Category: Articles

What Is Death?

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What is death? There are many ideas about death. Often they have in common the idea that when humans die they don’t really die but continue to live a conscious existence, somewhere, somehow.

The Bible teaching is very clear about the state of the dead. But the Bible’s clear teaching has been enshrouded in myths and superstitions.

The ideas about an immortal soul continuing after death in heaven, hell, or purgatory common in popular Christianity are also found in various heathen religions and philosophies. Scriptures where the Bible mentions “heaven” or “hell” have had read into them ideas alien to Scripture, ideas adopted from pagan religions in the first centuries after Christ as Church leaders turned from Biblical teachings and embraced pagan concepts in the guise of Christianity. Understanding what death really is can help you better understand your own nature and that of your loved ones. It can help you better understand God, his plan and purpose for mankind, and how he will accomplish it. Continue reading →

Keys To Happiness

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What’s the purpose of human existence? Why do YOU exist? And does it have anything to do with your own personal long-term happiness and fulfillment? Have you ever stopped to think – to ask?

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Philosophers have pondered the question for thousands of years, but lacking God’s Spirit and rejecting his counsel their answers have been unsatisfactory and incomplete. Winston Churchill said, “…he must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below…” (speech before the U.S. Congress, December 26, 1941). But he — though a great leader — did not know what that purpose is! Human beings of themselves cannot fully discover God’s purpose, but God does reveal it through his word coupled with the discernment granted through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-14). Continue reading →

Sin Destroys Courage

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Throughout our Christian lives God lets you and I make choices. God does not force us to follow His laws and commands. Rather He gives us the ability to exercise free will to go our own way. He will, however, point us in the right direction, and it has been that way from the very beginning, starting with our first parents, Adam and Eve.

God set before Adam and Eve blessings or cursing, life or death and then He instructed them to CHOOSE LIFE (Genesis 2:8-9, 16-17; cf. Deuteronomy 30:15-20), but ultimately the decision was theirs to make. God has the same approach today in regards to you and me.

After eating of the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve hid from the presence of the Lord as he walked through the Garden (Genesis 3:8-10). They hid because they were afraid; they felt as though they no longer could look their creator in the eyes. They felt flawed and weak because they knew they had directly disobeyed. This is what sin produces, it produces fear, uncertainty, lack of faith, and takes away courage because ultimately our only source of courage is God. Continue reading →

Did Jesus Break the Sabbath?

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It’s been asserted that Jesus broke the Sabbath, and hence we are free to disregard it as well. But did Jesus break the Sabbath?

The basis for the idea that Jesus broke the Sabbath is the accusations made by Jesus’ enemies among the Pharisees and scribes. Because Jesus performed miracles of healing on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused him of breaking the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10; Mark 3:2, John 9:14-16). John records a healing that Jesus performed at one of the festivals in Jerusalem. Because of this the Jews sought to kill him. John records that in a confrontation following the healing Jesus said to his enemies, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Then it says, “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18). Hence the argument is made that Jesus worked on the Sabbath and broke the Sabbath, leaving Christians free to do so. Continue reading →

What Is the Holy Spirit?

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One of the important questions that we must face in order to understand God’s nature, and our own nature, is, “What is the Holy Spirit?”

In answering this question let’s first ask, what is spirit? In any good dictionary you’ll find several distinct but related definitions. And it’s important to understand that in the Bible, too, you’ll find the word “spirit” used in different senses. Continue reading →