There is a religious song that is often sung by different quartets, groups and individuals, emphasizing how that one’s life has been changed by Calvary, noting the death of Jesus Christ Who died on the cross for the sins of the world. Regardless of how a person lived previously, when he or she believes in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, is penitent of sins and obeys the Gospel of Christ, his or her sins are forgiven and forgotten (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Hebrews 8:12). Mankind is not so merciful and forgiving. Recently, I read about “Boeing’s communications chief who was forced to resign because of an article he wrote criticizing women in combat in 1987 –  more than 30 years ago – when he was a Navy fighter pilot.” The gentleman explained he no longer held the same views about women serving in the armed services as he did when he was a young man. Nevertheless, he was forced to resign his position with the company. This is a prime example of the extremes we now witness in our nation. What if God treated mankind in like fashion as those responsible for pressuring this person to resign from his work with Boeing? Consider the following men who said or did something that was not in harmony with the will of God, and yet, the Lord forgave them and used them in His kingdom. Abraham, the ‘father of the faithful,’ was not perfect. In two incidents, he intended to deceive …

In order to arrive at truth on any subject, we must bring an open mind to the examination of the Word of God. We must determine that the Bible will be allowed to settle all questions. It and it alone will be the final source of authority in all matters of faith and practice (Romans 4:3; Galatians 4:30; 2 Timothy 3:l6-17; 2 Peter 1:3). This approach to the sacred oracles rules out any appeal to creed books or any appeal to loyalty to ancestors over and above the Bible (1 Peter 4:11; 1 Corinthians 4:6; Revelation 22:18-19; Galatians 1:6-9). Come to the Word and study for yourself (2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11). We learn from Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible for a man to come to God without faith. Paul taught in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Paul told the Ephesians, “The sword of the Spirit is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). We learn some of the power of that word in Hebrews 4:12 and Romans 1:16. The Word of God, then, is the instrument by which the Holy Spirit operates on the spiritual heart of man (whether alien or Christian). God appointed faith to change the spiritual heart of man through teaching (Romans 10:17), then repentance to change the life (Matthew 21:28-31; 3:8), confession of faith in Christ as a declaration of change in allegiance (Matthew 10:32-33) and baptism into Christ to change one’s state or relationship …

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is God’s commandment to us. Faith is important, and hope is, too, but the greatest is love. Jesus commanded – not advised or encouraged but commanded – us to love one another as He love us (John 13:34). That’s a pretty steep command, isn’t it? Yet, as Christians, we must try to live up to it. He ultimately showed His love on the cross, and we show our love by giving of ourselves for others. Today, how will you show the world God’s love? How will you live your life in a way that might prick a heart? How will you bring someone to God?

What do you think about when partaking of the Lord’s Supper? What are we to remember? Is it right for us to do it in the right way? These are questions that should be asked. When I was young and it came time in worship to participate in the Lord’s Supper, we had a member who would very vividly and accurately bring our minds back to Calvary. It actually brought tears to his eyes as he recalled through what the Lord went. The reason for this article is to take notice of Scriptures that men read during the Lord’s Supper but fail to observe. Here is one reference in full. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you; that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take eat, this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant of my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man …

A lot of things have changed in my lifetime. When I was a kid, I heard about fender skirts, curb feelers and continental kits (they covered the spare and attached to the rear of the auto and made your car look like a Lincoln!). Did you ever get all dressed up in your “Sunday go-to-meetin’ clothes” (maybe “store bought”) and go into town on Saturday to a matinee at the “picture show’’? Then, we didn’t have to “rate” movies because most of them were ‘‘G” movies. Morality was promoted instead of immorality. A lot has changed. Some things have changed for the good. We have better medical care and safer cars, and many inventions benefit our lives. Yet, some of the changes are not good. Not too long ago, marriage was sacred, sex outside of marriage was sin, and promiscuity was neither condoned nor excused. Unmarried people didn’t live together. “Day care” was provided by mother in the home! Just a generation or two back, a man’s word was his bond, children had prayer and read the Bible in school, and “in God we trust” on our money meant something. Fortunately, there are some things that have not changed. God has not changed (Malachi 3:6). He is the same loving God Who created this world for us and Who gave His only Son to die for us. Jesus has not changed. He “is the same yesterday, and today, and forever’’ (Hebrews 13:8). The Bible does not change (Psalm 33:11). God’s …

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8) Wow! Read those verses carefully and what you will find is a serious challenge for all of God’s children. Of course, we have understood this since the ministry of Christ, when He revealed that His way would lead to eternal life. Yet, these verses also mean that great difficulty would come, some of which involves persecution from those not of faith. First, you will notice that Peter penned, “Make every effort.” In other words, with all that we are, in all we do and even in the power of our thinking, we ought to pursue these things. Second, he said, “Supplement your faith.” The word “supplement” means “to add,” and it implies that faith cannot stand by itself. Things must be added to it. Not adding these things is like trying to drink a cup of tea with tea and a cup but with no water. Third, Peter wrote that there are seven essential supplements to faith, and by adding them together, they result in effectiveness and in fruitfulness. Just like “1 + 6” does not equal eight, we must not fall short …

We can learn some vital lessons reading through Amos 2:6-8. Oppression and sexual immorality are degrading; they were then, and they are now, too. Israel maltreated the poor, whereas God required that they were to be treated with respect and honour (Psalm 41:4; Proverbs 17:5; 14:31). However, it was obvious by Israel’s actions that the nation had no respect for God’s Word. The Israelites despised the commandments of God, for they could have treated the poor with respect and not oppressed them. The poor were considered valueless in the ancient nation of Israel, but God viewed them as priceless. Prophet Amos wrote concerning the way the rulers and nobles maltreated the upright and the poor. “They sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals” (Amos 2:6). Israel oppressed the poor so greatly that God had no option other than to discipline it. The nation of Israel engaged in large scale sexual immorality. Brethren, “flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” Since we are bought with the precious blood of Christ, we should glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, rather than in immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). Are you an oppressor? Flee oppression! Love your neighbors as yourself. All must learn to respect the poor. The poor must learn to respect themselves. “A poor man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no …

I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them. (Micah 2:12-13 KJV) The righteous souls of Jacob and Israel in the Book of Micah are representative of all God’s people from the Northern and Southern Kingdoms who were to make up the remnant. The Remnant composed so great a portion of thought among the prophets that Isaiah named his son Shear-jashub, “the salvation of the remnant” (Isaiah 2:21; 6:9-13; 7:3; 8:2, 18; 9:12). His name served as a reminder to those of the Captivity that there would be a return. The Remnant here in Micah is described as “large,” but it is still much smaller than the previous population of the two kingdoms. This gathering of the remnant is God’s work through the Shepherd Messiah. “The assembling of the remnant began with the work of Zerubbabel (Ezra 1-2) and Ezra (Ezra 7). These gatherings were but types of the Gospel gathering which is still going on today. While the focus here is primarily on Jewish ‘sheep,’ Jesus emphasized that he had ‘other sheep …

An author of financial books, Robert Kiyosaki, wrote concerning gold in his book Fake. In Fake, Robert examined the financial system in America and the results of removing the US Dollar from the Gold Standard in 1971. Throughout the book, Robert used an interesting analogy; he called paper money (i.e., fiat currency) “man’s money,” and gold and silver, he called “God’s money.” He explained that paper money is printed, created and devalued by men and governments. God’s money existed before governments and will exist after our nation crumbles. It will still be valuable no matter what happens to the US Dollar, the Euro, the Yuan or the Yen. Gold appears early in Scripture. In Genesis 2:11-12, when the Garden of Eden’s location was described by Moses, we read, “The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.” Abram was very rich in “livestock, in silver, and in gold” (Genesis 13:2). Pharaoh placed his signet ring upon the hand of Joseph and a golden chain around his neck when he put him in the position of second in command in all Egypt (Genesis 41:42). The sons of Jacob came to Egypt with gold in their sacks to buy grain and found their gold back in their sacks on the return journey home (Genesis 44:8). The items in the Tabernacle of God built by Moses and Israel were …

The Gin Craze was a period in the first half of the 18th century when the consumption of gin became popular with the working classes in Britain – especially in London. There ensued an epidemic of extreme drunkenness that provoked moral outrage and a legislative backlash which some compare to the modern drug wars. (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Gin+Craze) I was an alcohol and drug counselor for the Region Three Chemical Dependency Program in Tupelo, Mississippi for five years from 1987 to 1992. We counselors all understood the plain fact is that marijuana is a gateway drug. A gateway drug is the starting point for those who want an unnatural high. In other words, marijuana leads one to more powerful drugs. Surely, all of us can understand this truth. With truth known, why in the world would some states legalize this gateway drug? The creating of an epidemic of potheads and worse is silly nonsense. Why would our lawmakers cave to the chemical dependency community? We must remember the truism; we will reap the consequence of bad decisions. Mark that down! Wrong moral decisions of our government will cause confusion and sinful outcomes. “…they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14 KJV). “In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong …

The word “law” is used many times in the New Testament, and understanding its meaning or to what it refers is essential to understanding God’s will — the Bible. When one reads the word “law” in the New Testament, equate it with the Old Testament or the Old Law, and it will help you get the meaning. For example, Paul wrote in Romans 7:4, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law [Old Testament] through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.” Again in verse 6 of the same chapter, the apostle penned, “But now we have been discharged from the law [Old Testament], having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.” Again in Galatians 5:4 Paul wrote, “Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law [Old Testament], ye are fallen away from grace.” Paul made it very clear in these three passages that one must leave the Old Testament Law and follow the New Testament Law; otherwise a person will be severed from Christ. We were freed from the Old Testament Law so we could be joined to the New Testament Law. We must keep the more perfect law — the New Testament of Jesus Christ.

Years ago, I taught that there was nothing that could ever separate you from the love of God except yourself. I would look at passages like Romans 8:35ff and show that there was no external thing that could pry you away from God but then turn around and show that Christians absolutely could fall from grace (Galatians 5:4). The problem is that though Christians can fall from grace, as a number of other passages clearly demonstrate (like virtually the entire book of Hebrews), God never stops loving us. The whole point of Romans 5 and Ephesians 2 demonstrates this perfectly. God’s love is magnified in that while we were dead in sin, He (through Jesus Christ) still loved us enough to come and die for us. It is important to note this distinction because while we can never be removed from God’s love (no matter how hard we try), we can be removed from His salvation — they are not the same thing. Both are never-ending, but God loves us unconditionally while His salvation is conditional on us being in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) and continuing to walk in the light (1 John 1:7; Acts 8:22).

There is so much loose and liberal thinking today suggesting that we must never condemn anything because Jesus said “Judge not, that ye be not judged” that I hesitate to write anything that might be used to justify the false idea that the Bible offers hope that almost anyone can be saved eternally even without obeying the Gospel, especially if they mean well. The fact that 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 says that God will come “rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might” does not seem to mean anything to some who are connected with our brotherhood. However, we need to understand something else that many conservative brethren do not seem to understand. That is, that there is a difference in teaching what the Bible teaches about a general truth and assuming that we have either the right or the responsibility to apply that general truth to a specific person in Judgment Day. God committed that judgment to His Son, not to you or to me (Acts 17:31). For example, all liars, thieves, fearful and various kinds of sinners will be consigned to the fires of everlasting Hell (1 Corinthians 6:10; Revelation 21:8). In Matthew 25:25, we find a picture of a man who hid his talents and said, “I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent …

My earthly father, Captain M.A. Dixon, was a man of the sea. He was a veteran of the Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines. He attained his captain’s license in the Merchant Marines at age 26 and spent most of his oceangoing career in that capacity. Being raised as the son of a seafarer in the port city of Norfolk, VA, and spending two summers at sea in the Merchant Marines to defray college expenses gave me a special appreciation of Paul’s sea-time experiences, especially considering the fact that I rode out a hurricane on the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, I was employed as a surveyor for the better part of two years on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel – one of the engineering marvels of that day. Being on the Chesapeake Bay frequently while being raised there and almost daily while working on that well-known body of water helped me relate to and hopefully pass on a deeper understanding of a side of Paul, not inspired, but gained through close to six decades of water travel. Saul’s contact with the maritime world began at his birth. He was born about A.D. 3 (Webster) in the port city of Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia on the southeastern side of the Anatolian peninsula. The city of Tarsus was located on the Tarsus River (Latin: Cydnus), which was located approximately twelve miles north of the Mediterranean Sea. This tributary is named the Berdan River in present-day south-central Turkey. His parents likely …

Glorifying God is the supreme priority of mankind! It seems that the religious world misses this point. Although such things as preaching the Gospel, evangelizing and giving aid to the needy are important, none of this is our number one priority. Glorifying God is! It is possible to do those activities listed above without glorifying God (Philippians 1:15-16; Matthew 6:1-4). God created humanity to be His glory. God spoke through Isaiah, “Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him” (Isaiah 43:7). Although this is a personification of Israel, the figurative language is effective because of what lies behind it literally — God made us to glorify Him! Without Jesus, it would be impossible for us to glorify God because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What God did at Calvary makes possible the transformation of being a person of dishonor to God (because of sin) to being a person who is “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-14). “To God be the glory” must be our primary purpose in this life! God and “Glory” Various forms of the word “glory” or “glorify” occur hundreds of times in the Old and New testaments. Thus, the word “glory” must be defined according to the context. Generally, “glory” refers to brightness, radiance and splendor. Various objects are said to reflect a brightness of glory, such as …

What is prayer and why should we do it? It is nothing less than breathing out the soul’s most innermost needs into the ear of our loving Heavenly Father. It is the language of our hearts, and it is not confined to mere words. To have the ear of Almighty God is not only a glorious privilege, but also a vital line of communication with our Creator. When hearts are overburdened with care and the darkness of despair threatens to consume our very being, we must remember that He is there. A Christian needs prayer as much as he needs food and water to survive. Prayer can be offered anywhere, not just in one place – eyes open or closed, hands folded or not. The important factor is that we understand our supplications are going to the same God who delivered Daniel from the lion’s den and David from his foes. The great King of the Universe who heard the saints of old hears us, too. The knowledge of this should fill us with confidence and lift our spirits. Prayer can be improved, and, like any skill, practice makes perfect. It must always be trustful and submissive, never arrogant and demanding. There are two occasions in the Holy Bible where we read of disciples asking their leaders how to pray. In Luke 11:1, we read, “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, …

Researchers report they have found what may be liquid on Mars, according to an article on the website for Popular Science. I have rarely read an article filled with so many mights and maybes. It is obvious they are desperate to find the possibility of life on another planet. Their time could be much better spent looking for God and His will for their lives. These well-educated men seem to be following the path of the Gentiles’ in their downward spiral into the depths of sin. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21) Scientists and researchers who work so hard to find evidence of life on another planet overlook the truth right before their eyes — God exists! The Psalmist sang, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork” (19:1). “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4). God created the universe …

“Set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Influence is something we exert all the time, whether we realize it or not. The words we speak and the lives we live reflect who we are and our value system in action on display for others to observe. Depending on your relationship with others, the example your influence shows may be imitated by others, such as friends or family. Especially young children are very impressionable and open to input in shaping their morals and ideals. This is perhaps realized no better than when we reach adulthood and say something that was repeated to us many times by our parents, and remark, “I’ve become my mother (or father)!” Certainly not every behavior is attributable to the influence of someone’s example, as each person is a unique individual and will grow up to make his or her own choices about how to live life. However, one’s example, whether for good or bad, can and often does factor into the process of shaping the lives of others. I remember a police officer relating a story to me, having taken a juvenile home for breaking and entering, only to have the child’s parent lecture the officer and then tell the child he didn’t have to do anything the officer said. Should we wonder where that child had learned criminal behavior was acceptable? The same principle applies spiritually as well. Statistics indicate that children whose parents …