Short Bible Study

A QUICK ANSWER TO A DIRECT QUESTION! How can I be SAVED, escape Hell, and be guaranteed ETERNAL LIFE when I die? I’m glad you asked!  It is simply by trusting the Gospel of Your Salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14 KJV).  I’ll explain, but first there are a couple things you must understand. I AM A SINNER! YOU must understand and believe that you are a sinner and cannot inherit Heaven by your own merit.  It doesn’t matter how humanly “good” you think you are, whether by your own perception or by others.  It also doesn’t matter if you think you do mostly “good” things—that is, your “good” works outweigh your “bad” deeds as if in the end, the good and bad are placed on opposing scales and the good weighs more than the bad to determine your eternal destination.   YOU must understand ALL humans—from birth are born into sin and are sinners by nature (Romans 3:10, 3:23, 5:19 KJV).  Therefore, the unsaved (or lost as some say) will inherit hell upon death, and when the time comes, they will have no c

To some, it's just another day.  To some, it's a holiday they get off from work.  To some, they don't even understand what it's about.  To others, it's a day that commemorates the greatest gift ever given to humanity from the greatest giver ever! The day Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary is celebrated as "Good Friday" (even though Jesus was crucified on a Thursday if you study the scriptures). Some might think, why not call it "Bad Friday"?  Death is bad, right!?  Death does have  connotations of sadness, right? However, in this case, regardless of the other reasons out there, Jesus' death was "good" in the sense it led to His resurrection on Sunday morning which means the "believer" will also be raised in the newness of life.  This is good. In fact, the believer has Heaven as a present possession in God’s eyes but will experience it upon the death of the physical body. ( 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Ephesians 2:6 KJV

A SINFUL MAN AND HIS PAST A man once lived a very sinful life, even by a sinner’s estimation.  His name is not important. He had done things that I care not to say or attempt to describe.  Oddly enough, as he got to what he felt was close to the end of his earthly life, he began to recognize the error of his ways.  He began to feel remorse and didn’t know how to make these things “right” and he struggled to deal with his past. His life began to haunt him.  He was ashamed of many things he’d done—how he lived his life and the people it affected.  It caused him great anxiety, thus making him terribly depressed and emotional. This man had said, “I’m afraid to die.  I believe there’s a God and I don’t want to go to hell when I die.  I know, somehow, that I will be judged for my sinful life.  I am so sorry.  I don’t know how to make it right.  I don’t know what to do.  How can I be forgiven?  How can I ensure I go to heaven?  I’m scared.  How can I know for sure?  What must I do to

         This post is a different kind of bible study.  It is a communication through email with someone.  But I am sharing it with you simply as words of encouragement to those who might need it and hopefully will be blessed by it.                  Some years ago, a particular person and I began communicating through email, because of biblical questions he had.   Although I had never met him in person, even still, every now and then he would reach out to me, and we would discuss things of the bible.              I might add, based on our past discussions, I’m sure he’s a brother in the Lord—that is, he is saved.   He made that clear.   I will call him Bill, for anonymity’s sake.                  The following email response is to a recent question Bill had to which he wasn’t sure if there was an answer.   But hopefully, the response provided was encouraging in some way.               For full disclosure, the email dialogue was slightly modified for readability and context, and

Here is another question one of my young Sunday School students asked: “why did God create Satan, knowing Satan would sin?”  Of course, it is an interesting question to ponder. Let’s begin by asking this: Is it true that God knew Satan would sin?   YES, of course!   God, undoubtably knew Satan would sin and even created him anyway. (If you look back at my February 18, 2023, post, “Did GOD Know it Before it Happened?”   You will see how the Bible demonstrates that God is omniscient—that is, He is ALL knowing.   There is nothing new to God.   His wisdom and intellect are beyond measure, beyond comprehension.   He exists outside of time and can see from the beginning to the end.   All things are finite, but God is infinite and everlasting (Psalm 90:2).) Let me make something clear first: as I stated in the last post, it was technically Lucifer who was created before he became Satan.   His transformation to Satan was a resultant of Lucifer’s transgression or rebellion, by, what I’

Recently, a young student in my Sunday School class asked, “How did Satan get his name?” This is a good question; a question that had never crossed my mind before.   I told him I’d give him the answer the following week because I really didn’t have it clearly formulated in my mind at that moment. Here’s my journey to the answer… The very first thing to realize (which we won't get into the specifics) is that God created Lucifer (son of the morning), not Satan.   Lucifer, who was created sinless and had free will, at some point before the creation of man, transgressed and fell by allowing his pride to be perverted due to his great beauty, brightness, and wisdom.   He thought that he could be like the Most High God, as the thoughts in his heart echoed.  At that very instant, with his will easily discovered by God, he became Satan. SATAN—DEFINE IT When I got home after class, I pulled out my Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to look up the name “Satan”.   (This concordance is s

GOSPEL—LET’S DEFINE IT! I’d say most people in the United States of reasonable age have heard the term “gospel”—even non-churchgoers.  Also, I’d argue that if one has attended a “Christian” church for some length of time, they have heard the word “gospel” mentioned or preached at least once—whether they remember it or not. This word “gospel” seems to be a point of contention or even divisive at times within Christian or denominational circles. Some say there’s more than one “gospel” in the Bible, but others argue there is but only one “gospel”.  Regardless, before we go down that rabbit trail, let’s first look at what the word gospel means; so, we can have some initial point of agreement of its definition. The word “gospel” shows up 104 times in 98 verses in the King James Version Bible, all of which are in the New Testament.  The word gospel is an English translation of a few Greek words that have much the same meaning (without reviewing the subtle nuances).  Gospel simply means glad