Heaven or Hell?

If I were to take a walk down main street and asked 100 passers-by how many of them believed in Heaven, I do believe I would get an overwhelming majority. While there would be some that would scoff at such an idea, the vast masses of people believe in Heaven. Now if I were to take the same walk and ask 100 passers-by how many of them believe in Hell, I believe I would get an entirely different response. Here I would probably dare say that I would be closer to 50%, perhaps even only a third of people believing in Hell. For the sake of argument, let’s assume 50%. If I posed a second question to these same people, how do you think they would respond? How would you respond? If I were to ask these people who believe in Heaven whether or not they were going there, I would assume nearly all of them, but not all of them, would tell me that they would go there or think they would go there when they died. Likewise if I were to ask these same people that believe in Hell whether or not they would go there, I would assume most would say no, probably a few would say that they hoped not. Now the problem herein lies with this. If I were to ask those who believe they were going to Heaven if they believed in a Hell, I believe that it would quickly dive down to the 50% ratio. Now if I were to ask these same people how I would get to Heaven, assuming 85...

Bearing Your Cross

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24   “Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23   “And when He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Mark 8:34   Who is Jesus?   Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin birth, He lived nearly 2,000 years ago in Israel, preaching the gospel and providing a means for all mankind to find Salvation by believing into Him and repenting of their sins before a just and holy God.   Jesus was He who created the heavens and the earth. He is the one whom was convicted to death by the Jews, carried out by the Romans. He died on the cross, guiltless, yet for us, for our sins. For anyone who would choose to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, He will be just that and more, a friend to those in need.   Jesus is the One whom rose from the dead, after having been put into a tomb, sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers. It is He who now sits on the right hand of God, waiting patiently for the time of the Gentiles to be fulfilled. It is also He who is going to come back...

Separated Unto God

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Christ Jesus were immersed into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through immersion into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, that we should no longer serve sin. For he who has died has been justified from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For...

Trust & Obey

Trust & Obey When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh nor a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, But our toil He doth richly repay Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown or a cross, But is blest if we trust and obey But we never can prove the delights of His love Until all on the altar we lay For the favor He shows, and the joy He bestows Are for them who will trust and obey Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet, Or we’ll walk by His side in the way What He says we will do, where He sends we will go Never fear, only trust and obey Chorus: Trust and obey, for there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey     “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Christ Jesus were immersed into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through immersion into...

What is wisdom?

“The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10   Having done an article on fear, it only seemed logical to continue in that direction by completing a word study on wisdom. We’ll begin by using an old copy of Webster’s University Dictionary.   wisdom n.   1.) The quality of being wise; the faculty of making the best use of knowledge; a combination of discernment, judgment, sagacity, and similar powers; understanding   2.) Human learning; erudition; knowledge of arts and sciences; scientific or practical truth.   3.) Quickness of intellect; readiness of apprehension; dexterity in execution; as the wisdom of Bezaleel and Aholiab. – Ex. xxxi. 3,6   4.) Natural instinct and sagacity.   5.) In Scripture, right judgment concerning religious and moral truth; true religion; godliness; piety; the knowledge and fear of God, and sincere and uniform obedience to His commands.   Looking over the definitions it is obvious that the first and fifth most closely represent the type of wisdom described in relation to the fear of God in the Holy Scriptures. Let’s take a moment and go over definition three.   “And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying: Observe that I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise designs, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting stones to finish them, in carving wood, and to work in...

Will you (or can you?) wait any longer?

How long before Jesus comes and takes those who are His out of the world?  How long before the world enters the time of Jacob’s trouble and receives judgment for man’s rejection of the Most High?   For those of you who have been paying attention and even for those of you who don’t, there is a lot going on in the world today.  The global economy is simply a ruse that is ready to tumble into obvilion.  The United States is aligning itself with Iran and other muslim interests against Israel.  China is quickly becoming a superpower, with their money-making scam of an economy and repressive regime.  Technology has absolutely exploded and continues to be developed at break-neck speeds.  This technology ushers in some very evil gene manipulation (DNA/RNA), as well as very Orwellian goods that take away the anonymous activities of individuals.  There are wars and rumors of wars, and have been for many years now.    “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”  Matthew 24:6   There are major earthquakes happening now and then, here and there.  Record temperatures, droughts, fires, floods and other unusual weather is happening in many places.    “And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of travail.”  Mark 13:8b   Yet should you concern yourself with any of these things?   If you are not a true Believer, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your...