Heaven

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in Heaven.  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our dwelling place out of Heaven, if indeed, being clothed, we shall not be found naked.  For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.  Now He who has fashioned us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the earnest of the Spirit.  So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.  For we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, yes, preferring rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”  2nd Corinthains 5:1-8   Awhile back I had produced some broadcast material for the Back to the Basics radio program, all of which were aired in Africa, about Hell.  During one of those shows, I made mention that eventually, Lord willing, we would talk about Heaven.  Jesus spoke –much- more about Hell then He did about Heaven, warning men.  For most people will end up in Hell, though most, especially in the West will incorrectly confess themselves to be going to Heaven (Matthew 7:13-23).  So now let’s take a moment to glean out some interesting things that we can from the Bible about Heaven!   What, as least used to, be heard was a lot of...

Save Our City

“Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, and your messenger and the one who ministered to my need;” … Philippians 2:25   … “to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:” … Philemon 1:2   “You therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one serving military duty entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him.”  2nd Timothy 2:3-4 ………………………………………………………………………………………………   Editors Note: Looking at the newspaper last night and seeing the never-ending assault against God, His people, His Word had me pondering the scale of what is going on, not just in this state (South Dakota), but throughout the entire country and indeed world.    Well if this interestingly put together ‘article’ incites the powers-that-be to chalk one more file against God’s servant as this article mixes a fictional scenario to preach God’s truth, but in their eyes mixing ‘religious’ ideas with ‘militant’ ideas equals a domestic terrorist, well so be it!  After all, these same powers (Eph. 6:12) are certainly going to be running the show during the reign of the Antichrist that will happen during the Tribulation (Jer. 30:7) upon those who will have been Left Behind.  ………………………………………………………………………………………………    Fellow Soldier:  “Sir, can we save our country?!  The enemy appears to be everywhere and they have a great following!  (Luk. 13:23-27)”   General Preacher:  “We are at war, the battle is strong, but worry not, though the enemy takes more ground, enlisting the already enslaved as their foot...

Not the Pit!

“Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said, Legion, because many demons had entered him.   And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.”  Luke 8:30-31   Let’s turn our attention to realities, realities that are amongst us, the fullness of which is not known, but where the Bible has shed enough light to give us understanding and knowledge that we might turn our ways unto God through His Son, Jesus Christ.   Just –what- word to use here?  I had thought to use pit and when I went to look up the verse that was on my mind I see that in the VW-edition it is ‘abyss’ and in the KJV it is ‘deep’.  So I got out my old Webster’s University dictionary and looked it up, finally determining I would just leave the word ‘pit’ in the title of this article, as it seems appropriate enough.   Abyss, n.   1.) A bottomless gulf; also a deep mass of waters, once supposed to have encompassed the earth in the beginning; as, the face of the abyss, in the Septuangint 2.) That which is immeasurable; that in which anything is lost. Thy throne is darkness, in the abyss of night. – Milton 3.) The bottomless pit; hell; Erebus. 4.) An immensity of time, space, depth, or scope, usually with the idea of intellectual or moral depravity; as, an abyss of ignorance, as abyss of crime. 5.) In heraldry, the center of an escutcheon; as, he bears azure, a fleur-de-lis, in abyss.   Syn. – Chasm, cleft, crevasse, gorge,...

Under the Sun

“Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the depravity of my supplanters surrounds me?  Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the abundance of their riches: None of them can at all redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it comes to an end forever), that he might yet live forever and never see the pit.  For he sees wise men die; likewise the fool and the brutish ones perish, and leave their wealth to others.   Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, and their dwelling places from generation to generation; they call their lands after their own names.  Nevertheless man, though precious, does not remain; he is like the animals that perish.  This way of theirs is their folly; yet those who follow delight in their sayings. Selah.  Like sheep they are appointed to the grave; death shall shepherd them, and the upright shall have the rule over them in the morning; their form is consumed; Sheol is their home.  But God will redeem my soul from the hand of Sheol; for He will carry me away. Selah.  Be not afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases; for when he dies he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.   For in his life he blessed his own soul (indeed, they praise you when you do well for yourself).  But he shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.  A man with honor, but...

All Will Stand

“For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  So then each of us shall give account concerning himself to God.”  Romans 14:11-12   “And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one, according to their works.  And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”  Revelation 20:11-15   The timing of this article is quite interesting.  Recently I have been doing a lot of reading, with my attention being turned squarely on a set of book written by the late Bill Cooper from the UK, who spent his life working on proving or disproving the Bible, depending on the perspective.  As a professor, he had asked himself whether or not Genesis could be disproved, as he had been told and then spent the next 25 years studying the Table of Nations found in Genesis...

Mystery Babylon

“And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth prostituted themselves, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her sexual perversities.  So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her sexual perversities.  And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.  And the angel said to me, Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.  The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast...