My Personal Week And A Half of Pentecost
My Personal Week and a Half of Pentecost
I would like to take a few minutes of your time and tell you about the work that God has called me to do. On August 12, 1966 I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and dedicated my life to Him and His work.
In February of 2003 I was driving a tractor-trailer for a living, as I had been doing for a few years. My wife, family, and I were becoming more and more disgusted with my being away from home so much, so I began praying. Lord, you know our situation, we need the money. But I feel your Holy Spirit pushing me to get off the road and work at getting Sterling Ministries, (my part-time evangelistic ministry) moving towards a full-time ministry, so do something about it. My wife was not keen on me just quitting driving cold-turkey.
I was picking up a load outside Jamestown, New York, and as I neared the pick-up point, a mild snow-storm blew in off Lake Erie. Once I was loaded, I was back on the road. I was coming down Interstate 71 between Akron and Columbus, Ohio in the wee, early morning hours, and the snow-storm was getting worse. Traffic had slowed to 35 miles per hour; and later down to 25; but my mind was racing at 90! About half-way between the two cities I felt the over-whelming power of the Holy Spirit come upon me; all by myself in that truck. And He said, “You’ve got your degree in Religion, and Education; why not put them to good use?” But there were no religious schools near our home. So I asked the Lord, how? What do you mean? And from that moment on for at least the next week and a half, I was bombarded by the Holy Spirit with the plan. It was called The Lay School. God wanted me to utilize the knowledge, understanding, and education which He had given me over the years to help other people, those who were truly interested, to learn more about their Bible and God’s plan for mankind. It would be something much more than a Sunday School, a Training Union, or a Discipleship Training class; something that could fill a void which seems to exist between such training endeavors and formal college and/or seminary; something that could help lay people, bi-vocational pastors, and others who could not due to other commitments, or did not want to attend formal classes at a Bible College or Seminary. During those first few hours the Holy Spirit guided me through the basic curriculum; beginning in Genesis and working right through to Revelation. The more direction I asked of the Holy Spirit, the more He gave. Over the next few days, as I drove I took notes on legal paper. When I stopped for my mandatory breaks, part of the time was spent typing, as fast as I could, into my laptop computer, as the Holy Spirit gave it to me. That first morning I could hardly wait for my wife to wake up so I could call her and tell her what had happened over night.
During my college education at Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tennessee, I had witnessed what I considered to be a major problem in, not only the religion classes I took, but the overall, general higher education environment. I had not gone to college straight out of high school, but returned eleven years later at the leading of the Holy Spirit to make good on a vow to God to study Bible formally when and where He chose! And Carson-Newman was His choice. During my 32 months there I witnessed countless teenagers fresh out of high school, many from churches whom I am sure would not have wanted to see their children experience what I saw; I watched as their faith was challenged so severely by professors from the moderate-liberal theological persuasion; which would have been a good thing, had those same professors taken their thinking from the point at which they were; introduce them to these concepts and discuss them; and then take them back into the Bible for some clear teaching about what the Bible really said about these issues. But it never happened. Instead, I watched as many whose faith had been challenged, was literally destroyed! And my heart ached for them. I had been an avid Bible student for over ten years at the time, and had read my Bible through. I had completed all the different levels of Home Bible Study offered by the Southern Baptist Convention. I was well-grounded in Bible. Early on I watched as those students from the more fundamental-conservative theological backgrounds attempted to open a dialogue with the professors, the material, and what the Bible had to say. I had even tried myself. But we soon learned that academic freedom did not include such viewpoints. Disgusted, I learned to mind my comments very carefully, prayed about the situation, and was assured by the Holy Spirit that Carson-Newman was where God wanted me to receive my Bachelor’s Degree.
My wife was, at first excited, almost as much as I was, as we talked on the phone. Her enthusiasm bubbled over at church, and soon the Pastor’s wife was intrigued. The Pastor had been preaching some very good, old-fashioned, down home, meeting kind of sermons, which really stirred my heart during the months prior to this week and a half of Pentecost. But when the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart that I MUST first approach our Pastor about this Lay School; well, let’s just say that the Lord and I had a long talk about that. Our church was in the midst of a building project and I was not sure that they would be interested; especially if any financial support was going to be necessary. I felt very strongly that the Lord wanted this to become a full-time ministry. It took about 4 weeks to get back home so that I could present the information to our Pastor. And in just 4 days he informed us that he did not feel the church was read for something like this. So, true to the directions I received from the Holy Spirit, I moved on.
During the last few months of driving the truck, I had begun to develop medical problems. I had become dangerous behind the wheel of those 80,000 pound rigs. I was suffering from severe edema and gout, and in a DOT physical the doctor discovered that something in my neck was rather large, and he sent me home to have my personal care physician label it. At the time I was referred for surgery but the surgeon said that he saw no reason to take out my thyroid since it did not seem to be giving me any trouble. So I continued driving. But little did I know what God had in store for me to do.
The final straw came when my gout began acting up while waiting for my trailer to be loaded in South Chicago; a load that would take me through home. My left leg was swollen and it hurt to operate the clutch. When I finally got loaded, I called home and told my wife that I was hurting and in pain; that I was leaving Chicago, and did not have enough hours to get home legally, but that I was going to do so anyway. I stopped only once to get fuel, and rolled into Knoxville, Tennessee and dropped my trailer, cleaned out my truck, and went home to try and find out what was wrong.
Within a few months, another Pastor from another church nearby was introduced to The Lay School idea. He informed me that some of the members of his church had felt led to put a school on the property. So we tried it for one semester. Three classes were offered. The one on Sunday night had the best turnout; the one on Wednesday night had very little interest; and the one on Thursday had no interest at all. At the end of that semester, both my wife and I were very discouraged.
In May of 2006 my thyroid was finally removed; just as I was winding down the color-coding and study of the last, major, ancient writing, the Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud. I have been out of work for three years, except for a short stint working for a very understanding Christian wife and husband whom I went to church with during that first semester of The Lay School who owned their own business. They had medical problems themselves and quite frankly understood my dilemma. What started out as a temporary job materialized into a permanent position as a private investigator. But it just was not in God’s plans for me to be employed during this time while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me and what to do about it. In a rather emotional meeting one day after work, that woman and her husband informed me that they were going to have to lay me off. So, after receiving a rather nice severance check, I went home gainfully unemployed again, but at least they allowed me to draw unemployment. A few months later I applied for disability but am still awaiting a formal hearing on my claim. I have always felt that the medical problems were just God’s way of providing me with the time necessary to complete a digital, color-coded Bible for my own personal use, and work on finalizing the coursework for the 47 courses outlined during that week and a half of Pentecost for The Lay School. But that was just the tip of the iceberg!
During that time period God had plans for me to work on a project that has turned out to be so massive, that it boggles the mind to think about it. During those last few months on the road I had been color-coding a digital copy of the King James Bible on my laptop for my own personal use. I had begun color-coding my Bible, my childhood Bible, when I was very young. My father got me hooked on it. And during the next 35 years or so I had to color-code two more copies of a Thompson Chain Reference Bible; I had retired my childhood Bible when mom and dad bought me my first Thompson Chain for my 16th birthday; but had worn it out within 15 years. While color-coding the second one I dreamed of having a color-coded Bible the way I wanted. I had always been limited to the number of colored pencils in the package. And there wasn’t a whole lot of flexibility in the manner in which the color coding could be done; that is, until the advent of the personal computer, and the powerful word processing programs that were available. So in those early months of unemployment, I continued working on not only my color-coded Bible, but several other writings from the world of Christianity: The Apocrypha, the Pseudipigrapha, The Lost Books of The Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden. The same color-code which I had developed for my KJV was used on these writings as well. Out of all the material that was given to me by the Holy Spirit during that week and a half of Pentecost, there was two particular courses that I knew I needed to do more research on: Religions of the World, and the Ancient Mystic Religions. My wife had bought me a copy of the Koran while I was trucking and I had read it through, and I got online to see if I could locate a digital copy of that translation that I could download and color-code. I did! And that opened a whole new chapter in this crazy, wonderful, adventure that God had sent me down.
God took my little idea to color-code a digital Bible for myself and turned it into a digital library of over 130 writings. My initial color-code in my childhood Bible contained a mere seven color-codes, while the most recent version of my digital Color-Coded Bible contains over 170. Everything that is necessary to take an unbeliever from their unsaved state to an understanding of not only Bible, but the sacred writings of five of the six major world religions, dozens of writings from the early Christian church age, and several writings from history like Flavius Josephus, the Septuagint, the Palestinian Talmud, the Book of Mormon, Dante’s Inferno, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and some of the writings of the Essenes from the Dead Sea Scrolls have all been included; all coded to the same basic color-code as my digital Color-Coded Bible for cross-reference. To my knowledge there is nothing like this Color-Coded Bible nor the Color-Coded Library in existence in the world! In addition to the actual writings, several other files have been created of cross-references and other study aids to assist students in locating information in the entire collection. All of this fits onto one single data CD for use on a computer.
During the course of this adventure I was able to locate certain information which helped me to answer some theological questions that had been plaguing my mind since my college days. Some people claimed that Saint Augustine was responsible for introducing the allegorical-figurative method of interpreting Scripture into the early Christian Church; others said it was Origen. I now have the proof that it was neither, but rather, the rabbis of the Mishraic period of Jewish history during the rebuilding of the Jewish temple under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel. Some people claim that the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Jews which are not yet fulfilled were passed on to the church due to Israel’s apostasy. The Bible does not substantiate that viewpoint, but no one who presented it seemed to be able to provide some sort of time frame when it infiltrated the church. But now I can. For most of the Christian Church age the mainstream church has interpreted the Bible from an a-millenialist point of view, asserting that it was, in fact, the teaching of the Apostles. But once again the Bible does not substantiate such a claim. Now I know about when in history that viewpoint became the accepted, orthodox view of the church.
The unbelievable amount of information which the Holy Spirit has led me to uncover boggles the mind. Never have I heard anyone explain that the Qu’ran of the Islamic faith plainly states in numerous places that it was given to substantiate the sacred writings of both the Jews and the Christians. No one had ever told me how many references appear in the Qu’ran concerning the characters, stories, and events that are recorded in the Bible: hundreds! Do you know that 8% of the Book of Mormon is nothing short of quotes of not just verses or passages, but entire chapters of the Bible from Isaiah, Malachi, Zechariah, and Matthew, just to name a few. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented in a much more concise and complete manner in the Book of Mormon than even in our Bible. Has anyone ever explained to you the connection between the Ancient Mystery Religions and Freemasonry of modern times? Such facts and information simply oozes from the pages of these writings, and the color-coding makes them so much easier to find!
With so much criticism of the King James Bible in recent years it was refreshing to compare its Old Testament to an English translation of the Greek Septuagint translated about 2000 years before the KJV in Alexandria, Egypt. While there are differences, the similarities far outweigh them. In many places they are almost identical, word for word!
Some of these writings which I have color-coded and included in this library provide positive proof concerning the origin of many of the current issues that are tearing the church apart: moral relativism, the moderate-liberal theological viewpoint, religious intolerance, and many of the attacks which have been made on Christianity and the Bible in recent centuries. For TOO long the church has chosen to run and hide from such attacks, and the truth is that we do not have to! If God’s Word is true, and we believe that it is, then there is nothing to fear, or be anxious over. It is time that the church and each and every Christian remained firmly planted on the frontlines of the battlefield, and equipped themselves with the information and ammunition necessary to thwart these attacks of the Devil upon the Bible, Church, and God! And had our leadership in the colleges and seminaries and even in many of our churches been willing to present the lay people of the church with the information contained in this library collection, we would have already been prepared and actively engaged in the battles, instead of sitting comfortably in our sanctuaries waiting the lost to come through our door, and timid about preaching and teaching the entire counsel of God to a lost and dying world! And let’s remember my experience at a Bible college, and commit to prepare our children and grandchildren, not merely adequately, but the best that we can so that their faith will remain strong in the face of such adversity. And not just our children and grandchildren, but ourselves as well, for we are all bombarded with attacks upon our Christian beliefs and values every day in the workplace, on the television and radio, on the internet, and just about every place and situation we find ourselves in. Remember that some of our children grow up to serve in the military around the world and are introduced to these various religions and belief systems which challenge the truths of God’s Word! Let’s help them as well as ourselves to become the very best testimonies and witnesses for the truths of God’s Word; to be willing and able to show the adherents of these other religions and belief systems their need for salvation, and the utter inadequacy of their religions and belief systems to rectify their sinful, depraved condition, which only Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God can do!
I would personally like to have the opportunity to bring this information about our ministry and all its facets to the attention of your church congregation. God has made The Lay School a completely self-contained, portable classroom; I am ready to present seminars, evangelistic meetings, Bible School for adults, and revivals; even the complete Lay School Curriculum can be presented to help your church, or any select group of its members, expand its knowledge and understanding of God’s Word; from whatever they are at, to whatever level they would like to be. The Lay School is a recent addition to my old part-time musical, evangelistic ministry, Sterling Ministries. It has been in existence since 1975. Sterling Ministries’ Statement of Faith comes closest to “The Baptist Faith and Message” of the Southern Baptist Church; fitting well within the fundamentalist-conservative theology. We believe the Bible is God’s Holy, inspired, Word; inerrant and infallible, and we are able and well prepared through this Color-Coded Study Library to show anyone why we hold to the inerrancy and infallibility. We believe that the only way for man to rectify his depraved, sinful condition is through simple faith in God’s gracious gift of salvation through the vicarious, atoning, death of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, on the cruel, accursed cross of Calvary. We believe in the virgin birth, the resurrection, and ascension of Jesus into heaven. We believe in the existence of heaven and hell; and the eminent return of Jesus Christ, this time as Kingly Messiah to fulfill Old Testament prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled. We believe in the active search for God’s truths, and that those truths are not limited to the King James Bible, and through the Color-Coded Study Library System we are adequately prepared to prove this to anyone who is willing to discard the close-minded, dogmatic attitudes and beliefs which have for so long plagued the Church, and at the very least, entertain the alternatives. God has provided His revelation of Himself in so many ways and in so many other writings other than the KJV. We believe in the pre-millenial return of Jesus; for His church at the rapture; and to prove to the Jews that He was their long-awaited Messiah, after the period of time the Bible refers to as Jacob’s trouble and great tribulation. We can show through the Color-Coded Study Library System where the a-millenialist and post-millenialist viewpoints originated and why they do not adequately explain and interpret the Bible prophecies concerning the end of times, the last days, the last of the six world government empires under the antichrist, the false prophet and the beast; all which were prophesied in the Old Testament beginning as far back as Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and working down through history and the prophets to Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, and Malachi. We believe that we are living in the very last minutes of the last day, and are confidently expecting Jesus to break through the eastern sky and call His church and the Holy Spirit out of this world so that the culmination may proceed. We believe in Satan, the Devil, and his active role in opposing everything concerning God and His fore-ordained plans for Jew, Gentile and Church, ALL of which MUST be fulfilled according to Old and New Testament prophecies!
Two great revivals broke out during the period of the Divided Kingdom of Israel and Judah; one under King Hezekiah when he began to “clean house” so to speak by tearing down the vestiges of the pagan, idolatrous worship which had infiltrated the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and the daily lives of the people. The second occurred under King Josiah, Hezekiah’s grandson, who continued his grandfather’s reforms and in the process re-discovered a copy of the book of Deuteronomy hidden in the Temple; which led to widespread repentance on the part of the King, the political leaders, the religious leaders, and the people. Sterling Ministries would love to, with the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, help your congregation re-discover God’s Word!
I would like to take a few minutes of your time and tell you about the work that God has called me to do. On August 12, 1966 I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and dedicated my life to Him and His work.
In February of 2003 I was driving a tractor-trailer for a living, as I had been doing for a few years. My wife, family, and I were becoming more and more disgusted with my being away from home so much, so I began praying. Lord, you know our situation, we need the money. But I feel your Holy Spirit pushing me to get off the road and work at getting Sterling Ministries, (my part-time evangelistic ministry) moving towards a full-time ministry, so do something about it. My wife was not keen on me just quitting driving cold-turkey.
I was picking up a load outside Jamestown, New York, and as I neared the pick-up point, a mild snow-storm blew in off Lake Erie. Once I was loaded, I was back on the road. I was coming down Interstate 71 between Akron and Columbus, Ohio in the wee, early morning hours, and the snow-storm was getting worse. Traffic had slowed to 35 miles per hour; and later down to 25; but my mind was racing at 90! About half-way between the two cities I felt the over-whelming power of the Holy Spirit come upon me; all by myself in that truck. And He said, “You’ve got your degree in Religion, and Education; why not put them to good use?” But there were no religious schools near our home. So I asked the Lord, how? What do you mean? And from that moment on for at least the next week and a half, I was bombarded by the Holy Spirit with the plan. It was called The Lay School. God wanted me to utilize the knowledge, understanding, and education which He had given me over the years to help other people, those who were truly interested, to learn more about their Bible and God’s plan for mankind. It would be something much more than a Sunday School, a Training Union, or a Discipleship Training class; something that could fill a void which seems to exist between such training endeavors and formal college and/or seminary; something that could help lay people, bi-vocational pastors, and others who could not due to other commitments, or did not want to attend formal classes at a Bible College or Seminary. During those first few hours the Holy Spirit guided me through the basic curriculum; beginning in Genesis and working right through to Revelation. The more direction I asked of the Holy Spirit, the more He gave. Over the next few days, as I drove I took notes on legal paper. When I stopped for my mandatory breaks, part of the time was spent typing, as fast as I could, into my laptop computer, as the Holy Spirit gave it to me. That first morning I could hardly wait for my wife to wake up so I could call her and tell her what had happened over night.
During my college education at Carson-Newman in Jefferson City, Tennessee, I had witnessed what I considered to be a major problem in, not only the religion classes I took, but the overall, general higher education environment. I had not gone to college straight out of high school, but returned eleven years later at the leading of the Holy Spirit to make good on a vow to God to study Bible formally when and where He chose! And Carson-Newman was His choice. During my 32 months there I witnessed countless teenagers fresh out of high school, many from churches whom I am sure would not have wanted to see their children experience what I saw; I watched as their faith was challenged so severely by professors from the moderate-liberal theological persuasion; which would have been a good thing, had those same professors taken their thinking from the point at which they were; introduce them to these concepts and discuss them; and then take them back into the Bible for some clear teaching about what the Bible really said about these issues. But it never happened. Instead, I watched as many whose faith had been challenged, was literally destroyed! And my heart ached for them. I had been an avid Bible student for over ten years at the time, and had read my Bible through. I had completed all the different levels of Home Bible Study offered by the Southern Baptist Convention. I was well-grounded in Bible. Early on I watched as those students from the more fundamental-conservative theological backgrounds attempted to open a dialogue with the professors, the material, and what the Bible had to say. I had even tried myself. But we soon learned that academic freedom did not include such viewpoints. Disgusted, I learned to mind my comments very carefully, prayed about the situation, and was assured by the Holy Spirit that Carson-Newman was where God wanted me to receive my Bachelor’s Degree.
My wife was, at first excited, almost as much as I was, as we talked on the phone. Her enthusiasm bubbled over at church, and soon the Pastor’s wife was intrigued. The Pastor had been preaching some very good, old-fashioned, down home, meeting kind of sermons, which really stirred my heart during the months prior to this week and a half of Pentecost. But when the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart that I MUST first approach our Pastor about this Lay School; well, let’s just say that the Lord and I had a long talk about that. Our church was in the midst of a building project and I was not sure that they would be interested; especially if any financial support was going to be necessary. I felt very strongly that the Lord wanted this to become a full-time ministry. It took about 4 weeks to get back home so that I could present the information to our Pastor. And in just 4 days he informed us that he did not feel the church was read for something like this. So, true to the directions I received from the Holy Spirit, I moved on.
During the last few months of driving the truck, I had begun to develop medical problems. I had become dangerous behind the wheel of those 80,000 pound rigs. I was suffering from severe edema and gout, and in a DOT physical the doctor discovered that something in my neck was rather large, and he sent me home to have my personal care physician label it. At the time I was referred for surgery but the surgeon said that he saw no reason to take out my thyroid since it did not seem to be giving me any trouble. So I continued driving. But little did I know what God had in store for me to do.
The final straw came when my gout began acting up while waiting for my trailer to be loaded in South Chicago; a load that would take me through home. My left leg was swollen and it hurt to operate the clutch. When I finally got loaded, I called home and told my wife that I was hurting and in pain; that I was leaving Chicago, and did not have enough hours to get home legally, but that I was going to do so anyway. I stopped only once to get fuel, and rolled into Knoxville, Tennessee and dropped my trailer, cleaned out my truck, and went home to try and find out what was wrong.
Within a few months, another Pastor from another church nearby was introduced to The Lay School idea. He informed me that some of the members of his church had felt led to put a school on the property. So we tried it for one semester. Three classes were offered. The one on Sunday night had the best turnout; the one on Wednesday night had very little interest; and the one on Thursday had no interest at all. At the end of that semester, both my wife and I were very discouraged.
In May of 2006 my thyroid was finally removed; just as I was winding down the color-coding and study of the last, major, ancient writing, the Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud. I have been out of work for three years, except for a short stint working for a very understanding Christian wife and husband whom I went to church with during that first semester of The Lay School who owned their own business. They had medical problems themselves and quite frankly understood my dilemma. What started out as a temporary job materialized into a permanent position as a private investigator. But it just was not in God’s plans for me to be employed during this time while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me and what to do about it. In a rather emotional meeting one day after work, that woman and her husband informed me that they were going to have to lay me off. So, after receiving a rather nice severance check, I went home gainfully unemployed again, but at least they allowed me to draw unemployment. A few months later I applied for disability but am still awaiting a formal hearing on my claim. I have always felt that the medical problems were just God’s way of providing me with the time necessary to complete a digital, color-coded Bible for my own personal use, and work on finalizing the coursework for the 47 courses outlined during that week and a half of Pentecost for The Lay School. But that was just the tip of the iceberg!
During that time period God had plans for me to work on a project that has turned out to be so massive, that it boggles the mind to think about it. During those last few months on the road I had been color-coding a digital copy of the King James Bible on my laptop for my own personal use. I had begun color-coding my Bible, my childhood Bible, when I was very young. My father got me hooked on it. And during the next 35 years or so I had to color-code two more copies of a Thompson Chain Reference Bible; I had retired my childhood Bible when mom and dad bought me my first Thompson Chain for my 16th birthday; but had worn it out within 15 years. While color-coding the second one I dreamed of having a color-coded Bible the way I wanted. I had always been limited to the number of colored pencils in the package. And there wasn’t a whole lot of flexibility in the manner in which the color coding could be done; that is, until the advent of the personal computer, and the powerful word processing programs that were available. So in those early months of unemployment, I continued working on not only my color-coded Bible, but several other writings from the world of Christianity: The Apocrypha, the Pseudipigrapha, The Lost Books of The Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden. The same color-code which I had developed for my KJV was used on these writings as well. Out of all the material that was given to me by the Holy Spirit during that week and a half of Pentecost, there was two particular courses that I knew I needed to do more research on: Religions of the World, and the Ancient Mystic Religions. My wife had bought me a copy of the Koran while I was trucking and I had read it through, and I got online to see if I could locate a digital copy of that translation that I could download and color-code. I did! And that opened a whole new chapter in this crazy, wonderful, adventure that God had sent me down.
God took my little idea to color-code a digital Bible for myself and turned it into a digital library of over 130 writings. My initial color-code in my childhood Bible contained a mere seven color-codes, while the most recent version of my digital Color-Coded Bible contains over 170. Everything that is necessary to take an unbeliever from their unsaved state to an understanding of not only Bible, but the sacred writings of five of the six major world religions, dozens of writings from the early Christian church age, and several writings from history like Flavius Josephus, the Septuagint, the Palestinian Talmud, the Book of Mormon, Dante’s Inferno, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and some of the writings of the Essenes from the Dead Sea Scrolls have all been included; all coded to the same basic color-code as my digital Color-Coded Bible for cross-reference. To my knowledge there is nothing like this Color-Coded Bible nor the Color-Coded Library in existence in the world! In addition to the actual writings, several other files have been created of cross-references and other study aids to assist students in locating information in the entire collection. All of this fits onto one single data CD for use on a computer.
During the course of this adventure I was able to locate certain information which helped me to answer some theological questions that had been plaguing my mind since my college days. Some people claimed that Saint Augustine was responsible for introducing the allegorical-figurative method of interpreting Scripture into the early Christian Church; others said it was Origen. I now have the proof that it was neither, but rather, the rabbis of the Mishraic period of Jewish history during the rebuilding of the Jewish temple under Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel. Some people claim that the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Jews which are not yet fulfilled were passed on to the church due to Israel’s apostasy. The Bible does not substantiate that viewpoint, but no one who presented it seemed to be able to provide some sort of time frame when it infiltrated the church. But now I can. For most of the Christian Church age the mainstream church has interpreted the Bible from an a-millenialist point of view, asserting that it was, in fact, the teaching of the Apostles. But once again the Bible does not substantiate such a claim. Now I know about when in history that viewpoint became the accepted, orthodox view of the church.
The unbelievable amount of information which the Holy Spirit has led me to uncover boggles the mind. Never have I heard anyone explain that the Qu’ran of the Islamic faith plainly states in numerous places that it was given to substantiate the sacred writings of both the Jews and the Christians. No one had ever told me how many references appear in the Qu’ran concerning the characters, stories, and events that are recorded in the Bible: hundreds! Do you know that 8% of the Book of Mormon is nothing short of quotes of not just verses or passages, but entire chapters of the Bible from Isaiah, Malachi, Zechariah, and Matthew, just to name a few. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented in a much more concise and complete manner in the Book of Mormon than even in our Bible. Has anyone ever explained to you the connection between the Ancient Mystery Religions and Freemasonry of modern times? Such facts and information simply oozes from the pages of these writings, and the color-coding makes them so much easier to find!
With so much criticism of the King James Bible in recent years it was refreshing to compare its Old Testament to an English translation of the Greek Septuagint translated about 2000 years before the KJV in Alexandria, Egypt. While there are differences, the similarities far outweigh them. In many places they are almost identical, word for word!
Some of these writings which I have color-coded and included in this library provide positive proof concerning the origin of many of the current issues that are tearing the church apart: moral relativism, the moderate-liberal theological viewpoint, religious intolerance, and many of the attacks which have been made on Christianity and the Bible in recent centuries. For TOO long the church has chosen to run and hide from such attacks, and the truth is that we do not have to! If God’s Word is true, and we believe that it is, then there is nothing to fear, or be anxious over. It is time that the church and each and every Christian remained firmly planted on the frontlines of the battlefield, and equipped themselves with the information and ammunition necessary to thwart these attacks of the Devil upon the Bible, Church, and God! And had our leadership in the colleges and seminaries and even in many of our churches been willing to present the lay people of the church with the information contained in this library collection, we would have already been prepared and actively engaged in the battles, instead of sitting comfortably in our sanctuaries waiting the lost to come through our door, and timid about preaching and teaching the entire counsel of God to a lost and dying world! And let’s remember my experience at a Bible college, and commit to prepare our children and grandchildren, not merely adequately, but the best that we can so that their faith will remain strong in the face of such adversity. And not just our children and grandchildren, but ourselves as well, for we are all bombarded with attacks upon our Christian beliefs and values every day in the workplace, on the television and radio, on the internet, and just about every place and situation we find ourselves in. Remember that some of our children grow up to serve in the military around the world and are introduced to these various religions and belief systems which challenge the truths of God’s Word! Let’s help them as well as ourselves to become the very best testimonies and witnesses for the truths of God’s Word; to be willing and able to show the adherents of these other religions and belief systems their need for salvation, and the utter inadequacy of their religions and belief systems to rectify their sinful, depraved condition, which only Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God can do!
I would personally like to have the opportunity to bring this information about our ministry and all its facets to the attention of your church congregation. God has made The Lay School a completely self-contained, portable classroom; I am ready to present seminars, evangelistic meetings, Bible School for adults, and revivals; even the complete Lay School Curriculum can be presented to help your church, or any select group of its members, expand its knowledge and understanding of God’s Word; from whatever they are at, to whatever level they would like to be. The Lay School is a recent addition to my old part-time musical, evangelistic ministry, Sterling Ministries. It has been in existence since 1975. Sterling Ministries’ Statement of Faith comes closest to “The Baptist Faith and Message” of the Southern Baptist Church; fitting well within the fundamentalist-conservative theology. We believe the Bible is God’s Holy, inspired, Word; inerrant and infallible, and we are able and well prepared through this Color-Coded Study Library to show anyone why we hold to the inerrancy and infallibility. We believe that the only way for man to rectify his depraved, sinful condition is through simple faith in God’s gracious gift of salvation through the vicarious, atoning, death of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, on the cruel, accursed cross of Calvary. We believe in the virgin birth, the resurrection, and ascension of Jesus into heaven. We believe in the existence of heaven and hell; and the eminent return of Jesus Christ, this time as Kingly Messiah to fulfill Old Testament prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled. We believe in the active search for God’s truths, and that those truths are not limited to the King James Bible, and through the Color-Coded Study Library System we are adequately prepared to prove this to anyone who is willing to discard the close-minded, dogmatic attitudes and beliefs which have for so long plagued the Church, and at the very least, entertain the alternatives. God has provided His revelation of Himself in so many ways and in so many other writings other than the KJV. We believe in the pre-millenial return of Jesus; for His church at the rapture; and to prove to the Jews that He was their long-awaited Messiah, after the period of time the Bible refers to as Jacob’s trouble and great tribulation. We can show through the Color-Coded Study Library System where the a-millenialist and post-millenialist viewpoints originated and why they do not adequately explain and interpret the Bible prophecies concerning the end of times, the last days, the last of the six world government empires under the antichrist, the false prophet and the beast; all which were prophesied in the Old Testament beginning as far back as Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and working down through history and the prophets to Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, and Malachi. We believe that we are living in the very last minutes of the last day, and are confidently expecting Jesus to break through the eastern sky and call His church and the Holy Spirit out of this world so that the culmination may proceed. We believe in Satan, the Devil, and his active role in opposing everything concerning God and His fore-ordained plans for Jew, Gentile and Church, ALL of which MUST be fulfilled according to Old and New Testament prophecies!
Two great revivals broke out during the period of the Divided Kingdom of Israel and Judah; one under King Hezekiah when he began to “clean house” so to speak by tearing down the vestiges of the pagan, idolatrous worship which had infiltrated the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and the daily lives of the people. The second occurred under King Josiah, Hezekiah’s grandson, who continued his grandfather’s reforms and in the process re-discovered a copy of the book of Deuteronomy hidden in the Temple; which led to widespread repentance on the part of the King, the political leaders, the religious leaders, and the people. Sterling Ministries would love to, with the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, help your congregation re-discover God’s Word!
Sterling Ministries looking for prayer warriors and financial partners.
Sterling Ministries has operated since 1975 as a part-time ministry and during all those years has welcomed prayer warriors to add this ministry to their prayer list, but has never actively sought financial partners until now. The facets of ministry that are presented on this website represent only a few of the ideas, programs, and additional facets of ministry that God's Holy Spirit has burdened us with. Those which are cost-free or inexpensive to implement have been added to Sterling Ministries regular activities without hesitation, and our family has borne the financial burden. During the course of ministry over these 40 years I have met many people who say that they would love to be a part of such a ministry but that they have no gift of teaching or preaching to offer. This request for prayer warriors and financial partners is a means by which those who, led by the Holy Spirit, wish to become partners in the various ministries God has entrusted Sterling Ministries to pursue. Any interested parties should contact us via the form on the Contact Us page to discuss their desires with us. And may God lead and bless any and all who endeavor to serve Him by helping us!