Call on the Name of the Lord -- Jared Anderson

Here are the lyrics to the song.

Call on the name of the Lord
Call on the name of the Lord
Call on the name of the Lord
And be saved and be saved

Come to the water and be purified
Though your sin be a scarlet
He will wash it white as snow

Call on the name of the Lord
Call on the name of the Lord
Call on the name of the Lord
And be saved and be saved

All those who seek Him surely find
All those who know Him
Drink from the well of everlasting life

Call on the name of the Lord
Call on the name of the Lord
Call on the name of the Lord
And be saved and be saved

Yes, everything this song speaks about it true.  Call on the Lord and he will save you.  You will be purified and will have eternal life.

Romans 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

 John 6:47 “I assure you: Anyone who believes has eternal life.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

To me, this is one of those feel good, all inclusive songs, that say anyone can come to Christ and it will be easy.  Just say his name and you are saved. What this song fails to mention is (as was written in a previous post)

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: The Lord knows those who are His, and Everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness.

Yes, calling on the name of the Lord will save you, but you must also do the will of God and turn away from unrighteousness and sin.  I know that no person will ever completely turn away from sin in this life, but it is what we are striving to do in our sanctification.  No, your works will not save you.  If you are saved, then you will want to do the good works, which are the will of God.

The song  fails to mention that we must be in the Father's will and turn from those scarlet sins and remain white as snow, as best we can.  It is not easy to be a Christian.  Simply saying, "Lord, Lord" and doing nothing to further the kingdom of our Lord is not going to get you into heaven.  You must give up sin.  You must endure persecution. (Granted I have never felt true persecution like our sister and brothers in other countries, but if it were to happen here, we would have to endure).

Overall, while this song is not unbiblical, it does seems to portray an easy Christianity where all you have to do is "call on the name of the Lord" to be able to experience the richness and joy of being a child of God.  To me, the song is shallow and does not go deep into scripture.  For someone who, as Hebrew says, still needs milk, this song would work well, but if you are now eating solid food, you need songs which have a bit of meat to them.

Call on the Name of the Lord

In our service one day, we heard a story from a group of people who had witnessed, what they called, a spiritual moment.  I was not there.  I did not experience it, but something was not quite right with the story.  In the story, a man came into a church service and attempted to strangle a woman.  The pastor, who was a woman, came to stop the man.  She told the congregation to "call on the name of Jesus" while she was trying to defuse the situation.  According to the group, what happened was the congregation literally repeated "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" over and over.  Eventually the man stopped choking the woman and left.  The group felt that just by saying Jesus over and over was the reason the man eventually left and the woman was out of harms way.  

I have a hard time accepting this.  Just saying Jesus over and over has very little value or meaning.  Now, if it were a situation where someone was so scared or distraught that all they could utter was Jesus, then I know that their prayer will be interceded for and be heard, but it seems, from the way the story was told, that no one, but perhaps the woman being hurt, was in such an emotional state where they could not actually pray. 

Here is an illustration on how it would seem if you only said Jesus over and over. 

Person:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Jesus:  Yes, I am here.
Person:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Jesus:  I'm here.
Person:  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Jesus:  Yes?

How should we expect an answer to our prayers if all we say is Jesus.  Yes, the Lord knows our thoughts and our prayers even before we say them, but it is through our prayers that the Lord chooses to work.  Simply saying Jesus is not a prayer.  It is just a name.  The name, Jesus, was a very common name in ancient Israel.  It was not a name unique to Christ.  Just saying Jesus could mean you are talking to almost anyone.

The group brought out this verse to back up their story:

Philippians 2:10 at the name of Jesus every knee will bow.

While I agree this is true, I do feel that it was taken out of context, they did not even use the whole verse.  For one thing, the man did not 'bow' or humble himself in front of this congregation.  He just left, probably still hot and mad.  The full section of this scripture is:

Philippians 2:5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage.
7 Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
9 For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

We know that not every knee has bowed to Christ, but they will.  When he returns.  This section of scripture is showing us how we should be humble and obedient like Christ.  It was for this reason that God exalted Christ so that every knee would bow and every tongue confess in Him.  All this for the Father's glory. 

Notice, that Jesus was given a name that is above every name.  His name is holy and special.  Not just the name Jesus, but who Jesus is.  Like I said earlier, Jesus was a common name in His time, so many people had that name, but none of the others were the Christ.  In Israel, many times, the name of a person reflected who he was or what he did.  So, by making Jesus Christ's name unique and above other names, speaks about his character and actions, not about what his actual name was.

Another disappointing thing about this particular service was the closing song.  We sang "Call on the name of the Lord."  Not the whole song, just the chorus.  Just "call on the name of the Lord and be saved."

Yes, the Bible does say this:

Romans 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

However, the Bible also says:

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: The Lord knows those who are His, and Everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness.

Yes, calling on the name of the Lord will save you, but you must also do the will of God and turn away from unrighteousness and sin.  I know that no person will ever completely turn away from sin in this life, but it is what we are striving to do in our sanctification.  No, your works will not save you.  If you are saved, then you will want to do the good works, which are the will of God. 

Exodus 14:15-15:21 -- Red Sea Crossing

Genesis 14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said: “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” 6 So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him; 7 he took 600 of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out triumphantly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army—chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

Pharaoh changed his mind.  He wanted the Israelites back.  This was all part of God's plan to destroy the Egyptian's strength so they could no long loom over the Israelites and provide fear that they may come back for them.

Exodus 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians coming after them. Then the Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 11 They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

The Israelites are doubting the plan of God.  They see the Egyptians coming in all their might to get them back and all they can think about is dying in the wilderness.  They are not thinking God's way.

Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.16 As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Here God tells Moses what to do to save all the people.  God is going to deliver his people in a mighty way and insure that the Egyptians will not bother them again.

Exodus 14:19 Then the Angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. 20 It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. The cloud was there in the darkness, yet it lit up the night. So neither group came near the other all night long.

During the night, while the Israelites prepared to cross the sea, the cloud separated the Egyptians from the Israelites so no one could be harmed.  God protected the Israelites from the Egyptians.

Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.
23 The Egyptians set out in pursuit—all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen—and went into the sea after them. 24 Then during the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw them into confusion. 25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because Yahweh is fighting for them against Egypt!”

The Egyptians went into the sea after the Israelites.  The Lord caused the chariots and horses to have difficulty crossing, so to delay them long enough for their judgment.

Exodus 14:26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea. 28 The waters came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, the entire army of Pharaoh, that had gone after them into the sea. None of them survived.

So in one moment the entire Egyptian army was devoured by the sea.  All at the hand of God.  

Exodus 14:29 But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

After all the plagues, after all the signs, the people of Israel finally had fear in the Lord and believed in Him and in Moses.  It took the destruction of Egypt for them to see, for their eyes to be opened to the power and glory of their God.

Genesis 15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said:
I will sing to the Lord,
for He is highly exalted;
He has thrown the horse
and its rider into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
This is my God, and I will praise Him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
Yahweh is His name.

 These praises tell us a lot about God.  He is highly exalted.  He is our strength and song.  He is our salvation.  He is worthy of our praise.  He is a warrior and Yahweh is his name.

Exodus 15:4 He threw Pharaoh’s chariots
and his army into the sea;
the elite of his officers
were drowned in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.
6 Lord, Your right hand is glorious in power.
Lord, Your right hand shattered the enemy.
7 You overthrew Your adversaries
by Your great majesty.
You unleashed Your burning wrath;
it consumed them like stubble.
8 The waters heaped up at the blast of Your nostrils;
the currents stood firm like a dam.
The watery depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said:
“I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil.
My desire will be gratified at their expense.
I will draw my sword;
my hand will destroy them.”
10 But You blew with Your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.

With just one hand he destroyed the Egyptians in a display of his glorious power.  He over threw Egypt with his great majesty.

Exodus 15:11 Lord, who is like You among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
revered with praises, performing wonders?
12 You stretched out Your right hand,
and the earth swallowed them.
13 You will lead the people
You have redeemed
with Your faithful love;
You will guide them to Your holy dwelling
with Your strength.

With His faithful love he redeemed His people.  With His strength, they are guided to the holy dwelling.  No one is like our God.  He is glorious, holy, worthy of praise and performs marvelous wonders.

Exodus 15:14 When the peoples hear, they will shudder;
anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified;
trembling will seize the leaders of Moab;
the inhabitants of Canaan will panic;
16 and terror and dread will fall on them.
They will be as still as a stone
because of Your powerful arm
until Your people pass by, Lord,
until the people whom You purchased pass by.

When the other nations here what the Lord has done for Israel, they will also fear God.  They will fear the Israelites because God protects them.  They heard what happened to the Egyptians and they will not want that to happen to them.

Exodus 15:17 You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of Your possession;
Lord, You have prepared the place
for Your dwelling;
Lord, Your hands have established the sanctuary.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever!
19 When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with their tambourines and danced. 21 Miriam sang to them:
Sing to the Lord,
for He is highly exalted;
He has thrown the horse
and its rider into the sea.

Praise God for all he has done for Israel and for us.  He is worthy of our praise even if he did not do all the signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.

Now let us look again at some passages from this section:

Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.

Exodus 15:16 They will be as still as a stone
because of Your powerful arm
until Your people pass by, Lord,
until the people whom You purchased pass by.

These verses remind me of things said of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:10 This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God
and one mediator between God and humanity,
Christ Jesus, Himself human,
6 who gave Himself—a ransom for all,
a testimony at the proper time.

Salvation is in Christ, but God is also our salvation.  God "purchased" his people and Christ was a ransom for all.  Christ purchased our souls through the sacrifice of his blood.  He saved us through his death.  He is our salvation.  God and Christ are one, with the holy spirit.  They are the same but at the same time separate.  Each has their own purpose in the trinity, but they act in one accord, all towards the same goal.

Why reading scripture in context is important!

It is my opinion that scripture must be read in context. You find the meaning in scripture by reading other scripture. This post is sparked by another blog I was directed to (by that blog's author) in which the author of that blog states that reading scripture in context is wrong and scripture is meant to be read out of context. The exact quote from the site is: " you must read the Bible HIS way Isa 28:9-10, 2 Tim 2:15 (OUT of context). The whole world is deceived Rev 12:9 because they read the Bible Satan's way (IN context)."

Lets look at the verses sited:

Isaiah 28:9 Who is he trying to teach?
Who is he trying to instruct?
Infants just weaned from milk?
Babies removed from the breast?
10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.” 

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

Revelations 12:9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

Using these scriptures, she tries to claim that each line should be taken by itself on its own.  In doing this, you can make scripture mean ANYTHING you want.  (The verse in Isaiah is actually talking about drunk priest, if you read the verses before it.  The priest were teaching people simple things: law after law, line after line, a little here, a little there: but Isaiah was saying the priest needed to teach the deeper things of God.  The people were grown adults and need more than the milk of scripture, they needed more than the pureed and mashed up food, they needed real bread).  Lets look at this verse from Luke: (Better yet, lets look at it in the KJV, since that is the only "real" version of scripture according to the other poster -- There will be a post on that later).

Luke 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

What a wonderful promise scripture gives us if we read this OUT of context.  If you will worship me, all shall be yours.  This is wonderful, all we have to do is worship God and we shall get everything.  WRONG.  This is one verse where contexts matters!  Did you know the devil said this?  He said this when tempting Jesus.  Go read the rest of Luke 4.  Get the context and you won't like this verse anymore!

Yes, 2 Timothy 2:15, states you should correctly teach the word of truth.  But how do we do that?  We look at scripture, ALL of scripture, as a whole.  Not just one part.

Genesis 40:8 Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God?"

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20 First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Interpretations from scripture come from GOD and only GOD.  HE is the one who wrote it and HE is the only one who can tell us what it means.

In order to fully grasp what the Bible is trying to say, you must read the passages in context, in context with the verses around it, in context of it's book, and in context of the Bible as a whole.  Another belief I hold to is that the Bible is true and does not contain any contradictions or mistakes.  If you allow the Bible to have mistakes or contains things that are not true, then you cannot believe any of scripture.  Who are you to judge the book of God?  If one thing is false, then all of it is false because we have no way of knowing what is true and what is not.  We cannot pick and choose what WE (man) think is true and what is not.  As we see above, it is God's word.

By taking scriptures out of context, you open up for contradictions.  The Bible cannot contradict itself if every single part of it is true.  If you read a verse and think, but what a minute, it contradicts this other verse over there, then you are interpreting those scriptures incorrectly, in my opinion.  They are both true, so you must look at other scripture to see the full meaning.

Matthew 12:25 Knowing their thoughts, He told them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Here, Jesus says division in a kingdom, home or city (and this can be extended to ANYTHING, even scripture) cannot stand.  If you divide scripture and only take a small part for living, it will not benefit you the way knowing and believing all of scripture, as a whole will.  You need all of scripture to live a Godly life.  You need all of scripture, together, to rightly know God and his plans for salvation.  You cannot understand one concept in the Bible by reading one line.  God's salvation plan is more than John 3:16.  If  you divide the Bible into small parts and twist them to mean what you want, you are spreading a false gospel.  If what you believe is not backed up by ALL of scripture, then what you believe is wrong.

Yes, the whole Earth is deceived by Satan.  That is why we cannot reply on any Earthly interpretation of the Bible.  We must rely on the Bible to interpret the Bible.  If we do not understand one part of scripture, we must look at other scripture to help us understand.  The only way to stop a false prophet is to show them the truth of scripture.  The scripture is the only truth we have.  We cannot rely on our own understanding.  We must rely on God.

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit, 5 so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.
6 However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written:
What eye did not see and ear did not hear,
and what never entered the human mind—
God prepared this for those who love Him.
10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything,even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

"Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit." Hence, scriptures.  God revealed the scripture to the original writers.  God reveals the interpretations to us through the spirit.  We must read the word God gave us through the prophets and apostles and rely on his spirit for guidance.  God did not give us a bunch of little verses and say "do with this as you please," he gave us a whole book and said "read and obey."  All of it.  Not just part.  Not what makes me feel good.  Not what I like, but ALL of it.      

Reading the Bible IN context helps us grasp a full understanding of scripture.  Pulling verses out of context could get you sucked up in one of the Devil's lies.  (Luke 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." (KJV) -- Remember, this is a promise of the Devil, not God).  Context is important.

Genesis 7 -- The Flood Happened!

Genesis 7:1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, 3 and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole earth. 4 Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe off from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.” 5 And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

I notice a consistent theme here in reading about Noah.  He "did everything that the Lord commanded him." He alone was righteous, which is why God decided to spare he and his family from the destruction that was about to come upon the earth.  Noah was faithful to God in that he trusted everything God had told him.  He obeyed God's commands and did not question what the Lord was doing.  We also, should do everything God commands of us.  We should be faithful, like Noah, to follow through with what the Lord commands us to do.

Genesis 7:6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and water covered the earth. 7 So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the waters of the flood.8 From the clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and every creature that crawls on the ground, 9 two of each, male and female, entered the ark with Noah, just as God had commanded him. 10 Seven days later the waters of the flood came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened, 12 and the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. 13 On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him. 14 They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, all birds, every fowl, and everything with wings according to their kinds. 15 Two of all flesh that has the breath of life in it entered the ark with Noah. 16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood continued for 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. 18 The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. 20 The mountains were covered as the waters surged above them more than 20 feet. 21 Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. 22 Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils—everything on dry land died. 23 He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.

Through the flood, God destroyed everything that was not on the ark.  Every creature that walked along the face of the earth and all birds of the air.   Many people try to say that the flood could not have possibly cover the whole earth and cover all the mountains in 20 feet of water.  Why not?  Why couldn't God have done that?  Many cultures have a story of a great flood and how people repopulated the earth.  To say it was localized to Noah's region does not account for all the stories other cultures tell.  Now, I believe the Bible portrays the accurate version of events.  The others, though having some truth, are not completely accurate.  Everyone likes to use the game telephone to describe this.  The Bible tells the true story, but others heard the story passed down from generation to generation, and the story slightly changes or parts are exaggerated and then myths are formed.  Now, you may say, "what a minute, wasn't the story in the Bible passed down from generation to generation, so it would have mistakes too, right?"  No!  And here is why:  The Bible is the inspired word of God.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

ALL scripture is inspired by God.  God does not lie!  He always tells the truth.

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on My own, but He sent Me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Who among you can convict Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe Me? 47 The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.”

John records Jesus's words here saying that the Devil is the father of all liars.  Jesus says he speaks the truth!   Paul also plainly states that God cannot lie:

Titus 1:1 Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to build up the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

Since God does not lie and all scripture is inspired by God, then all scripture is true.

Psalm 119:The entirety of Your word is truth,
and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.

Since all scripture is true, we must obey what it says.  By faith, we believe that the words are true, as the Bible describes.  Like Noah, we must do "everything that the Lord commanded" us.