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Many times have I heard that question. After all, God hasn’t spoken to anyone I know of personally, like He did with Jeremiah and Isaiah. All we have is some ancient writings and instructions designed for thousands of years ago. So how can I, or you, or anyone, know that God wants them to do something to spread the Gospel around the world? Of course, we all know the scriptures that say things like “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

And we all agree that someone should do that. But should *I*? Should *YOU*? I’m sure God meant for the Apostles to do that then, but that was a long time ago. It’s far from being a specific command for ME to preach the Gospel to every creature, isn’t it? After all, we can all come up with good excuses - we’re either too young, too old, too inexperienced, too tired, too poor, too busy, too far in debt, or any of a number of other excuses I’ve heard. So how can we KNOW that WE, PERSONALLY, are obligated to obey this command? Read the rest of this entry »

This is an issue that isn’t very important in the western hemisphere. Nonetheless, for the globetrotters amongst us and those who value knowledge in any form, it becomes an interesting question. Few people in westernized nations eat mare’s milk, or the milk of camels. But a large portion of world does - from Morocco to Mongolia is a nearly unbroken stretch of land where one or both of those milks provide a staple of the diet. So is the milk of unclean animals unclean?It is natural to assume that since the animal is unclean, the milk is unclean also. But is it? Conclusions like that - ones which lead to you avoiding certain foods or actions - are “safe”. You’re less likely to go wrong if you simply don’t do something that might be a sin. But we are here to understand the law of God. Simply avoiding something because it might be wrong, when you have a way to prove one way or the other, is cowardly. So let’s find out - if an Arab offers you some camel cheese, do you decline, or chow down?

THE COMMAND

To begin with, we have to ask the most important question; if eating camel’s milk is a sin… where is the command? Read the rest of this entry »

Most of the commandments are pretty clear; don’t steal. Don’t lie. Don’t worship idols. Don’t worship other gods. Some seem more important than others and some are easier to follow than others - but there is one that no one even understands. No one even has a clue what God MEANT when He gave it, so how can they possibly obey it?? And of course I’m talking about number 3;Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Now what does that mean? If you don’t know, then how can you be sure you’re not breaking it as we speak? Most people assume that it means saying things like “God ___ it” or “for Christ’s sake!” or “holy ___”. But that’s not it at all. While that is not something you should be doing, that’s not what God was most concerned about when He penned this command in that tablet of stone. The words “in vain” come from the Hebrew word “shav” which basically means emptiness, or making devoid of value. For just two examples:

Jeremiah 2:30 In vain [shav] have I smitten your children; they received no correction: …

Jeremiah 46:11 … in vain [shav] shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.

Here you can see that the word means that it was pointless, a waste of time, for Him to do those things, because nothing happened; for they weren’t corrected and they weren’t cured. So how can you take the name of God and make IT pointless, and “a waste of time”?

Before we can explain that, we have to briefly explain what “God’s name” means. When God says “my name” He doesn’t mean “God”. Or, for that matter, Jehovah, Yahweh, or Elohim. He’s talking about a CONCEPT, not a title. To come in someone’s name means to come with that person’s AUTHORITY. For example, when God sends someone a prophet, that prophet comes in God’s name - so when he speaks, he’s speaking in God’s place, as if God were there speaking…. Read the rest of this entry »

There has always been a problem in the true church of God. How do you know who is a part of the church and who isn’t? Something that can draw a line between someone who believes everything God says but doesn’t keep Saturday? Or keeps all of the ten commandments but doesn’t keep the holy days? Or who keeps all of that, but eats unclean meats? Or who keeps the calendar on a different day than you do? Where is the line? What is that doctrine that sets the true Christian apart from everyone else?

I do not believe a clear answer to that question has been preached in recent centuries. Oh, I’ve heard many answers to the question - but none that all scripture would back up. But there is such an answer. There is a way to build a “holy spirit detector” that can unerringly tell you if someone has the holy spirit or not. Here is how… Read the rest of this entry »

Few people realize it, but Jesus made two sacrifices; and it’s hard to say which is greater. Sadly, no one even knows about the first sacrifice. So let’s correct that shameful oversight.

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

We can infer from this and a few other scriptures that, in the immemorial recesses of antiquity there were two Gods; equally perfect and equally God. Distinct of course, but of the same rank - since rank is merely a measure of perfection. But they wanted to build a family, billions of people with whom to share the joys of a perfect universe.

Unfortunately, there was a snag. See, in creating beings who can sin, it is inevitable that some of them will sin. In fact, given time, it is inevitable that ALL will sin. Since it is a given that every being WILL sin at some point in the future, however perfectly they are created (Satan, for instance), it is equally a given that all beings must die at the moment of that sin.

But this would ruin everything, for what’s the point of creating a family, just to destroy them as punishment for their sin? Read the rest of this entry »