Category All Articles

“And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and he healed them” (Matthew 21:14)

The physically blind and the physically lame came to Jesus in the temple, and He healed them.

To be blind is to lack the ability to see. To be lame is to be unable to walk. Without knowledge of God, all men are blind, unable to see the truth about themselves, the world in which they live, or the creator Who placed them in it. They cannot see the right path to follow, nor the impediments in the way in which they find themselves travelling. They don’t see the spiritual influences on their lives or environments, nor do they perceive the eternal significance of their actions or ideas. They cannot see the ‘end of the road’; in fact they cannot see the road itself at all.

On their own, the blind...

Forgiveness is releasing the debt. The offender doesn’t owe you anymore.

It is not about forgetting. We may never forget and some offenses should not be forgotten. We are not obligated to volunteer for more offenses to be committed against us, although we may be obligated to endure them when they come.

By forgiving an offender, we release their debt to us. They don’t ‘owe’ us, we seek no revenge or restitution. We are not held captive by the pain of their wound, and we don’t wish they could suffer the pain themselves.

This does not mean we don’t hurt. Instead, it means that we willingly bear the hurt without anger, without malice, without revenge. We give them freedom from their obligation to us. We choose good-will toward them, despite the pain.

Some offenses cause too great...

How many of we who say we follow Christ despise His blood and count it a common thing? Do we not know that it was shed for our sin? Why then do we wallow in our sin any longer? We are not prisoners if He has set us free. Yet we yearn for the world and seek every opportunity to taste of its fruit and pleasure in its enticements. Do we not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Why do we who claim His blood make ourselves His enemies by pursuing those things that He has rejected?

Men of the cross, look up! Gaze upon Christ our Sacrifice and reject everything that beckons us turn our gaze. Only Jesus has the words of life and the keys of death and hell. He has opened the prison; let us flee!

Follow

The Book of Genesis literally means the ‘book of the generation’. The word ‘generation’ means that which has proceeded from, or been brought into existence, or been born. To ‘generate’ something is to cause it to exist. The Book of Genesis gives the account of how the universe, including all life, came to exist. It also contains the history of the creation of different languages and people groups, and the beginning of the nation of Israel.

The details contained in the first several chapters of Genesis are very specific, and use very specific language to describe what God created, by what mechanism, and in what order...

While Genesis gives the first account of God’s creation of the universe out of nothing by the power of His Word, the entire Bible speaks of the origin of the universe and the creation of life on earth in many places. Many Biblical doctrines are based in some way or to some extent upon the fact of God having miraculously created all material reality directly and in its current and constant form. Hundreds of passages refer to God having formed the earth by His word, of placing the heavenly bodies in their proper places, of setting the bounds of land and seas, of creating various life forms in and for their proper environments, and having created plants and animals according to their specific kinds.

The following are important points of teaching or consideration regarding the essential truth ...

The Bible teaches clearly that the flood God sent in Noah’s day was a world-wide flood that covered then entire planet completely with water, destroying all living creatures not housed on the ark, or capable of living in turbulent waters for long periods of time. Many people, including professing Christians, want to argue that a global flood did not, and even could not, have occurred, that it is a misunderstanding of the Scripture to suggest that God destroyed the entire world with a flood that submerged the surface of the whole globe.

The two issues to consider are what the Bible says about that flood, and what physical evidence exists to support or refute the event...

Sympathetic Nervous System – the division of the nervous system responsible for non-voluntary functions, such as circulation, respiration, digestion. 

There is no “neural connection” between different areas of the body. Messages to any part of the body are not fed through other body parts, but receive their information directly from the central nervous system, which transmits from the brain. 

The holistic health movement claims for itself to minister to “the whole person; body, mind and spirit”. In fact, their own literature makes it clear that the “health” of the mind and spirit are of the greatest importance, since they are believed to “create” and control the material. This is based on their philosophy of life, and understanding of “spirit”...

From New Age Almanac, by J. Gordon Melton:

“The New Age Movement can best be dated from circa 1971. By that year, Eastern religion and transpersonal psychology (the key elements needed to create the distinctive New Age synthesis) had achieved a level of popularity, and metaphysical leaders could begin to articulate the New Age vision…Baba Ram Dass, a transformed refugee from the psychedelic age, emerged as the first national prophet…Despite its relatively recent appearance, the movement should not be viewed as a startlingly new phenomenon in Western culture...

Eph 5:11 “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

The New Age Movement is the western presentation of eastern mysticism. While individual practitioners emphasize different practices or traditions, the main religious contributors are Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and traditional Chinese mysticism.

PURPOSE: to bring about a New World Order through a world-wide change in thinking about ultimate reality and global needs. One government, one global community, one spiritual reality.

In the New Age Movement, the system (universe, cosmos) is divine, therefore preservation of the system must occur at any cost. Elements within the system are also divine = > “Earth” rather than “earth”...

Paul’s letter to the Romans is a wonderful dissertation on the tremendous grace of God towards men. Paul introduces himself as one having authority to speak, by virtue of being an ‘apostle’ or one sent out, an ambassador of Jesus Christ. In the course of his  letter to the Romans, Paul identifies the Lord Jesus as the Christ, or the Messiah the Jews awaited, in fulfilment of the prophecies given by God so they would know the Messiah when He came. Paul also asserts unequivocally that Jesus is also the Son of God.

Paul’s purpose in writing to his letter to the Romans becomes clear as the letter develops; there were misunderstandings among the people about how Christ’s Gospel affected each of the people of the Jews and the Gentiles, those who were not part of the nation of Israel...