Author: matt

It is of great importance to read the Bible for ourselves. Here’s why:

We begin reading the Bible when we first hear the gospel message. We read it to see if we have been taught the true gospel. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Twice in Psalm 119 it says we grow in moral character by reading the Bible. Verse 9 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” Verse 11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.”

The word of God is compared to water in Ephesians 5:26. Water gives life to plants. A steady daily flow does best. A drought of the Bible for many days causes erosion of soil if followed by over reading to catch up.

It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6), which comes from hearing the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

So we see the Bible supports our knowledge of the gospel, strengthens our moral character, and gives us faith which we need to please God. Thus it is important to read the Bible for ourselves.

Quotations from the King James Bible.

The problem of suffering leads many people away from God even though the Bible tells us why there is suffering and when it will end.

Genesis 3:16-19 tells us the punishment God gave Adam and his wife for their sin against God. Women would suffer in childbirth. Their desire would be toward their husbands who would rule over them. Men would no longer work: they would toil. Fields would have thorns and weeds. Then they would die.

The world is a better place because of suffering as it helps us improve. Suffering makes us endure, which can lead to other good qualities. (Roman 5:3-4)

I Peter 1:7 says, “That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ…” When gold is refined it is heated and the impurities rise to the top. The goldsmith takes them off the top. When the goldsmith can see his face in the gold he knows it is pure. The goldsmith is God. He heats us with suffering and wipes away the impurities as they come to the top. When God can see His character in us at the Judgment Day he knows we are pure.

At the Judgment Day when the righteous get everlasting life, “The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces…” (Isaiah 25:8, KJV)

So suffering came on mankind because of sin, and can help man overcome sin. When the righteous sin no more at the Day of Judgment, death and suffering will end because God will see His face in them

Isaiah says, “You are My witnesses declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 43:10) The rest of Isaiah 43 shows that God’s witnesses are the Jews. For example, verse 22 says, “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have become weary of Me, O Israel.” The Jews are the unwilling witnesses to the truth of the Bible since their unusual history was mapped out in advance in its pages.  The Bible says the Jews will be hated everywhere. “I will make them a terror and an evil for all kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.” (Jeremiah 24:9)

They would be scattered to every nation. The Bible says, “Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other…” (Deuteronomy 28:64; see also Ezekiel 20:23)

It would seem obvious that if the Jews were spread thin over all the earth, they would disappear marrying the Gentiles and blending in with them, but God said this would not happen. “‘For I am with you,’ declares the LORD, ‘to save you; for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely.’“ (Jeremiah 30:11)

Seventy years after the Jews went into captivity in Babylon they returned to the Holy Land under Ezra and Nehemiah just as Jeremiah 29:10 predicted.

Deuteronomy says a nation symbolized by an eagle would fight against the Jews. (Deuteronomy 28:49-50) The standard of the Roman Empire was the eagle.

The Jews would be, “led captive into all nations” until the end times (Luke 21:24)

They would return to Israel gradually. (Ezekiel 37:1-10) It was 51 years from the first Zionist conference until Israel became a nation in 1948.

They were to become one nation and not two, like they had been before. (Ezekiel 37:21-22)

This was an unusual prophesy happening to the Jews alone. Truly they are God’s witnesses.

Quotations from the NASB Bible

Peter was not the first pope. Peter’s characteristics are not the characteristics of a pope and the Bible does not say he was a pope.

Unlike popes of this day, Peter was married. Matthew 8:14 speaks of Peter’s mother-in-law and I Corinthians 9:5 also says Peter had a wife.

Peter’s spiritual judgment was not infallible. Paul “said to Cephas in the presence of all, ‘if you being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” (Galatians 2:14) Matthew 16:21-23 also says Peter’s spiritual judgment was not true. “From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’”

Popes are supposed to not marry and not make spiritual mistakes. Thus Peter could not be the first pope.

Let us look at the verse Roman Catholics use to say Peter was the first pope. What does it really mean? The verse is Matthew 16:15-18 saying, “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven, and I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.’”

It should be noted that Peter means in Greek a small stone while rock means in Greek a large rock. They are different words. Thus the church was not built on Peter: it was built on Peter’s reply, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

We see from all this Peter was not the first pope. The words papacy, pope, and pontiff are not in the Bible. The characteristics of Peter are not the characteristics of a pope. Lastly the church was not built on Peter, but on his words, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:15-18)

Quotations from the NASB Bible.

There are only a few verses about going to heaven. Let us see what they really mean.
Philippines 1:23 says “having a desire to depart and be with Christ……”Death is a sleep passes without notice. (Psalm 13:3) Those who die appear to be with Christ right away because sleep passes without notice. We will be with Christ after the resurrection.(Hebrews 11:39-40, 2Timothy 4:1)

The gospel of Matthew was written to Jews who do not say “God” It calls the kingdom of God “the kingdom of heaven” as God dwells in heaven. “Of heaven”does not mean “ in heaven”

1 Peter1:4 says your reward is reserved in heaven for you. This does not mean that we will go to heaven to get the reward instead the reward will come from heaven to us. Revelation 22:12 says “Behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me.

John18:2 says “ In my Father’s house are many dwelling places………I go and prepare a place for you.” Is heaven an unprepared place? We will get the reward when Jesus returns with it for the next verse says,” And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.

So we see that the Bible does not support going to heaven.

All Bible quotes from the NASB.

In this page we will look at Gods relationship with the Jews. “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 1:2). The reason for this is”……they (the Jews) are beloved for the sake of the fathers……” (Romans11:28) The fathers are Abraham, Issac and Jacob who founded the Jewish race.

Jews have often worshipped idols and broken Gods laws but there was a purpose in it all. “……they did not do so that as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles……(Romans 11:11)

When Jesus returns the Jews will recognize him as their Messiah and will thus merit their standing with God. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son…”

God did not cast off the Jews who are beloved for the fathers sake. They will recognize Jesus as the Messiah when he returns.

All quotations from the NASB Bible

It is in fashion at this time to believe it does not matter what you believe as long as you believe Christ is your Savior, and lead a good life. People who believe this ignore the fact that the reason Eve sinned was she believed a lie! It is important to believe the truth because false doctrine leads to sin.

Solomon knew this because he said, “Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way.” (Proverbs 19:2)

The New Testament also says false doctrine leads to sin. I Timothy 6:4 says, “Anyone who teaches anything different is both conceited and ignorant. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, fighting, slander, and evil suspicions.” Paul tells us we must avoid having, “…lustful passions as the Pagans do in their ignorance of God and his ways.” (I Thessalonians 4:5)

Not only does the Bible tell us that lies lead to sin, it also tells us that Truth leads to righteousness. Paul said, “This same Good News…is changing lives everywhere. Just as it changed yours…” (Colossians 1:6) This is why Jesus said, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

It is common these days to say right living is important: right doctrine is unimportant. This view ignores the fact that sin entered the world because Eve believed a lie. False doctrine leads to false practice as untruth leads to sin – thus it is important, not only to avoid false doctrine, but also to learn and to practice the teachings of Jesus.

Quotations from the NLT Bible.

“Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made.” (Genesis 3:1)

It is common to believe a fallen angel caused the temptation that led to the fall of mankind. This is not true; the serpent caused the temptation that led to the fall of mankind and our eviction from the Garden of Eden.

If you read all of Genesis 3, you will find no mention of the Devil, Satan, demons, Lucifer, or a fallen angel. When judgment was given after the fall; Eve was sentenced (verse 16), Adam was sentenced (verses 17-19), and the serpent was sentenced (verse 14). There was no sentence for the Devil as he was not there.

Some people say the Devil was the serpent, but the Devil does not crawl on his belly the way the serpent must. The serpent was told, “You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly.” (Genesis 3:14) This is not how the Devil walks, thus the serpent is not the Devil.

Others say the Devil made the serpent talk. This cannot be so as 2 Corinthians 11:3 says, “Eve was deceived by the serpent.” The Swedish Bible is even clearer, saying, “The serpent deceived Eve with his own subtlety.”

We see from all this that the serpent deceived Eve all by himself.

Quotations from the NLT Bible and the Swedish Bible.

The Bible has no punctuation in the original Old Testament manuscripts. This means that Luke 23 : 43 can be translated, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”(NASB) or “Truly I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise” (The Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition). In other words, the location of the punctuation marks can either mean that either:

1)   Today is the day on which I am telling you the following… or,

2)   This is the very same day on which you will be with me in paradise.

The first option is correct. Confirmation can be found in John 20:17 where Jesus said to her (Mary) “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…” Given that Jesus said this to Mary three days after he died he clearly could not have gone to heaven on the day of the crucifixion. Thus, Jesus was clearly telling them that they would be with him in paradise with, no indication as to when.