by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
“Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it’<\/em>” (II Kings 22:8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
How did the book become lost? The whole service should have centered around honoring God and His word. All I can figure is that the priests got entangled in worldly things and did not enjoy reading a book that condemns their actions. They probably reasoned that the book was old-fashioned and out of step with the times. The idolatry service was more fashionable and entertaining, more appealing with the visuals and pleasurable music and dances to the beat of the drums. Besides, nobody was tuning in to that book, the boring readings, and those priests who can’t read very well anyway. We need a jazzier service, they thought. So the Book of the Law was placed in the back room, where other pieces of junk were stored, out of sight and, for years, out of mind. That is how God’s book became neglected and lost.<\/p>\n
First, people lose interest in hearing it. Second, they dismiss its importance, then seek a replacement that entertains them more. This is what has happened to modern churches. This is why morality is in such decline. No one, even in churches, knows and appreciates the Book. We need to clean our temples, find the Book, and get back to reading and practicing what it teaches.<\/p>\n
Have you lost your way? Has the whole church you attend lost the Book?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton “Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it’” (II Kings 22:8) How did the book become lost? The whole service should have centered around honoring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,219],"class_list":["post-62333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68059,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/josiah-and-the-book\/","url_meta":{"origin":62333,"position":0},"title":"Josiah and the Book","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores During Josiah's temple repairs, an astounding find was the impetus of a new force in a revival already underway. The Book of God's law had been found ... by a priest no less! But how long had the Book of the Law been lost? Since Josiah's great-grandfather\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56476,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-breathed\/","url_meta":{"origin":62333,"position":1},"title":"God Breathed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Stan Cox In II Timothy 3, the apostle Paul penned a wonderful sentence that establishes both the precious nature of the words contained in our Bibles and their efficacy in ordering our lives as His servants. \"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48252,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-moses-write-a-second-book-of-law-and-that-was-the-one-taken-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":62333,"position":2},"title":"Did Moses write a second book of Law and that was the one taken away?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings my brother, I'm very happy about the website. I have studied a lot from it. I count many subjects that helped me to teach better through your website. Thank you. Regarding the Ten Commandments: There is a claim that the book that stood against them was the one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12937,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-apocrypha\/","url_meta":{"origin":62333,"position":3},"title":"The Apocrypha","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When addressing what books are accepted into the Old Testament canon, you will run into a set of writings known as the Apocrypha \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cApocrypha\u201d means \u201cdoubtful writings\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are 15 books or writings which fall under this heading \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Roman Catholic church accepts 12 of these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86370,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-psalms-110\/","url_meta":{"origin":62333,"position":4},"title":"Jesus and Psalms 110","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Jesus is very definitely the figure described and intended by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 1 is making the argument that Jesus is \"so much better than the angels\" (Hebrews 1:4) and has \"a more excellent name than they.\" The Holy Spirit applied Psalms 2:7, 45:6-7, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85077,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/control\/","url_meta":{"origin":62333,"position":5},"title":"Control","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Chatfield via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 4, June 30, 1991 Several days ago, I went for a lunchtime walk near the Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington, D.C., near my office. I was considering the fine weather and fresh breeze. Suddenly, a sheet from the Washington\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}