worship of God.” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary)
In the Greek, the word superstitious (Strong’s #1174) is deisidaimonesteros (dice-ee-dahee-mon-es'-ter-os) which is the compound of a derivative of the base of 1169 and 1142:
#1169 deilos (di-los)' = “from deos (dread); timid, i.e. (by implication) faithless: fearful”
#1142 daimon (dah'-ee-mown) = “from daio (to distribute fortunes); a dæmon or supernatural spirit (of a bad nature): devil” (Strong’s Concordance)
The Greek word fits much better with the definition of the word superstitious
than it does with the word religious. The context also fits much better with
the word superstitious, than with the word religious.
1. Acts 17:22-23 says, “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too __________________________. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE ______________ GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”
Note: Remember the definition of the word superstitious? “A belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown.” That fits perfectly with what the verse says. The use of the word religion in the Bible always centers on action — not just beliefs (whether right or wrong). Look at the examples below:
2. James 1:27 says,
“Pure ________________ and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To __________
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world.”
3. Acts 26:5 says, “Which knew me from the beginning, if they
would testify, that after the most __________________ sect of our ________________ I
__________ a Pharisee.”
4. Galatians 1:13 says, “For ye have heard of my conversation in
time past in the Jews' ________________, how that beyond measure I ____________________
the church of God, and wasted it.”
5. Galatians 1:14 says, “And profited in the Jews'
________________ above many my equals in mine own nation, being more
______________________ ______________ of the traditions of my fathers.”
6. James 1:26 says, “If any man among you seem to be
__________________, and bridleth not his ____________, but deceiveth his own heart, this
man's ________________ is ________.”
#18 — Romans 10:11
KJV (King James Version) - “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not ____ ______________.”
NKJV (New King James Version) - “For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be PUT TO SHAME.”
There is a big difference between “being ashamed” or being “put to shame.”
“Being ashamed” is how you feel. Being “put to shame” is what other people are trying to do to you.
Note: Is the translation of the NKJV true? If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, will you never be put to shame? No, that is a false statement. Even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was “put to shame,” but He was “not ashamed” of what He was doing on our behalf.
1. In Isaiah 50:6-7, these two verses alone show that the KJV is correct, and the NKJV has made a false statement. These verses say, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my ________ from __________ and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall ______ ____ ______________.”
Note: The Lord Jesus Christ was “put to shame,” but He did not hide His face from it. He was “not ashamed” of what He was doing on our behalf.
2. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the ______ that was set before him endured the cross, despising the __________, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Note: They were trying to “put Him to shame,” But He was “not ashamed” — He looked ahead to the joy set before Him for having given His life for our sins.
The NKJV has given a false statement. The Bible never promises that whoever believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ will not be put to shame. We see the opposite to be true throughout the New Testament.
3. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2
says, “For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in
vain: But even after that we had ________________ before, and were ____________________
entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel
of God with much contention.”
4. Romans 1:16 says, “For I am ______ ______________
of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
5. Acts 5:40-41 says, “And to him they agreed: and when they had
called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the
name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to ____________ __________ for his
________.”
Note: What we find, once again, is that the translators of the NKJV did not update the language, but changed it to make a totally different meaning — one that contradicts what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that when we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, people will try to “put us to shame,” but even while they are doing that, we will not “be ashamed” of Him and what He has done for us.
6. 2 Timothy 1:11-12 says,
?Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For
the which cause I also ____________ these things: nevertheless I am ______ ______________:
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed unto him against that day.?
#19 — 2 Corinthians 10:5
KJV (King James Version) - “Casting down ________________________, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
NKJV (New King James Version) - "Casting down ARGUMENTS and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”
Note: Is the word imaginations an Old English word that has now been updated to arguments? Parents used to say, “Children, stop that arguing, or there is going to be some discipline.” Do they now say, “Children, stop that imagining, or I am going to discipline you.”? No.
How many times have we seen in this study that the translators were not honest in what they stated was their purpose? “To update… words whose English meaning has changed.” What the translators have done was follow the newer versions and the critical text many times. We have no problem understanding the word imagination today. Imagination means, “The power of the mind by which it conceives and forms ideas” (Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
Imagination is defined by another dictionary as, “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses; creative ability; the thinking or active mind.” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary)
1. The very context of the Scripture passage supports the word imagination over the word arguments. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down ________________________, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every ______________ to the obedience of Christ.”
Note: Thoughts deal with imaginations. The word argument is defined as, “a quarrel or disagreement.” (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary) Does man ever have a problem with arguing? Yes he does. But man’s bigger problem has always been his imagination (his wicked imagination). God did not destroy man with a flood because of man’s constant arguing. What did cause Him to destroy them?
2. Genesis 6:5-7 says,
“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
______________________ of the thoughts of his heart was only ________ continually. And it
repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And
the LORD said, I will ______________ man whom I have created from the face of the earth;
both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me
that I have made them.”
3. When God had to change one language into many, it was for the same
reason — man’s imagination. Genesis 11:1-7 says, “And the whole earth was
of ______ language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the
east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said
one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for
stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a
tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the
tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be
restrained from them, which they have ________________ to do. Go to, let us go down, and
there confound their language, that they may ______ ____________________ one
another's speech.”
This change in the NKJV is very important, because Satan wants you to think that
it is okay to let your mind and imagination wander. That is what Satan was
successful in getting Eve to do in the Garden of Eden.
4. Genesis 3:4-6 says, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was ________ for food, and that it was ________________ to the eyes, and a tree to be ______________ to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Note: Those were all things that Eve was pondering over in her mind and imagination.
Many people say that wrong thoughts are not sin, as long as you do not
act upon those wrong thoughts, but that is false.
Jesus made it clear that wrong thoughts (imaginations) are sin.
5. Jesus said in Matthew
5:27-28, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit
adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever ______________ on a woman to ________ after
her hath __________________ adultery with her already in his heart."
6. God says that a person who is having wrong thoughts is an
unrighteous person. Isaiah 55:7-9 says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
______________________ man his ________________: and let him return unto the LORD, and he
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my
________________ are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
________________ than your thoughts."
7. The Bible says that unrighteousness is sin, so wrong thoughts are
sin. 1 John 5:17 says, "______ ______________________________ is ______:
and there is a sin not unto death."
Note: You may not argue with your wife or children when you come home from work, but if you sit down in front of the TV and watch immodestly dressed people and lust after them, then you are sinning. One of mankind’s biggest problems in uncontrolled, sinful imaginations.
The translators of the NKJV have taken away this most critical verse in dealing
with the matter of the imagination and yielding it fully to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This change has caused many Christians to yield to the philosophy, “It’s okay to think it —
just do not do it.” That is the devil’s lie, because wrong thoughts lead to wrong actions.
8. Joshua 7:20-21 says, "And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have ____________ against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I ______ among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I ______________ them, and ________ them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."
Note: When Christians actually believe that they can think wrong thoughts and it is not sinning (as long as they do not outwardly commit those acts or say those things), that is when they will indeed commit that sin outwardly. The next verse tells why.
9. Jesus said in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the ___________ indeed is ______________, but the __________ is ________.”
The flesh is weak. When you let your mind and imagination wander through
sin’s enticements, the flesh will surely act out what it has been thinking.
Note: To be successful against temptation, you must obey 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Casting down ________________________, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every ______________ to the obedience of Christ.”
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