The Covert Bible...



Do you realize that the Bible has some verses which have a covert or hidden meaning? These are sometimes not readily apparent to the average reader or Bible study student. However these covert meanings could shed a bit of light to understanding the message that Holy Scripture is presenting to us. Some of these meanings are definitive and others are of conjecture. They can be found in the beginning of Scripture and in the end (the bookends), and in many books in between.


Following are several examples.
I would not hesitate to say that there are probably hundreds more that would be beneficial as powerful teaching tools. 

 Genesis 1:3, the first day,
"And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light."
But then in Genesis 1:13-18, not until the third day, did GOD make the sun and the moon to give this light. 
So the covert message is, "what (or Who) gave the light on the first day?". Conjecture? Maybe, but maybe not. Let us look in the last book for an answer.

Revelation 21:22-24,
"And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (23) And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (24) By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it,"

 Genesis 1:26-27,
"And he said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. (27) And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them."

Notice in verse 26 that GOD referred to Himself as plural, 'Us' and 'Our'. But in verse 27 He has referred to Himself as 'his' and 'he'.
These verses covertly taught us that GOD is more than one person, yet in only one GOD.

 Genesis, 2:21-22,
"Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. (22) And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam."

A covert addition to these verses is that the first woman came from man, and after that, all men came from woman. 


 Genesis 11:4-8,
"Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." (5) And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. (6) And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. (7) Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." (8) So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Notice in verse 5 and 8, the word 'Lord' is singular and in verse 7 the Lord said "let us go down", plural, again showing a hint of the Holy Trinity.
Why was the Lord upset that the people were building the tower? It is because in the first verse they said they did not want to be scattered upon the face of the whole earth. That was against the previous commands of the Lord 'to fill the earth' in Genesis 1:28 and 9:1.

Genesis 1:28,
"And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth."
Genesis 9:1,
"And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth."

 Genesis 18:1-3,
"And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. (2) He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, (3) and said, "My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant."

Did you see the hidden message in those three verses? The word 'Lord', singular, is used twice in those three verses, yet there are three men, not a singular man. Those verses taught us that there are three persons in one GOD, a reference to the Holy Trinity.

 Exodus 12:37, King James. 
"And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children."

The Douay, Septuagint, Vulgate, and Geneva Bible versions are about the same reading as the KJ.

It should be easy for you to see what is missing in this verse, what with all those men and all those children and yet no women.
Covertly, they must have been there. They simply were not mentioned. Interestingly, some later Bible versions do mention women in this verse, but as you can see, five of the older versions do not. Doesn't that suggest that the terms 'political correctness' and/or  'inclusive language' have been injected into the newer Bible versions?


 2Kings 2:11,
"And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold, a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

Was Elias really taken up to the heaven of GOD? If you think he was then you have a big problem, a Biblical conflict.
John 3:13,
"
And no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven."

In order to resolve this dilemma, you have to know something about Hebrew beliefs. They believed in multiple heavens with GOD in the highest. Elias was taken up to the heavens, the sky. See 2Corinthians 12:2 where Saint Paul mentioned a third heaven. 

 Micah 5:2,
"And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda, out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity."

This is a covert message for those who are still awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Anyone who has seen Bethlehem recently will note immediately that it is no longer a 'little one' but has had great growth. So doesn't that tell us that the Messiah must have already arrived sometime in the past?

 Malachi 1:11,
"For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."

This is a prophesy of the sacrifice of the Mass. Covertly or by conjecture, it is Gentiles who will offer the sacrifice of the Mass and not those who are still awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.

Matthew 2:1-3, 
"When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,  (2) Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him. (3) And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him."

Why was Herod troubled? Well one reason is that he did not want to have another King to challenge him and his realm.
But there is another covert reason.
Herod was an Idumean (Greek for the Hebrew word Edomite), and he was well aware of a prophesy in the book of Numbers as Edom being dispossessed, as a Star rises from Jacob.

Numbers 24:17-18,
"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth (18) And he shall possess Idumea: the inheritance of Seir shall come to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully."

 Matthew 11:11,
"
Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

Whoa! Some will say that this verse teaches us that John the Baptist is greater than the Blessed Virgin Mary since she was born of woman. This is a prime example of someone taking a verse out of
context in order to make a point.
First of all, Jesus Himself was born of woman. Those who say John was greater than the BVM will then have to admit that he was also greater than Jesus.
Second, Jesus was talking about Prophets. See the two previous verses 11:9 and 11:10 for the context.
Third, take a look at Luke 7:28,
"
For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.
But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God is greater than he
." (Douay and KJ)

 Matthew 13:10-11,
"Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" (11) And he answered them,
"
To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given."
See Mark 4:10-11, and Luke 8:9-10 for similar verses.

Now, can you think of a reason why Jesus said what He said in those verses? I can think of one covert reason.
It was because He was setting up His Church as His teaching authority.
Saint Paul said it best in:
2Timothy 2:2,
"and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 

 Matthew 28:19-20,
"Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."

'Teach all nations' means 'universal', the meaning of the word '
Catholic'.
Again we see the word 'name', singular, for all three persons of the Holy Trinity. The last sentence is overt but in case someone doesn't realize it, this is where Jesus promised to be with His Church every day in every century until the end of time. This means there will be no gaps, not one single day, and not a chance of His Church going into
apostasy, as some suggest that it did.

 Mark 1:40-45,
"And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." (41) Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "
I will; be clean." (42) And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. (43) And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, (44) and said to him, "See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people." (45) But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter."

Lepers were not allowed to enter towns and mingle with the people.
Leviticus 13:46,
"He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp."

So, what is the covert meaning regarding Mark 1:44?
Why did Jesus say to tell no one?
It was because He knew He could not enter towns anymore because of the crowds flocking to Him after hearing of His miraculous healings. However the cleansed lepers could now go into towns but Jesus could not.


 Mark 6:3,
"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."

There are two covert messages in the underlined portion of that verse.
1. It says 'the son of Mary' instead of 'a son of Mary'. This taught us that Mary had only one son.
2. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus is not mentioned. This indicated that he was probably dead at the time.

Go
here to see who were the true parents of the 'brothers' mentioned in that verse.


Luke 8:22-25,
"Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them,
Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. (23) But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. (24) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. (25) And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him."

Did you see the covert association in these verses? Here are a couple of hints:

Isaiah 54:11,
"O poor little one,
tossed with tempest, without all comfort, behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires,"

1Peter 3:20,
"Which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water."

The covert simbolism is that the Church which Jesus Christ founded is associated with ships caught in stormy seas. The only souls that were saved in the great flood were those who were inside the Ark. In the storm at sea as recounted in Luke 8, those who were
aboard the ship were saved by Jesus.
The covert message here is that Jesus will come to the aid of His Church when it
appears to be under attack.

 Luke 22:19,
"And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

I will bet that almost everyone missed the covert fact that Jesus held His own body in His hands as He said those words. 

 John 7:3-5,
"So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing. (4) For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world." (5) For even his brothers did not believe in him.

This is a perfect covert message to make plain for those who claim that Blessed Mary had other children, the '
brothers' of Jesus.
Jesus lived with His mother and foster father until he started His ministry at age 30 (Luke 3:23). His supposed '
brothers' must have lived in the same household for many years with Jesus. His mother and foster father knew who he was. So are those who insist that Jesus had brothers are saying that His brothers did not know who he was, and did not 'believe in him'?


 John 8:31,
"Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him:
If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. (32) And you shall know the truth: and the truth shall make you free."

These verses are intentionally covert from many non-Catholic sources. 
How many times have you heard them say,  'the truth will make you free'?
It is a classic example of taking a passage 
out of context and ignoring the rest. There is that little very BIG word 'IF' that makes 'the truth will make you free' a two way conditional statement.
1. First you must keep the word as Jesus said,  "
If you continue in my word", so all of the commands of Jesus must be kept.
2. Second, you must know the truth before it will make you free. So the converse is applicable too. If you do not know the truth then the truth will NOT make you free.



 John 14:16-17,
"
And I will ask the Father: and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever: (17) The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him. But you shall know him; because he shall abide with you and shall be in you."

This verse is very clear but some simply do not get the message. Let us put it into context. In these verses, said during the last supper, Jesus spoke to His Apostles, who will be the future leaders of His Church. Read all of John 13 and 14 and you will see several Apostles named. The 'Spirit of truth' will be given to the leaders of His Church only, and not to the world. It is a complimentary verse to 1Timothy 3:15, which states that it is the Church that is the foundation and pillar of truth. And why is it? We are given the answer to that question in John 14:17.
It is because the Spirit of Truth abides in the Church which Jesus Christ founded.
What about Judas Iscariot? Was this promise given to him also? No, notice that he left the last supper in John 13:30-31.

 John 15:22,
"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin
."

Did this verse register with you? There is a lot of covert inspiration in it.
Remember, truth is a person, the person of Jesus the Christ (John 14:6).
Jesus did come and speak truth to the people, as He walked the Earth then.
Where do you find His truth today? Through what or whom does He speak today?
Holy Scripture told us where:
1Timothy 3:15,
"But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
So you hear the truth through the one and only Church that Jesus the Christ founded.
1Timothy 3:15 does say 'church' (singular) and not churches, does it not?

Elucidation:
When you are told the truth through His Church today, you have no excuse for not believing it.



Acts 1:8,
"
But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth."

Now what did that verse tell you that is not readily apparent? There are many verses in Holy Scripture similar to that one in that they may have additional
common sense clues that are helpful in our understanding of the message that they convey to us. 
It is in the last part where Jesus commissioned His Apostles to be witnesses for Him in Jerusalem (local), Judea and Samaria (spreading out) and even to the uttermost part of the world (world wide). The Apostles can easily satisfy the first three locations in their lifetimes, but what about "to the uttermost part of the earth"? How will the Apostles accomplish that in one lifetime? The answer is, they cannot. There you can clearly see
continuity. The Apostles will not live long enough to spread the word to the whole world, so they will have to pass to someone else the commission that Jesus bestowed upon them. The message of continuity of the Church which Jesus Christ founded was not readily apparent overtly, but it was however, there covertly.
Acts 1:8 has set the stage for
Apostolic Succession, continuity of His Church without even overtly mentioning it, but covertly it did, and it did it quite well.

 Acts 2:32,
"This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses."
Acts 10:39-40,
"And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; (40) but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest;"

There are many verses which state that GOD raised Jesus from the dead. There is no verse that said Jesus raised Himself from the dead.
Overtly, this is not explained by Holy Scripture, but covertly it is. Remember that Jesus the Christ has
two natures, one divine (the Christ) and one human (Jesus). In His human nature, He could not raise Himself from the dead, but in His divine nature He did.
We must remember that the Holy Trinity consists of three distinct but not separate persons in one GOD. Where one is, so are the other two.

 Acts 20:31,
"Therefore watch, keeping in memory that for three years I ceased not with tears to admonish every one of you, night and day."

This is an interesting verse. Since Saint Paul admonished the people of Ephesus for three years, then why is his letter to the Ephesians only six chapters long and can be read in one hour or less? Has this verse instructed us covertly that only a fraction of what Saint Paul taught the Ephesians night and day for three years is in the Bible (John 20:30,21:25)? 

 Romans 15:20,
"And I have so preached this gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man a foundation."

Non-Catholics try to show from this verse that Peter was not in Rome. However, Romans was written at Corinth during the winter of 57-58 and Peter went to Rome before that time. Eusebius wrote that St. Peter had been Bishop of Rome for 25 years. Since he was crucified in 67, that would place Peter in Rome in the year 42. St. Paul alluded to another Apostle in this verse, that he did not want to build upon anothers foundation. That other was no doubt St. Peter. Why would St. Paul be writing an Epistle to the Romans unless the Church was already
established there?


 1Corinthians 11:26-29,
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (27) Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. (28) Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself."

Those verses are glossed over or ignored by Non-Catholics, and yet, they are so clear.
Verse 26: Non-Catholics say that Catholics sacrifice Christ over and over again in the Mass. The key word in that verse is 'proclaim' which means to declare, preach, show, speak of, teach (Strongs). That is what the Catholic Church does.
Verse 27: Non-Catholics teach that the Holy Eucharist is only a symbol. Well if that were true, how could anyone profane a symbol?
Verse 28: 'Examine himself' means to take an examination of conscience to make sure that we are not in mortal sin before partaking of the Eucharist. If it were only a symbol, then why examine ourselves?
Verse 29: This verse said  'without discerning the body'. If it is only a symbol, then what body?

In these verses there is nothing covert to those who know the truth of what they teach us. But for those who do not know, or try to ignore the truth, then to them the messages are covert.

 Galatians 1:18-19,
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. (19) But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother."

The Lord's brother? The Lord had a brother? Well, Saint Paul told us in the same verse that James was also an Apostle, the covert message. There were two Apostles named James, so to delve into the covert meaning of the verse we must determine who the parents of each of them were. Scripture teaches us that one was the son of Alpheus as shown in Acts 1:13, and the other was the son of Zebedee in Matthew 4:21. Consequently, neither James was the
blood brother of the Lord.

 2Timothy 3:15,
"And because from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures which can instruct thee to salvation by the faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Well here is a stealthy verse, a very covert one indeed. Can you figure it out for yourself? If not, consider this:
2Timothy was written by Saint Paul just before his death, as he wrote in 2Timothy 4:6-8.
It is known that he was beheaded in 67. So this book, probably his last, was written in 66 or 67 A.D..
St Paul addressed this book to Timothy who was the Bishop of Ephesus at the time (1Timothy 1:3).
In order to be a bishop Timothy must have been at least 30 years old.
By simple subtraction, 66 or 67 minus 30 would put Timothy's infancy at about 36 or 37A.D..
That date predates what is thought to be the first book written by Saint Paul (1Thessalonians, written about 52) by many years.
Consequently, the 'Holy Scriptures known by Timothy from his infancy' could be only the Old Testament.

 Hebrews 13:17,
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." 
 
Who are those who 'have the rule over you' and 'for they watch for your souls'?
It can be none other than the Bishops in the Church which Jesus founded. It is the duty of the Bishop to guide us unto salvation.
We have a duty to be obedient to our Bishop and not cause him grief.


 Revelation 13:18,
"Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast.
For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six.

Aah, the infamous  verse, the number of the beast. And who is the beast? Well the verse said it is a man. But does that mean it is really and truly a man?
Languages:
Holy Scripture was originally written in several languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. But are you reading it in the original language? No, you are reading Scripture in English if you are reading this page. The book of Revelation was written in Greek by Saint John, so you are reading an English translation of a Greek verse. Since every language has its own meaning of words that do not necessarily agree 100% with the English translation, then it becomes mandatory to go to the original language for the proper interpretation of a word in question. The word in question in this verse is 'man'. The Greek word used in this verse for 'man' is 'anthropos'.
Thayer Definition: Anthropos
1) a human being, whether male or female
1a) generically, to include all human individuals
1b) to distinguish man from beings of a different order

Usually the first of multiple definitions as this, carries the most weight. So the Thayer definition said that it could be either a man or a woman.
An additional note:
Throughout the Bible, women were sometimes not even mentioned even though covertly they must have been there.
Previously we looked at Exodus 12:37 where there were 600,000 men on foot, not counting children (KJ, DRB).
Children but no women? How in the world did those 600,000 men accomplish that?

 Revelation 22:18-19,
"For I testify to every one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book. (19) And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things that are written in this book."

Now covertly, do these words apply only to the book of Revelation, or do they apply to all of the books in the Bible? There are arguments on both sides of that question. Those that answer 'no' say that Revelation was written in around 95 A.D., so Saint John had no knowledge of an assemblage of the books to be included in Holy Scriptures centuries after his death. Those who answer 'yes', point to the fact that "All Scripture is inspired by GOD, and is useful for teaching:" (2Timothy 3:16). And therefore none of it can be added to or deleted.

That statement is reinforced by several additional verses in other books:

Deuteronomy 12:32,
"Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it."

Psalms 119:57,
"The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep thy words."

Proverbs 5:7,
"And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth."

Proverbs 30:5-6, "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (6) Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you, and you be found a liar."
Wow! Some pretty potent warnings in that verse. 

Ecclesiastes 3:14,
"I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him."

Jeremiah 23:36,  "And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God."

Galatians 1:8-9,
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. (9) As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema."
How many times have you seen a verse repeated as that one was? Why does anyone repeat himself?

1Peter 1:25,
"But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel hath been preached unto you."

2Peter 3:16-17, "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. (17) You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness."

So by taking Revelation 22:18-19 and adding all of the above verses to it, the covert consesus from both the Old Testament and the New Testament is:
DO NOT ADD TO OR DELETE FROM THE HOLY WORDS OF GOD

One lifetime is not long enough for any human person to digest everything
written overtly or extracted covertly from the one book that we call the Bible.



©
Written by Bob Stanley, September 29, 2008
Updated, October 10, 2008
30


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