The Apocrypha books

[cheekie3]

All -

There is a lot being made today about the Catholic Church having removed certain books from the original Bibles - stating that there are 'secrets' in these books that the Catholic Church wanted to remain hidden.

I know that Ray taught that The Scriptures are complete in The Old Testament and The New Testament - and Jesus did not make any references to the Apocrypha books - albeit in some of these Apocrypha books certain genuine Scriptural Passages may have been copied.

I understand that the order and split of The complete Canon of Scripture is not as we have them in our English Bibles - as there are really 49 Books in 7 Categories:

The Original Old Testament (22 Books):

I. THE LAW (Torah): The Pentateuch (5 Books of Moses)

    Genesis
    Exodus
    Leviticus
    Numbers
    Deuteronomy

II. THE PROPHETS: 6 Books:

    Joshua & Judges
    Samuel and Kings ('Books of the Kingdom')
    Isaiah
    Jeremiah
    Ezekiel
    The Twelve (Minor Prophets)

III. THE (HOLY) WRITINGS: 11 Books:

    Psalms
    Proverbs
    Job
    Song of Songs
    Ruth
    Lamentations
    Ecclesiastes
    Esther
    Daniel
    Ezra/Nehemiah
    Chronicles

The Original New Testament (27 Books)

IV. THE 'PENTATEUCH' : The Gospels and Acts (5 Books):

    Matthew
    Mark
    Luke
    John
    Acts

V. THE GENERAL EPISTLES: 7 Books:

    James
    1 Peter
    2 Peter
    1 John
    2 John
    3 John
    Jude

VI. THE EPISTLES OF PAUL: 14 Books:

    Romans
    1 Corinthians
    2 Corinthians
    Galatians
    Ephesians
    Philippians
    Colossians
    1 Thessalonians
    2 Thessalonians
    Hebrews
    1 Timothy
    2 Timothy
    Titus
    Philemon

VII. REVELATION: 1 Book:

    Revelation

Has anyone actually read any of the Apocrypha books; and is it worthwhile reading these.

I have no desire to read anything that is not Scriptural.

Thank You.

Kind Regards.

George

[Extol]

Hi George,

I have read some of them, and they are quite interesting if you like history (which I do.) There is a lot of history concerning the centuries before Christ, of which the canonical books say nothing. I haven't done any studies about how much of it is history and how much is embellished, but they are indeed worth reading, in my opinion (even if they are not Scripture.)

Jesse

[cheekie3]

Jesse -

Thank you for sharing this:

Hi George,

I have read some of them, and they are quite interesting if you like history (which I do.) There is a lot of history concerning the centuries before Christ, of which the canonical books say nothing. I haven't done any studies about how much of it is history and how much is embellished, but they are indeed worth reading, in my opinion (even if they are not Scripture.)

Jesse

Over the years, I have gone from 'No, I will not read these Apocrypha books as they are likely to poison my heart and mind', to 'I no longer fear reading these Apocrypha books, but is there any merit in my doing so'.

There is a lot out there on the book of Enoch - and I do not know if it is the same Enoch who is in The Holy Scriptures - and if it is - most keep going on about this book of Enoch only because they believe Enoch did not die - which is a lie - as it is stated in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament that Enoch died (and therefore is still dead, and not living with God in Heaven).

The point of my enquiry is that many say there are secrets in these Apocrypha books - yet we know that God has hidden His Truth in The Holy Scriptures - and blinded the many - and only reveals His Truth to the few (in this Age of Grace) - so is it possible that He has secrets revealed in these Apocrypha books (that the Catholic Church withdrew) that are not hidden (and do not require God to reveal the Truth to His few). I think it is highly unlikely that there are any secrets or Truths of Almighty God in these Apocrypha books.

I take your point about the history aspect though.

I will place my burden in His lap - and await His Commandments to me on this matter.

Thank you.

Kind Regards.

George

[lilitalienboi16]

Ive never read any myself and I too think, as far as spiritually truths are concerned, would be a complete waste of time as there is much in the scriptures themselves that I have yet to learn. BUT from a historical perspective they could be pretty neat! I don't know... maybe one day in the future.. if I get to be so old and with ample time on my hands, I'll give them a shot.

Interesting subject though.

[Dennis Vogel]

I have them somewhere but they have not seen the light of day in 20 years.

But I remember reading some of them and thinking this is not scripture.

[cheekie3]

Alex -

It is good to know your thoughts - as there is a bombardment of this stuff out there at the moment:

Ive never read any myself and I too think, as far as spiritually truths are concerned, would be a complete waste of time as there is much in the scriptures themselves that I have yet to learn. BUT from a historical perspective they could be pretty neat! I don't know... maybe one day in the future.. if I get to be so old and with ample time on my hands, I'll give them a shot.

Interesting subject though.

Thank You.

Kind Regards.

George

[cheekie3]

Dennis -

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience on these Apocrypha books:

I have them somewhere but they have not seen the light of day in 20 years.

But I remember reading some of them and thinking this is not scripture.

I will steer clear of them.

Kind Regards.

George

[Extol]

George,

To clarify, I was talking about the apocryphal books in the Catholic Bible, not any of the"lost" or ,"secret" books like Enoch or the Gospel of Judas.

Some of these include Tobit, Judith, and Maccabees (for history) , and Wisdom and Sirach (poetry/wisdom)

B-)

[cheekie3]

Jesse -

Thank you for this clarity - and I know there are many differing views on these so called 'lost books' or the 'books that were removed' from either the Catholic or Protestant Bibles:

George,

To clarify, I was talking about the apocryphal books in the Catholic Bible, not any of the"lost" or ,"secret" books like Enoch or the Gospel of Judas.

Some of these include Tobit, Judith, and Maccabees (for history) , and Wisdom and Sirach (poetry/wisdom)

B-)

I know that Enoch is one of the 'lost books' and not part of the Apocrypha books.

Thank you.

Kind Regards.

George

[Dave in Tenn]

It's error to say these "secret books" Extol mentioned were "removed".  They were never included.

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,5815.0.html

[cheekie3]

Dave in Tenn -

Thanks for pointing out that these books were never part of the 'Canon' of Scriptures:

It's error to say these "secret books" Extol mentioned were "removed".  They were never included.

http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,5815.0.html

That is not what I was stating - I was stating that these books were at some time in the past included with the Old Testament and New Testaments Books (I believe in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles), and thereafter, they were removed from the Protestant Bibles (and I understand that these Apocrypha books are still in some, or all, Roman Catholic Bibles).

I did not want anyone to believe I said that these were originally accepted as part of the 'Canon of The Holy Scriptures' - as clearly these were not.

I will re-read Ray's Teaching on the link you kindly provided.

Kind Regards.

George