Man alive. How did I ever get along with five?

When I was a kid growing up in the age of black and white TV I always looked forward to 4 p.m. . Because on the weekday this is when the cartoons cane on. And in the late fifties and early sixties a lot of commercials were feared for kids that watched the cartoons during that time. I remember the commercials for Slinky, the spring that would go down the stairs. Then of course there were the commercials for Bosco and Ovaltine. That would encourage your taste bud to ask Mom for Ovaltine and Bosco chocolate mix.

One of the commercials that really got my attention was the sticky fingers commercial. This was about a finger that one would hold in their right in between their index and forefinger. You could shoot little bullets or darts out of this finger. (This is before the age of politically correct toys). You could write secret messages with his finger. And they were probably other things you could do with it that escaped my mind right now. But the little jungo of the commercial was,

...Man oh man, how did I ever get along with five...

But now some of you are probably wondering brother Blaine what is the relevance of this in a Christian forum? Why does trip down memory lane from an aging baby boomer?

Has anyone ever wondered when reading the book of Acts how the early church ever got along without a complete Bible? Indeed the early church did not have the completed New Testament? To the best of my memory the church did not get the complete Bible until around the mid 300s. Give or take.

Yet when we read the book of Acts which covers about the first 30 years of the first-century church. We see the gospel going out and marvelous signs and wonders. We see the gospel going out bringing many to saving faith and life in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of this done without a complete Bible. All of this done without a complete New Testament. We see the Holy Spirit working to bring people to saving faith and life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So how did the first century Church do it? How did they do it without the completed scriptures?

I am posting this question because there has been some discussion on the Mount of Transfiguration thread about the use of the Bible. So since we have the completed Bible. Are we any better off than the Church of Acts? Or is the Church of Acts somehow substandard to the church in America because we have the completed scriptures? One would have to wonder exactly how the Church of Acts accomplish what they did without the methodologies and the Bible's we have today?

Let me take the question one step further. What about the persecuted Church? There is some parts of restricted Nations that did not have access to a Bible or a new testament. But they do have access to maybe portions of scripture. Yet we see the Holy Spirit operating in a dynamic that we don't see here in America. How is this happening?

Forum I would like to know your thoughts. And please I do not wish to see this threat locked down. So let us keep our post respectful toward one another. I know some of you have passionate thoughts about the Bible. But again let us keep the posts respectful toward one another.

So exactly how in the first 30 years of the first-century church they accomplished what they did without a completed Bible?

Respectfully posted.

Because their spiritual eyes were open and the Messiah and God's plan, recorded throughout the OT was revealed to them.

Luke 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

What scriptures do you think Jesus "opened" to the disciples?

In addition, they had the letters of the Apostles and were a culture that spoke a lot to one another and transmitted the letters via the spoken word.

They were always in the marketplace and meeting in homes repeating and reciting the revelation of Jesus Christ to one another.

Blaine,
Yes, obviously we are blessed to have the full Word of God, the book of Romans to help us understand the Gospel, the Gospels to know the words of Jesus, Revelation to know how Jesus dealt with & spoke to the early churches in the east in that day & also how it all will end one day. We have the epistles for encouragement, instruction, exhortation, doctrine, right teaching, etc. But yes, the fact is, when it says "the Bereans were more noble...they searched the scriptures to see if these things were true.." And we applaud them & hold them up as our example, even they had at that time only the Old Testament scriptures to be checking against. And there are countless examples of people even in our modern day in the east being radically Born Again without one page of scripture. But it's also interesting how much many of them cherish/ed getting even a single page from a Bible! This should remind us we serve a Living God, who is a Spirit, who transforms us into converted Born Again saints not by just by decisional conversion only based on what "we know", but through a SUPERNATURAL rebirth of His Spirit & His doing.
Don't misunderstand - the Word of God is of utmost importance! We DO have access to it now. "To whom much is given, much will be required." And we have been given unlimited access (affordably & conveniently), online Bible apps, etc., etc. So let us cherish His Word as "A lamp unto our feet & a light unto our path" (Psalm 100 I believe), & let us sow this Word into others, & help get it into the hands of those without such free access, particular in the parts of the world where it is banned &/or despised. But let us remember we were Born Again (if we are), we live & move & have our being, & we were washed (if we were) in the blood of the Risen Living Lamb of God, not just by mentally assenting to some doctrinal facts (true they are) about Jesus we read in the Bible. The New Birth is a deposit of God's Spirit within us as we come to Him in faith!
I have heard many stories of those without Bibles praying and praying and God getting His Word in thee hands trough supernatural means. So let not one side say the Bible is unimportant or irrelevant (or be misinterpreted as saying such) & let not the other side say or act as if having a Bible is more important than having the Living Christ living within by the Spirit!
God Bless,
Jeff

Brothers good thoughts brought up in your posts

They HEARD and received from various sources (Apostles, Teachers, etc) to one another. They discovered the riches of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament when their spiritual eyes were opened by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Much of what they learned, they HEARD. They had "ears to hear".

Php_4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and HEARD, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Col_1:4 Since we HEARD of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

Col_1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye HEARD before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Col_1:6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye HEARD of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

Col_1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we HEARD it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Col_1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have HEARD, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

1Th_2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye HEARD of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

2Ti_1:13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast HEARD of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

2Ti_2:2 And the things that thou hast HEARD of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Heb_2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have HEARD, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Heb_2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that HEARD him;

My brother so hear your heart. I wish I could offer you encouragement. I too am in the same situation. I have been without a church home here and Little Rock for a number of years. And yes like you I am in the middle of the Southern Christian culture as you. There's a Southern Baptist Church on every corner. But our hearts cry. Where are the Jesus followers?

Perhaps the remnant meeting that Greg is encouraging may causes us to network more with one another.

Brother feel free to write or call me. My contact information is below this post. At least perhaps we can encourage one another by email or phone.

Brother Blaine
pwprayercall@gmail.com
501.256.6407

"I am completely broken up over the seemingly impenetrable wall of self-deceit and worldliness in the American church. In our home, we are doing what we sincerely heard the Lord tell us to do, but we've grown from 12 or so to about 6 in the last 2 years. God gave us a word months ago -- be patient. We feel A LITTLE like we imagine the first disciples MAY have felt -- being told to wait but not fully understanding what for. We don't know what we're waiting on really looks like. So, we are asking ourselves if we have heard God correctly."

Brother Tim, this passage jumped out at me from your post. I do not want to sidetrack this thread from the OP so if you feel led please shoot me your email address so we can discuss privately what you are experiencing. I believe this is not only common but what God is allowing to happen. We are in a transitional phase right now (the body of Christ) and that requires much waiting. Contact me and I will share more with you about our own house church experience. Blessings!

But David if I remember correctly those were the Jewish leaders that were coming to Paul. If so. Then it would make sense that he would use Moses and the law to preach Jesus to them. For they would already be familiar with the Torah.

How would Paul deal with the Gentiles? How would he preach Jesus to them? Acts 28:30-31 says,

... And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all open this, unhindered...

That would have been one marvelous Bible study to be in on if I could call it such. I wonder what Paul would have been teaching and perhaps even demonstrating?

Posted just wondering.

Yeah,
Amen. I can concur with many of the thoughts shared as one who has been in a house fellowship for the last 4.5 years too (our first run at one was about 10 years ago now). But there is a waiting period going on in secret places right now in the western church. I believe that with All my heart.

And Julius,
I tried to explain I wasn't minimizing the hearing of the Word in my post. I as one who was born again in a solitary cell, with no preacher, etc. just me, a Bible, the present spirit of God, & a cry to heaven of surrender answered with a powerful tangible manifestation of God's Spirit & light in that cell, peace flowing like a river for the first time in 23 years, & a changed heart. Not minimizing the Word or the hearing. Not AT ALL! Just that the opposite extreme sometimes places the reading of the scriptures on equal plane as the manifest presence of the Spirit of the Living Christ. I know the Logos (written Word) is the life infused testimony of the Rhema (revelatory Word) & the Pneuma (Spirit) by which we are Born again

Jesus explained all the typologies in the OT about Himself (throughout OT), the Kingdom of God (many books), Salvation (Genesis), Baptism (Genesis), Resurrection (Job), Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Joel), etc., which were formerly concealed from most men. Just as He open the eyes of the disciples on the Emmaus road, He is available to open our eyes, too.

And remember Saul of Tarsus didn't run into a preacher or a Bible (who knew "the Bible" of that time ie the Law & Prophets by heart better than anyone), but the living, risen Christ Himself! That's not minimizing the truths concerning the Word. That's just a fact. Many Muslims are having the same experience by dreams & visions. So, if you're concerned about their need for discipleship after that (which I also am) instead of aetherially theologically mentally debating it until the cows come home, pray, intercede, & sow into ministries that are providing that Bible & that Discipleship teaching ministry, amen?! 😊 Global Catalytic Ministries is one such ministry. Iran Alive is another. There are MANY others. Let's be doers in the kingdom work God is doing in the Muslim world at this great time of harvest on God's time clock! If He's going to them HIMSELF, & thousands upon thousands of Muslims are being swept into the Kingdom as never before, it's pretty important on the heart of God & sovereignly part of His plan at this hour, wouldn't you agree?

I actually found a short YouTube video of that kids commercial. It was 6 finger. Not sticky fingers. You can Google six finger commercial. The jingle actually went man alive, how did I ever get along with five. Bear in mind I don't think such a toy would be sold today. But this is what I grew up with.

Okay don't mean to detract from the discussion. But just wanted to take a short detour down memory lane.

Back to the thread.

To be CRYSTAL CLEAR, I was never saying nor implying "we don't need the scriptures". I was merely responding to what I perceived that I hear a lot which is basically saying or implying one's testimony/conversion is questionable if it didn't come through the reading of the Bible or hearing preaching, but through a dream or vision from Jesus Himself. That's a fallacious argument. Paul's testimony I belief is proof of this, as is the fruit we see in the Muslim world at this time. Of course they need the Word as soon after and as much as possible, but God is God & who can question His ways if He decides to come to them in a dream or vision Himself & bring them to Himself? That's all I was addressing - FYI. And I'm not saying that by hearing the preaching of the Word or the reading of the written Word isn't the "normative" way most come to Christ throughout time, but just saying to then take that to the next extreme and say someone "CAN'T" be saved dreams & visions by Jesus Himself is just not the case. I know some hyper-cessationists take it to this extreme too. But in a struggle to uphold their traditions (cessationism) they deny in error ways that God Himsef sometimes has & sometimes still does move & work to bring people to Himself! 😊🙏🏻☝️💪🏻
God Bless,
Jeff

Saints let us keep in mind that many in the first century church where iliterate. Let us also keep in mind that there was a very limited access to the word of God. Realizing that the word of God then was the Torah. So unless it was a Messianic Jewish congregation the Torah would not have been available to the average Gentile congregation. A few of the apostolic letters we're floating around. But the written word as we know it was not readily available.

Yet the early church seem to be vibrant in their witness of Christ. The early church seem to have power.

So the question is how did they do what they did without the complete Canon of scripture?

It is not the canonized text we really need but the message that the apostles brought (and they learned from Jesus). Canonization was just a necessary tool to ensure that we still can hear/read the same message. I would gladly give up my privilege of reading the bible if I could have Paul teaching in my city every day for a year, and could have someone read his letters to me. Paul knew the Torah, I would ask anything about it from him. I would talk to eyewitnesses still living that were present in the multitudes when Jesus taught them, etc.

I would also receive teaching from others that Paul recommends, that's why there are so many recommendations in the epistles. Many converts in the first century were Jews who very carefully preserved their beloved Torah.

edited to add quote:
Galatians 1:8
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed."

Actually only a fraction have been preserved for us of all the things that the contemporaries of Jesus saw, heard and knew.
John 21:25
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

Edited obvious typo