Are You Password Protected?
By Kevin Cox
Do you know of anyone who does not use a personal computer? If you do, they are in the minority of the people of the USA. It almost seems that there has been added a fourth essential of life — (1) food, (2) shelter, (3) clothing, and (4) a personal computer. Every business I trade with has some type of computer in their business. In fact, I am writing this article using a personal computer.
Along with computers come inevitable passwords. (If you are like me, sometimes you forget which password you need to use.) The passwords are designed to protect other users from accessing your personal confidential information. You have probably heard the horror stories of people who have had their passwords stolen, and their personal information was used to destroy their
An interesting passage of the Bible deals with “passwords”. It is found in the book of Judges 12:6 ” Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. ” (KJV) Jepthah, a judge of the Israelites was warring with the Ephraimites. When Jepthah’s soldiers would catch a suspect, they would ask him if he was an Ephraimite? If he lied and said, “Nay”, then they would ask him to say Shibboleth. As verse six so aptly states, they couldn’t correctly form the word Shibboleth, but would speak it as Sibboleth. Jepthah and his army slew forty-two thousand of them because they couldn’t speak the password correctly.
Quite obviously, passwords are important. I have always thought that if I was an Ephraimite in that crowd that I would have been practicing how to say Shibboleth before my turn to say it. (And, I have always wondered if any of them did — and escaped because they were able to say it correctly. Only God knows the answer to that question.)
Recently, my son was away from home and asked me to find some information on his personal computer. He told me his password, and directed me to a list of his many passwords that he has saved for particular websites. I was astounded — he had listed at least thirty different passwords for multiple applications. It began to dawn on me — this computer generation really does understand the need of passwords. But then my thoughts began to query, “Does this generation know the most important passwords?”
Are you password protected?” In John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (KJV) This obviously means you must be baptized in the saving name of Jesus, and filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. I wouldn’t risk facing the great Judge, and have him ask whether or not I had taken His name in baptism. The name “Jesus” is the “password” for baptism. The apostle Peter said it this way, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 (KJV)
How awesome it is to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance. I am convinced that speaking in tongues is the “passwords” needed to be born again of the Spirit. It is such a wonderful experience, and so totally from God, that I wonder why anyone would decline wanting to speak in other tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. Again, I wouldn’t want to risk having the great Judge ask me why I had not spoken in His language, as He gave the utterance?
So, if you are reading this today, and you have not been baptized in Jesus’ name and spoken with other tongues as you received the gift of the Holy Ghost, then I urge you to go to a United Pentecostal Church. There you will get the “passwords”. of eternal life. There you will meet people who have taken His name, and have spoken in other tongues as He gave the utterance. As the old song says, “It’s real, it’s real, I know it’s real, it’s Pentecostal blessings and I know, I know it’s real.”
This material is copyrighted and may be used to study & research purposes only
