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| Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears | Read Count: 32,458 |  Some of the most astonishing prophecies in the Bible have to do with the proportion of people who will be saved at the coming of Christ. Jesus clearly taught that only a comparative few would be ready to inherit His kingdom. He said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).
In Luke 18:8, by asking a very penetrating question, Jesus implied that the “few” might be even less than we could hope or imagine. “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Again, the Master spoke of the final separation in these words: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26). Only eight people were saved from the flood and “as it was then” so shall it be at His coming. Other Bible writers and prophets use similar language to portray the “little flock,” the “remnant,” and the “few” who will prove faithful to the very end.
The fact that so few will be saved is not nearly as shoc...
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| Absent From The Body | Read Count: 61,923 |  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?
A perfect example of the problem appears in the first few verses of 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul speaks about life and death. His l...
Read More... | | Alone In The Crowd | Read Count: 41,433 |  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... | | Amazing Wonders of Creation | Read Count: 44,619 |  In spite of being marred by transgression, nature still bears an eloquent testimony to the love and power of a Divine Creator. After resting under the heavy curses of sin for almost 6,000 years, the incredible beauty of God's handiwork continues to amaze and enthrall. When we thank God for our blessings, we should never forget to mention these incomparable natural wonders that add so much meaning to every moment of our lives.
What would this planet be like without its restful carpet of living green grass and foliage? God did not have to clothe the ugly, bare...
Read More... | | America & the Ten Commandments | Read Count: 30,785 |  In July 2001, Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, in the cover of night, placed in the middle of a public courthouse foyer a two-ton granite display that ignited a firestorm consuming American politics and the national media for months. Lawsuits were filed, protests on both sides were organized, and the battle over this country’s destiny began.
What could cause such an ill-tempered debate on the future of religion in American politics? The 10 Commandments of course! Actually, it’s hard to believe that God’s law, delivered to His people on their freedom tour...
Read More... | | Anything But Secret | Read Count: 52,601 |  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... | | Armageddon | Read Count: 42,204 |  The signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty on March 26, 1979, marked an emotional moment in the history of the Middle East. After years of bitter animosity punctuated by military conflict, an Arab nation and a Jewish nation embraced each other with promises of peace.
What did it signify for the little pocket of Zionism whose struggles for survival have drawn United States approval and support? Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, before his death, was unable to provide the security and permanent peace which has eluded Israel since the days of Abraham. The answe...
Read More... | | Assurance: Justification Made Simple | Read Count: 49,769 |  “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... | | Baptism - Is it Really Necessary? | Read Count: 92,069 |  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 con...
Read More... | | Baptized Paganism | Read Count: 40,514 |  So new to the world, so unaware of the danger, the tiny newborn is secure, nestled in the warm cradle of his mother's arms. Yet now he senses a strange tenseness in her body. Tightly, ever so tightly she clasps him to her breast as they approach the sacred grounds. He has never heard the rumble of so many voices or the mystical sounds of the chants. His mother's arms have begun trembling and drops of tears mixed with sweat are dampening the swaddling cloth that covers him. Wild sounds of flutes and timbrels begin to echo down the mountain into the valley below. His mot...
Read More... | | Blood Behind the Veil | Read Count: 29,544 |  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 shu...
Read More... | | Can a Saved Man Choose to be Lost? | Read Count: 93,851 |  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.
But even though we are born with a fallen nature, God gives us a choice about changing that nature. It is a personal, sovereign choice that no one can take away...
Read More... | | Christ's Human Nature | Read Count: 41,999 |  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... | | Colorful Cosmetics and Jewelry | Read Count: 26,303 |  One of the most frequent and mistaken complaints that people make against religion is that it is too restrictive. In this permissive age, when all the emphasis seems to be upon “doing your own thing,” an unreasonable attitude of self-will has developed. This attitude has even intruded into religion. Church members and non-members seem to be in quest of the same thing: a religion that does not interfere with personal rights and freedom. Suspicion is aroused instantly against any doctrine that demands the “giving up” of anything.
As this liberal spirit has grown s...
Read More... | | Compromise Conformity and Courage | Read Count: 15,739 |  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 starve the host tree and prevent it from growing by robbing all its l...
Read More... | | Culture And The Christian | Read Count: 6,139 |  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... | | Death in the Kitchen | Read Count: 26,391 |  Some years ago a survey was taken in a certain American city, and every inhabitant responded to 156 questions included in the survey. It was discovered that the prime interest of adults was that of health—not politics, history, or even the weather—but health, their health and the health of their families. What a paradoxical age is this one in which we live! A time when we have more doctors, hospitals, medicines; more medical knowledge of the care, treatment, and cure of disease; more pills, capsules, vitamins, etc.; yet seldom has there been a time when more sickness a...
Read More... | | Deathwatch in Siberia | Read Count: 12,908 |  “You must prove what you say!” The fierce Kirghiz tribal leader glared around the room at each of us. “One of our priests of the skin offerings tells us that you are liars and deceivers, and that you cannot prove that the day to worship your God is Sunday. If you cannot prove this, then we will certainly kill you, for we want no white man’s deception in this place!” With that, he whirled and left our little church.
A chill of terror swept through the little room. The Kirghiz were indeed much to be feared. These Mongolian tribesmen had the grisly habit of tannin...
Read More... | | Determining the Will of God | Read Count: 12,849 |  “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... | | Does God's Grace Blot Out the Law? | Read Count: 82,448 |  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.
Each day as we read the newspaper it seems that the quality of life has edged downward a little bit further. At times we are tempted to believe that things can get no worse, and that conditions have hit rock...
Read More... | | Down From His Glory | Read Count: 12,500 |  Christ's substitutionary death on the cross stands at the heart of all other sal vation truths revealed in the Bible. He took our place in suffering the penalty for sin. The demands of the law against the transgressor were fully satisfied by His voluntary acceptance of our punishment. To distort this great central fact about the plan of salvation would weaken the entire foundation of Christianity. It is this tremendous Bible truth concerning the imputed merits of Christ's atoning death that lends assurance to every born-again believer.
It has always been Satan'...
Read More... | | Feast Days and Sabbaths | Read Count: 38,868 |  How many commandments are contained in the Ten Commandments? Does that sound like a foolish question? Then consider the fact that thousands of religious people would give an answer like “94” or “110.” You see, there is a strange belief on the part of many that the great God-written law of the Ten Commandments was actually a part of the ceremonial law of Moses which contained scores of specific regulations. They do not see the decalogue as being distinct and totally unique because of its divine authorship. Neither do they see the clear limitation which the Bible sets fo...
Read More... | | From Stress to Joy | Read Count: 23,979 |  How would you like a vacation on a palm-fringed tropical island right now? Would it remove your stress? Temporarily, no doubt, but the stress would be back. More practical for most of us would be an evening spent in a relaxed setting, doing something we enjoy. But for how long would that relieve our stress? When it comes to lasting stress management, we definitely need something beyond quick fixes.
A wealth of websites, articles, and books already exist to help us conquer stress. But often they treat stress like a virus that can be isolated and remedied. This bo...
Read More... | | God's Role for Women in Ministry | Read Count: 48,258 |  After reviewing hundreds of applications, a Fortune 500 company’s search for a new marketing director had been narrowed to just three candidates. The first person called for the final interview was asked just one simple question: “What is two plus two?” Surprised by the inquiry, she wondered if it was a trick question—but in the end, she answered “four.” The CEO thanked her for coming and ushered her out the door. The next candidate received the same question: “What is two plus two?” She thought about it for a moment and replied, “Statistically, it is the number betwee...
Read More... | | Heaven: Is It for Real? | Read Count: 71,649 |  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 other...
Read More... | | Hell-Fire: A Twisted Truth Untangled | Read Count: 56,640 |  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 discour- age us from e...
Read More... | | Hogs And Other Hazards | Read Count: 43,785 |  During my 46 years of ministry, largely in public evangelism, I have observed some interesting methods of Bible study. For example, many people diligently search the Scriptures, not to find truth, but simply to gather support for their preconceived religious ideas. Their minds are not open to be taught by God's Holy Spirit, and therefore they can manipulate the sacred texts to mean exactly what they want to believe.
One of the great, basic principles of Bible study is to search out the truth on any given subject from all the texts in the Bible. It is literally t...
Read More... | | How Evolution Flunked Science Test | Read Count: 57,069 |  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.
What is this evolution doctrine that inspires so much faith in its d...
Read More... | | Is It a Sin to Be Tempted? | Read Count: 60,100 |  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... | | Is It Easier to Be Saved or Lost? | Read Count: 38,870 |  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... | | Is it Possible to Live Without Sinning? | Read Count: 39,727 |  Recently I read the amazing account of a man who submitted to a scientific hypnosis experiment. While under the influence of a light hypnotic trance the subject was ordered to pick up a glass from the table. Although he was a strong, athletic type, the man could not budge the glass from its position. His most strenuous exertions could not lift the glass that was light enough for any child to remove.
Why could he not do it? Because the scientists, after placing him in the trance, had told him that it was impossible to pick up the glass. Because his mind was convi...
Read More... | | Is Sunday Really Sacred? | Read Count: 59,390 |  One of David’s most beautiful prayers is recorded in Psalm 43:3. “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.”
This same earnest petition to understand God’s Word should be in the heart of every sincere seeker for truth. A willingness to learn and to obey must characterize all of those who expect to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. To such, the beautiful promise of the beatitude will be fulfilled. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (...
Read More... | | Jewelry: How Much Is Too Much | Read Count: 73,930 |  I am intrigued by clever oxymorons. An oxymoron is a statement or pairing of two words that contradict each other, such as "black light" or "pretty ugly." A few humorous, personal favorites are "military intelligence," "criminal justice," "civil disorder," and "rap music" (the rap I've heard does not even slightly resemble music). Some oxymorons are more serious, like "little sin," "innocent gossip," and "safe premarital sex."
A few years ago, while wandering through a Christian bookstore, I came upon a glass display case with a sign above it that read "Christia...
Read More... | | Life in the Spirit | Read Count: 29,660 |  The greatest need of the church today is for a genuine spiritual revival and reformation. This is what true Christians have been praying for through the years - in the family circle, alone in the closet, and with the church body on Sabbath. There is a deep sense of inadequacy when we sit in a home giving a Bible study or stand before an audience where hundreds need to make a decision for Christ. We know that there is no human way to win a soul or convict of Truth. Only the Holy Spirit can really soften hearts for acceptance and stir the soul with conviction. So we pray...
Read More... | | Man's Flicker or God's Flame | Read Count: 22,137 |  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 know...
Read More... | | Pending - Your Case in Court | Read Count: 19,727 |  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...
Read More... | | Point of No Return | Read Count: 22,591 |  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 | Read Count: 46,504 |  "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 it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and de...
Read More... | | Rendezvous in Space | Read Count: 12,854 |  Redbook magazine made a survey of the eight leading seminaries in America and discovered that only one percent of the students believed in the second coming of Jesus. The reason for this astonishing skepticism may be revealed by the experience of D. L. Moody, the great lay evangelist. After explaining that he had been in the church for fifteen years before hearing his first sermon on the subject of Christ’s return, he stated, “Now I know why the devil does not want this subject to be preached. Nothing would wake up the church so much as the doctrine that Jesus is comin...
Read More... | | Riches of Grace | Read Count: 19,901 |  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 ...
Read More... | | Satan in Chains | Read Count: 24,439 |  How would you like to be seated before a gigantic stage about 2,000 feet wide and actually watch the play-out of human history before your eyes? There you could see the final destiny of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived in this world. God, indeed, gives us such a panoramic preview in one of the most dramatic prophecies in the Bible.
Some people have harbored the dream that society will eventually correct itself and will develop into a golden age of millennial peace. In this grand Utopia everyone is supposed to be converted and will cooperate in buil...
Read More... | | Satan's Confusing Counterfeits | Read Count: 18,212 |  Suppose you had to summarize the entire Bible in just two words. What words would you choose? I have thought about this, and I believe sin and salvation might be the most accurate answer. After all, Satan entered the picture very early to cause man to sin and to steal away his salvation. Incidentally, that was also the turning point for the human family. You see, God had based everything upon obedience. He had provided all those wonderful gifts—life, righteous character, dominion over the earth, and a beautiful home in the Garden. Then He promised that those blessings ...
Read More... | | Spirits of the Dead | Read Count: 63,701 |  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... | | Spiritual Israel | Read Count: 26,882 |  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....
Read More... | | Teach Us to Pray | Read Count: 24,624 |  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 woo...
Read More... | | The Abomination of Desolation | Read Count: 32,932 |  "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. . . For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24: 15, 16, 21).
What is this prophecy all about, and does it really affect Christians in today's world?
One of the most interesting prophecies in the Bible concerns the abomination of desolation. The element that...
Read More... | | The Armor of God | Read Count: 22,327 |  “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastpla...
Read More... | | The Beast, The Dragon and The Woman | Read Count: 39,205 |  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 ...
Read More... | | The Beast: Who Will Worship It? | Read Count: 22,133 |  In the past few years we’ve seen a remarkable fulfillment of several apocalyptic prophecies. It has been exciting, thrilling, and faith-building to witness. But it also is sobering, for fulfilled prophecies indicate that the remaining last-day prophecies are soon to follow.
Unfortunately, some Christians do not want to face the coming reality of the prophecy of Revelation chapter 13. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasph...
Read More... | | The Brook Dried Up | Read Count: 1,364 |  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... | | The Christian and Alcohol | Read Count: 25,147 |  Tests show that after drinking three bottles of beer, there is an average of 13 percent net memory loss. After taking only small quantities of alcohol, trained typists were tested and their errors increased 40 percent. Only one ounce of alcohol increases the time required to make a decision by nearly 10 percent; hinders muscular reaction by 17 percent; increases errors due to lack of attention by 35 percent. —Paul Harvey
Is it biblically permissible for a Christian to drink alcohol? If so, how much?
This controversial subject has evoked many passionate op...
Read More... | | The Drummer Boy's Prayer | Read Count: 19,340 |  Two or three times in my life God in His mercy touched my heart, and twice before my conversion I was under deep conviction.
During the American war I was surgeon in the United States army, and after the battle of Gettysburg, there were many hundreds of wounded soldiers in the hospital, twenty-eight of whom had been wounded so severely that they required my services at once; some whose legs had to be amputated, some their arms, and others both an arm and leg. One of the latter was a boy who had been but three months in the service, and, being too young for a sol...
Read More... | | The Faithful Witness | Read Count: 15,231 |  Have you ever been perplexed by the great number of English Bible versions? Have you wondered which one you should choose 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 (JB), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the New International Version (NIV) are just a few of the most popular ones in use today.
Each version has strong points a...
Read More... | | The Final Verdict | Read Count: 8,369 |  Why are we alive? What is the meaning of life? Listen to one man’s attempt to define our existence: “For what are we, brother? We are but a phantom flare of grieved desire, the ghostly and phosphoric flicker of immortal time. We are an unspeakable utterance, an insatiable hunger, an unquenchable thirst, a lust that bursts our sinews, explodes our brains and rips our hearts asunder. We are a twist of passion, a moment’s flame of love and ecstasy, a sinew of bright blood and agony, a lost cry, a haunting of brief sharp hours, an almost-captured beauty, a demon’s whisper ...
Read More... | | The High Cost of the Cross | Read Count: 13,421 |  After his disastrous defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon, so the story goes, met with some of his leading generals to analyze the battle's flawed strategies. In the course of their discussions, the little general pointed at England on the colored map before them and said bitterly, "Except for that red spot I would be master of the world." Satan could say the same thing today except he would point to a cross on a hill outside the walls of Old Jerusalem. Aren't you thankful for that red spot of Calvary that rescued this world from the control of our great enemy?
That was...
Read More... | | The Last Night On Earth | Read Count: 16,631 |  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 alive on this planet today, because every individual must pass through their last night on earth. What will it be like to begin living that final 24 hours of time?
Perh...
Read More... | | The Name of God | Read Count: 4,601 |  An Amazing Fact: A man stopped at a bar in the Los Angeles airport to relax a few minutes before catching his plane. But realizing he had lost track of time, he raced out of the bar and hastily asked directions for the departing gate to Oakland. After hurrying through a maze of terminals, he handed the flight attendant his ticket and scurried onto the plane just as it was about to depart. After storing his briefcase, the weary traveler slumped into his seat and drifted off to sleep. When he awoke two hours later and examined his watch, the man wondered why the one-hour...
Read More... | | The Power of a Positive NO | Read Count: 16,303 |  As most Bible students understand, Peter and Paul did not always agree with each other over methods of communicating the gospel. At one point they had a public disagreement in which one verbally chastised the other for being hypocritical. Nevertheless, in terms of believing and living the message of their beloved Master, they were in perfect agreement. After describing the fiery destruction of earthly things at the end of human history Peter posed this rhetorical question : "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" 2 Peter 3:...
Read More... | | The Rich Man and Lazarus | Read Count: 27,791 |  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... | | The Scarlet Woman | Read Count: 12,655 |  Everywhere people are asking the same questions about the modern church. Why does it appear so weak and compromised? Where is the old-time fire and power that marked the church of a generation ago? These are questions which prey on the minds of many Christians as they witness the dwindling influence of religious institutions. Something seems to have gone wrong. Church members spend more time in places of entertainment and amusement than they do in the house of God. There is little firmness of faith, and almost no discipline for those who weakly bend to the indulge...
Read More... | | The Search for the True Church | Read Count: 20,125 |  Is there a true church in the world today? And if so, how can it be identified?
Of all the religious questions facing the modern truth-seeker, this is certainly the most demanding and also the most frustrating. Conflicting voices from every quarter declare that they have the answer. Denominations, sects, and cults make strident claims based upon emotional interpretations of isolated Bible texts.
The average Christian today has been so totally turned off by these exaggerated boasts that many have even discounted the possibility that any “tru...
Read More... | | The Secret Rapture | Read Count: 27,922 |  There is a theological question that has disturbed millions of Christians and has lent untold doctrinal confusion to the modem religious world. 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... | | The Sign of Jonah | Read Count: 7,953 |  It has been estimated that 10 billion birds engage in migratory flights every year. For example, one species of shrike wings its way 3,500 miles from Central Asia to the Equator of Africa. The longest recorded flight made by a homing pigeon took place in 1931, when the resolute bird flew from Arras, France, to its home in Saigon, Vietnam. When released, the pigeon flew straight as an arrow for 7,200 miles over unfamiliar territory to its home in only 24 days! But the Arctic tern has the longest migration of any animal: the tenacious tern wings from its nesting grounds ...
Read More... | | The Surrender of Self | Read Count: 8,524 |  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 Trinity | Read Count: 22,020 |  Science tells us that light is constituted of three primary rays, or groups of wavelengths. Clearly distinct from each other, none of them without the others could be light. Each ray has its own separate function. The first originates, the second illuminates, and the third consummates. The first ray, often called invisible light, is neither seen nor felt. The second is both seen and felt. The third is not seen but is felt as heat.
Like light, our “One God” is revealed in the three distinct persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “For there are th...
Read More... | | The Two Witnesses | Read Count: 10,008 |  The brightest man-made light on earth emanates from the top of the Luxor hotel, a giant pyramid structure, in Las Vegas, Nevada. A total of 45 xenon lights, each one as big as a washing machine and with the brightest bulb available, shoots a powerful blast of radiant light straight up into the sky. The light beaming from the top of this artificial mountain is so bright, astronauts can see it as they fly overhead. Airline pilots are cautioned to avoid the area, as the beam of light can blind them temporarily if they fly through it. Sadly, this brightest man-made light o...
Read More... | | The Ultimate Resource | Read Count: 10,261 |  “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” —2 Timothy 3:16, 17...
Read More... | | Thieves in the Church | Read Count: 21,306 |  Do you know about the sin nobody admits? It's a sin we're afraid to mention. We must be afraid to mention it, because nobody ever mentions it about himself, anyway. Now people have confessed to me that they've committed some terrible, dark sins. I can recall people who have admitted being drunkards, who confessed to stealing, breaking up another's home, murder, taking the Lord's name in vain, trifling on the marriage partner, Sabbath breaking - all the rest - but as far as I can remember in all my time in the ministry, nobody has ever admitted to me that he was gu...
Read More... | | Three Days and Three Nights | Read Count: 18,073 |  Some of the strongest and most controversial opinions have built up around the statement of Jesus concerning Jonah and the whale. Strangely enough, the chief issue has nothing at all to do with the oft-challenged fact of a man being swallowed by a sea monster. The decisive point for many revolves around the length of time Jonah spent in the stomach of the whale. Here are the exact words Jesus used in describing the experience of the runaway prophet: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the...
Read More... | | Three Steps to Heaven | Read Count: 13,469 |  If there could be a highway to the moon, it would take 20 months of constant driving at the rate of 400 miles per day to reach the land of the moon. If there could be a railroad stretching up to the sun, a streamlined train traveling 90 mph non-stop, day after day and year after year, would require 116 years to reach sunny land. An airplane flying at 500 mph would have to travel nonstop for 500 years to reach the nearest fixed star.
Yet far beyond the starry sky lie the pearly gates of God's great heavenly sky city. No one knows how far it is in miles,...
Read More... | | Tips For Resisting Temptation | Read Count: 16,158 |  A teenager in Virginia was shocked to find a two-headed turtle behind her home. She caught the poor creature and watched as the two freakish heads did a tug-of-war over a piece of food she gave them—or it! According to scientists, two-headedness can occur in all animals, but the lifespan is typically short. The reason is that each head tends to work independently of the other, controlling its own side of the body, and therefore creating disunity, confusion, and frustration. Unless one head takes primary control, the creature will soon die from starvation and indecision...
Read More... | | Understanding Tongues | Read Count: 35,888 |  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... | | Who Is Michael The Archangel? | Read Count: 28,267 |  When King Humbert of Italy inherited the throne, Naples teetered on the verge of insurrection against the monarchy. Politicians urged violent measures to force the people into submission, but the king did not allow this. Then cholera suddenly broke out in the city, and the dreaded disease raged with fury. The young king, ignoring the warnings of his advisers, left the palace and went alone through Naples' crowded hospitals. Moved with devotion and love for even his disloyal subjects, he ministered to them with his own hand. Many suffering people breathed prayers of gra...
Read More... | | Who Will Sing the Song? The 144000 of Revelation 14 | Read Count: 17,777 |  During the Gulf War, a small team of U.S. Navy SEALS created a diversion so convincing that it completely fooled the Iraqi army. About a dozen SEALS stormed the beaches of Kuwait and created such havoc that Iraqi generals believed the U.S.-led attack was coming from the sea. Iraq sent the majority of their army to repel this fake attack—only to find they had been duped as the main U.S. force came through the Saudi Arabian desert! Within hours the war was over, and it all started with less than 20 soldiers!
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Read More... | | Why God Said Remember | Read Count: 23,558 |  Numerous surveys and questionnaires have confirmed that the most popular form of modern skepticism is to deny the creation story. Seventy-two percent of ministers interviewed expressed varying degrees of doubt that God actually spoke the world into existence according to the biblical account. This fundamental disbelief has led to the rejection of other foundational doctrines of Christendom such as the virgin birth and the atonement.
It is interesting to note that God apparently anticipated a lot of controversy over the Genesis record of fiat creation. ...
Read More... | | Why the Old Covenant Failed | Read Count: 17,496 |  Some time ago I stepped off the platform at the close of an evangelistic message and hurried toward the front door to greet the people. Suddenly my path was blocked by three young men, one of whom addressed me in quite a loud voice. He said, "Brother Joe, we were disappointed with the way you put us back under the Old Covenant tonight by preaching the seventh-day Sabbath. Don't you realize that we are living under the New Covenant now and should be keeping Sunday instead of the Sabbath?"
That young man was voicing the conviction of many thousands of C...
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