Posts with the tag: Fountain of Life
Can a Person “Sell Their Soul” to the Devil?
You’ve no doubt seen a movie or read a story about a person selling his/her soul to the devil, like Ghost Rider or Faust. In these tales the individual makes a deal with the devil (or some lesser demon) by offering his/her soul in exchange for some extraordinary benefits, but there’s always a downside and […]
What Is Spiritual Death?
Spiritual death simply means that the spirit of a person is dead to God, that is, the capacity of their spirit to unite them with God is dead because they lack eternal life. The only life they have is the temporal life inherited from the perishable seed of Adam. Christianity is all about reversing this […]
MANNA Was a Shadow of the BREAD FROM HEAVEN, Jesus Christ
After the Hebrews escaped from slavery in Egypt circa 1446 BC, they wandered in the desert wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula for 40 years before making it to their earthly “promised land,” Canaan, which became Israel. Since there were 603,550 fighting men over the the age of 20 (Numbers 1:46), this places the total number […]
SPIRITUAL Blessings vs. MATERIAL Blessings
Observe what the apostle Paul said about “spiritual blessings”: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 “Spiritual blessing” suggests immaterial blessing in contrast to physical blessings, as distinguished in these two verses: They were […]
Does Walking in AGAPE LOVE Mean You Should Be a DOORMAT to Abuse?
A popular minister was preaching on walking in agape love wherein he quoted a verse from the great love passage: Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, 1 Corinthians 13:7a (Amplified Bible Classic) He then brought up a Christian brother who was dealing with a rude, abusive jerk and vented in desperation, “I […]
What Does It Mean to Be a “Lukewarm” Christian?
The term ‘lukewarm’ can be traced to Jesus Christ’s frank words to the believers at the historical assembly in Laodicea, which was located in what is today southwestern Turkey: 16“So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and […]
Understanding Christ’s LORDSHIP in the Believer’s Life
You’ve heard the call to “accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.” Is this just a religious expression or is there actually a biblical basis to it? It is scriptural. Look no further than this popular evangelistic verse: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God […]
Pay Attention to the CONDITIONS of Biblical Promises
Elsewhere on this site it has been emphasized that “no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:20). In other words, the believer can claim a promise in Scripture by faith, such as Psalm 91:1-7 and Isaiah 54:17. But have you ever claimed a promise by faith and it wasn’t […]
What Does ‘Abba’ Mean in the Phrase “Abba Father”?
The term ‘Abba’ appears three times in the New Testament as follows: Going a little farther, he [Christ] fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:35-36 For […]
An Honest Look at the ‘M’ Word (Masturbation)
Back in the ’80s an Evangelical pastor who was popular with young people spoke frankly on the topic of masturbation and tried to be balanced. Being a controversial topic, interviewers would naturally ask him about it. He responded, “Look, I’ll answer your questions to the best of my knowledge and understanding, but I don’t want […]
How to “FEAR NOT” in Perilous Times
The Bible encourages believers to “fear not” and “do not be afraid” at least a hundred times with myriad more if you count variations, like “have no fear,” “do not worry,” “be anxious for nothing” and “do not be dismayed.” A good example from the Old Testament is Isaiah 41:10 while Luke 12:32 and Philippians […]
What Is the HOLY SPIRIT’S ROLE in Human Redemption?
Most people understandably think of the Son when the topic of human redemption comes up, and understandably so, since Christ obediently became a lowly human in order to greatly suffer & die for our sins so that we might be reconciled to the Creator and have eternal life (Philippians 2:5-11 & John 3:16). Yet […]
What Is the UNPARDONABLE SIN (Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit)?
Let’s read the two most informative accounts of when the Lord detailed the unpardonable sin: And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” 23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How […]
What Is the “SIN THAT LEADS TO DEATH” in 1 John 5:16?
Let’s read the passage in question: If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should […]
When You Should ASK and When You Should SPEAK IN FAITH, aka DEMAND
Christ spoke of both speaking in faith and asking for things in prayer in the same breath: So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those […]
When You Should Pray “IF IT BE YOUR WILL” and When You Shouldn’t
Right before Christ was apprehended, abused and crucified for the sins of humanity, he prayed this prayer: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42 The Messiah was not petitioning Father God for a financial need or healing here, but rather he was […]
What Sin Did HAM Commit Against His Father Noah?
Let’s read the passage in question: The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When […]
What Happened to the Hebrews in the Old Testament Are WARNINGS FOR BELIEVERS
The New Testament refers to our Hebraic forefathers who escaped slavery in Egypt: Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them […]
What Is a DEACON?
The Greek word for ‘deacon’ is diakonos (dee-AK-on-os) and literally refers to anyone who performs a service. The deacon is a position in the body of Christ that refers to those officially designated to perform service-oriented tasks at fellowships subordinate to the fivefold ministers in servant-leadership thereof, such as ushers, greeters, secretaries, custodians, sound operators […]
How to Keep Yourself BLAMELESS (While Not Being SINLESS)
The apostle Paul prayed that the Philippian believers would be blameless and encouraged it: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of […]
Why Does 1 Chronicles OMIT David’s Adultery & Murder?
When the Old Testament historical book 1 Chronicles details the era in David’s reign involving his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband (detailed in 2 Samuel 11:1–12:23) it omits these transgressions altogether, choosing instead to focus on David’s victories over the Ammonites, as shown in 1 Chronicles 20:1-3. Why? Answer: Because the historical […]
What Does “Christ in You, the Hope of Glory” Mean?
To understand what the phrase “Christ in you, the hope of glory” means, let’s read it in context of Paul’s letter to the believers at Colossae: I have become its [the Church’s] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden […]
God Deals With People According to the Light They Have
The LORD deals with people according to the light they have. Once we have revelation of a certain truth we are responsible for living according to it (or living in light of it). This can be observed in a few key passages, like these: Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so […]
What Does “They Shall TAKE UP SNAKES” Mean?
When the Lord gave the Great Commission he noted that certain signs would accompany believers: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt […]
What Is GLORY in the Sense of God’s (Shekinah) GLORY?
God’s glory is linked to the LORD’s presence. When you hear a minister pray “God, show us your glory” it’s referring to the LORD manifesting glory to the people thereof. This is where we get the phrase God’s ‘manifest presence.’ The Almighty is omnipresent, of course — present everywhere at the same time in the […]
Believers Who Believe in Spiritual Gifts vs. Those Who Don’t
I just read a long rant by a minister who rebuked some Pentecostals/Charismatics for their arrogance and stressed how the fruits of the spirit are the true evidence of spiritual maturity. He had some corrective things to say that the body of Christ needs to hear, particularly fleshly believers in the Pentecostal/Charismatic camps, but other […]
Handing an Unrepentant Believer Over to Satan (?)
The apostle Paul gave a curious instruction to the Corinthian believers, an assembly that he started. It concerned a foolish man in their midst who was having sexual relations with his father’s wife. In other words, this was a practicing fornicator in the fellowship. The man was obviously confronted and corrected, but remained stubborn and […]
Are Angels Strictly Male… or Male AND Female?
The question we want to answer here is: Are there male and female angels or are they all male? Or are they genderless? This topic is somewhat interesting, but relatively inconsequential. For those interested, however, let’s honestly consider what the Bible says… Angels are consistently referred to in the Bible in the masculine sense (he, […]
Introduction to ANGELS
The human race seems to be fascinated by angels. Why else do we observe references to these spiritual beings almost everywhere? Angels are in our movies, our books, our songs, our lyrics, our conversations, our graveyards, our ornaments, our greeting cards, our décor and other forms of art, like paintings and album covers. Speaking of […]
The DEFEAT of Satan & His Losers
The most important thing you need to understand about the Enemy & his demonic minions is that they’re a defeated foe. They’re stripped of their authority and power as far as regenerated believers are concerned: And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he [Christ] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the […]