by admin | Jul 19, 2017 | Articles
Recently I was reminded of the struggles of people during the Soviet Union. The oppression of those who wished to actually serve God according to the Holy Scriptures and preach what the Holy Spirit had led them to preach was quite staggering. In the Soviet Union each sermon had to be approved by the state, any swaying from that could lead to immediate trouble. The Soviet Union was not alone in this regard, even with the fall of the Soviet Union, now Putin has reinstated laws that require a Christian to be licensed in order to hand out religious literature or witness to another person. Everything must be within the organized religions setup within Russia. However, China is much more repressive than Russia is, with a strong underground Church movement. “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29b In any country were there is oppression against Believers, understand that many people are carted off to prisons, camps or put into mental institutions, some will die, others will be maimed or permanently damaged. Those who are arrested for such offenses know that it is worthy to be in trouble for the cause of following the Lord. They realize that suffering persecution is part of being a Believer. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the Word that I said to you, A servant...
by admin | Jul 8, 2017 | Articles
“And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt so with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Was this not the word we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Exodus 14:11-12 If it has been awhile or if you have never read it before, take a few minutes to read Exodus 5-12. God has just shown Himself to the tribes of Israel in Egypt. Not only that of Israel, but to those who were Egyptians it was also apparent that they were dealing with God. “And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.” Exodus 9:25-26 “And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt has vanished?” Exodus 10:7 There was a clear distinguishing between the Egyptians and the Israelites, even Pharaoh’s servants recognized this. So as God had said, they are finally not only allowed to leave and serve Jehovah, but after the Passover they are being asked to...
by admin | Jul 1, 2017 | Articles
“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were pleasing; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not continually strive with man, for indeed it is in flesh to sin; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. There were giants on the earth in those days. And also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them, these were the mighty men from antiquity, men of renown. And Jehovah saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all day long. And Jehovah regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved to His heart. And Jehovah said, I will obliterate man whom I have created from off the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret having made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way...
by admin | Jun 14, 2017 | Articles
“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one, according to their works. And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.” Revelation 20:11-15 Eventually time is going to run out. With the way things are looking it could be soon, perhaps even before this article becomes published. Yet no one knows the day nor the hour. One thing that man often does is kick the can down the road on things they know they ought to do. “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and did not realize until...
by admin | May 25, 2017 | Articles
The other day I had to pick up something at the post office. As I entered the main lobby, I took my place in line waiting patiently as there were several people in front of me, mailing and picking up packages. Soon the line behind me stretched all the way to the door and as more people started to approach some became frustrated and stated that they would have to come back later. That day the line was long and slow. It seemed to take nearly 20 minutes for me to finally get to the counter to conduct business, but alas it happened. On my way home I was pondering how many of those who were waiting would have liked to have been able to cut to the front, to be first in line. I thought of this in regards to the final Judgment where each individual man and woman stand before God Almighty, one at a time, waiting for their turn. “And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one,...
by admin | May 23, 2017 | Articles
There is a very dangerous trend that has happened in the past and will surely happen in the future. Man looking for man to solve man’s problems. While societies could look at their ills that need to be addressed, such as jobs, infrastructure, health care, etc., often times for many people, not only in the United States, but around the world, the are truly focused on their own household. While there are certainly things that leaders, whether elected, celebrities with their foundations, political movement figures, etc., can certainly do, such as donate a large amount of food or clothing, give money, help create jobs, the bottom line is people are looking towards man to not only fix the ills of society, but those of their own household. There certainly can be merit in some of the efforts that man does to provide help, but too often the problems they intend to fix create other problems or their public intentions are not their private intentions. Even if man was able to begin to provide some sort of utopia, what would be a utopia for one segment of society would be a dystopia to another segment. Families around the world are concerned about a job to make enough income to provide the necessities of life. Then those who have such an amount of income are often focused on making more to provide for the desires and pleasures of life. A healthy family who supposedly remains so through access to proper medical care, is another focus, then there are the concerns that some focus on regarding their imagined rights,...
