With the Michael Jackson verdict looming and an eighteen year old girl lost and presumed dead in the island nation of Aruba, the country’s attention has turned to crimes against children. There is, seemingly, no more horrible crime than that committed against innocent children for whom life has so much potential. The consequences of such […]

Indeed! Why are you a member of any church of which you call yourself a member? We read in the scriptures, Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves (2 Corinthians 13:5a). God does not want me to just take for granted that I am saved. He wants me […]

Jesus rules his kingdom with “a sceptre of righteousness” (Hebrews 1:8; cf. Psalms 45:6). As “The Prince of Peace” and upholding his kingdom “with justice and with righteousness” (Isaiah 9:6-7 – ESV), the only sceptre appropriate for this king is that of uprightness, equity and justness. His very nature is expressed in loving righteousness, and […]

The attention of Israel is now turned to that which is among the greatest object lessons of all time. This lesson is designed to teach all generations that God will not tolerate sin. He will punish the sinner. The lesson is The Great Flood. The inhabitants of the earth have become increasingly corrupt since the […]

Our Lord lived as a man for about a third of a century. For good reason, not every earthly activity of Jesus is recorded in the Bible (John 21:25). But we can rest assured that what we do have in God’s word about Him is sufficient to cause us to recognize Him as the Christ, […]

Second, the Bible makes it clear that God’s revelation to man was only for the time that the church was initially being built until such a time as the complete will of God was revealed. In 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 Paul wrote: Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be […]

When we think of the fact that sin is running rampant in our country we cannot restrain a feeling of distress. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet said regarding Judah, “For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is […]

In the past few weeks we have examined, in these bulletin studies, some religious beliefs of Catholicism. Perhaps the most fundamental difference between Catholicism and other religions claiming Christ is our attitudes toward scripture and tradition. During the protestant reformation movement one of the things that was emphasized was the need to base our religious […]

It has always seemed to this writer a sad commentary on human nature that we have to organize a holiday to encourage people to be thankful. Doesn’t it seem reasonable that if we were genuinely grateful for all that God has given us, we wouldn’t need to mark it on the calendar? For example, “This […]

Satan’s Strike; Job’s Justification Vs. 13 – We shift from the heavenly scene of Satan’s treachery to an earthly one in which there was joy and rejoicing. We know from verse 4 that this was likely one of these occasions at which Job’s children had gathered in celebration of one of their days. It is […]

Well it wasn’t the wedding of the century by any means, but yesterday prince Charles married his erstwhile girlfriend, Camilla. After the couple got married, they proceeded to a chapel where they confessed “manifold sins and wickedness” and asked for forgiveness. Most, I believe, have interpreted this to be confession for the sin of adultery, […]

The instruction in Proverbs 22:6 to “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”, is a difficult saying for most parents, because we feel we have failed our children in so many ways. “Training” is more than teaching. The word may be […]

Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a society where citizens could flaunt the rules and absolutely no consequences would follow – no fines, no imprisonment, and no reprimand of any kind? Can you conceive of a home environment where children are allowed to do whatever they please with utterly no […]

Cain had worshipped God in a way that God had never commanded. Cain was then upset that his gift was not accepted. This was fueled by the fact that his brother’s gift WAS accepted. God’s formula for Cain was simple, i.e., repent and worship God’s way, but Cain wouldn’t repent. God also gives Cain a […]

The Lord is shown further in His mercy in this passage. He had prophesied of the downfall of Satan, covered the shame of Adam and Eve, and then drove them from their garden home. This was a blessing and an object lesson. The lesson involved teaching them the consequences of sin. The blessing is explained […]

When one reads through the Old Testament prophets one picks up on the theme that judges ought to be righteous in their judgments. Isaiah pleads with them: “Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). Jeremiah scolds them: “They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, […]

When Israel arrived at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Moses was commanded to set up barriers to make a separation between Israel and God the reason being, “lest he break out against them” (Exodus 19:23-24). Later, the people had no trouble keeping the command to distance themselves from God, because they saw the majestic destructive […]

Introduction and Matthew 1:1-17 Matthew Introduction Who wrote the book? The apostle Matthew, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, is almost universally acknowledged, historically, to have written the book. While the book doesn’t specifically say who wrote it, there can be no reasonable doubt that Matthew was its penman. When was the book written? There […]

What is speaking in tongues? First let’s look at Mark 16:17-20. In this passage, Jesus tells the disciples that they would do many signs. Verse 20 says that these signs were for the purpose of confirming the word which they preached to those who heard them. One of the signs that Jesus promised they would […]

I have heard it said all my Christian life that the sins of Israel were “rolled forward” to Christ. But I read in Leviticus 4, 5, and 16 that a person bringing a sin offering will be forgiven (Lev.4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 16, 18; 16:30). Where in the Bible do we read that the […]