The topics of these presentations are in random order. Please search for the subjects that attract your interests. Pray for guidance.
March, 2022
This is not an article, but it has a wonderful message.
One of the most deceptive doctrines of Babylon is the doctrine of the…MORE
Noah: A Story of Warning, Not Amusement
The release of the major Hollywood film Noah has created a deluge of reactions both inside and outside the Christian community. MORE
On November 19, 1961, Michael Rockefeller disappeared. The youngest son of U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and a recent graduate of Harvard, Michael went on an anthropological expedition to New Guinea.
Archaeology Confirms the Bible.
The authenticity of its stories and of the people that lived in its history has been authenticated by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948.
The doctrine of immortality of man's soul constitutes a central pillar that upholds pivotal beliefs of numerous mainstream Christian denominations, which dovetails into the doctrine of an eternal place of torment for lost souls.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Much argument has taken place over whether the words of Jesus in Luke 16:19-31 were intended to be understood literally or as a parable. Some Christians feel that in this story, Jesus was offering His hearers a glimpse of what existence in the afterlife is like. Others, citing numerous passages of Scripture that seem to contradict the portrayal of heaven and hell contained in this passage, feel that Jesus was teaching an altogether different kind of lesson. Unfortunately, many modern religious teachers have isolated the story from its original context and used it … Read More…
Hell-Fire: A Twisted Truth Untangled
One of the most theologically confused subjects in the Bible is that of hell. It has been fumbled by the clergy and distorted by the laity until the word has become best known as a common vulgarism and expletive. Everywhere people are asking the same questions: What and where is hell? What is the fate of the wicked? Will a God of love torture people throughout eternity? Will the fire of hell ever burn the wickedness out of sinners?
These are questions which deserve sound Bible answers, and the controversy surrounding the subject should not discourage us from exposing all the truth as it is in Christ. First of all, we need to understand that there is a heaven to win and a hell to shun. Jesus taught that every soul will be either saved or lost. There is no neutral place, and there are no second….
MATTHEW 7:
13 Enter ye in at the strait (narrow) gate for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it
Jesus
The Mind of Christ - How to Have It.
http://www.philippianstwofive.com
La Mente de Cristo: cómo tenerla
JESUS IS COMING BACK THE SAME WAY HE LEFT
That question revolves around the manner of Christ's coming back to this earth at the end of the world. Multitudes have been led to believe that Christ will return secretly. What about the so-called secret rapture? A large number of Christians have been exposed to this "dispensationalist" or "futurist" interpretation of prophecy and have been hopelessly confused.
According to this view, the coming of Jesus will...Read More...
"A fundamentalist group, even if it kills no one, even it strikes no one, is violent. The mental structure of fundamentalism is violence in the name of God.” Pope Francis 2014
So what is the definition of “Fundamentalism”?
What do the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches say about the holy day of worship?
CHRIST TOOK OUR NATURE Dennis Priebe
Much debate has centered on whether Jesus took our fallen nature or Adam's nature before the fall. Even though this may seem like an unimportant point, it really has tremendous implications for the kind of life we can live day by day.
Bible Verses to Pray Over Your Children and With Your Children
Dr John Clark
Joel and Mark were two friends with very different beliefs. Joel believed in God as the all–Sovereign King that created everything in the world. Mark was a devout atheist who scoffed at religion and thought the whole world – including himself – came about by accident, a biological mischance. “How do you know that God exists and the Bible isn’t just a book of fairy tales?” … More
Over 40 Bible Texts in Reference to Death and Sleep
But perhaps the best argument for the historicity of Jesus is Christianity itself. How was Jesus able to inspire a movement if he never existed? For the first 250 years of Christianity, there was no worldly advantage in being a follower of Jesus, only the very real possibility of persecution, imprisonment, and martyrdom. MORE
So, can you trust the Bible? Following are three reasons why the answer to that question is Yes…. Read More
Spiritual Formation: A Self-Centered Spiritualism?
I remember that a few years ago, I was going through a checkout line at a grocery store when the few items I purchased rang up to $6.66. The cashier noticed the ominous numbers and gave a small gasp. When I asked her what she thought of that number, she responded, “I don’t know what it means, but I know it’s really bad!”
Compromise Conformity and Courage
Because of its unusual growth habits, the tropical Banyan tree is known as a “strangler fig.” These large trees usually start life when their seed is deposited by a bird high in the foliage of another tree. The Banyan’s roots descend over the trunk of the host tree seeking out the soil below. Once they have rooted themselves, the roots of the strangler fig rapidly thicken and lengthen. Where the fig roots cross each other they fuse, thus creating a lattice around the host tree’s trunk. Gradually they...
Although the book of Hebrews has been greatly ignored by Christian scholars and laymen alike, it contains some of the most important, basic doctrines in the Bible. Spiritual subjects that are scarcely mentioned by other writers have been fully explained by the author of Hebrews.
Perhaps the reason for its general neglect is twofold. First, it leans very heavily upon Old Testament imagery and typology. Many modem Christians seem to feel that it doesn’t fit in with the tone of gospel freedom enunciated in Paul’s other epistles.
Secondly, the book may be shunned because it contains some very clear statements that seem to conflict with positions held by the majority of Protestant Christians. Three of those areas of … Read More...
You have probably noticed that Planet Earth appears to be ripping apart at the seams these days. Almost every week we hear fresh reports of yet another...Read More
Some of the most dramatic and adventurous stories in the Bible revolve around the meteoric rise of Elijah the prophet. Like a shooting star he flashed out of obscurity and changed the character of a whole nation in a very short time.
Little is known about the background of this colorful reformer of Israel. Called of God from the rugged mountains of Gilead, he walked into the palace of King Ahab while apostasy was at its darkest point. Fired by a holy indignation, he confronted the wicked ruler of Israel with words of judgement. "There shall not be dew nor rain t...Read More…
What they are and why they were formed
Outrageous! Not to mention completely unbiblical, right?
When Were the Gospels Written? Part I and II by David Read
Feast Days and Sabbaths - Are They Still Binding?
Salvation Army Published Statement of Sabbath Observance
We hear a lot these days about vanishing species in the physical world of nature. Some creatures have almost become extinct as their breeding habitats have been invaded and destroyed by advancing “civilization.”
I would like to suggest that there is a similar problem in the spiritual world also. A certain kind of historic faith and lifestyle is being slowly choked out of existence by the inexorable advance of a voracious, alien culture. Paul warned of a time when the true church would be threatened by a spirit of conformity to worldly values. He said, “be not c...
Read More...
Have you ever been perplexed by the great number of English Bible versions? Have you wondered which one you should as your primary study Bible?
In the span of just a few generations more than a hundred English Bible versions have become available. The King James Version (KJV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), Today's English Version (TEV), New English Bible (NEB), Jerusalem Bible (J...
Read More of The Faithful Witness
Introduction
Recently I talked to a man with a fantastic amount of faith. Not one shade of doubt crept into his animated description of man's origin and destiny. He was an evolutionist I met on an airplane. With incredible confidence he bridged the eons of prehistoric time to explain the existence of modern plant and animal life. His detailed description of human ascent from a tiny, one-celled monad was so vivid and convincing that one could almost believe he had seen the microscopic amoeba turn into a man.
The Dangers of a Diluted Gospel
In 2005, cancer patient Georgia Hayes won a $2.2 billion court settlement against her pharmacist, who had diluted her chemotherapy drugs with water. In the process, she had lost her best chance for recovery. While $2.2 billion is a lot of money, it’s little comfort when you don’t have long to live.
What could be more deadly than diluted cancer medication? Maybe placebo pills for a cardiac patient. Or diluted insulin for a diabetic. More...
Baptism - Is it Really Necessary?
Introduction
Suppose you could survey the people who live in the hundred homes nearest to your own house on the subject of Christian baptism. What kind of answer would you get in response to this question: “How should a person be baptized in order to meet the Bible requirements of salvation?”
It is likely that you would get a dozen different answers, and possibly even a hundred. Some would say that they don’t believe it is necessary to be baptized at all to be saved. Others would answer that true baptism is to go forward three times completely under the water. Some would contend that a few drops of sprinkled water on the head would constitute a valid baptism, while other… Read More...
Are the ten commandments relevant for us today? What does the Bible say about this? Get answers here.
I read recently about a business executive whose work was to continually conduct interviews of people who were seeking positions in his corporation. This man insisted on having a long office with his desk opposite the door where the applicants had to enter. As they would walk across the room to take their place in front of him, he would watch them intently. By the time they were seated he already knew what he was going to do about their application.
I’m not saying this is a good way to judge and classify people—by initial impressions—but, unfortunately, most of us do it, either consciously or unconsciously. We make quick decisions, quite unfairly, based on how we respond to an individual’s walk, smile or haircut. Let me ask you a question. ...Read More...
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if there were no clocks? How would we know what time to be at the airport to catch a flight? How would the airline know when to prepare for take off? How frustrating it would be for people to show up for appointments late only to give the excuse, “I didn’t know what time it was.” ...Read More
12 Straight End-Time Truths Satan Hates
An Amazing Fact
During the Battle of Valley Forge, revolutionary troops were entrenched on the battlefield, freezing and starving. One day, a farmer who lived nearby brought much-needed provisions to the troops, and on his way back through the woods, he heard someone speaking. He tracked the voice until he came to a clearing, where he saw a man on his knees, praying in the snow. The farmer rushed home and excitedly told his wife, “The Americans will secure their independence!” His wife asked, “What makes you say that?” The farmer replied, “I heard George Washington pray out in the woods today, and the Lord will surely hear his prayer.
“I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.”—John 6:38–40
In 1692, the city of Port Royal, Jamaica, literally slid into the sea when it was struck by a massive earthquake. Many had predicted that this corrupt city of pirates and c...
Read More...
The European cuckoo is known as a “brood parasite.” The females lay their eggs in the nests of smaller bird species—like the reed warbler. In turn, these unsuspecting mothers unwittingly incubate, feed, and raise the young impostors, typically at the expense of their very own offspring.
One of the most sorrowful tragedies of nature is watching a reed warbler working herself to death to satisfy the voracious hunger of a greedy cuckoo chick while her own young, already weak with starvation, are pushed out of the nest.
Another Brood Parasite -The devil has successfully planted a dangerous lie in modern Christian theology, and it has been unwittingly hatched, adopted and nurtured by most… Read More...
One of the most dramatic verses in the Bible has been translated by Dr. Moffett in these words: "Evil on evil says the Lord, the Eternal ... it is coming, the hour is striking, and striking at you, the hour and the end. Your doom has come." Ezekiel 7:5-7.
Based on this startling text, our attention is drawn to the most solemn message ever heard by human ears. It is a warning to each person … Read More
Scenes are presented to susceptible minds which are more horrible than the most terrible nightmare. The attention is so riveted by these shocking things, that the mind is captured to ideas and practices which are extremely... More...
It is estimated that more than 14,500 wars have been fought from 3600 B.C. to present day—and that number keeps rising. In fact, during the same time period, there have been 5,305 years of war … and only 292 years of peace. Read More...
Does God's Grace Blot Out the Law?
The devil, through sin, has just about wrecked this world of ours. We live in an age of rebellion against all restraint and law. Our nation stands aghast at the big-city gang defiance of social order and property rights, including the right to live. Murder, robbery, and personal assaults have become the trademark of both urban and suburban 20th-century life. Read More…
The Ten Commandments in the New Testament
Churches across the world teach that God's Ten Commandments were abolished - nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ and that they are no longer required to be kept under the New Covenant. Is this what Jesus and His Apostles taught? Did they continue to teach and observe the commandments? What does the Bible say? MORE
Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost?
The power of choice is a wonderful gift from God. Yet there is one choice God never allowed man to exercise. No one can choose whether or not to be born with a sinful nature. The decision which affects our lives the most was made long, long ago by our forefathers. We have absolutely no choice about the kind of nature we possess at birth. It is a sinful nature. If unchanged it will lead to eternal death.
Is It Easier to Be Saved or Lost?
It seems very appropriate that the word DYNAMITE is a transliteration of the Greek word DUNAMIS, which means power. The word is not a stranger to those who are students of the Scriptures. It is one of the colorful adjectives used in the Bible to describe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power (DUNAMIS) of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16. How few Christians have a true understanding of the explosive power of the gospel they so l… Read More...
The most dangerous counterfeit is the one that most nearly resembles the true. This is why religious counterfeits are so deadly and are often tolerated rather than identified and exposed. Christians in general are afraid that they will be misunderstood if they attack something that looks so much like the finest thing in religion. Since there is often only a thin line separating the best from the worst, they fear being charged with attacking the genuine if they oppose the counterfeit. Has Satan fabricated some look-alike perversions of the most sacred doctrines ...Read More...
Millions of people are anticipating, although for different reasons, a time when they can leave this planet and migrate to another happier, less cluttered world in space. Many believe that time is running out for this overcrowded, polluted planet which has been so misused for 6,000 years. For survival purposes only, they hope to move into an orbiting satellite, made scientifically secure by fail-proof technology. There, in an artificially sustained, friendly environment, they hope to become pioneers of a new space world for restless earthlings.
Millions of others look heavenward and lay their exciting plans for more distant space travel, far beyond… Read More...
The times that we are living in are unlike any that we’ve seen before. Leaders of our country, businessmen, people who have positions of trust and authority, are all looking at the condition of our nation—and of the world—and wondering what’s going to happen next. Everyone’s watching the headlines. They’re looking at the unsettled conditions of society and foreign relations, and they... Read More
One of the clearest, last-day signs revealed in the Bible is the build-up of spiritual and demonic forces for a final all-out struggle which will settle the destiny of every living soul. God and Satan will meet in the climactic war of Armageddon, and the agelong controversy between good and evil will be resolved for all eternity.
The Bible indicates that Satan will work feverishly through all the artful devices that appeal to the human mind, seeking to deceive the whole planet into his camp. John says that he “is come down ... having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12). In preparation...Read More...
Do you believe God exists? Why?
There are many reasons people believe in God. Some base their beliefs on the teaching of Scripture, or perhaps on role models and people they admire.... More
Would you look into your heart right now and respond to a very personal and important question? Do you judge yourself to be stronger in the things of God than you have ever been before? I hope so; that is exactly the way it is supposed to be. Every day with Jesus should be sweeter than the day before. Each moment should find us moving up in our experience with a deeper, sweeter faith than we had the moment before.
Yet I hope no one is satisfied that God has finished His work of growth and sanctification in their life. This very moment He wants to lead ...
Read More…
The Beast, The Dragon and The Woman
I. THE BEAST AND HIS BACKGROUND
A Fearful Warning
The most fearful warning of punishment found anywhere in the Bible is contained in Revelation 14:9, 10: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
This description is so alarming and so very unlike all other verses which deal with God’s character that we almost recoil in horror. But it points clearly to a time when God’s mercy will be withheld from those who have persistently rejected the authority of Heaven. It will be an unparalleled performance on the part of God in His relationship to the human family. For almost 6,000 years, His punishing judgments upon the most wicked men have been tempered with mercy. But now the measure of rebellion reaches a point which makes it necessary for God to intervene and to expose the terrible extent of man’s treason against God’s government. Read More...
Recently I discovered some very interesting things about a little sea creature that rates rather low on the Biblical scale. The unclean shrimp has a most marvelous manner of changing clothes six or eight times a year through a process called molting. Apparently a new suit begins to grow underneath the old skin. By scraping around on the rocks, the shrimp begins to shred and loosen the older outer layer, which soon sloughs off completely, revealing the classy new covering underneath.
At the time of each molting, another fascinating phenomenon occurs. In response… Read More...
No growing Christian in the world can be unconcerned about the traumatic problem of temptation. There is no age level when moral choices and struggles of the spirit do not confront us. Temptation may attack at different points on different issues, but it will always be with us as long as we are in the flesh. When I was a boy back in North Carolina, we could always tell when the fruit was ripe out in the orchards. A certain gang of neighborhood boys would head in that direction, and everyone would say, “It must be that time again.” Now, devils are smarter than te… Read More...
The most fateful words ever spoken by Jesus had to do with the fearful possibility of committing the unpardonable sin. He said, "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." Matthew 12:31.
No one can misconstrue the clear message of these verses. There is a sin unto death. A man or woman may pass over a line which separates God's mercy and His wrath and not be able to come back. These chilling words of our Lord stand in stark contrast to His usually… Read More...
"Remember Lot's wife," said Jesus. That is probably the most dramatic, potent illustration the Master ever used in a sermon.
As we read the context, it is very obvious that the words were being applied to those living on this planet right now. "In that day" refers to the "day when the Son of man is revealed." Here is what Jesus actually said:
"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the, same day that Lot went out of Sodom… Read More...
Alexander Bogomoletz, a Russian scientist, once said that a man should live to be at least 150 years of age. He actually prepared a serum that was designed to retard the aging process of the connective tissues of the body. Unfortunately, the learned doctor died at the age of 64, just 86 years short of the goal he had set for himself and for all mankind. And we still do not understand the mysteries of life and death.
No one has yet discovered the fountain of youth, and neither has anyone been through that veil of death to return and tell us what it is like on the… Read More...
In the early 1500s, the Aztec empire was one of the most powerful and sophisticated civilizations in the western hemisphere. However, within one year's time this mighty nation of over 2 million people was conquered and enslaved by just 600 men. How did it happen?
The Aztecs had a prophecy about Quetzalcoatl (kèt-säl´ko-ä-tal), a legendary feathered god-king who was light-skinned and bearded. It predicted that he would return to Mexico from across the sea and that he would come in the clouds from the east to save them.
Well, in 1519 Spanish galleons arriv… Read More...
How do you know if it’s true - or false?
Assurance: Justification Made Simple
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” —Romans 3:28
An Amazing Fact: Abraham Lincoln didn’t live long enough to witness the official end of the Civil War, but he was able to give the famous Emancipation Proclamation—freeing every slave in America.
One day, a former slave living in Washington, D.C., who had escaped from the South during the war, approached Lincoln. He took some money from his pocket and offered it to the president. “What is this for?” asked Lincoln. The freed slave said that he...Read More...
Legend has it that when the Greeks were unable to capture the city of Troy even after imposing a 10-year siege, they finally resorted to a clever stratagem. The Greek army pretended to sail away and left on the shore a huge, hollow wooden horse as an apparent victory gift. However, the gift was actually filled with several armed warriors! Sinon, a Greek spy inside Troy, persuaded the Trojans to bring the horse within the city walls, saying that to do so would mysteriously make Troy invincible. That night Sinon released the troops hiding in the gigantic horse. Afte… Read More...
At the age of thirty, Jesus left the carpenter shop in Nazareth and made His way to the Jordan River where John the Baptist was preaching his stern message of repentance. This was probably the first time these cousins had ever met, but as soon as Jesus walked into the circle of listeners, John pointed at Him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29.
What did the prophet mean by those cryptic words? Why did he call Jesus a lamb, and how could He take away the sins of the world? To get the answers to those questions, we must leave the banks of the Jordan River and travel back...Read More...
Clergy and laity alike have often stumbled over some of the writings of Paul the Apostle. Scattered among the letters which he addressed to the churches are a few verses that almost seem to contradict what he wrote in other epistles. At least they have been interpreted as contradictions. But did the great, spiritual, straight-thinking Paul write confusing things? Or is the contradiction only in the way readers have twisted his words? …More