When I was a young teenager, a neighbor kept several cattle in a large pasture behind our house. Perhaps it be would more accurate to say, “…A neighbor tried to keep several cattle in a pasture behind our house.” One particular bovine found a broken strand in the barbed wire fence that separated the pasture from our property. Occasionally, I would come home from school and find her traipsing around the backyard, browsing on the occasional patch of herbaceous vegetation and scattering free fertilizer. Having spent my childhood in the streets of Dayton, Ohio, I did not have a lot of experience corralling large livestock, but eventually I would manage to direct her back to her side of the enclosure—at least, temporarily, until she decided to try the Benson backyard buffet again. Once she discovered the way out, it was difficult to keep her in where she belonged. For “Bossy,” that twisted, three-strand barrier was the cow equivalent of the Berlin Wall and had to be breached. Those of you who have raised cattle know what I am talking about. Stay with me for a minute. I am always taken back when I hear denominational preachers teach the “once-saved, always-saved” doctrine. Essentially, they are saying, “You can’t leave if you’re ‘in,’ and if you do in fact leave, you were never ‘in’ in the first place.” People aren’t cattle, but experience, observation, as well as the Bible, tell us that sometimes folks, unfortunately, do wander (Hebrews 2:1; Psalm 119:176; Isaiah 53:6) from their saved state in the …

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God…” and “And the wages of sin is death,” so writes the apostle Paul in the Book of Romans. Jesus came to save man from the consequences of sin. He died on the cross, then told man how to take advantage of His sacrifice. The Gospel must be preached; “Go into all the world and preach the gospel…,” said He. He also stated that “Except you believe that I am He you will die in your sins…” He continued by saying: “I tell you No, unless you repent you will likewise perish.” In Matthew 10:32 He said, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” And in Mark 16:16 He stated concerning those to whom the Gospel was preached: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” There it is! Saving truth in a nutshell—tough truth! Men have denied one or more of these truths, but their denial has no more changed the truth than one who has cancer, but denies it, changes the truth that he has it. If one is lost in sin, he must obey from the heart the Gospel that has been delivered. What will you do, obey the Gospel and be saved, or listen to denominational preachers and deny and reject the precious saving truth and be lost in hell. The choice is yours.

My wife and I were married 50 years ago on this past March twenty-third. It wasn’t long before I learned something about her that I had not previously known – her mother had taught her how to make delicious biscuits. She told me that secret was using enough shortening. Well, I decided to surprise her one morning and make the biscuits. Now, I reasoned that if a good dob of shortening made‘em that good, a double dob would make ‘em that much better. Friends, when they came out of the oven, they would have smashed a foot if they had fallen on it. They were more like hockey pucks than biscuits. What’s my point? Just this, some things do not work unless the directions are closely followed. God tells us that He has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” He warned that His Word must not be added to or diminished from. It is perfect as it is. When perverted by additions or subtractions, it will not save. The Message: Don’t add to – Don’t take away from.

In their book, Why Me?, Pesach Krauss and Morrie Goldfisher tell a story about two men who cut down an aged hardwood. The woodcutter’s observations about the inner rings within the old tree are compelling: …I sometimes tell patients the parable about the two wood choppers who had taken down a tree that was over one hundred years old. Looking at the growth rings to determine the tree’s age, the younger man noticed that there were five very narrow rings. He concluded that there had been a five-year-drought, during which the tree had shown very little growth. However, the other lumberman, a wise, old man with a philosophical bent, had a different viewpoint. He contended that the dry years actually were the most significant in the tree’s history. He reasoned: Because of the drought, the tree had to force its roots down further to get the water and the minerals it needed. With a strengthened root system, it was able to grow faster and taller when conditions improved. (71) Observations: 1. All of us inevitably experience “dry years” at some juncture in our lives. “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8; cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). Like the apostle Paul, we can identify with those occasional periods of trouble and burden; they are an inescapable part of the human condition (cf. Psalm. 90:2; Job 14:1; 2 Corinthians …

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: there are values and dangers in all three. Yesterday is a valuable thing. It is valuable if we learn from it and do not let ourselves make the same mistakes as have been made before. The mistakes of history will be repeated if not remembered. Mistakes in relationships will also be repeated. The church particularly needs to learn from the past. There is not really any new error that comes forth, just the rehashing of past errors. When we do not learn from the past, and prepare for those battles that can come, we will fail, as is happening in so many places, just like in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Throughout the past 2 and 1/2 centuries, schools that have begun as solid Christian schools have floated off, and sometimes run off, in the direction of error. The University of Kentucky has partial roots in what was once a Christian school. It behooves Christian schools now to beware and understand what has happened, and continues to happen in some places. It is possible to hold the line, (and we need to pray that those institutions that have held the line will continue to do so), but it is a constant uphill battle. So is every phase of the Christian life. If we can remember yesterday, maybe we can avoid losing those battles, individually, as churches and even in the Christian schools that still remain faithful. Yesterday is a precious thing. The events of yesterday are those that fill our lives and …

Most of us take for granted that our over-the-counter medicine and our food products are safe, protected from tampering. We see labels such as tamper-proof and sealed for your protection. Not too many years ago, we could buy milk in a bottle with only a cardboard lid to cover the container. All sorts of medicines and foodstuffs were sold without tamper-proofing devices. This was common for many of us in years past. We have always known that we live in a sin-sick world. The Scriptures teach that “…evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). Evil men are prone, inclined, to conjure up and conceive wickedness. Such is their free-will, brutish, negative behavior. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Always remember that our God is fair and just. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). “Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive” (Ezekiel 18:27). “…Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin” (Ezekiel 18:30). As a Christian, I am truly thankful that our God has made provisions for all that desire to do His Will. In that sense, we are tamper proof from a sin sick, wicked world. “If …

Among believers in God, there is a misunderstanding regarding the true heart of a person. When asked what the heart is, most people would place their hand over their chests and say, “This is my heart.” Some religionists have been known to say, with hand on chest, “I had rather have the feeling that I have in my heart than a stack of Bibles.” Others have accused members of the church of our Lord of not believing in a ‘heartfelt religion.’ Certainly, a religion that does not touch and control the heart is worthless. It is cold and lifeless. It cannot and will not save. However, heartfelt religion is not just placing your hand over the organ that pumps blood through the body and saying, “I know that I am right because I feel it in my heart.” The real problem relative to this subject is the misconception as to what the heart of a man truly is and what the definition of ‘heartfelt religion’ is all about. Actually, we could summarize the whole matter by saying: “Heartfelt religion is the Christian religion cordially received into the heart, accepted by the heart, felt in the heart, enjoyed in the heart, producing the change of heart and purifying the heart and causing it to be holy.” Now, let us turn our thoughts to the Bible definition of man’s heart. First of all, let us notice the unconverted heart. Jeremiah wrote that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is …

If I were discussing any Bible subject with a person in an effort to determine what is the proper action to take, and should discover that he is not concerned with whether or not God approves of such an action, I would stop that discussion. The reason is simple. If there is no standard by which to measure anything, there is no value in discussing whether it should or should not be anything. If a person indicates that he is concerned about God’s approval, the next step is to discover how he decides if God approves or disapproves of something. If his standard of measurement is how he feels in his heart, we stop the discussion, for not only is there no way for me to determine how he feels in his heart, but there is no way for me to determine if he feels the same way from one moment to the next. If he concludes that the way to decide what God wants in a matter is by an examination of God’s Word, then we ask, “What shall we look for in God’s Word to determine that?” If he admits that God’s specific command that a thing be done is one way we may be assured that God approves of it, we continue talking. If he admits that we do not have to find a specific command provided there is an approved example shown to be approved by the inspired record, we continue talking. If he admits that …

“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10). In writing or speaking, variety of expression is important. You are taught in school that using a variety of phrases to express the same thought better communicates the idea, rather than using the same phrase over and over. Not using variety in our speech creates a sense of monotony and ultimate boredom in others, and affects the way our message is perceived. Therefore, in thinking about all that, I was wondering what synonyms might come up for the word humble or humility. Modesty and meekness come up in a search through a thesaurus, but I believe a better term is servant or slave. It is the model Scripture uses to illustrate what humility is all about. For example, during His earthly ministry, Jesus’ disciples had a running debate between themselves about which was the greatest. Jesus’ greatest response to this was before His crucifixion, when He washed His disciples’ feet. He, Lord over all creation, took the role of a lowly house servant, a position no one wanted then, or even by us today. Yet, Jesus tells us, “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:15-17). …

Our blessed Lord taught, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ‘For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened’” (Matthew 7:7-8). The apostle wrote in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made to God…” As children of God, we have the words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit (through Paul) informing us that we have the wonderful privilege of asking, making supplications and requests, and our God will hear us. The fact is we probably ask more in our prayers than we do in the giving of thanks for His infinite grace through which He bestows an abundance of blessings upon us. For example, brethren often fail to give thanks for the food that is about to be eaten. A brother is usually requested to “ask the blessing” or to “bless the food.” So many times the brother will ask the Lord to “bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies in your service” and there is nothing wrong in that request. However, what we fail to do is to express our gratitude for the food that we have received as a blessing from God. It is on this point that I would like to emphasize in this article so that we all might be mindful of our need …

In Genesis 1:26-27, we read these words from the pen of Moses, “Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” It is insisted by one large cult in America today that because man was made in God=s image, as is set forth by the use of the plural pronoun “our” in these verses, it must be true that is God made of flesh and bones as well. If God must be a mere physical creation because man is, we have some real problems, do we not? There is a fundamental rule of biblical interpretation which says that we are most likely to interpret correctly when we allow the Scriptures to interpret themselves. If Genesis 1:26-27 teaches that God is a flesh, blood and bones creature because man is, then we have a real contradiction in Scripture for Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jesus unequivocally said, “God is Spirit…” He did not say that God has a Spirit, but“God is Spirit.” Spirits do not have flesh and bones. How do we know this? Again, we will allow Jesus to answer. In Luke 24:36-43 Jesus, …

This article is neither intended to be a critical examination or exegesis of the whole passage of Matthew 19:9, nor a general dissertation on divorce and re-marriage. We wish to examine only one question, “Does the word ‘fornication’ in the passage have reference to an act of sexual intercourse committed before marriage, or does it refer to an act committed after marriage?” Let us make clear that whatever conclusion we reach is merely a conclusion, and not a clear and unequivocal Bible statement. However, the method of arriving at the conclusion and the conclusion itself will be indicated in the following. First, we need to examine the Bible meaning of “fornication.” Although the common present day usage of the term may usually refer to sexual intercourse between unmarried persons, Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Second ed.(1949), p. 993 correctly says, “Fornication is sometimes used, espec. in the Bible, to include all sexual intercourse except between husband and wife.” Thayer says (p. 532) that it means, “illicit sexual intercourse in general.” Ultimately, the Bible meaning of a term must be decided from the Bible usage of the term. When we examine such passages as Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:13, 18; Eph. 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3, there is no reason to assume that the passages are limited to unmarried persons. In fact, some of them cannot be so limited. Other references such as Jude 7 and almost all references that put it in a spiritual context indicate that the word does not have exclusive reference to unmarried persons. Also, …