The Bible has 66 books and many subjects, and I have no idea why some church people only want to talk about one subject. Do the Jehovah’s Witnesses know any other subject other then their so-called 1,000-year reign of Christ on Earth? What about the Seventh Day Adventist—are the pages of their Bible written with information only about the Sabbath? And what about some so-called church of Christ people—is the drinking container in the Lord’s Supper the only subject you see in their Bibles?
The truth is, there are many subjects to study and talk about in the Bible, and we need to preach the total counsel of the Lord and not strain at a nat and swallow a camel by being hobby riders who speak only one subject (Acts 20:26-27; Matt 23:24). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. The intolerant, the haters—who are these people, and who decided that what they do is hate? If you believe that something is wrong, and you were called intolerant or haters by those whom you tried to correct, what reply would you give? Would you say something to this effect? “I’m not your enemy, and I don’t hate you, but you are wrong in what you do” Galatians 4:16.
If a person said that certain people are haters, what is the source of his evidence? In other words, by what authority do they say doing this or that is intolerance or hate? (Luke 20:1-8). I hope they have irrefutable proof and not simply saying, what they think or believe, because that isn’t authority. I leave you with this: If the word of God teaches something, men need to accept it and not call God’s correction, hate or intolerance (John 3:17-21, 7:7, 15:18-23, 17:14). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. What is this thing about a preacher on stage giving his message and having men standing in the back of him, as if they are his body guards? Do preachers really need guys to line up on the stage with them, giving the image of being great?
Preachers need to keep the message simple, humble and clear; and the same virtues need to surround their character (1 Peter 5:5-6). When you see a preacher with a group of guys standing behind him as his speaks, one would have to wonder what message is that supposed to send? The audience needs to hear and see the person who is speaking; but they don’t need to be distracted by men standing in soldier-like positions behind the speaker. Why aren’t those guys sitting in their seats with the rest of the audience and listening to the message? I know some movie stars, athletes and musicians have a posse; and it looks likes some preachers have them too, Acts 5:36-37 (red flag). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. In Acts 19:17-20, we read of people being taught that belief in the stars, fortune telling, and other mystic arts is wrong. Those things are wrong because they take man away from faith in the Creator and causes men to have faith in something else (Hebrews 11:6).
The irony is, stars have no intelligence and cannot make good things happen for people. They are simply heavenly objects which God created to give light upon the earth (Genesis 1:14-18). In Acts 17:19, we read that the people burnt their books to assure that those magical deeds would not be practiced again. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Killing someone or attacking them verbally or physically because they don’t believe in what you believe is wrong (Romans 13:9-10; James 3:5-12). What is even more revealing is someone who claims to be of peace. But then if someone speaks out against what the person claiming to be of peace believes, they become violent and threaten to kill (Acts 9:19-25; John 7:25-26; John 8:42-59).
The Bible teaches “a tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 7:15-20). A person may claim the tree in his back yard is a apple tree, but if you see walnuts growing on that tree, you will know your neighbor is not telling the truth or just crazy. Either way, it is a red flag, so give heed and watch that person (Colossians 2:8; Matthew 10:17; Romans 16:17-18). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. There are a lot of bad things going on in this world and causing misery to many. This church can only do so much, and we wish to help men and women have a relationship with the truth. However, that begins with us putting the word of God out so men can know the truth (John 8:31-32). Then it continues with persons responding to the call of the gospel (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts 2:40; Ephesians 1:13). This article is given to remind you that you will die and be judged for your deeds (Romans 14:9-12). The question is, do you know what the word of God teaches about salvation? And are you doing what the Lord commanded? Now if you claim that you are fine, the question is; are you sure? Can you prove from the Bible you’re okay? If you say, “I don’t believe in the bible or God,” the question is, how do you know? You must be 100% sure—so can you prove yourself?
Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Proverbs 3:29-30 teaches us not to scheme evil against our neighbors. Verse 30 also teaches not to hate or fight with a person if they have done you no harm. One of the worst sins that man can commit is to hold animosity toward someone simply because your friend might hate the person.
Why should you hate a stranger who hasn’t done anything to you simply because your friend might have something against the person. If your friend jumped out a window; would you? Plus your friend could be the one that is in the wrong in the dispute, and you will have foolishly joined forces with him. If there’s a problem between your friend and another person; stay out of it. Let those two deal with the situation and remember also that God will judge us for our hatred that we show toward one another (Ecclesiastes 12:13; John 12:48; Matthew 12:36; 2 Corinthians 5:10). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Churches are to be made up of mixed races—I mean blacks, whites, Asian, Mexican, etc. etc. If people speak the same language and can understand the teaching of the word, there is no reason for them not to be in the same service (John 6:45; Acts 2:5-11; 1 Corinthians 14:9). God didn’t create different races so they can stay apart, and most certainly not when it concerns worshipping Him (Acts 10:34-35; Isaiah 2:2-3). Therefore, no race is better than another because God made men of one blood, meaning the human race (Acts 10:28, 17:24-26).
So the word out is: if you are white, don’t stay away from a sound church because the people are black. If you are black, quit trying to start or continue what is know as “the African American church.” Instead, attempt to make converts from all who will listen to the words of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). There are people who study the Bible only with their own race and never make an attempt to do so with others. In the Bible there is no black church or white church. Jesus’ body is simply the church, and it is for all who desire to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24; 1 Cor. 12:27; Ephesians 2:10-22). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. There is a beautiful, strong tree around the South, called the Cottonwood tree. Every year, the tree releases its seeds which float in the air like beautiful puffs of cotton. They fill the air, and it is kind of pretty the way the seeds are blown here and there on every breeze that comes along.
But as pretty as that is, the seeds will never grow into the strong cottonwood tree unless they come down to earth and drop some roots. We are the same way. Tossed to and fro on every wind of new doctrine. We won’t grow into a strong, mature Christian until we come down to earth and get grounded in God’s truth (Ephesians 4:14). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. Lots of people are talking about the polls concerning how Obama is running the country. Let’s be clear that a poll is simply the thoughts of people and not a standard of what is right or wrong. People can think something about a matter, but that doesn’t mean it’s right (Proverbs 12:15, 14:12; Isaiah 55:8-9). When the majority rules, that still doesn’t constitute right, for if it did, most people would go to heaven (Matthew 7:13-14).
Consider past polls that were taken in the Bible:
The conclusions of all the above polls was that the people were wrong on every account. Remember that polls are the thoughts of people not authority. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. |