GREAT
QUESTIONS THAT PEOPLE ASK ABOUT THE BIBLE
This page displays a
list
of some of the great questions that people ask about the Bible and
Christianity
Does
God hear the prayers of sinners?
Did
the Ressurrection of Jesus Christ really happen?
Is
Jesus really God, or was He just a good man and great teacher?
Does
the Bible teach that there is only one way to Heaven?
Is
there evidence that God does exist?
Is the
Bible really the Word of God, since it was written by men?
Why is Abortion
wrong?
If I really love my
boyfriend/girlfriend, is it okay with God that we live together?
If
God is real and He wants for us to know Him, why do some people not
believe in Him?
Will Jesus
return to the earth?
What
is the Rapture and when will it happen?
Are we
living in the "Last Days"
What
is the Battle of Armageddon, when will it happen?
Who is the
antichrist?
What
is the definition of a Religious cult?
Why
are there so many religions and Church denominations.
Does satan really
exist?
How
could a loving God send anyone to Hell?
What does
Heaven look like?
What
will happen to me when I die?
Will
I see a bright light at the end of a long tunnel when I die?
I
have been through a divorce, would the Lord allow me to marry again.
I
have been through a divorce, could I still be a pastor or serve God in
leadership?
I
was molested as a child how can I move on and find healing in my life?
I
came from an abusive relationship and it is hard for me to trust anyone
again.
Is it
okay for a Christian to date a non-Christian?
Can a
Christian drink alchohol?
I
have been hurt in my church, should I leave?
I
was hurt by another Christian and It hard for me to be their friend
again
What will
we be doing in Heaven?
Why is
Jesus spoken of as "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?"
Is it
oaky for a Christian to smoke?
Can
a Homosexual be forgiven and have eternal life?
Does the
Bible really teach that Homosexuality or Lesbianism is a sin?
Why
does Bill Maher hate Christians?
Why
are many Hollywood movie stars and other celebrities atheists or
agnostic?
More than 1,000 of
the Best Questions ever asked
Questions
about God
Questions
about Jesus Christ
Questions
about the Holy Spirit
Questions
about Christian Living
Questions
about Creation Part 1
Questions
about Creation Part 2
Questions
about the Bible and Science
Questions
about Death, Heaven, Hell, and Eternal Life
Questions
about Angels, Demons, and the Power of Satan
Questions
about Angels, Demons, and the Power of Satan
* Please note that this is a new section just added to our web site and
we are in the process of adding the answers to these questions.
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Does
God hear the prayers of sinners?
Some people say that
the Lord will not hear the prayers of a sinner. In the Book of 2
Kings, Jehoahaz was and evil, godless king, notice what happened:
2 Kings 13
1 In the twenty-third year of Joash[a] the son of Ahaziah, king of
Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and
reigned seventeen years.
2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not depart
from them.
3 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He
delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand
of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days.
4
So Jehoahaz pleaded with
the LORD, and the LORD listened to him; for He saw the
oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.
5 Then the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from
under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelt in
their tents as before...
If the Lord did not listen to prayers of sinners, then no one would
ever be heard by the Lord. Actually, in the Bible we see that the
Lord listens to all those who turn to him in humility, and a sincere
desire to know Him and recieve His love and forgivness of sin throuhg
the sacriifice of His Son Jesus Christ.
No matter what you may have done in your life, you can be assured that
the Lord will hear you if you call upon Him.
Remember that Jesus died for the sins of THE WHOLE WORLD. This
means that at the Cross, Jesus was paying for the sins of every person
who has ever been born on the earth. In reality, all of your sins
have already been judged and paid for by Jesus. All you need to
do today is ask Jesus to forgive you of all of your sins, and be
willing to turn from them and to follow Him for the rest of your life,
and He will give you ETERNAL LIFE.
If you would like to know that all of your sins are forgiven and that
you have eternal life, you can pray a very simple prayer and He will
hear you right now and come into your heart and give you a brand new
life.
"Dear Lord Jesus,
please forgive me for all of my sins. I want to accept you as my
Lord and my Savior. Thank you Jesus for dying for me on the
Cross. I believe what the Bible says, that you died for me and
that you rose from the dead, and that I have my sins forgiven and
eternal life, just by believing in Your Sacrifice for me.
I pray this in Your
name Jesus, Amen"
According to the
authority of the Word of God, if you prayed that oprayer and you meant
it, you are saved. Heaven is now your destiny, and you will live in the
Glory of your Father forever.
Did the
Ressurrection of Jesus Christ really
happen?
All of Christianity
rests on the answer to this single question. Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians 15:
1Corinthians 15:14-20
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your
faith is also empty.
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have
testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up...
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in
your sins!
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the
most pitiable.
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
If Jesus did not raise from the dead as He promised that He would, then
trusting in Jesus Christ is a colossal waste of time.
Is there a way that we can know for sure that Jesus did raise from the
dead and that all of His claims and promises are true? Yes, we
can know for sure and test whether or not the resurrection happened, in
the same way we test any other historical event that happened.
How do you know that George Washington was a real man, that he was the
first president of the United States of America, and that all the
things that are claimed about Him are true?
Funny isn't it that we just take for granted what is written in the
history books, or when a teacher or professor tells us facts concerning
George Washington, we naturally assume them to be true. The Question
is, have you verified that these facts are true for yourself? I
would imagine that most people "assume" that the facts about George
Washington, or any other historical figure, are true and come from
reliable sources.
How do we know that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened?
We look at the Historical record. We examine the eye
witness testimony of those who were there and determine if their
account is accurate and reliable.
In 1833, Dr. Simon
Greeleaf was appointed to the Royal professorship and Dane professor at
Harvard University. Dr Greenleaf contributed extensively to the
development of Harvard Law School and was the chief counsel in the
Supreme court case Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge in 1837.
In 1848, Dr Greeleaf retired from his active duties and became a full
time professor of law. Dr. Greeleaf was an Atheist who did not
believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and was challenged by one
of his students to try and disprove the Resurrection from the
historical record.
Upon examination of the historical record and eye witness testimony of
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Dr. Greenleaf came to the concussion
that Jesus Christ did exist in history, was crucified on a Roman Cross,
died and was laid in a tomb, then raised from the dead three days later.
Dr Greenleaf wrote the books "The Testimony of the Evangelists"
and "A Treatise on the Laws of Evidence", the former in three
volumes from 1842-1853. A Treatise on the Laws of Evidence is a
standard textbook used in American Law through the nineteenth Century.
The basis for this college textbook, was the importance in
determining how eyewitness testimony is examined for truthfulness,
reliability and could be admitted in a court of law.
Upon applying these strict rules for evidence to the eyewitness
testimony of those who wrote that they had seen Jesus Crucified and
raised from the dead, Dr. Greenleaf said that the events described in
the four gospels of the New Testament are not just Religious documents
of faith, but are historical eye witness accounts of an actual event
that actually took place.
Dr. Greenleaf further determined that the testimony in the four gospels
are historical events, by credible eye witneses and that the
reliability of these acoounts was so overwhelmingly accurate that they
should be admitted in any court of law as credible testimony.
In conclusion, Dr Greeleaf determined that the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ actually took place and that the testimony given in the gosepels
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are both credible and reliable.
As a result of Dr. Greenleaf's extensive work examining the facts
of the Resurrection, he became a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.
There you go, from the historical record, from the facts of recorded
history, Jesus Christ lived, died and rose from the dead.
Now, what about the claims of Jesus? He claimed that He is the
eternal God who created all things and that He is the only way to
Heaven.
Colossians 1:16
For by Jesus all things were created that are in heaven and that are on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for
Him.
If what Jesus said concerning His resurrection is true, then what He
said concerning who He is and That "No one come to the Father, except
through Him, is also True.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through Me.
I recently read that Hollywood actor Brad Pitt said that he is 80
percent Atheist and 20 percent Agnostic because he does not believe
that we can really know for sure that God exists.
God does exist, and He sent His only Son to die on a Roman Cross to pay
for the sins of every human being that has ever lived on the earth.
Then as proof that Jesus is God and the Only Savior of the world,
He raised Him from the dead three days later.
This is an undisputabel matter of recorded history. The real
question now is, what will Brad Pitt and every other person who will
live upon the earth do with Jesus Christ and the facts of His
resurrection and claims that He is the only way to Heaven?
Following Jesus is
about relationship, not religion. Believing in Jesus
and the sacrifice He made for us, is unlike any religion of man.
Jesus Himself, is not like any man that has ever lived.
First, even though Jesus is fully man, the Bible also describes Him as
fully God. One of the mysteries of the Universe is how the
infinite God of the Universe could contain Himself within the body of a
human being.
It was impossible that Jesus could offer His life in exchange for all
of our lives, unless He became one of us, a man redeeming mankind.
Second, according to the pattern laid out in the Old Testament, all
sacrifices offered to God must be perfect, without spot or blemish.
Jesus, living as God in Human flesh, would have to undergo
all the same trials and temptations that each one of us experience, yet
for His entire life, He must be without sin.
If Jesus had succumbed to any sin at any time, He would have been
disqualified from being our Savior. The Father demanded
perfection of Jesus as our Sacrifice, just as He demands perfection of
everyone who will be admitted into Heaven.
This is the reason that Jesus must have been born of a Virgin as
predicted in the Old Testament. If Jesus was conceived by the normal
process of human conception, he would have inherited the sin nature
from Adam that all of us possess, disqualifying Jesus to be anyone's
savior. Because Mary conceived by the Holy spirit, Jesus was missing
the sin nature of man, and could be the Savior, if He maintained an
entire life of sinlessness.
This makes Jesus far
superior to any other man or woman or religion which claims to have the
power to grant eternal life. Jesus is the only man to ever live a
perfect sinless life.
No one during Jesus life was ever able to attribute any sin to Jesus at
any time.
John 8:46
(Jesus speaking) Which of you convicts Me of sin?
1Peter 1:18-19
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like
silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from
your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Peter understood that the Old Testament requirement of God was that the
sacrifice had to be perfect.
Only Jesus was perfect in all of His 33 1/2 years upon the earth.
No other man that has ever lived can match that record, therefore
there is no one else qualified to be the Savior of the World.
This is why we do not follow a Religion, a Church or any other
person, we follow the perfect, spotless Jesus.
In both the Old and the New Testaments, Jesus is described as being
"God in Human Flesh".
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government
will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
600 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah describes Jesus as being both
"A Son". Before Jesus was given to us as "A Child", he had already
been the Son of God for all of Eternity.
Jesus was not just a Son, Isaiah says, He is also called "Mighty God".
It was correctly understood that when the Savior came into the
world, He would be God Himself, offering His life for us.
In the New Testament, as Paul is writing to the new Hebrew Christians
in the Book of Hebrews, this is how Paul describes Jesus:
Hebrews 1:5
For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son
Therfore Jesus is NOT and Angel, nor was He ever an Angel.
Hebrews 1:8
But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
The verse above in Hebrews 1:8, the Father calls the Son, God,
interesting.
In John Chapter 10 the Pharisees took up stones to kill Jesus and He
asks them "For which of the things He had done are they desiring to
kill Him..."
John 10:32-33
32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My
Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not
stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
Did you get that?
The Pharisees took up stones to kill Jesus because they understood that
He
was claiming to Be God in Human flesh.
So, for anyone that says that Jesus never claimed to be God, or that
this doctrine is not taught in the Bible, that Jesus is the
Eternal God, this verse proves that Jesus believed He was God, and John
who wrote the eye witness testimony of Jesus also believed that Jesus
is God.
When Paul wrote to the Colossians, it was to correct the teaching of
some who had come into the church there and also claimed that Jesus was
not God. Listen to how Paul describes Jesus in Colossians 1,
verse 16:
Colossians 1:16
For by Jesus all things were
created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him
In order for Jesus to be able to be the One who created "All Things",
He would have been in existence before "All Things", Jesus is not a
created being, He is the Eternal God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
Paul repeatedly taught the fact that Jesus is unlike any other man, He
is God:
Titus 2:13
Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
1Timothy 2:5
For there is one God
and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
This is why Jesus is the Only way to Heaven, because only Jesus was
without sin, God in Human flesh, and why the sacrifice of His life as
the eternal God was valuable enough to save every person who ever
lived on the earth.
Does
the Bible teach that there is only one way to Heaven?
Yes, the Bible Claims that there is just one way To
Heaven, through Jesus Christ.
In one of the questions above: "Is Jesus God?", we describe the
fact that Jesus was without sin, God in Human flesh, and unlike any
other human being. These attributes are the reason that Jesus is
the Only way to Heaven.
According to the Bible, the Word of God, the only way that any person
can go to Heaven, is if all of their sins have been removed.
Since it is not possible for any one of us to do anything personally to
remove our sins, we do not have the capacity to meet the requirements
laid out by God.
When a person says that they are a "Good person", their definition of
what is good, is different from what God defines as a "good person"
Psalms 14:3
They have
all turned
aside, They have together become corrupt; T
here is none who does good,
No, not one.
Romans 3:23
For
all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God...
Isaiah 64:6
But we are
all like an
unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.
One day a rich young ruler came to Jesus and said to Him:
Luke 18:18-19
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good?
No one is good but One, that is,
God.
In other words Jesus told him,
'Why
do you call me good, only God is Good, do you recognize me as God and
that is why you say I am good, or do you think that a man can be good,
which is not the case..."
In order to be classified as a truly "Good Person", we must be perfect,
that is morally perfect in every way, from the day of our birth through
the last day of our death.
Most of us understand that on this basis, not one human being has ever
met the qualifications of being "A Good Person". Only Jesus lived a
perfect sinless life, therefore, only He has met the requirements to be
truly good enough to offer His life in exchange for ours.
The incredible truth of the Bible is that when any person places their
trust in what Jesus has done for them on the Cross, that person is seen
by God as "Righteous", they become truly a "Good person".
The New Testament term "Born Again", from John 3:16 carried with it,
the fact that when you trust Jesus sacrifice for your sins, you become
a "New Creation".
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things
have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Man in his present state, as a sinner, cannot enter heaven.
No one who has sinned can enter the presence of God. We see
this illustrated in the Old Testament example of the Tabernacle, where
no one could enter the presence of God in the Holy of Holies,
without a sacrifice to cover their sins.
The Book of Hebrews describes the fact that when Jesus died for us on
the Cross, and He ascended into heaven, that he brought the blood of
His sacrifice for us into the true Tabernacle that is in heaven, and
placed His blood upon the altar.
Hebrews 9:11-12
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the
greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not
of this creation.
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but
with His own blood He entered the
Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption
On that third day after His crucifixion, Jesus ascended back to Heaven
and brought with Him His own blood to place upon the Altar there
in Heaven for us, Amazing!
At the moment Jesus died on the Cross, the eyewitness testimony of
those who were in the Temple in Jerusalem at this time, said that the
curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the inner court, was
torn in-two from top to bottom.
Matthew 27:51
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to
bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split...
This meant that after Jesus made his sacrifice for us at the Cross, all
of our debt to God had been paid for in full. From that moment
on, there was no separation from God for anyone who came through faith
in Jesus sacrifice. All those who come to God through Jesus
sacrifice are now "Good Enough" to enter the presence of God.
Paul wrote that now that Jesus has made His Sacrifice for us, we can
come to the Lord's throne of Grace anytime we desire, because there is
no longer any separation between us and God.
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
You might believe that you have done things so terrible in your life
that God could never forgive you. The truth is, that Jesus
Sacrifice
paid for the sins of EVERY PERSON WHO HAS EVER LIVED.
The only thing that is preventing you from obtaining this complete
forgiveness and complete removal of all your sin from your record is
for you to say "yes" to Jesus, "
I
accept you as my Lord and Savior, and I believe that you died for me..."
The price has been paid for all your sins, all you have to do is
believe it and accept it.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God,
So, in consideration of the question "Why is Jesus the only way to
heaven?", the answer is that only Jesus meant all of the requirements
previously described in the Bible to be the Savior. No other
person on the earth ever came close, and that is why no other person,
religion or church can save you, only Jesus sacrifice.
The reason that we cannot come to God ourselves on our own terms, no
matter how sincere we are, is that even in our deepest sincerity we
still cannot remove our own sin. Only Jesus sacrifice was costly
enough to pay the debt we owed.
The final things
that Jesus said when He was hanging on the Cross was this:
John 19:30
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “
It is finished!” And
bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
The Greek word for "Finished" is "Tetelestai".
The idea behind Tetelestai is that a person has a contract in which
they owe a debt, and that debt is paid in full. Stamped then upon
the former contract of debt are the words "Paid In Full".
When you surrender your life to Jesus Christ, your sins are not just
simply covered, they are removed as if they never existed, pretty cool!
The Bible describes this transaction that takes place when you believe
in Jesus Sacrifice as payment for your sins and accept Him as your
Savior as you having been "Justified"
JUST-AS-IF-I-HAD -NEVER-SINNED
Thank you Father
that you made one simple, easy to understand way to make it to Heaven;
a simple faith and trust in Jesus sacrifice.
Romans 10:9
...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved
Is
there evidence that God does exist?
This is really a
suprising question from my vantage point as somone who has studied the
Bible for 34 years. The evidence is really quite stunning and
overwhelming. So much so, that this particular question will
probrably have the longest and most detailed answer.
The evidence is so
extensive that I will include a Sub Menu with the various topics for
"Evidence that God exists"
In Creation
In Science
In Mathematics
In Your Body
In the Universe
In The Bible
In Creation
The Sun has not been in our solar system forever, the Universe has not
been here forever. If the Universe had been here forever, Then
the Sun in our solar system would have burned out already, in fact all
of the stars in the Universe would have already burned out.
The second law of thermodynamics, the law of Entropy states that
everything in the Universe is wearing out, winding down, running out of
energy. Over time, energy becomes less and less usable.
This means that the Universe had to have a Beginning. It took the
scientist quite a long time to admit this, but most credible scientists
today admit that the Universe must have had a beginning.
How does the Bible start?
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning...
How did the Bible know there was a beginning? Perhaps we should
pay some attention to this book!
How did the Beginning, Begin? With a "Big Bang?"
Where did the energy for the "Big Bang" come from? Why did it Bang just
then? How did you get the human brain out of a "Big Bang?'
It is not possible that energy was just hanging out somewhere in the
vastness of Space waiting to make a Big Bang because the energy would
have entropied.
We are then driven
by logic that there was a time when Nothing existed,
because "Things" wear out.
The next step then is that you cannot get "Everything" out of
"Nothing". There had to be "Someone".
Someone who has no beginning and no end. How does God introduce
Himself to Moses in the Bible?
Exodus 3:14
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”
"I am the self existent One, without beginning, without end..."
As human beings, we cannot comprehend this kind of being, with no
beginning and no end. Someone who has the power, knowledge and
technology to create "Everything" out of "Nothing".
It is interesting that in the first line of the first book in the
Bible, it says this:
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God
created
the heavens and the earth.
In the original language that this verse was written in, Hebrew, the
word "Created" is "Bara", which means to "Create from Nothing".
How did the Bible know that the Universe was created from nothing,
since energy could not have existed before, just waiting for a Big
Bang, since all energy runs down over time?
Psalms 19:1-6
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His
handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the
end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices
like a strong man to run its race.
6 Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other
end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His
eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
2 Corinthians 4:18
while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but
the things which are not seen are eternal.
The Power, Wisdom, Glory, and Intelligence of God, His capacity to
create is evident by the intricate, balanced, well ordered and detailed
creation that we see all around us. And this all happened by
accident? Illogical!
We can see more than enough evidence in Creation that an intelligence
made everything, but these things do not tell us about Him as a
person. His Love, His Passion, His Patience, His Purpose, for
mankind and what has gone wrong between us and Him and more
importantly, how that relationship can be restored. These things
we can only know by His Word.
Jesus said this:
John 4:24
God is Spirit...
Interesting because a "Spirit" cannot entropy. The Bible says
that we are Spirit beings living inside a physical body. It takes
an intelligent revelation to know God. He must reveal Himself to
us. Man by wisdom cannot find God, He must chose to reveal
Himself to us. So that we can understand Him, His Love and His
purpose, and He will have to do it with "
Words".
Why Words? We will answer this question and many more as we come
back to this subject later...
In Science
In Mathematics
In Your Body
In the Universe
In The Bible
There is really a
very simple way that we can test the Bible to see if it is the Word of
God, or is ist just the word of man. Predictive Prophecy.
If I told you that I am God, you could test my claim by testing my
power. An Almighty God who knows all things would be able to tell
me what was going to happen in the future with precision.
The Bible is unlike any other book in the World in that it claims to be
able to tell us not only what is going to happen in our futiure, but
the entire future of planet earth, and the Universe itself.
There is no other document that has ever been found that has a record
of 100 percent accuracy in the prediction of future events. The
God of the Bible asks the question "Who will you compare to me..."
Isaiah 46:9-10
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no
other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from
the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done
This God claims that the ability to tell us what will happen in the
future and do so with 100 percent accuracy, is a quaity that only God
posseses. There have been many men and women throughout history
who have claimed to be able to tell us what is going to happen in the
future. If you will examine their success rate it is just about 50
percent. Most of us could predict events that might happen in our
future and our rate of accuracy would also be just about 50 percent.
In the Old Testament, the Lord established for Israel a way that they
could tell a true prophet from a false prophet.
Deuteronomy 18:21-22
21 And if you say in your heart, “How shall we know the word
which the LORD has not spoken?’—
22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or
come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken;
the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him
If what someone says is going to happen does not come to pass 100
oercent of the time that person is a False Prophet, don't listen to
them.
On that basis, we can test the Bible to see what it says, whether or
not it happened exactly the way that it said that it would happen.
Of the more than 3,550 Predictive Prophecies in the Bible, over 2,500
of these have alredy happened in the past. When we examine what
was said with what actually happened in history, we find that not one
prophecy has failed. With amazing precision and accuracy, over
2,500 of the 3,500 prdictions that the Bible has made so far, have
already been fulfilled perfectly.
What is the likelyhood that this was an accident, a coincidence, or
happenstance? When you compute mathematically the odds that even
eight of the 300 Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in His
life, minstry, death and resurrection, could have happend exactly the
way the Bible predicte, thes oddds are 10 to the seventeeth power.
That is a 10 with 17 zeros's behind it.
10,000,000,000,000,000,00
In the evolutionary theory of the estimated age of the universe,
allowing enough time for enough mutations in cells to occur, producing
all of the variety of life we see present on the earth, the
evolutionist have estimated that the age of the Universe is 10 to the
17th power, seconds old.
What then would happen if we computed the odds of 2,500 prophecies
coming to pass of the 3,500 made so far, with 100 percent
accuracy? That number is so large that it is beyond the
possibitly of chance.
Take for example,
one of the most amazing Old Testament prophecies regarding the City of
Tyre in the Bible.
In the prophecy of Tyre, the Bible makes 28 specific predictions
regarding what God says that He is going to do to this city.
These deatails are so specific, that only someone who has advanced
knowledge of future events, an interdimensional being who lives
outside time, could have possibly know that these things were
going to happen.
Each of the 28 predictions by God are highlighted in Bold Underline:
Ezekiel 26:1-14
A Message for Tyre
1 On February 3, during the twelfth year of King Jehoiachin's
captivity, this message came to me from the LORD:
2 "Son of man, Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying,
`Ha! She who controlled the rich trade routes to the east has been
broken, and I am the heir! Because she has been destroyed, I will
become wealthy!'
3 "Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am your enemy, O
Tyre, and 1. I will bring many nations
against you, like the waves of the sea crashing against your shoreline.
4 2.
They will destroy the walls of Tyre and 3. tear
down its towers. 4. I
will scrape away its soil and make it a bare rock!
5 5.
The island of Tyre will become uninhabited. 6. It
will be a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have spoken,
says the Sovereign LORD. 7. Tyre
will become the prey of many nations,
6 and 8
its mainland villages will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will
know that I am the LORD.
7 "For the Sovereign LORD says: 9 I will
bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon--the king of kings from the
north--against Tyre with his cavalry, chariots, and great army.
8 10
First he will destroy your mainland villages. 11 Then
he will attack you by building a siege wall, 12
constructing a ramp, and 13
raising a roof of shields against you.
9 14
He will pound your walls with battering rams and 15
demolish your towers with sledgehammers.
10 16
The hooves of his cavalry will choke the city with dust, and 17 your
walls will shake as the horses gallop through your broken gates,
pulling chariots behind them.
11 18
His horsemen will trample every street in the city. 19 They
will butcher your people, and 20 your
famous pillars will topple.
12 21
"They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and 22 break
down your walls. 23 They
will destroy your lovely homes and 24
dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea.
13 25
I will stop the music of your songs. No more will the sound of harps be
heard among your people.
14 26
I will make your island a bare rock, 27 a
place for fishermen to spread their nets. 28 You
will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken! This is the word
of the Sovereign LORD. NLT
Let recap and list
the predictions the Lord makes here concerning Tyre:
1. I will bring many nations against you, like the waves of the sea
crashing against your shoreline.
2. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and
3. tear down its towers.
4. I will scrape away its soil and make it a bare rock!
5. The island of Tyre will become uninhabited.
6. It will be a place for fishermen to spread their nets, for I have
spoken, says the Sovereign LORD.
7. Tyre will become the prey of many nations,
8 its mainland villages will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will
know that I am the LORD.
"For the Sovereign LORD says:
9 I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon--the king of kings from
the north--against Tyre with his cavalry, chariots, and great army.
10 First he will destroy your mainland villages.
11 Then he will attack you by building a siege wall,
12 constructing a ramp, and
13 raising a roof of shields against you.
14 He will pound your walls with battering rams and
15 demolish your towers with sledgehammers.
16 The hooves of his cavalry will choke the city with dust, and
your walls will shake as the horses gallop through your broken gates,
pulling chariots behind them.
17 His horsemen will trample every street in the city.
18 They will butcher your people, and
19 your famous pillars will topple.
21 "They will plunder all your riches and merchandise and
22 break down your walls.
23 They will destroy your lovely homes and
24 dump your stones and timbers and even your dust into the sea.
25 I will stop the music of your songs. No more will the sound of harps
be heard among your people.
26 I will make your island a bare rock,
27 a place for fishermen to spread their nets.
28 You will never be rebuilt,
Not only did the Lord speak of this
prophecy here in Ezekiel chapter 28 years before it happened, He
also fulfilled all 28 points of this prophecy perfectly and in
every detail!
Tyre and Israel during the time of king David were joint
partners in shipping their merchandise throughout the Mediterranean sea.
As a result, both Tyre and Israel became extremely wealthy and
prosperous, as they really had no other competition except each
other..
Every since Israel had first come out of Egypt, they had began to
fall away from the Lord and go back again into worshipping false
gods.
The nation of israel had seen the Babylonians and how they
lived, and they had began to desire the gods that the Babylonians
were worshipping.
So the Lord began to tell Israel in chapters 23 and 24 of Ezekiel:
“
You like the
babylonians, you got them”.
The Lord sends king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to take
Israel and all of her people captive back to Babylon.
The nation of Israel, Gods people, are allowed to be taken captive by
Babylon, a pagan nation, because the Lord was seeking to get their
attention, to correct them, to draw them back to Himself.
How does the city of
Tyre fit into all of this?
If you study your history books you will find that: The name
“Tyre” means “A Rock”.
Tyre was built upon a rock.
The city of Tyre was really 2 cities:
The main city of Tyre was on the mainland about 25 miles north of
Israel on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, built upon
bedrock.
The other part of the city of Tyre was built upon an island about
1/2 mile offshore of the mainland city of Tyre.
Joshua Said In The Book of Joshua That The City of Tyre on
the mainland was “
A Fortified
City” (Joshua 19:29)
There were over 40,000 people that lived in the 2 cities of Tyre.
The city of Tyre was where king Solomon of Israel had received
“The cedar timbers” from king Hiram that were
used in the construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
As the Lord has sent king Nebuchadnezzar to attack Israel and take
her captive for her falling away from Him, news of this siege
reached the city of Tyre.
In Ezekiel chapter 26 as Tyre learns of Israel's siege by
Nebuchadnezzar, they begin to “rejoice”.
Remember Tyre had become an extremely wealthy city as well as
Jerusalem, because of all of the trading ships that passed
through the waters off their coasts carrying all of their goods to
places all over the world.
When news of Jerusalem’s fall reaches Tyre, the people that
lived in the cities of Tyre began to rejoice saying “our
competition is
gone, now we will make all of the profit from our trading ships
ourselves”
There is something about the Lord that as He is dsiciplining His
people, He just does not like it very much when others see him
correcting his people they begin to rejoice over their
trial…
Never the less, rejoice and throw a party is exactly what the city
of Tyre does
after they hear that Israel was taken captive to
Babylon.
In Ezekiel 26:2-3 the Lord declares that “He is against
Tyre” because they were rejoicing over Jerusalem’s
fall.
The Lord then begins to predict this amazing prophecy that we first
took a look at in chapter 28 of Ezekiel:
The Lord will send
Nebuchadnezzar to the mainland villages of Tyre.
“Then He will
attack Tyre by building a siege wall and constructing a
ramp…”.
“
He will
leave the main city in
rubble.”
“Even the
dirt from the ground of the main city of Tyre will be scrapped
off leaving only the flat bare rock
underneath.”
“They will dump your
stones and timbers and dirt into the sea”
About 2 1/2 to 3 years after the Lord predicted this prophecy against
Tyre in 588 b.c., Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Tyre.
The way in which the Babylonians overcame a city was to surround
it, cut off their food supply, and gradually starve the
people into surrender.
This was the method that Nebuchadnezzar used as he eventually overcame
Jerusalem. The Babyloninas
surrounded the city of Jerusalem, and cut off their food supply.
When
Jerusalm used up all of their food 2 years later, they became
so hungry they were eating their own children, which
incidentally the Lord had also also predicted.
Jerusalem became so weakened by starvation that Nebuchadnezzar
easily overcame the cityand took it captive.
The city of Tyre was a completely different matter… Tyre
was on the coast of the mediterranean sea. The walls of the
city went all the way up to the
sea completely cutting off Tyre from any land attack.
As He had done with Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar cut off all of
Tyre’s food and water
supply on the mainland, but he could not cut off Tyre’s food
supply from the
sea because their Phoenician navy was so powerful.
Tyre also had plenty of fresh water suppl. Archeologists have
discovered an underground spring in the ruins of Tyre that produces
over 10 million gallons of fresh water per day!
The siege by Nebuchadnezzar over Tyre took 13 years.
Finally, the people of Tyre grew tired of all of the noise and
dust from outside their walls, so they began to move the city from
the mainland, 1/2 mile off shore to the island city of Tyre.
By the time Nebuchadnezzar had overcome the walls of the old city most
of the people and the riches of the city had moved out to the island.
Nebuchadnezzar began systematically, to completely destroy the
old
city of Tyre reducing it to ruins.
He broke down the walls.
He destroyed all of the high towers.
He reduced the city to rubble.
Tyre on the island, continued to prosper.
Much of Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning Tyre had
already been fulfilled in amazing detail as
Nebuchadnezzar finally, after 13 years, did destroy the main
city of Tyre on the mainland.
But…—there were still parts of the Lord’s prophecy
of Tyre that were left unfulfilled.
The rubble and timbers from the city had not been thrown into the sea.
The dirt from the ground had not been scrapped up leaving only
the exposed rocks.
In ezekiel 26:12-14
the Lord says that what he had said
“will be done”.
Sometimes the Lord works in our life in exactly the same way.
When we don’t see immediate results after we pray and
ask the Lord for help, we begin to think
that either the Lord didn’t hear us, He can’t
help, or doesn’t care!
Even though another 240 years has gone by, the Lord
does exactly what He said that he would do!
Remember that only the mainland city of Tyre was
destroyed, when the original Propheecy agains Tyre was that both the
Island city of Tyre and the mainland city pf Tyre 1/2 mile
offshore woul destroyed.
240 years later, as Alexander the Great was
conquering the entire world, he also came against the remaining
island city of tyre out on the Island.
Alexander demanded that Tyre surrender to
him, but they refused.
Alexander came up with the idea of taking all of the
rubble from the old city of Tyre on the mainland that had been
piled up from when Nebuchadnezzars destruction of the mainland
city.
Alexandar's me “threw all the rocks and timbers into the
ocean, creating a
causeway ½ mile long out to the island of the new city of Tyre
This causeway was over 2,600 feet
long and up to 900 feet wide!
His soldiers went back to the
mainland, “scraped the dirt from the ground of the old
city to make a road out to the island, leaving only the
exposed flat surface of the rock”.
Eventually Alexander overcame the city of Tyre and completely
destroyed it, hust as the Lord had said would happen.
The Lord's prophecy was fulfilled “His
way”, in “His timing, 240 years
after he had first predicted it.
The Lord is not in a hurry but he most certainly will do
all that he says because He is in control of every event of human
history!
All 28 points of
that amazing prophecy werefulfilled
literally just as the lord said that it would!
The city of tyre never regained it’s
position of wealth and power, just as the Lord said would happen.
The prophet Ezekiel had been given a glimpse
into the future, 1,900 years ahead where he saw that the
city of Tyre would be “A bald rock where fishermen would gather
to open their nets.”
This is exactly what has happened. If you go
to the area where the old city of Tyre was, guess what the people
there do for a living? They cast their nets for
fish, exactly
what the Lord predicted in Ezekiel chapter 26:
Ezekiel 26
26 I will make your island a bare rock,
27 a place for fishermen to spread their nets
Satelite View of Tyre Today showing the Island and the mainlad have
become one.
I will continue this article soon with more proof and details...
Why is Abortion
wrong?
Today many people
feel that what was morally wrong a hundred years ago is acceptable
today because society has changed and so also should social standards
change.
When a woman becomes pregnant at the hands of a rapist, or in the case
where we have the technology to know in advance that a fetus has a
genetic birth defect and we could terminate this life before it ever
comes into the world to experience pain and sorrow, are these not valid
reasons to exercise the option of an abortion?
A woman may feel that it is her body and she has the right to decide
what to do with her body. A single mother already has more children
than she can care for, one more mouth to feed and clothe would only
make a bad situation worse.
An abusive marriage would only bring a child into a world where it
would be battered as the mother and other children have been.
When the life of the mother is in danger should she carry her
baby to full term?
These are a few of the very important and valid reasons that are
considered in the controversy of abortion. Are there other
factors though that should also be considered in the decision to end an
human life.
That is the real issue here is it not, that we are considering whether
or not to allow a human being to live?
Has the value of one human life become less important than the life of
another human life in this modern, socially evolving society that we
live in?
Is not a woman who has within her own body, the body of another human
being, a steward of that life, no matter what the circumstances were
for how that life came into being? What is the difference between
a mother who cares for her child within her home and a mother who
should care for her child inside of her own body?
The Word of God says that all human life is precious and therefore
deserves honor and dignity, protection and nurturing.
Psalms 139:1-17
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in
my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in
secret,
And skillfully
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being
yet unformed.
And in Your book
they all were written,
The days fashioned
for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
In this beautiful Psalm, the Lord reveals that each human life is not
an accident. He is the One who formed us and fashioned us in the
womb of our mother. Whether that womb was in the woman raped, in
danger of her life, or in an abusive relationship, the baby in that
womb was formed and fashioned by God is Loved by Him.
In verse 16 the Lord reveals that all the days of each human life have
purpose, that each one of these days were "Fashioned" for that tiny
fetus inside the womb. Therefore these lives are very precious
and have infinite worth and should be honored, respected, protected and
preserved with every ounce of strength that both the mother and all
society possess.
The Psalm finishes by reminding each one of us that this life inside
this woman is "Precious" to the creator of all things, if so valuable
to Him, why not then equally as valuable to each one of us?
There have been many stories of children who have been born to woman
who nearly terminated the pregnancy of that child. The decision was
made to go ahead and carry the child to full term. The lives of these
special children are told in the amazing stories of their existence.
How rich and full and meaningful their lives were, what great
impacts they made on the lives of others as they had their chance to
live and fulfill the life designed for each one of them.
There are countless broken hearted mothers and fathers on the earth
today who have not been able to conceive and bear a child who would
love and cherish the child in the womb of a woman wanting to terminate
the life of that baby.
Every life is precious, every life has meaning , every life is greatly
loved by the maker of all things. To count each life as precious
and allow it to come into the world for which it was made, it the
highest and most honorable thing a woman could do.
Pastor Rob
If I really love my
boyfriend/girlfriend, is it okay with God that we live together?
One of the greatest
joys of this life is in finding and then experiencing love. The
emotions and feelings of man a woman who find each other are
overwhelming. The desire to express those feelings and share the
love that is felt is at times impossible to hold back. When the
love is genuine, why would it be wrong to give yourself to another
person?
When God created us upon the earth, it was His desire that we be able
to experience love to it's fullest. When man and woman were first
placed here, we were perfect in every way, and our hearts and
motivations were completely different than they are today. Adam
loved Eve with a completely sacrificial and giving love that was
perfect and complete. When man fell, his nature changed from
self-less, to sel-fish. He no longer was capable of perfect love,
but instead became self serving and self consumed.
Because we are fallen beings whose natural tendency is towards self, it
was necessary that there be guidelines that would guard the human
relationship and prevent the abuse of selfishness. The Lord
therefore created the blessing of marriage between a man and a woman. A
commitment between two people for life, in which they would love,
honor, cherish and nurture each other and learn to become one.
The process of taking two completely different human beings from
two completely different backgrounds and life experiences, and make
them as one person, is a very difficult and life-long process.
It is within the commitment of a "marriage", the uniting of two lives
into one, that this process can occur. Without the commitment of
marriage for life, there is a greater tendency to exercise in times of
stress and difficulty, that selfish nature and depart from the
relationship. Even in the commitment of a marriage where a man
and woman promise each other and God that they will stay together "till
death does them part", divorces and separations still happen.
Only when both persons take their promise and commitment of a
marriage seriously and work hard to stay together for life can the
process of a happy and fulfilling relationship occur.
Marriage is about sacrifice, serving your spouse, giving up your
rights, and doing everything you can to put down your selfish nature
and cultivate a loving and fulfilling relationship.
When the relationship is new and exciting, everything just seems to
flow nearly perfectly. You are so much in love that being
together is easy and natural. Then withing a few months, reality
sets in and the old fallen nature begins to surface. Feelings get
hurt, harsh words are said, and the time comes for the commitment of
the relationship made at the beginning to take over, and the hard word
of growing together begins.
In the Book of Ephesians, Paul wrote of the correct way that two
persons should treat each other in their relationship
Ephesians 4:31-32
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put
away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God in Christ forgave you.
In chapter 5, Paul continues with instruction for Husbands and Wives.
Ephesians 5:21-33
21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the
church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives
be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church
and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by
the word,
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and
without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he
who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it,
just as the Lord does the church.
30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the
church.
33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife
as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
The key to any
relationship is verse 21; "Submitting to one another, in the fear of
God".
Simply stated; doing those things that will bless and nurture your
mate, doing so because you love and want to honor the Lord.
Thinking of your mates benefit and feelings before your own.
When there is a disagreement, putting aside your desires and
needs to meet their desires and needs. Imagine what kind of a
relationship you could have if both of you submitted to each other in
this way. It would then be two people looking out for each other
and constantly finding ways to bless each other. What a wonderful
place to live.
Some would say, "If I lived like that I would get taken advantage of,
run over, abused and used."
Not if both persons in the relationship were giving up their individual
rights and were looking out for their spouse before themselves. Even in
a case where just one person begins to treat the other in this way,
before long the heart of the other will be softened and will begin to
transform their self into a more giving and serving person. If no
one starts the process, it will never happen. Ideally, both would agree
to begin to live this way at the same time, allowing for mistakes and
failure, but always continuing in their own desire to become a more
selfless being.
If for example, a husband is the one who begins to really love his wife
in the same way that Jesus loves His church, then the wife will
naturally follow his lead and begin to change and transform herself.
The kind of Love that Jesus shows his church is a completely
sacrificial love, giving up of all rights and dying to self to bless
each one of us. Any man who loves a woman in this way, will find
that his leading and example, will cause his wife to follow after and
imitate his example. Any man who is unwilling to begin himself to
love his wife in this way, will find that the process of experiencing a
blessed marriage will be very difficult.
The Lord has given leadership in the marriage to the man, and with
great priveledge, comes great responsibility.
Luke 12:48
... For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required;
and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the
more.
You want to be the leader in your family men, then start by leading by
example, love you wife with sacrificial love, she will follow your
lead. Stop thinking of yourself first and think of her first,
this is where changes begin.
To the wife, when
you see your husband trying to love you in this way, your commandment
from the Lord is to submit to your husbands godly leadership.
Allow him to be the head of the household. Love and respect
Him, support him and encourage him in his life. He will then return to
you the love and security that you desire in your marriage.
Ephesians 5
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the
church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives
be to their own husbands in everything.
A man who is truly loving his wife in the same way that Jesus loves His
church, that wife will want to submit to your loving and sacrificial
leadership.
The term "Submit to your own husband", does not mean that he can take
advantage of your submission to him and abuse you and use you.
Notice that the submission is "As unto the Lord".
As Jesus loved his bride the church so fully that He was willing to
give His life for her, even so, the husband is to follow this example
and love his wife in the same way. I don't know any woman who
would not want to submit herself to this kind of godly, loving husband.
One command for
each, very simple:
Husbands love your wife, as Jesus loved the church.
Wives, Submit yourselves to your husband, love honor and respect him.
Without these guidelines in an relationship it becomes impossible to
experience the kind of lasting joy, love and peace that we all desire
in our deepest and most intimate relation ship. With the
following of these two basic rules, love, fulfillment, joy and lasting
peace will be yours.
Pastor Rob
If
God is real and He wants for us to know Him, why do some people not
believe in Him?
For me, one of the
greatest mysteries in the world is how anyone could resist the
incredible love that Jesus has shown for all of us.
When I was first told that Jesus is the Creator of all things and that
He came to earth to die on a Cross to pay for all of the sins that I
had done, I was blown away. Why would anyone die for someone like
me?
It was the Love of Jesus that first drew me to Him. It is still
His great love today, nearly 35 years later that keeps me Loving,
following and serving Him.
The Bible says this about the human heart:
Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately
wicked; Who can know it
There is a condition within the heart of every human being, that is
largely unnoticed by us. The fact that our continual tendency is
towards sin in almost every area of our life. We are blinded to this
condition and when confronted with the fact that we are sinners and
that our natural tendency is towards sin, most people will become
angry, deny that it is true, or not be able to see themselves in that
way.
Because man is a fallen creature, he does not have the capacity to see
himself for who he truly is. It is only when the Holy Spirit
begins to show us what we are really like that we can begin to see
ourselves in the same way that God see us.
John 16:7-8
7 Nevertheless (Jesus said) I tell you the truth. It is to your
advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not
come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8 And
when He has come, He
will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment:
Amazingly, even though we have offended God by the way we live our
life, the things we say and do, He still loves us. Even though He
knows us through and through, He still wants for us to have a
relationship with Him.
Isaiah 65:2
I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who
walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts...
When we were at our very worst, that is when Jesus was loving us the
most:
Romans 5:6-8
6 For w
hen we were still
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good
man someone would even dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Think
of the worst day of your life, that moment that you are the most
ashamed of. Those things that you have said or done that you would do
almost anything if you could go back and not say or do...
that is when Jesus was loving you the most,
that is when Jesus was dying for you.
When Jesus allowed them to beat Him in the face, rip His beard out with
their hands, tear the flesh from His body and pierce His hands and feet
on the Cross, it was for you that He allowed this to happened to Him.
Jesus was not willing that you should ever have to pay for your own
sins, or ever experience the punishment for you own sins, so He took
the punishment for you.
Then as proof that He is God and the only Savior of the World, Jesus
did something unbelievable, He raised Himself from the Dead. The
Resurrection of Jesus is the best documented event in all of
human history. It proves that He is who He claimed to be, the
only way to heaven, the only way to have all your wrong removed.
The Bible says that when Jesus died for you, He completely paid for and
removed every trace of sin from your record, and you exist today as a
perfect human being in the sight of God
IF you
accept and believe that Jesus died for you and paid for your sins, and
then determine to live for Jesus for the rest of your life.
Why do some people
not believe this incredible story? It is not because there
is not enough evidence to convince them. It is because their own
heart will not allow them to believe and receive Jesus into their
life....
It is not that
people cannot believe, it is that they do not want to believe.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does
not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to
the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be
clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Jesus did not come into the world to condemn you for your sin, He came
to forgive you of all of your sins.
The problem is that even though this is true, verse 19 says that "this
is the condemnation, that the light (the truth) has come into the
world, but men love the darkness (their own sin) more than they love
coming into the truth that Jesus died for them and can set them
free from their sins.
Why do people not
all accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, because they love their sin,
they do not want to accept Jesus as their Savior. Not that they
can't, but that they will not.
Jesus offers a full pardon for all the wrong you have done today in all
of your life, and He offers you eternal life free of charge to you, but
at great cost to Him personally. If you reject His love and His
offer of eternal life, you condemn yourself, and accept for yourself
the condemnation and eternal separation from God, forever.
God does not send anyone to hell, people send themselves to hell
because they will not accept the love of the truth so that they can be
saved.
If you are moved to consider Jesus but need a little more help, follow
this link to a new page where trust in Jesus is explained in greater
detail. Remember this is the most important decision of your life
for it determines where you will spend eternity.
Click Here
for more information
on why Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
Pastor Rob
Will
Jesus return to the earth?
What
is the Rapture and when will it happen?
Are we
living in the "Last Days"
What
is the Battle of Armageddon, when will it happen?
Who is the antichrist?
What
is the definition of a Religious cult?
Why are there so many religions and Church denominations.
Does satan
really exist?
How
could a loving God send anyone to Hell?
What does
Heaven look like?
What
will happen to me when I die?
Will
I see a bright light at the end of a long tunnel when I die?
I
have been through a divorce, would the Lord allow me to marry again.
I
have been through a divorce, could I still be a pastor or serve God in
leadership?
I was molested as a child now can I move on and find healing in my life?
I came from an abusive relationship and it is hard for me to trust
anyone again.
Is it okay for a Christian to date a non-Christian?
Can a Christian drink alchohol?
I have been hurt in my church, should I leave?
I
was hurt by another Christian and It hard for me to be their friend
again
What
will we be doing in Heaven?
Why
is Jesus spoken of as "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?"
Is
it oaky for a Christian to smoke?
Can
a Homosexual be forgiven and have eternal life?
Does the Bible really teach that Homosexuality or Lesbianism is a sin?
Why
does Bill Maher hate Christians?
Why are many Hollywood movie stars and other celebrities atheists or
agnostic?
