First and foremost, you have to establish whether a person is willing to follow the dictates of the Bible and the example of Christ and the New Testament Church or the traditions of men, which are based on paganism and human tradition and not on the Bible.

The following approach could be pursued in a series of questions, as outlined below:

1) How does a person prove, show, manifest and demonstrate that he or she is willing to embrace God’s love?

1 John 5:2-3 says:   “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”

The Bible is clear that one demonstrates love for God—that one is willing to embrace the love OF God–by keeping His commandments. There is nothing ambiguous about this statement.  The conclusion is: If someone does not keep the commandments in spite of what he or she may say, then the person does not truly love God.

Continue reading "How Do You Respond to a Person who Believes that Sunday Should Be Kept?"

In a previous Q&A, we explained that God’s ministry has an important role to fulfill when we want God to heal us. The Bible is very clear that ONLY an ordained minister is permitted to lay hands on a sick person’s head and anoint the person with oil (as a symbol of the Holy Spirit), while he is praying audibly to the Father for His intervention, referring to Christ’s Sacrifice as a necessary requirement for God’s healing. The idea that just anyone (non-ministerial persons, including deacons and women) could lay hands on a sick person is biblically wrong—in fact, this false belief is VERY dangerous. Please read our Q&A on the concept of laying on of hands which proves that God has given His ordained ministers the exclusive right to lay hands on anyone for the purpose of “sanctification,” including in areas of baptism, healing, marriage, blessing of little children and ordinations.

Continue reading "What are Some of the Requirements Which We Must Fulfill so that God May Heal Us?"

Let us first of all explain the Roman Catholic or Greek (Eastern) Orthodox teaching of the “Assumption of Mary.”

Quoting from christianity.about.com, we are told the following:

“The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the death of Mary and her BODILY assumption into Heaven, before her body could begin to decay–a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time…

“The Feast of the Assumption is a very old feast of the Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it is known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means ‘the falling asleep.’ The earliest printed reference to the belief that Mary’s body was assumed into Heaven dates from the fourth century, in a document entitled ‘The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God’…

Continue reading "What is Your Belief Regarding the “Assumption of Mary”?"

First of all, we must understand that it is GOD who heals us, and He does so because of Christ’s supreme Sacrifice.

In our free booklet, “Sickness and Healing–What the Bible Tells Us,” we point out the following in this regard, beginning on page 44:

“The Bible teaches that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ clearly includes physical healing… He was beaten and tortured before He died… We already touched upon the pivotal Scripture of Isaiah 53:3–5… ‘A Man of sorrows [margin, pains] and acquainted with grief [margin, sickness]… Surely, He has borne our griefs [margin, sicknesses], And carried our sorrows [margin, pains]… He was wounded [margin, pierced through] for our transgressions, He was bruised [margin, crushed] for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes [margin, blows that cut in] we are healed.’

Continue reading "Are God’s Ministers Important for Healing?"

When the Holy Spirit first came upon the house of Cornelius, those in attendance were amazed. “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also” (Acts 10:44-45). Why were “those of the circumcision” amazed? What made this event astonishing? As it turns out, the inclusion of the Gentiles in the calling of God is something that many in the early New Testament times did not believe would happen. However, as we will find out, it has always been God’s plan to offer the gift of the Holy Spirit and salvation to all men, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Continue reading "What Is the Mystery of the Salvation of the Gentiles?"

The Bible teaches that those who die and have qualified as “first fruits” will be raised in the first resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-26; Revelation 20:4-6). Many false concepts exist as to the nature of the first resurrection. The Bible teaches that the first resurrection is a resurrection to eternal, immortal life—to an existence in the spirit realm, when converted men and women become born-again members in the Kingdom and Family of God. We are told that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50), and that in the first resurrection, we will have incorruptible spiritual bodies, when we are “raised in glory” (verses 42-44).

Jesus Christ was the very first who was raised in the first resurrection (Acts 26:23)—being the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). His followers will be resurrected in the same way as He was, at the time of His return (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).

Continue reading "What Will We Be in the First Resurrection?"

There is so much confusion about the definition of a family today where secular society, governments and politicians have made up their own definitions, and so this question is not quite as simple as it might at first seem.

Marriage and the family have been generally accepted for a long time that they are the building blocks on which a stable society is founded.   However, attitudes have changed; the liberal society with its permissiveness has invaded every nook and cranny of society and, instead of looking for inspiration and direction from the Word of God, most countries now find themselves overtaken by secularism.   God is generally excluded from any discussions about right and wrong, with man making up his own definitions.

One UK politician said that a family was any group of people who lived together.   That was something that he thought up without consulting the Holy Bible.   That means that he (and others) would consider that homosexuals living together would be a family, as would be two lesbians. Co-habiting would also fall, erroneously, into that same category.   Any group, however made up, would be a family!   And politicians who make such ridiculous assertions are those who frame our laws!

Continue reading "What is a Family?"

We find that at the very beginning of the Millennium (Christ’s 1,000-year rule on earth), even though Satan will be imprisoned, Asiatic hordes (referred to as “Gog and Magog”) will try to invade the Promised Land, but God will intervene and destroy those rebels (Ezekiel 38).

We also explained in a recent Q&A that at the very end of the Millennium, before the Second Resurrection, Satan will be released from his prison for a short time. He will deceive the nations so that they will try, once again, to invade the Promised Land. However, God will intervene and destroy those nations, as He did at the beginning of the Millennium. Many of those who die in these two rebellions will be resurrected in the Second Resurrection, but some might have committed the unpardonable sin during these rebellions. They will be resurrected in the Third Resurrection to be burned up in the lake of fire. They will cease to exist forever.

Continue reading "When Will Sinners Die During the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment?"

In a recent Q&A on human nature and the wrong concept of “original sin” of babies, we stated the following about Jesus Christ’s conception and birth as a human being:

“… all are born with HUMAN NATURE or, as the Bible puts it, with SINFUL FLESH. Christ never sinned, but He came into sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). He had human nature passed on to Him through His mother Mary, and He needed God’s help to overcome sin in the flesh. He had the fullness of God’s Spirit within Him without measure, and that from conception (John 3:34, Authorized Version), which enabled Him to stay sinless…

“Christ was not in any way guilty or sinful because of an ‘original sin’ which had been passed on genetically to Him when He was conceived in Mary’s womb, but Christ was conceived with human nature… Romans 8:3 tells us that Christ came ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’ to overcome and condemn sin in the flesh.”

Continue reading "Did Jesus Christ Have A “Sinful Nature”?"

This is a hotly disputed issue with so many opinions on this subject.   One of the reasons is that the word “hypnosis” or “hypnotism” is not mentioned once in the Word of God.  However, for a Christian, the Bible is the yardstick by which any matter should be judged, and we should look for principles that apply in this case.

The Free Dictionary online gives this definition of hypnosis:

“The induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Its use in therapy, typically to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behaviour, has been revived but is still controversial.”

Another online definition, from http://www.compellingtruth.org/Christian-hypnosis.html, is as follows:

Continue reading "Should a Christian Use Hypnosis?"