In the Beginning
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The importance of having a strong foundation for our faith is emphasized in the Scriptures. Being established on this foundation is critical to our becoming sons of God, as the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:19-20 (NASB): “You are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.”…more
The Virgin Birth – The Word Was Made Flesh
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hat do we know about the life of Jesus? We know according to the scriptures that he came down from n 1:1 says, “In a beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God,
and a god was the Word” (Emphatic Diaqlott interlinear). “Word” in this scripture is translated from the Greek word logos, which signifies a word spoken and is applied to our Lord Jesus….more
Ransom and Restitution
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Students of the Bible have long recognized the importance of these two foundation truths. Indeed, Ransom and Restitution, along with the doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead, discussed elsewhere in this issue, are often spoken of as “The Three R’s.” They are as critical to an understanding of God’s Plan as those other “Three R’s” — Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic — are to a secular education…more
The Hope and Resurrection of the Dead
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The resurrection is one of the central themes of the Bible. It is identified as a doctrine by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 6:2. There is a hope throughout the Bible that a better day is coming when the dead will live again.Why is a resurrection necessary? In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 we read: “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Not some, but all will be made alive. The resurrection is the mechanism for the restoration of the entire human race…more
Called to be Sons of God
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Have you ever heard one person remark to another that their job as a doctor, a nurse or teacher was their “calling”? In other words, someone was saying that their vocation was what they were called to do. They might mean that God had called them to perform these duties for humanity. The Bible makes a statement like this in Philippians 3:14: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”…more
News and Views – Religious
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Since 1999, the U.S. State Department has tracked the world’s worst abusers of religious rights. As the most recent report notes, it has never lacked for material. Persecutions of people of faith are rising across the globe. Among the most worrying trends, according to the State Department, are “authoritarian governments that restrict their citizens’ ability to practice their religion.” The eight worse countries are: Sudan, Burma, China, Entrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan. — CNN, 5/15/2014 …more
Today in Prophecy – Modern Exodus in France
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Increasing numbers of French Jews are leaving for Israel, citing dim economic prospects combined with rising anti-Semitism. More than 5000 are planning to leave in 2014, the most since after the Six-Day War in 1967.In Western Europe, no nation has seen the climate for Jews deteriorate more than France, which is home to about 500,000 Jews, the largest Jewish community in Europe and the world’s third largest behind Israel and the United States. Demographers can only estimate the number of Jews in France because the law there prohibits official documentation of a person’s race, religion or ethnicity following the post-World War II shame of collaboration with the Nazis…more
Where is the Promise of His Presence?
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One of the crucial features of God’s plan of salvation for mankind is that Christ returns to gather his church and establish his earthly kingdom. This earthly kingdom will fulfill God’s promise to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). Yet, as the apostle Peter prophesied in 2 Peter 3:3-4, much of the Christian world has lost sight of our Lord’s promised return…more
In the Paradise of God
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Paradise, the garden of God, was applicable as a name to the Garden of Eden, in which our first parents resided while they were still in harmony with God, before their disobedience; and the same term is scripturally applied as a name to the new earth when restitution blessings shall, during our Lord’s second presence (the Millennium), be brought to perfection as the fit abode of those who, under divine favor, shall then prove worthy of life everlasting. It was to this paradise that the Apostle Paul was in vision “caught away” when given a glimpse of various features of the divine plan, not then due to be understood by the Church in general — “things not lawful to be uttered” (2 Corinthians 12:4). John the Revelator was similarly caught away in vision, and shown some of these wonders of the Paradise epoch; but only in symbols, which he was permitted to report, and which have been comparatively misapprehended until now, in the Lord’s due time, the holy spirit is guiding his people into the truth on this subject, as well as others, because it is now nigh at hand, and “meat in due season” for the “household.”…more
Doctrines More Or Less Important
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There are certain features of the doctrine of Christ which are fundamental and indispensable, and without which none would be recognized of the Lord as one of his followers. There are other features which would seem to be useful, helpful, blessed, but not fundamental—not essential to membership in the Body of Christ. The fundamentals have been enjoyed by good, saintly ones from the Day of Pentecost until now…more