People look at the religious world, see all of the division, and wonder why it exists. If we all worship the same God and claim to follow the same book, why are there so many different groups? Paul said there were to “be no divisions among you [the people of God],” but Christians are to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The reason there is so much division is because many have stopped allowing the Bible to do the talking and have turned to their own ideas and philosophies. Should there be all of these divisions? No. But there also cannot be unity without a unity of beliefs. Amos 3:3 asks, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” The answer, of course, is “No.” God does not desire division, and we should not either, but the only way to dissolve division is to use God’s Word, and it alone, as the standard.

On more than one occasion through the years, my name has been confused with some others who have the same or similar names. Most recently, I received several emails from a college student asking me to review his notes for a Bible lesson he had prepared. I informed him that I would be glad to review his notes, but I thought he had me confused with someone else. He wrote back saying, no he was not confused and that I should remember telling him at lunch that I would review his notes. He was so certain that he sent me additional lessons to review. Once again, I wrote him and said I would be honored to review his lessons, but that as far as I knew, we had not had lunch together. He finally wrote back and said, “Sorry, man, I thought you were Jeffrey Jinkerson. I appreciate, I will email to him. I hope u have a good day!” Well I enjoyed the exchange and had a good laugh out of it. Other times, name confusion has not been so pleasant for me. There is a man who was a preacher who shares my name (even spelled the same way) who has caused me some grief through the years. On his first Sunday preaching in a new church, he reportedly took a guitar into the pulpit, sat on a porch swing and sang “Home, Home on the Range.” On another occasion, he was speaking for a workshop that involved …

Who can describe eternity? Yet, each of us has an eternal destiny. Jesus in Matthew 7 taught that there are two, and only two, roads that man travels. One leads to eternal life, and the other leads to eternal destruction. Even as we write, each of us is on one of these roads. Now, a question: Who is determining your eternal destiny? Some have answered that their parents are doing so. One lady told me several years ago that she knew that her dad was lost, but if he was in hell, she wanted to be with him. However, Jesus taught that if one loved mother or father more than he or she loved Him, that person was not worthy of Him. Some let the world and its peer pressures decide how they will live, work and act. Jesus told His disciples that even though they were in the world, they were not to be of the world. Others let the false teachers make the choice. Yet, these false teachers encourage, yea, even demand that their hearers obey them and their sayings rather than obey God. Watch them when they talk about salvation. They will get real gushy and talk about “saying the sinner’s prayer” when God’s true spokesmen told the inquiring believer to “repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Again, who is making the decision about your soul’s eternal destiny?

I always appreciate it when someone has the trust in me to write me asking a question of a biblical nature. I take that as a great compliment. A beloved brother, wrote me with the question that is the title of this article, and I believe that he will not mind me answering in the form of the article. I am not the authority, but God’s Word is. I hope that this answer is sufficient. To begin with, on the surface of the question, the answer would be yes. There are several passages, a sampling of which we will note, that indicate that to be the case. The true question, however, is the definition of what the “degrees of punishment/reward” really are. First, let us note some passages, then some comments from different commentaries, and finally draw our own conclusions. Sample Passages Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10:15) Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which …

In rightly dividing the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15), we must remember God has had three distinct plans, methods and dispensations in His dealing with mankind. The first, the Patriarchal Age, lasted from creation to Sinai and for a period of approximately 2,500 years. In this age, God spoke directly to the fathers. After selecting Israel as His chosen people, God gave them a law for the Jews alone. This Mosaic dispensation, from the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai to the death of Christ, lasted approximately, 1,500 years. Many of the things God had commanded at the first were incorporated into the Mosaic Law. The Jews obeyed these instructions, not because they had been commanded by God in the Patriarchal age, but because God made them a part of the Law of Moses, to which they were subject. Though we today have a new and better covenant, Jesus included in His New Testament many of the principles found in the Mosaic Law. All believers live in respect of and in obedience to the New Covenant because it is the will of God for man today. Again, we do these things, not because some of these principles were part of the Jewish law, but because they are incorporated into the New Covenant. At the death of Christ, the Old Law (Mosaic Law) was fulfilled. Jesus took it out of the way to make room for a New Testament (Colossians 2:14). The New Covenant had been prophesied (Jeremiah 31:31). …

In the Lord’s church, as in all other groups, there is a tendency to take the word of someone of whom we think highly instead of studying the Word of God for ourselves. Although it is very dangerous, there may be some value in this, for each of us is ignorant of many things. For example, although I have been reading the Bible for over 60 years, there are some subjects I have not studied as deeply as I might have. If I discover that Foy Wallace, Gus Nichols, Guy N. Woods and N. B. Hardeman expressed the same specific view of the subject, I confess that until I have had a chance to study the subject in more detail, I would probably adopt their view as the most probable one. I am neither ashamed nor proud of that, but am stating what I think is a valid attitude. A child generally should accept what his parent believes and teaches him until he has a chance to examine the evidence for himself. The danger comes when one has an opportunity to study God’s Word in depth on some subject, but relies instead on one or more scholars for his conclusions. The subject of this article was suggested to me as I was reading in some scholarly book by a premillennial author about how to interpret prophecy. He suggested that there are only two methods: the allegorical and the literal. He properly points out some dangers in the allegorical method. He …

The month of June is normally a time for weddings. You can see pictures in the local newspapers of a number of couples who have ‘tied the knot,’ and they look so happy and blissful. Young love is simply a beautiful thing. It makes the world go around. It makes ‘old timers’ reflect over the intervening years when they went through the same experience. Isn’t life wonderful? In the midst of so much ‘gloom and doom,’ it is good for us all to pause and consider some lighter moments regarding matrimony and the time honored event that we call a wedding. In my years of preaching, I have performed several weddings for young couples. There have been some unusual happenings that occurred before, during and after the actual ceremony. I must begin with my own personal experience. I went all the way to Wildwood, Florida, to meet who I hoped would be my future in-laws. Now, brother Sam Slaughter was an impressive looking gentleman from the old school. He had worked for the Seaboard Airline Railroad for many years when I first met him. He also had cattle on his farm that was located between Wildwood and Oxford, just off of U.S. Highway 301. I finally got up enough courage to ask him if I could marry his daughter. Well, would you like to know what he asked me in return? Out of the blue he asked, “Can you hitch up a team of mules?” My integrity was immediately tested. …

Some mistakenly think that love is the act of ‘looking the other way’ or ‘no discipline.” However, in the Bible (Proverbs 13:24), it is written of the one who fails to correct his child actually ‘hates him’ (doesn’t love him like he should). God doesn’t make this mistake and everyone He loves He chastens (Hebrews 12:1-13) and purges (John 15:1-8) that more fruit occurs. The love of God is grand (John 3:16) and the word “so” is used to indicate it. At the same time, the expectation of faith in his only begotten Son is easily seen. However, where is repentance and confession of Christ expressly stated in this passage? Without this verse being in synecdoche form (the part which stands for the whole), neither of these words is in John 3:16. Yet, since it is only emphasizing the place of faith in Christ, we understand repentance (Luke 13:3), confession of Christ (Matthew 10:32), baptism (Matthew 28:18-20) as well as being faithful (Matthew 26:41) are expectations found in other verses relating to the subject of salvation (John 3:17). Jesus in His sovereign status said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). He expects us to change how we live. As He began the Sermon on the Mount, He noted: ‘strive to enter the strait gate’ (Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus said there is a narrow path that leads to life. All should choose the narrow way. It is entered by a ‘difficult gate,’ such as leaving old friendships and practices. …

According to the ACLU and other similar anti-American and anti-Christian organizations, those people who claim to be Christians are the bad guys. We are, according to their warped view, trying to force our religion on everyone by erecting symbols, such as sculptures of the Ten Commandments, in public places such as in school yards, courthouse lawns, etc. Everyone is free to wear, or otherwise present, in schools, courtrooms and elsewhere, the symbols of their religion except those who claim to be Christians. According to such atheistic and communistic organizations as the ACLU, Christianity has caused the downfall of civilization, and every vestige of any kind of belief called Christian should be removed from all public eyes. It is only a matter of time until such columns as this one will be attacked by such organizations as those mentioned above in an effort to remove our right to free speech in this country. It is already being done in this country. There are certain foreign and idolatrous religions in this country that were not here fifty years ago that are joining with the anti-Christian movement. If those who claim to be Christians in any way criticize these heathen faiths, we immediately become the bad guys, and the demand is made that we not be allowed to do this. These people because of the weakness of their religions, whether heathen or atheist, attempt to destroy the fundamental rights of the people of this nation so that they can practice their faith, or …

It was 6:20 p.m. as my wife and I started toward the church building for Wednesday Night Bible Study, 23 July 2008. We like to take the old country road toward the church building. The road is little traveled, especially at that time of night. We made a hard right turn on the small road, and the beginning of a straight stretch for about 400 yards. Suddenly, at that point we got into a lot of broken glass on the road. Dodging the huge amount of glass we noticed two boys about 300 yards away, breaking glass. The entire road was littered with broken glass. I blew my car horn at them. One ran and hid in the soybean field next to the road. The other froze and waited for us to get to him. With adult authority we said, “Why have you done this? We are going to notify the police. We see you out in that field!” “He did it!” the other boy said, pointing to the soybean field. Shirley, my wife, being somewhat angry said, “You better start picking up this glass! We are on our way to the police.” We drove to the police station and reported the problem. This old country road was now very dangerous for motorists as well as others that jog/walk this quiet road. Why did these boys play in such a mischievous way? Surely they knew better! Surely they knew it was wrong! Did they not care? Why was this fun …

We must be careful to avoid underestimating the power of words although they may seem so small. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, says a word is “a unit of language that carries meaning.” Since words can carry such weight, either breaking the heart or making it sing joyfully, they must be used with discretion. According to Jesus, each of us will be judged, in part, upon the basis of our use of words (Matthew 12:37). Our inner man should yearn with the Psalmist, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). The Holy Spirit, through Solomon, teaches us there is “a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1), including “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…” (3:7). Heavenly wisdom, which we are to request of our Father (James 1:5), enables us to discern when to speak and when to hold our peace. God’s purposes fail to be fulfilled in us when we are silent when we should have spoken; or, at those moments we speak (saying the wrong thing) when we rather should have remained silent. While silence may be “golden” on occasions, there are certain things it can never accomplish. Silence is not God’s strategy for imparting His will to men. God “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:2). When Jesus was here in the flesh, He did not keep silent. Instead, …

Denominational churches as well as churches of Christ are seeing an exodus of children from their congregations. Along with other factors, parental attitudes and actions are helping to affect this departure because of their failure to teach, direct, discipline and supervise their children. Wrong Attitude The attitude of parents toward the elders, preachers, teachers and members can cause children to develop a bad attitude toward the church. A lady invited me to eat the Sunday dinner in her home. Most of the time she spoke maliciously against the leaders and members. During her tirade, she bewailed the fact that even though she had contentiously taken her son to church, after he left home, he no longer associated with the church. Her evil speaking against the church must have influenced the attitude of her son to resolve not to associate with such an undesirable group of hypocrites. Lack of Biblical Training Because of a special series of lessons planned by the teen Bible teacher, a member, a professional counselor, was asked to teach his class of around eighty. The substitute teacher brought to class Bible references written on slips of paper that he planned to hand out to class. Not one student raised a hand when he asked for volunteer readers. He then asked for those who brought their Bibles to hold them up.  Only one Bible was held up, and that by a visitor. Appalled at this, he asked how many failed to take their math, English and history books …