The Mechanics of Inspiration

(Article for publication week of 9-30-2009 AD)

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Peter 1:21).

One of the great challenges we face in our day is to convince people of the inspiration and authority of the Bible. The inspiration and authority of the Bible has been undermined in many ways, not the least of which is the liberal seminaries that have brainwashed their students by so-called "higher criticism". The genuine believers of the Bible appear to be very few.

I declare unto you my friends that the Bible is the unadulterated word of God. The Lord is the Author of the Bible, not men. The inspired writers of the Bible wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The scriptures came to us by God's will, not man's.

How did the Holy Ghost "move" the sacred writers? As we shall see, it was in different ways, but they were always being "moved" by the Holy Ghost.

The Ten Commandments, God's moral law, were written by God Himself. We read in Exodus 31:18, "and He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." So we see this part of scripture was written by God Himself.

Quite a bit of scripture was dictated by God and the Holy Men wrote exactly what was dictated. We read in Exodus 34:27, "and the LORD said unto Moses, 'write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.' " It appears that the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch were dictated verbatim by God to Moses and he wrote exactly what God told him. Again, we read in I Timothy 4:1, "the Spirit speaketh EXPRESSLY." So we see that some major portions of God's word were "mechanically " inspired, an idea that has been ridiculed by liberals, and sadly parroted by some who are otherwise conservative.

In Revelation 1:11 we read, "what thou seest, write in a book." The way the Holy Spirit "moved" the Apostle John to write the Book of Revelation was, He showed him visions and instructed him to write down what he saw. The Holy Spirit continued moving John as he wrote what he saw, for we read in Revelation 2:7, "he that hath an ear, let him hear what the SPIRIT saith unto the churches."

The Apostles were given perfect recall to write the gospels. We read in John 14:26, ""but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." When Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote the four gospel accounts, the Holy Spirit moved them by causing them to have a perfect memory of everything they had heard Jesus say.

The Old Testament prophets were given a message and told to write it out. Thus we read often in the prophets, "the burden of the Lord" and "thus saith the Lord." King David the sweet psalmist of Israel said, "the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." So we see the Holy Spirit moved David when he wrote the inspired Hymnal.

In short my friends, the Bible is a miraculous Book. Our God is a miracle working God and His verbally inspired word is one of His greatest miracles. Never doubt the Word of God.