1 John 4:14 KJV
And we have
seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the
world.
The key to this verse is the
phrase "we
have seen."
The word is "A prolonged form of a primary verb; to look closely at."[1]
In other words the Apostle says that he has
·
Studied
·
Examined
·
Deliberately
looked into
those events and words that
he had witnessed in the life of Jesus Christ. He had done the work of
rehearsing in his mind and verifying the truth of what he had seen and heard
not only of the life of Christ but also of His death, burial and resurrection.
What he testified concerning
Jesus Christ was not casual speculation or the mere passing on of what others
had told him. He gives to us the honest report of his own work.
This is the sort of testimony
we need from Christians today. Too much of Christianity is one man telling
another man what some other man told him. It is true that faith is passed from
one to another. But the true witness is not one who merely repeats as a mocking
bird, what he heard someone else say but has deliberately and steadfastly
studied what he has heard and can therefore give an honest testimony as to the
truth of it.
That such a testimony has
failed to be given is evidenced by the mass of so called preachers who have
changed their messages midstream.
·
That which
they assured us they believed at their ordinations
·
That which
they boldly preached in the pulpit and
·
That which
they once proclaimed to assemblies of other preachers
was obviously not their own
message because they have since changed it. I am not so sure they meant to deceive as much as we didn't know they didn't know yet.
I have no interest in hearing
from apes who have learned to imitate some preacher. I want to hear the
testimony of someone who has searched out the truth and can testify they
personally know it to be truth.
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