“Filled With the Holy Ghost”

Was the phrase “filled with the Holy Ghost” referring to the miraculous CAUSE of the Word being spoken, or the non-miraculous EFFECT of hearing the Word? The reader is encouraged to study the following Scriptures:

· Luke 1:15 – “filled” (by hearing?)

· Luke 1:41 – “filled…spake”

· Luke 1:67 – “filled…prophesied”

· Acts 2:4 – “filled…speak…tongues”

· Acts 4:8 – “filled…said”

· Acts 4:31 – “filled…spake”

· Acts 7:55 – “full of…said”

· Acts 9:17 – “filled” (by hearing? See Galatians 1:11-22)

· Acts 13:9 – “filled…said”

· Eph.… Read more

Satan Has Convinced You

Satan and his influencers have convinced many people that a person does not have to obey God to get to Heaven. They have been sold the lie that as long as someone “accepts Jesus into his heart,” nothing else really matters. Friends, anybody who tells you that you don’t have to obey God is working for Satan, whether they realize it or not. Don’t you know that has been Satan’s plan from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, to convince man not to obey God?… Read more

Learning to Be Content

Many young people are constantly wishing to be older, and when they are old, they wish to be younger! Contentment seems to elude most people. When many children are in school, they cannot wait until they get their driver’s license. When they have that, they cannot wait to be old enough to graduate high school. Then they cannot be content until they graduate college or find their dream job, and after that they cannot wait until they retire.… Read more

Kardashians, But Not Christ

It’s sad that so many people know all about the Kardashians, TikTok, and other worldly influences while knowing little to nothing about the Word of God.

Even many who claim to know Jesus actually have a very distorted view of the Lord and His requirements for salvation. They may know what their parents said or what some preachers say, but they don’t know where things are in the Bible or what the Bible actually teaches about critical matters (Matt.… Read more

Surprised When Searching the Scriptures

With today’s technology, Bible study has become easier and quicker than ever before. One innovation that expedites Bible study is the ability to search for anything in the Bible very quickly with Bible software. One can learn rapidly from some simple searches, and many people are very surprised at what they find (or fail to find). For example:

  • Search for the phrase “faith only” and you only get one verse: “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24).
… Read more

Lawbreakers Will “Receive Damnation”

Here is an unpopular truth: God commands, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors…For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Peter 2:13-15).

Did you see the word “every”? This would include laws that some people consider trivial, such as wearing a seatbelt, obeying the speed limit, or obeying copyright laws.… Read more

Question Your Answers!

If someone were to ask you why you believe what you believe, or why you do what you do religiously, would you be able to answer? More importantly, would your answers come from the Bible?  God commands us to “…be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…” (1 Peter 3:15). Are we able to do that? In the next chapter of Peter’s same epistle, we are commanded: “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). … Read more

The Seven Churches of Asia and Their Works

Did Jesus emphasize works as an essential part of man’s relationship with God, or did He emphasize “faith alone”? Please notice what Jesus said to the seven churches of Asia:

I know thy works…Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent…I know thy works…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life…I know thy works…I know thy works…and thy works…I will give unto every one of you according to your works…And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations…I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.… Read more

Politically Conservative, but Religiously Liberal

Many who are politically conservative are liberal when it comes to religion, and they don’t even realize it.

Just because a man “identifies” as a woman, that does not make him a woman.

Just because a man identifies as a turtle, that does not make him a turtle,

and just because a man identifies as a Christian, that does not make him a Christian!

Facts matter – especially God’s requirements to become faithful and remain faithful.… Read more

Go Into All the World and Live a Good Moral Life?

Why is it that some Christians seem to believe that their only responsibility in reaching the lost is to live a pure lifestyle before them? Will alien sinners become Christians by simply observing that Christians refrain from things like profanity, fornication, and drugs? Will simply being kind to others convert the lost? Certainly, the Christian’s influence must not be minimized (Matt. 5:13-16); and yes, Christians are to live holy lives and be kind to others (1 Pet.… Read more

Do Hezekiah’s Actions Give Us Authority for Mechanical Instruments?

When God was bringing Israel out of Egypt, He instituted the Passover, which was to be observed by the Jews annually on the fourteenth day of the first month (Ex. 12:18). When Hezekiah was king over Judah, the Jews once observed the Passover in the second month instead of the first month, “because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves to Jerusalem” (2 Chr. 30:1-3). Some claim that since God had specified the first month, not the second month, they must have been allowed to do something differently than God specified.… Read more

Leaders Must Lead

Throughout the Bible, God has shown that in any group of people there is a need for leadership. A system of authority can bring order instead of chaos, and peace instead of strife. Even in a group of only two people, such as the husband and wife, God has placed one in authority over the other, giving the husband the leadership of the household (Eph. 5:22-24). There is also a type of leadership among the Godhead Members themselves, with God the Father being “the Head,” “above all” (Jn.… Read more

Current Events and Christ’s Return

Current events are not signs that the return of Christ is imminent. Paul clearly said there are no signs for the Lord’s return: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess.… Read more

The Great Commission Commands Water Baptism, Not Prayer

Do you know how John prepared people for the Savior? He was “preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk. 1:5; cf. Lk. 24:47; Acts 2:38). People were being baptized in water “to flee the wrath to come…unquenchable fire” (Mt. 3:7-12). John was getting people ready for the Great Commission of Jesus, who had come to save people from their sins and would thus command the whole world to be baptized in water for the forgiveness of sins.… Read more

“He Breathed on Them and Saith…Receive Ye the Holy Ghost”

What is meant by the words above recorded in John 20:22? Did the apostles “receive the Holy Spirit” when Jesus was speaking to them on earth, or did that happen after Jesus returned to Heaven, on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts chapter two?

The context of John 20:22 should first be considered. On the day Christ was resurrected, the first day of the week, He appeared to His disciples and said:

…Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.… Read more