A 59

Proverbs 30:6
Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

When I was in the eleventh grade I did the unthinkable in English class. I wasn't much for school work, or for anything back in the eleventh grade. So when the time came for term papers I took my topic of Edgar Allan Poe and devised a plan. I remembered that there was a chapter in our literature book about him. I took that article and wrote it down word for word. I had zero note cards. Zero bibliography cards. But I really thought I had this paper whipped. Then I received my graded paper. It was a gut wrenching fifty-nine. I remember the note that my teacher tagged on it very clearly. "If you are going to plagiarize someone's work, you should have chosen one different from the writer of our literature book, it's been tried before."

One of the saddest truths of today is that we have this same mentality among people. Instead of speaking the Word of God, there is an attempt to change it up a bit. There is an attempt to quote the Word of God but make it as if it was their very own word. The Bible is God's Word to man and never man's word to God. It is not something that should be changed or needs to be changed to adapt. It's not new, it's the same! The same yesterday, today and forevermore.

May I make a suggestion for all of us? Let's read what God has given us in His Word and not read INTO it. Do not ADD UNTO it! Just read it and when you share it declare that it is God's Word and not yours. While commentaries are good, and Christian books are great, they are not the pure Word of  God. Don't be guilty of plagiarism or changing God's Word... You could be reproved and be found a liar.

By the way, a fifty-nine is a failing grade and adding or changing God's Word is on the same grading curve.