Articles

As with all writings of men, please take care when reading what I have written here. As I grow, I change in my understanding about quite a few things. Always search the scriptures to see if these things are so. But I hope these articles will help you in understanding what the Bible is saying about some important things.

Christians and Smoking
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
There was a time when smoking was considered a healthy activity. Stress is bad for you and since smoking helped people relax, it was considered as good for you. This was before it was shown that smoking cigarettes causes cancer in the 1950s and 1960s. It would be very difficult to criticise anyone for smoking before that. Now, we are well aware of many smokers dying from cancer caused by their smoking.
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What Does It Mean to Examine Yourself When Eating the Lord’s Supper?
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
1 Corinthians 11:27-28 says: 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (NKJV) What is the “unworthy manner” and what does it mean for someone to “examine himself” to eat the bread and drink of the cup?
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Law to Themselves
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Romans 2:12-15 talks about the Gentiles being a law unto themselves. What does this mean? The Verses Romans 2:12-15 in some different translations: NASB 12 For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; 13 for it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified.
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Acceptable Service in an Unshakable Kingdom
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Introduction It was around 400 years from the time of the first king in Israel to the time of the Babylonian captivity. If you count when God was the king before Saul was anointed, you have about 900 years of the kingdom of Israel or Judah. It would not be hard to think that this kingdom would truly last forever. But then the captivity happened. The temple was destroyed. The nation was truly and fully conquered.
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The Sabbath Day and Heaven
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
In this article, we attempt to answer the questions: What is the real purpose of the Sabbath day? What does it teach us about God and heaven? Is is something that we are to still keep today?
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Questions On Giving
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
In this article, we examine the questions of why do we give, can we give things to the church for it to sell, and is it right to give anything other than money?
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Being a Friend of God
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Why did God create us? What is the purpose of life? Ecclesiastes has much to say on this subject. Towards the beginning of the book, Solomon writes this: What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
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Why Do We Sin?
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Why do we choose to sin when we know it is wrong? We look here at the basic motivation for sin--we feel like we are missing something.
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Overview of Jude
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
In this article, we examine the book of Jude as a whole and see what we can gather from looking at everthing from the main context of contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
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Lessons From Saul's Conversion
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

In Acts chapters 9, 22, and 26 as well as Galatians 1, we get an account of the conversion of Saul, who became the apostle know better as Paul. In this short article, I would like to look at Saul’s character and how we should have the same character in many ways. What kind of man was Saul?

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Denominations
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
We examine the problems of denominationalism and whether or not it is approved by Christ.

One of the biggest criticisms of Christendom today is the division that is clearly evident through the thousands of denominations. We can see that there should be unity.
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Demons
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

One of the things that is talked about all the time in the religious world, but mostly is misunderstood, is demons and demon possession. I have heard people talk about them as evil animal-like creatures. I have heard them talked about as spirits who possess you and make you sin. I have heard them talked about as the driving power behind witches and wizards. But what does the Bible say about demons?

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Practicing Self-control
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Self-control is not a pleasant concept. It means controlling ourselves to do things we do not want to do and to not do things that we do want to do. We talk about it in relation to fornication and drinking. But there are some areas in our life where many of us do not want to think about the need to control ourselves.

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How Do I Make Application from My Bible Reading?
In the series: Bible Study
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
The purpose of reading the Bible must not simply be for knowledge. It must be to give us the understanding we need to please God in what we do. We must apply what we learn — do what it says. But there are some important things to consider in making application from the Bible to your life. How Can I Know If What I Am Reading Applies to Me? The Bible was written for all people, with instructions to both old and young, both rich and poor, both men and women.
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To Forgive is Divine
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

In the book of Genesis, we find that we were created in the image of God. Part of what this means is that God has given us some of the same nature that He has — God expects us to imitate Him. There is a common statement that I have heard: “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” The truth is that God gave us the wonderful ability to forgive just like He has and God expects us to forgive just like he does.

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Understanding the Patience of God
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

There are people throughout time who have looked at the suffering of good people and the “fulfilling” lives of evil people as evidence against the justice and mercy of God. For an example, look at conditions in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe is one of the richest men on earth but his people are starving and are tortured just to keep him in power. Where is God’s justice there? In Malachi 2:17, the people asked the question, “Where is the God of justice?” The question today is often, “Would a just God let these things continue? Why isn’t He doing anything?”

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Premillennialism Answered
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Premillennialism basically is the idea that we are living before the 1000 year rule of Jesus on earth. Premillennialists claim that they take the Bible literally. People who believe that the prophecies are referring to something spiritual instead of literal do not believe the Bible.

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Difficult Bible Passages
In the series: Bible Study
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

There are passages in the Bible that are difficult to understand. We have been running into many of them in the men’s class. Passages that talk about predestination or God punishing children for their father’s sin can be difficult. The truth is that different passages will be more or less difficult for different people.

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Evil Companions Corrupt Good Morals
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
As human beings, we enjoy having other people around us. Very often though, people find themselves spending time with bad company. In this article, we look at how evil companions corrupted Solomon and how Jesus associated with sinners.
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God's Plan for Christian Growth
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

God has a plan for every Christian to grow continually through our lives. In the parable of the sower, we find that if we do not bear fruit, we are not good soil and we will not go to heaven. We must grow and produce fruit. How can we do that?

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Knowing the Difference Between Good and Evil
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

When Adam and Eve were first created, they were not expected to know the difference between good and evil. It was only after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they understood it. We are born into a world full of evil as well as good. We are not born with the understanding (Deuteronomy 1:39), but we all must learn to tell the difference between them.

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How to Make Decisions
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Something we must do every day, no matter how old we are, what our social position is, or where we live is make decisions. Some of these decisions are more important than others. Deciding what to eat for supper is usually not as important as deciding what job to take. But no matter how important the decision or what the decision is about, we should make it in the same way - with the same goal in mind.

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Maturity in Proverbs
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

I want to look at three proverbs that deal with the issue of maturity. They do not deal with the subject directly, but certainly they are speaking about some things that really require maturity.

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How to Read Poetry in the Bible
In the series: Bible Study
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Much of the Old Testament was written as poetry. This includes pieces of the historical books (songs that were sung), many books of prophecy, and the books that are generally known as books of Poetry (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon). To understand what is being said, we must know something about poetry.

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The Value of the Old Testament
In the series: Bible Study
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The Old Testament was the law of God for the Israelites. In Deuteronomy 4:44 and 5:1, Moses makes it clear that the law was for the 12 tribes of Israel. It was not for any other people, except that some laws applied to those who would live with the Israelites (Numbers 15:29). So the questions comes up, “Why should I study the Old Testament?”

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Bible Reading Schedules
In the series: Bible Study
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Getting on a regular schedule for reading your Bible is very important. The main reason is that few of us are disciplined enough to read the Bible every day if we do not have some sort of schedule to follow. Another great reason is that it can take you through the Bible faster than you probably would have read without a schedule.

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How the Church is to Multiply
In the series: Work and Worship of the Church
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

While edification is for the purpose of growing the church spiritually, evangelism is how the church grows numerically. How can the church evangelize?

Obviously, to evangelize, the church must be preaching and teaching the gospel. But there are some factors that influence the response of those hearing the gospel.

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How the Church is to Edify
In the series: Work and Worship of the Church
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

How can a congregation work to edify its members? Romans 15:1-7 shows that edification is something that is done by each member, working together in one church. This is very connected with what we talked about under unity — we don’t do what we want, we do what our brethren want when we see that it will edify them. The end result of that edification is unity and glorifying God. 1 Corinthians 8:1 tells us that it takes love to edify. We have to focus on other people, not ourselves.

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What Does It Mean to Multiply in the Church?
In the series: Work and Worship of the Church
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

When the church began, as we read in Acts 2, we find that God was adding daily those who were being saved. How did people come to be saved? They heard the preaching of the gospel and obeyed it. It has always been the responsibility of the people of God to teach others the truth. This is a responsibility for each Christian (as part of the universal church) and a responsibility for the local church.

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What Does It Mean to Supply the Needs of the Saints?
In the series: Work and Worship of the Church
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Local Church

The local church not only has the responsibility to supply the spiritual needs of the members, but also the physical needs. If you remember, at the beginning of the church the members of the church in Jerusalem had all things in common and made sure that nobody was missing anything they needed. The church even daily supplied their widows with food (Acts 6).

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What Is the Work of the Church?
In the series: Work and Worship of the Church
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Determining what is the work of the church is not a simple task. First, one has to read through the whole New Testament and look at the commands and examples that are given. Usually an attempt is made to categorize each command or example to simplify understanding the basic end results and group specifics under those categories.

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What Does God Want Us to Remember?
In the series: Memory
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

In this lesson, we will use the examples of the Israelites to give us warning. We want to look at what God wants us to remember, what we actually remember most of the time, and finally what God will remember about us.

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The Wisdom of a Young Man
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The book of Job teaches us a lot of wisdom and a lot about wisdom. Especially, it shows us our position before God. In the book, there is a debate between Job and his three friends. Job's friends were arguing that Job must have done something sinful and that was why God was punishing him. Job maintained that he had not sinned and that God was not treating him fairly. Then Elihu begins speaking.
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The Importance of Reading the Bible
In the series: Bible Study
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Do you read the Bible every day? What about maybe 3 days a week? Do you only read it when you are at church? I know of a number of people who leave their Bibles at the church building where they attend. While some may have other Bibles they use during the week, it is often a sign that they do not read at all during the week. Does that describe you?
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