We hear the word a lot around Christian circles, sometimes referring to a prayer before a meal, sometimes to a great big idea associated with the gospel, sometimes as a girl’s name. Paul’s used the term throughout his letters to speak of God’s special favor to every person, the underserved benefit we have of God’s mercy in sending Jesus to die for our sins.
Continue reading WHAT IS GRACE?
The Tabernacle must have been a great mystery for people. Even priests did not know everything about this holy tent. A place where only one man, once a year, entered; where God’s powerful presence was visible; where the high priest brought blood and incense to do a ritual of atonement for the sins of the all the people; the Tabernacle was a place of wonder.
Continue reading THE MOST HOLY PLACE
Magic is typically forbidden to Israel for a number of reasons: (1) Magic is human encroachment into the divine realm. (2) Magic is used to manipulate deity. (3) Magic involves relying on a power other than Yahweh. If that is the reason, a sanctioned prophet would be able to bypass all three; his office already enters the divine realm, and the power comes from Yahweh, even though the prophet appears to have some autonomy in using it. The prophets are called to wield divine authority at some level.
Continue reading PRACTICE OF MAGIC
4 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
3 For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (PROVERBS 4:1-15)
Most often, however, it appears that a masseba was set up as a sacred stone. In this case, the unnaturally placed stone or series of stones provided worshipers with a physical location at which to meet their deity. To this day, surviving sacred stones break the natural contours of the landscape, inviting us to come in for a closer look.
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (SACRED STONE “TO SET UP OR TO DESTROY” PT2)
All four Gospels describe Jesus clearing the money changers form the temple; none use the term “anger” as part of the description. We infer anger from the facts given and from the passion mentioned in John 2:17.
Continue reading HOW CAN JESUS BE CONSIDERED SINLESS WHEN THE BIBLE DESCRIBES HIS ANGER?
1.Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (ECCELESIASTES 8:1-9)
Lord, I got caught in gossip today. I didn’t mean to though. A group of us were just talking about this and that, and You know how women are. We’re so into relationships and what others are doing.
Continue reading A PRAYER ABOUT (GOSSIPING)
An anonymous reader wrote:
Shouldn’t a person have the right to watch or read whatever he pleases? As long as he watches or reads in the privacy of his own home, and nobody gets hurt, what difference does it make?
Continue reading PORNOGRAPHY’S PAIN (WHO GETS HURT BY THIS “HARMLESS” PASTIME?)
John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The prologue of John’s Gospel (John 1:1-18), of which this verse is a part, focuses on Jesus as the eternal Son, who existed with God the Father before the creation of the World.
Continue reading NAME OF GOD (WORD)