Do we know why we believe what we do? Do we know what the foundation of our belief system is? We should know the answers to both of these two questions, before we go to battle, to protect them. Are there any contradictions in our belief system? If so, that is why we have become so confused. When Jesus spoke about building a house upon the sand, this is exactly what he was warning us about. Too many Christians will pick their favorite verse in scripture, and attempt to build their beliefs system upon them. This will also lead to confusion. If we do not think that we understand scripture as well as we should, we probably do not. We should always continue to examine what we believe and why we believe it.

He or she says, "Well, I believe that because somebody told me that they read it in the bible somewhere ,that ... This is not a foundation to build our hopes of salvation upon! We should read scripture for ourselves, and make our own decisions. I do not want to place my hopes of eternal life upon what someone else says that they have read. I consider myself blessed, because I was fortunate enough to be put in a situation, that I had to reevaluate my belief system. I was old enough to know what I was doing, right or wrong. I will have to live and die with this decision. I felt that I was mature enough to make my own decision. I decided to forget everything that I had ever learned about scripture. At my age that was not difficult. I was lost to my own understanding, and might still be? This time, it will be my own fault, and not the fault of whoever that was, that I was believing, when I was believing in what they said was written some where in the bible.

This is what I tried to do. I attempted to erase the blackboard of my mind, as much as was possible. This was more difficult than I could have imagined. I began with an empty brain (again not difficult). I began reading only those verses in scripture where the God of Abraham was being quoted. "The Lord said". Those verses that say, "The Lord said", is a really good place to start building a belief system upon. After I was finished reading "what the Lord had said", I started reading, what Jesus said. Before I went any farther, I considered what I had read and looked to see if I could found any contradictions. I decided that if there were any contradictions in these verses, it had to be a misinterpretation on my part. I attempted to work out those contradictions, before reading any farther. AND THEN I began reading those messages that the Lord's messenger angels were delivering. Again, we should work out any misinterpretations that we might have before proceeding any further. Of course I found myself deep inside the END TIME PROPHESY. Before I even thought about it, I found myself seeing the end time prophesy in a completely different prospective.

It was as if I had found a 2500 year old letter, that was written to someone else. I realized that . it held some truth that did seem to also apply to me, but, then I remembered that it was written to someone else, a long long time ago. I no longer feel that I, personally, am going to be dragged before the high priest in the Synagogue, to be questioned and punished. I no longer feel that I, personally, was going to have to flee Jerusalem, and it better not be in the winter, or on the Sabbath day. These things did not pertain to me directly. These things were told to Peter, James, John, and Andrew, in a private conversation that Jesus was having with them. Jesus was talking, in a private conversation, to these four disciples.

This brings something to mind, that I had recently read. In second Peter 2:20 it is written, "Knowing this first, that no prophesy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." I have been feeling and saying this for a long time but had not a single biblical verse to support my belief. I will be making reference to this verse very often. The verses saying that Jesus loves us and those that teach us how to behave do have room for private interpretation. When the Lord God of heaven, Jesus Christ or the the Lord's messenger angels are speaking in reference to prophesy, there is no room for private interpretation.

We should read scripture as if no one has ever told us what we are reading. We should read scripture as if we do not already know what we are about to read. Why should make every effort to read what the scriptures are truly saying.