Thirsty4Truth

The Great Tribulation is a time when there will be great deception here on earth. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many. It will be a time of suffering which has not occurred since the beginning of the world, nor will there ever be any suffering so great.

All those who live for God and are not ashamed to name His name will be persecuted, even to the point of death. These are the ones who will not take the mark of the beast, and they will not be allowed to buy or sell.

Then on top of that, there will also be many natural disasters such as floods, tornados, tsunamis, fires, and famines.

So basically the whole world will be suffering, whether you believe in God or not. Read More on the Great Tribulation...

When I was little I was told that there were three wise-men who came to see Jesus. In Sunday school we sang the song "We three kings..." and so on and so forth.

Much later in life I was confronted with the question "How many wise men came to see Jesus?" And I thought to myself, 'What a silly question...we all should know that there were three.' But to my surprise I discovered that there is no evidence in the Bible to back that claim up.

I studied, and studied the Bible with high hopes to find at least one verse which makes a reference of some sort that there perhaps were three wise men. Surely the church and Sunday school class couldn't have taught me wrong, could they have? Read More on The Three Wise Men...

The Bible says: "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Hebrews 4:7. But in the old testament we read of how God Himself hardened the heart of Pharaoh when it came to letting the Israelites leave Egypt. (We read the story of Pharaoh beginning in Exodus 5, and onward.)

Now at a first glance that seems like a complete contradiction between the Old and the New Testament, but, when we take a closer look we can the see just how merciful, loving and patient God really is.

You see, God in His lovingkindness wants to draw ALL men unto Him, (John 12:32) and that is exactly what He was trying to do in the case of Pharaoh. God hardened the Pharaoh's heart only on the matter of letting God's people go; God did not harden his heart to keep him from repenting. Do you see the difference? Read More on God Hardened Pharaoh's Heart...

It has been a couple of years since I left the church, and the reason I left was because I discovered that they were not teaching what the Bible was teaching. I ended up going to several different churches, but I discovered that each church had their own set of man-made rules. I just could not understand why the church would require me to do these certain things when Jesus would never require anyone to follow these kind of silly rules.

Now I'm talking about dress codes, and other rituals which just are not found in the Bible.

Every time I mentioned it to anyone I would always get an answer like: "There's no such thing as a perfect church", "The Bible commands that we go to church", or "You have to focus on the good things within the church", and the one to top it off, "If you can't submit yourself to the church, how can you submit to God?" Read More on No Perfect Church...

When reading through the Old Testament many people conclude that God is an angry tyrant who takes pleasure in war, destruction and punishment.

But is that really who God is, and is that what He is trying to make us to think He is?

In all honesty, I believe that impression of God could not be further from the truth. God is a protector of His people and that is the reason why we see so much war, and destruction in the Old Testament. If God had not destroyed the wicked, they would have taken over and destroyed the righteous. Read More on What is God Like...

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we read of letters to the 7 churches. People have different understandings of the meaning of these letters; some say they were only meant for the churches of the time of writing, others say that each church represents an era, and that we are living in the last era, but few people believe that the letters to all seven churches are meant for us, just as much as they were meant for the churches at the time.

At the end of each letter is the phrase, "He that hath an ear, let him hear..." Whenever that phrase is used in the Bible it simply means that there is a deeper meaning behind what is actually said, in this case I believe it is there because it is meant for all of us.

Lets briefly examine each letter and see what we can learn from them. Read More on Letters to the Churches...

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, " Heb. 6:1.

"Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." Heb. 6:2.

"And this we will do, if God permit." Heb 6:3.

What is Paul talking about here, and who is he talking to?

Hebrews 6 is a continuation of the last part of chapter 5 where he talks about milk being for babes and strong meat for those who have matured, and gives a further explanation in chapter 6.

The milk of the gospel is basically what he is describing in chapter 6:

• the foundation of repentance,
• faith toward God,
• the doctrine of baptism,
• the laying on of hands,
• the resurrection of the dead, and
• eternal judgment.

Jesus Said: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Matt. 5:13.

He goes on to say: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." Matt. 5:14.

There was a large crowd gathered around Jesus when He spoke these words, and basically what He was saying was this: If you have become salty, then go stale, you can never be salty again, but you are good for nothing.

So does that mean that if we have been saved, then lost our salvation, that we can never be saved again? The answer is yes and no. In order to fully understand that we must examine the context in which Jesus spoke and to whom He was speaking.

In this case Jesus spoke to His disciples and a large crowd which had followed him. He wasn't talking to one in particular, but to the group as a whole. If He had spoken to one in particular then that would mean that if we as an individual are saved, then fall away, we can never come back and serve God again, or be a child of His.

The parable of the prodigal son clearly indicates that if we fall, that we can come back again and be a child of God. So Jesus could not have referred to one in particular. Read More on Salt Losing its Savour...

I have come to the conclusion that satan has more money than God. Well not really, but after a brief study of Christians and Atheists it almost makes it seem like it.

For example, I have yet to see the owner of a bar asking for donations so that he or she can renovate the bar, or to financially support the lead singer of the new band playing on Friday nights so that he can take some vocal lessons.

But Christians beg all the time. When you go to church they pass around the bucket with high hopes to collect enough, but it's never enough. The money they collect goes to pay the preacher and other staff, bills, and to support missionaries overseas, as if there isn't enough mission work that can be done next door.

Don't get me wrong I'm not against missionary work, but to send young teens door-to-door asking for donations so that they can go on a missionary trip to help others is just wrong if you ask me. If God does not provide a way without having to beg, perhaps He doesn't want you to go.

Now once again, there is nothing wrong with asking for money. If you strongly believe in a cause you should pursue it, but never at the expense of an atheist. Jesus depended on others to financially support Him, but he never went asking for it. He totally relied on God; when He didn't have a roof to sleep under He went off into the mountains to spend time with God.

I have worked in retail for almost a year now, and I have seen numerous times where people come in asking for donations for their church events. They usually walk out with a ten dollar discount or so, which isn't much, and I know it adds up, but why even bother. Read More on Is Satan Wealthier Than God...

There is a little train familiar with most Christians and its teaching is widely accepted by almost everyone who hears it. The train consists of three caboose. The name of the first caboose is Fact, the second is Faith, and the third is Feeling.

Fact represents God and His Word.

Faith is our trust in God and His Word. (Which assures us of our salvation after repentance.)

Feelings are the result of our experiences, and daily circumstances.

We must base our Faith on the Facts and not our Feelings. The Facts are that if we repent from sin and believe in Jesus; that He died for our sins and rose again on the third day, we are saved and there is nothing that we can do to change this.

We must put our Faith upon these promises of God and are not to doubt them. Even if we feel down, or feel that we are not saved, we should ignore our feelings and believe that we are saved because the Bible tells us so.

We must claim every promise of God even if we feel like God is not on our side because He hasn't gifted us with the desired gifts, or if we feel like He is punishing us for something we did in the past. When we feel hurt, lonely, angry, or sad, we must not base our faith upon these feelings, instead we must look past those feelings and to the facts and believe that we are a child of God. Read More on Fact, Faith, Feeling..

Jesus said: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John 8:32

"I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6. So if Jesus is the truth, then we should love the truth, if we want to enter into the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact in 2 Thess. 2:9-12 it says:

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:9-12.

Many people will be deceived by satan and even God will send them delusions. That sounds like an unloving thing to do, but, those who love the truth will be saved. They will not be deceived, nor will they be delusional.

God has made it very simple, all we have to do is love Jesus, and we will enter in. It sounds so simple, and yet Jesus said: "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt. 7:14. Read More on Love The Truth...