Have you ever heard a Christian teacher tell you to insert your name into a verses in the Bible when you see such words and phrases as “the world,” “whosoever,” “me,” “my” “him,” “her,” “them,” and other personal pronouns? Now there’s actually a business that will print a personalized Bible with your name inserted in it more than 7,000 times… as if everything in it applies to you. Hard to believe, but you can actually see and buy it here; https://personalisedbible.com/ I do not recommend this and you will see why.

By inserting your name, instead of reading “God so loved the world” (Jn. 3:16), it then could read like this:

“God so loved the world ‘Joe the Plumber,’ that he gave his only begotten Son…”

You might say, what’s wrong with that? Well, while the promise is legitimate, neither Joe the Plumber or you are “the world.”

Or maybe you could personalize Psalm 23 to say…

“The Lord is my ‘little orphan Annie’s’ shepherd; I ‘orphan Annie’ shall not want.”

You might say, what’s wrong with that? Well, this is a more serious error as it a prophetic Psalm of David concerning God’s provision for Israel during the coming Tribulation period while Antichrist is ruling. So, it doesn’t apply to any of us Gentiles members of “the body of Christ” today.

Many misuse the Bible by assuming this verse to say …

“If my people [of the USA], which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land [of North America].” (2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

You might say, what’s wrong with that? Well first, the “my people” is not today’s members of “the church, the body of Christ” located in the USA. We are not the ‘Nation Israel,’ which this instruction concerns. Secondly, the “land” to be healed is very ‘the Land of Israel’ in the Mideast, which is not even close to the USA on the continent of North America.

These are examples of corrupting of the Bible by changing its words or thinking to change its words and ignoring context. These distort Bible truth by misappropriating God’s promises unto one’s self-interest when these ‘promises of God’ actually belong to another party or person – most often belonging to the Nation Israel!

Now consider this verse when it is corrupted by my inserting my name, Arthur.

“And whatsoever ye Arthur shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.¹⁴ If ye Arthur shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14 KJV)

Jesus here above is addressing and concerned with Israel only as He was during His earthly ministry to Israel ONLY. But, if I were ignorant of the need to recognize that these verses ONLY concern the ‘Nation Israel,’ I might personally think I must have a problem because my prayers are never answered like this. The danger is that in not getting what I prayed for, some well-meaning Christian might accuse me by saying, “Well, you lacked faith,” or that “There is sin in your life.” This could then unnecessarily lead me to self-condemnation and perhaps distancing myself from the Lord for such shame (but He actually loves them unconditionally).

So, it can be harmful to your faith when you foolishly claim the promises of God toward ‘Israel’ when they are not fulfilled … only because they DON’T Apply To US Gentiles of this age of the sustaining “grace of God.” This is typical of the danger of taking and personalizing all the Bible’s promises to Israel as if they were for ourselves.