Note:
After completing the last letter, The Most Important Verses in the Bible," I quickly realized that beyond the first eight verses that I laid out, the important verses that come in right under those are simply the verses through which God is speaking to you personally right now. I had to stop adding verses lest I include the whole Bible, and others sent in verses that God is speaking to them right now, that certainly had a place. And so I have made some slight changes in the article as it is on the website to reflect that reality. Here is a link to the revised article.
The Most Important Verses of the Bible

But I also quickly realized that the MOST important verse NOT in the Bible was sitting in the minds of many readers, striking down the purpose of God as He actually says it. And so radical open-brain surgery is called for in the minds of almost all Christians.

(PDF Version of this article.)

(The Most Important Verse in the Bible)

Romans 8: 28-30
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

My definition of the word "important" as I use it here is simply this. We all look through "rose colored" glasses at everything, especially when we look at the Bible. You can look at something dead on and not see it at all, if the color of your glasses automatically filters it out. Almost all Christians look at the Bible and everything in it through glasses strongly colored with the most important verse NOT in the Bible. If we were to remove the NOT verse from our lenses, which single central thing that God does say should replace it as the lens through which we see all that God says in the Bible?

The only verse we could pick to replace the most important verse NOT in the Bible is the verse that shows us in breadth and in depth the purpose and determination filling the heart of God from the beginning, a verse that gives us the path and the finish of the glorious thing God is doing in creation and in us.

But first we must deal with:

The Most Important Verse NOT in the Bible

"Heaven is our home. The goal of the believer, salvation, and eternal life are to go to heaven after you die. The only thing we will ever know on this earth and in this life is an in-part and limited expression of some things we read about in the Bible. Everything wonderful that God says is put off to heaven and will be known by us only after we get there. Everything meaningful for us that God does say, then, is only how, exactly, we get to go to heaven after we die and how many people we take with us. Everything else is more or less irrelevant for us here."

God's people imagine that they know what God says in the Bible. But they cannot see what God actually says, they cannot hear it, they cannot believe, because the most powerful word that God DOES NOT SAY sits on top of their hearts and minds and eviscerates, strips the guts out of, every single thing God does say, making it of no effect, useless, and not for us to know or to believe or to see fulfilled in our lives on this earth.

When I say most important, some people have the idea that I am making a choice of my "favorite" verse and pushing that as meaning something. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The MOST Important verse to almost all Christians is NOT in the Bible, God does not say it, ever, yet it rules every part of how they read the Bible, how they hear the gospel, how they understand God, how they regard salvation, and how they live their lives.

This overwhelmingly powerful verse rules all modern evangelical Christianity. And so it is useless to talk with most Christians about what is the most important verse, the verse that shows us God's intention and purpose. Because their most important verse is not in the Bible, but it sits solidly on top of every other verse that they read.

Let's get it clear, in the New Testament, God says that heaven is full of demons; He says that heaven is temporary, it is passing away, and He insists that He plans first to shatter it before our eyes and then to destroy it. More than that, God commands us through the Apostle Paul in Romans 10 not to say, "Let's go to heaven to see Jesus." He specifically gives us this most disobeyed commandment in Christianity because Paul says it is the very opposite of the gospel of Christ, which is the Word - eternal life - found inside of us. Paul did not see the nonsense that would come into Christianity out of that specific disobedience to the gospel, but he spoke the warning nonetheless.

But NOWHERE does God ever say that heaven is our home. He never ever says that salvation means going to heaven after you die. And He never ever says that eternal life is a location called heaven that you go to after you die.

People make this stuff up. And then they FORCE it on what God does say, and thus twist and pervert the meaning and intention of every purpose of God in the gospel.

The prevailing Christian doctrine, adhered to by almost all sects and held closely as the gospel by almost all Christians, that the goal of the believer is to go to heaven after you die, is the greatest doctrine of devils ever inserted into the Church of Jesus Christ.

More than any other thing that God does NOT say, this word that God never says effectively removes all Christians from believing God for the purpose and fulfillment of the gospel as God DOES say it.

God says, "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" and NOT God says "after you go to heaven."

God says, "until we come to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ," and NOT God says, "not until after you go to heaven."

God says, "we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is," and NOT God says, "only after you go to heaven."

And so this MOST powerful of verses that God does NOT say strips the blood of Jesus of its power and gives that power to a "place" called heaven. It strips the cross of Christ of its power and gives that power to "heaven." It strips the Spirit of God of His power and gives that power to "heaven." It strips away the Glory and the Power and the Awesome incredible Reality of the Holy One who fills our hearts with Himself, and it gives all that glory and beauty to a "place" called heaven. This thing that God does NOT say is the most powerful weapon of the serpent to strip all that is holy and all that is pure out of the gospel and make it for a "geographical location" and a time that is NOT now.

But God says, "NOW is the Day of Salvation." Not tomorrow and not heaven.

"Now is come the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ."

And here is the most incredible delusion you ever imagined.

Whenever you speak what God does say, most Christians hear only what God does NOT say, and their minds run a little code that says, "Well, the Bible says that it's all about how we go to heaven so this guy is obviously making up stuff about what God says." Then they say, "See, you need to check things out in the Bible so you won't be deceived."

But they never do. They never check out to see if this most powerful of all verses in Christianity is in the Bible or not. They don't ever look because it is NOT there. None of it.

Yet every verse they do read, they read that verse with this most powerful NOT verse sitting upon their minds, and they define and force every single thing God DOES say to submit to and come under the power and direction and definition of this thing that God NEVER says and therefore must be most wicked in its source and in its consequence. Their own minds force the NOT verse onto every page of the Bible.

And so the serpent sleeps upon the rock. He does not need to stir Himself. His verse rules in the house of God and effectively does his work for him, keeping the church ineffective and useless for the fulfillment of the gospel.

Satan knows he will lose all who belong to Jesus. What he must do to keep his game going is to keep the revelation of Christ out of the earth. "Going to heaven" has done that effectively without his lifting a finger.

Satan loves to call God a liar, he has done so from the beginning. And his age-long hobby fills the hearts of almost all Christians with these words, "It's not for here, it's not for now, that verse you will know only after you 'go to heaven.'" Then he goes back to sleep.

One of the most useless phrases found in people who live in their intellect is "Well, I just don't agree with that," or "Well, let's agree to disagree." Those phrases are fine concerning things in this life, but they are meaningless concerning the word God speaks.

And so someone says, "I can't figure out if you're teaching jeopardy or predestination."

Exactly.

God says, "You are a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things are brand new and all things are of God." That is a mighty assurance verse and I BELIEVE what God says in all of its meaning. And I believe that God fulfills it in me right here and right now in all that it means.

God says, "Cleanse yourselves of all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." That is a mighty jeopardy verse and I BELIEVE what God says in all of its meaning. And I believe that God fulfills it in me right here and right now in all that it means.

Does God contradict Himself? Yes He does, big time. But that is His business, not mine. My place is to believe all that He says in all of its meaning and fullness for me, right here, right now, on this earth and in this age. I may not understand all that God means by what He says; I know that a million "years" from now I will still be awestruck at the new depths and meanings found in every word God speaks, things I had not known in all the million "years" of knowing Him. But I can BELIEVE what He speaks, as He speaks it, though I do not understand it or know how to fit it in.

Who cares what you or I "agree" with? What matters is do I believe what God says, do I believe all that He says in the New Covenant as He says it - and in the Old when I know how to see all that God speaks in the Old through the eyes of Christ?

But I will disagree with God if I hold in my mind things that God does NOT say. And especially if I speak what God does not say with my mouth.

I now understand why so many Christians are so anxious to argue that it's not the "Bible" or the words of the New Testament, but that we must follow the Spirit of Christ, almost "separate" from the Bible. Don't get me wrong, God says that apart from the Spirit of Christ, the words on the page will kill us. But it is evident to me that the Spirit of God apart from the words on the page becomes nothing more than following the fancy that the human mind is capable of dreaming up.

People who love jeopardy and hate grace use the same argument against the words of the New Testament as do those who love grace and hate jeopardy. Why? Jeopardy people know there is too much grace in the New Testament and so they must convince their people that the Spirit of God would take them beyond all that immature "grace" that is only for babes.  I am not exaggerating here, this is half of Christianity I'm talking about, and I have heard this argument preached from the pulpit under a mighty anointing. On the other hand, Grace people know there is too much jeopardy in the New Testament and so they must convince their people that the Spirit of God would take them beyond all that immature "jeopardy" that is only for babes. And this argument also is preached under mighty anointing.

Why on earth can't we just believe what God says, all that God says. We cannot fulfill it by performance. We know that. Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing."

It amazes me when I read people say, "Well I just don't "agree" with Mr. Yordy." If I am not speaking what God speaks, then show me that God does not say that. If God does say that in His word, what is there to agree or disagree over? We may not understand all that God means, but we can surely BELIEVE it.

Search the word, search the word! But it will only do you or me good if we believe what God says as He says it.

God is a big God and He contradicts Himself in His word big time. There is a positive current and a negative. The positive must guide and rule the negative, but if the negative current is removed, the positive current will go off into left field, and vice versa. (A sister who reads these letters shared this analogy with me.) I am perfectly free to lay two words that seem to us to oppose each other side by side, to receive both, to teach both, and to believe both.

Jesus said "Man does not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that comes out of the mouth of God." That is not so hard. We don't have to make God humanly reasonable, we just have to live.

Here is the point. Every single human being who approaches the Bible WILL see the words on the page through a LENS. That lens consists of the "rules of reality" that they have adopted concerning PURPOSE.

When it comes to reading the Bible, there are two primary purposes available for us through which to see all that God speaks.

1.   God's purpose is to take a bunch of sinners to a wonderful place called heaven after they die even though they don't deserve it.

2.   God's purpose is many sons just like Jesus, to conform me into the image of His dear Son - and thus to reveal Himself to His creation through me.

The first purpose is assumed by almost all Christians, though God never says it or anything like it.

The second purpose God says over and over in so many different ways that it is inconceivable that all Christians do not see it.

Yet they do not.

When I look at ALL that God says from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, I see it through the eyes of Romans 8:28-30. Every other thing God says helps us to understand Romans 8:28-30 and helps us to know how it is fulfilled in our lives.

But if you are not brave enough to rid yourself of that MOST important verse that God does NOT say, you will always fall back on that NOT verse in unbelief. You will always settle for the in-part.

I am not, of course, saying there is no "heaven" or that those Christians who die are not in "heaven." Heaven is the realm of spirit. Heaven is all around us. Our spirits right now live and walk in heaven. I am in heaven right now as much as I ever will be. I am in heaven right now as much as those who have died. Their problem is they are not in the earth. And God says that they are awaiting their return to it.

If I am fully conformed to the image of Christ, if God reveals Himself to His creation in all of His glory through me, then it makes no difference if I am on earth or on Mars or in heaven or in Hades or "floating" around in some obscure place in some far distant realm of heaven or standing on some planet in some galaxy on the other side of the universe. Where I am makes no difference for there I am in the purpose of God and He reveals Himself through me.

And here's a thought for you. We will be far more in the purpose and intention of God busting into Hades and walking its murky depths, bringing light and love to all who live in its shadow than what those who are in-part in heaven are experiencing right now. Jesus said that Hades' gates and barriers CANNOT keep us out. We will bust them down and we will go into hell.

If that won't blow people's minds, I don't know what will. Part of God's future for me as the revelation of His glory is to send me into hell. [Though God does say a number of things that lead me to believe that, since God does not say that directly, feel perfectly free to set it solidly on your shelf.]

Please understand, when I talk about "the most important verses in the Bible," I am not interested in establishing some "summa theologica" or the directives of a sect or to pronounce myself to have arrived at the knowledge of what it's all about. Past the first eight that I shared in my last letter, I quickly realized that a swirl of "favorite" verses came sweeping in and yours are as great as mine. In fact, I had to make myself stop, lest I rewrite the Bible inside the "most important verses." Actually, the most important supporting verse is the one that God is speaking through to you or to me right now.

But I will continue to contend that those first eight "verses" are the lens through which we ought to view all that God speaks. And that everything God says and everything He is doing in our lives now and in the future fits itself into that framework.

I have constructed a rough and simple diagram that puts these 8 verses into a relationship together and shows how all other things God says finds their place inside that pattern. I usually don't care for "diagrams" of spiritual things, but I like this one, mostly because I made it. Have a look if you want. Feel free to print it out and to ponder it. I suspect God could speak to you through this pattern. God can speak through all kinds of things.

(If you print it out, when the print box comes up on your screen, click on Properties, then on the top tabs, click on "Finishing." Change it from Portrait to Lancdscape - then Okay. Back in the print box, open the Page Scaling list and choose "Fit to Printable area," then click "Print.")

The Purpose of God (pdf)

And so my purpose in using the term "most important verses" is to stir people's hearts. To cause them to ask themselves, "What really does God say?" and "Do I believe all that God says in the Covenant I signed with Him?" and "What things do I hold to be 'true' that God actually never says?"

I did challenge the brother who wrote the comment about the sentence on my website that paraphrases the most important verse in the Bible. He replied kindly, but with intellectual questions out of evangelical thinking that had nothing to do with believing what God says and in which I could not see (and I'm not good at seeing very well) a shadow of a longing, a cry, a thirst, to know more deeply and intimately the Glorious and Holy One who fills his heart.

I had hoped that somewhere inside this equation, he would be stirred by the very counsel he himself gave. Counsel I have followed all the years I have walked with God. I had hoped that he would get on his knees beside his bed, with his Bible open before Him and say, "Oh Father, Father, show me what you do actually say in your Word. Open my eyes, Father, and cause me to believe what You say as You say it." And to stay in the posture for hours and days and months and years. A heart opened wide with thirst.

I had hoped.

So I cannot answer his questions because I don't think that way at all. Others have that gift, and Jesus is well able to save each of us to the uttermost.

From the beginning, God determined that I would be just like Jesus.

I belong to You, let it be to me as You say.

Blessings in Christ, Daniel Yordy