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  I speak in tongues more than you all - A biblical exploration about the gift of tongues. Two pitfalls are pointed out: The dangerous error of counterfeiting the truth and the chilling error of a dead orthodoxy.

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Albert Hull

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Larry Perkins

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Jim Joyce - When I was 16, I decided to leave home and live on the street.  I thought real living was having fun and going after a thrill.  I became a regular user of drugs and alcohol. In my parents' home, God and spiritual things were most important. Just as I decided to leave the house, it occurred to me, “If I leave, I will leave behind the gospel. This will be my final decision to reject God.” It was as real as if I was opening a door and walking into hell. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to be lost. I wanted to be saved...

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Eric Walberer

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Ought children who say they are saved and ask for baptism, to be baptized and received into fellowship without delay, or ought they to be asked to wait for a time?

The Scriptures teach the baptism, not of adult believers, but of believers—”He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved” (Mark 16:16)." TARGET="_blank">Mark 16:16). “Manyof the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized” (Acts 18:8)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 18:8). “When they believed Philip preaching. . . they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 8:12). It is true that children are not mentioned here, only “men and women”—but this, I think, merely emphasises the fact that both sexes were baptised, or perhaps there was no child believer on the occasion. But the fact that we never read of children as such being baptised, merely arises from the fact that it is not the age of a candidate that is in question, but the faith.

Can a child of thirteen believe the Gospel? Undoubtedly it can; and many such have been brought to faith, confession, baptism and fellowship, and have stood well. We do not know if there were children in the households of Lydia and the Philippian jailor, etc., but if so, they were old enough to hear the Word, believe, and be baptized. On the other hand, children are easily impressed and are apt to follow the example of their elders, and I am afraid it is a fact that few would contest, that some children have been too lightly received as believers and baptized, and their after-history has not been encouraging, but has rather cast doubt on the reality of their confession of faith. Is not then the evident lesson that no rule can possibly be made? Each case must stand on its own merits. If the parents and elder brethren, whose advice may well be asked, are satisfied, let them go forward in faith and count on God! But if there be not unamity of judgment, further waiting would be indicated. At the same time, there is a danger of discouraging true faith and putting the child back from a step, which might under God’s blessing be a deciding factor in its whole future. The word, “saved,” in Mark 16" TARGET="_blank">Mark 16:"16 goes further than “forgiven” or “justified,” it seems to include the thought of deliverance, which is connected so closely with the truth of death and resurrection, in baptism, and it would be sad to deprive a real believer, be it young or grown-up, of this help in the Christian life.

Some parents who have perhaps too easily encouraged their children to be baptized have later on regretted it, and some who have discouraged their children have lived to regret it, too. We are cast upon God for each case, and if we definitely wait on Him, He will surely give oneness
of mind to those concerned.

W.H.

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HTML code for Online Bible Search

The web page HTML code to add a Bible search dialog box to your site is listed below.  You can customize the HTML code including colors, size and starting verse reference if you are familiar with editing HTML code.  You can use something as simple as notepad or a full-featured as DreamWeaver.  Simply copy and paste the HTML code below into your HTML editor, save the results and update your page.

This is what the form looks like.

This is how you add the HTML code to your website.

Copy the following code and paste it into the HTML code for your web page. This will provide a link to the Online Bible.

See also How to link directly to a single verse or chapter.

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THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH
Does the Holy Spirit go back to Heaven with the Church at the close of the present Dispensation, or, does He still remain here, to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment?

In other words, is He here in Person only from Pentecost until the “Rapture”?

We learn from 2 Thessalonians 2:5" TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 2:5 that the common view that the apostle in this passage was correcting the teaching of the first epistle is quite mistaken. Exactly the reverse is the case; he was confirming it; “Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” Add to this the fact that in verse 10 he actually appeals to “the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him,” as revealed in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-20" TARGET="_blank">1 Thessalonians 4:11-20 to counter the false teaching abroad “that the day of the Lord” was then present (see R.V.), for the other must take place first. Verse 6 teaches, I believe, the same truth. Some suggest that “that which letteth” is law, and “he who letteth” the executive of law, government But this seems forced and unnatural. Is it not more in harmony with the context to interpret “that which letteth” to be the Church indwelt by the Spirit, and He who letteth, the Spirit indwelling the Church? When the Church goes at the coming of the Lord, the Holy Spirit will, as an indwelling Person, go too. He will therefore be no longer in this scene as the One in Whom the Church is baptised and united to a Risen Christ. That wonderful and unique work of God belongs only to the present dispensation.

But the departure of the Spirit in this sense does not mean that He will cease to work in the world. He will resume His activities of pre-Pentecostal times toward God’s people and the world. What we read in Revelation 7" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 7 and 14, shows clearly that He will carry on a mighty work of conversion, through the sealed of Israel, far beyond, it would seem, anything known in the present dispensation. This began with 120 sealed ones, that will begin with 144,000 and the zenith will be, “a multitide that no man can number.” We must, however, avoid the thought that the wicked one will be revealed at the moment of the rapture of the Church. This chapter warns us against such an idea, for the apostacy will first fully develop and then the way will be open for the manifestation of the Man of Sin.

W.H.

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Why does God allow his children to suffer trials?

The question of personal suffering is relevant to all of us.  Either we are experiencing pain right now, have just emerged from a trial or we are about to enter one.  Suffering is universal.  Our reactions to suffering, however, are varied.  The first question that usually occurs to a victim of pain is “What is God doing to me?”  

The following answer to this question assumes that you are believer in Christ – that you are already saved – and that God has sent you a personal problem.  Another relevant question you may have is “Why does God allow pain and suffering to exist?

Job, the patient sufferer, tells us a few insights to answer the question of trials in the life of a believer.  

Job 23:10" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:10 “He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold”

Each of the words of this verse gives us insight into how God uses trials to work in our lives:

1. God knows

“He knows” – with those two words Job answers the unexplainable.  Without knowing the why or the where to source of his trials, Job knew that God was in control of the world and therefore in control of life’s trials. 

He knows you and the circumstances of your trial.  He sees your checkbook. He hears how your children talk to your. He knows how your husband drinks. He knows how your heart aches. He knows your confusion. He sees you when you lie awake at night. He sees all of the parts of your trial. You may feel abandoned and forgotten, but God knows what is happening. He is aware.  He knows.  Can you be comforted in your trial by simply knowing that God is not ignorant of your plight?

Job was content to wait for God to show him the outcome at some future point in time.  But for the meantime, he was satisfied to say “God knows”

2. He knows my way

God can see where I am going even if I can’t.  There is a destination to the way that I take.  I don’t know where this trial will end, but God does.  Can you take strength from the fact that when he is done, you will be better off spiritually than you were before.?

Job 23:14" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:14  For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.

3. When

There is usually a time limit to the duration of the trial.  It won’t last forever.  God’s work in you may take some time, but there will be and end.  He will put you on your knees. He will make you feel the weakness and frailty of your humanity.  Changing a person’s outlook through trials is a slow process.  So you ask, when will the trial end? Answer: When He has tried me.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peacable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 12:11

4. He has tried me

Why does God have to try me?  Can’t he just leave me alone?  I haven’t sinned, so why is he trying me?  

Notice that Job uses the word “tried” instead of “punished”.  If you are trying to find a connection between your actions and your suffering, perhaps you are simply being tried.  Trials are different than consequences.

The following verse tells us of suffering because of a cause:

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 1 Peter 4" TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 4

If you are in jail for your crimes, or divorced because of your drug addition, your suffering cannot be called a trial.  The people you hurt as a result of your actions are suffering trials.  But what you are suffering is called a consequence.  It is a result directly related to your bad decisions.  It is a consequence.  The solution for this kind of suffering is for you is to repent of your sin, ask forgiveness to those you have harmed, make restitution and pursue a different path.  

If however, you are suffering a trial, like Job, you are probably on your face before God searching in vain for why this has happened. 

Job’s cry – “I have done nothing wrong, but yet God is bringing me suffering.  He is TRYING me.”

Job 23:7" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:7  There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

To try something is to test it.  Trying a bridge by putting weight on it is not to cause it to collapse, but to prove that the bridge is capable of holding what the engineer intended.

Instead of asking yourself “why caused God to do this to me?” you should ask “what is God trying to show through me?”

God is the teacher and you are the student. This test is not so much about God finding out how much you can bear.  He already knows you better than you know yourself.  The test is about you finding out about you. When he is done, you will know more about the endurance of your faith, your weak points and what you can do for God in the future.

5. I shall come forth as gold

Job knew that he was being tested by God. Job received an “A” on his faith test.  Job learned at least three imporant concepts on his test.

1.    One thing he learned by trial is that God is good even if we experience things we think are bad.

“Naked I came into the world, and naked I will leave. God gave and God took away, blessed be the name of the Lord”

“Shall we not receive both good and evil from the Lord?”

Early on the story of Job, his wife came to a very different conclusion about these questions.

“Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

She wanted to curse God.  Anger, hate and resentment were spilling out of her mouth.  She wanted it to end. Die. Get it over with now. She wanted to throw away all spiritual integrity. What is the point of faithfulness if this is what God does? She failed the test.

It’s the last thing we hear her say. She disappears from the story. Perhaps like some today, she left her husband for a variety of reasons: a bankruptcy, an illness, the loss of a child. In Job’s case, the scene closes with Job sitting in ashes, covered in sores and worst of all, alone.  She walked out.

Trials show how much control we give to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps Mrs. Job wasn’t even a believer.  Maybe her church taught her that being a believer would make her wealthy.  Perhaps she believed that God’s will for her was her happiness.  Believers shouldn’t get sick.  When “claiming” God’s promises for her failed.  

In Christ’s parable of the good seed and the four soils, one of the false believers pictured there was the shallow ground. The seed sown on the shallow ground sprouted.  It looked like it would take hold.  There was an initial interest, but it turned out to be false.  When persecutions arise, the plants wither and die.  No life and hence, no fruit.

However, Job shows the gold inside. He passed the test. He was real.

2.    A second lesson Job learned from his test is that we can’t see the future.  We must wait to see God’s hand even if there is complete darkness.

Job 23:17" TARGET="_blank">Job 23:17  yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

“I shall come forth” means that God is in control.  There is and end not only in regards to time but also in purpose.  God is working on us.

God showed the gold in Job.  In fact, Job’s life reflects God better after being refined.  The gold in his life was bright in chapter 1. He is a man of integrity. He prays daily for his children. He has respect from his peers for his sterling character. He honors God with his sacrifice.  In the end, he shows the same consistency, but with more wisdom and even greater blessing.

God didn’t promise Job any recompense for his suffering during the trial.  But the physical situation of Job was even better after the trial.  We may not come out of a trial as a rich man, but the lessons we learn from hard experiences are invaluable.  Although we wouldn’t want to repeat the trial, we wouldn’t want to have missed the experience.

3.    A third lesson Job learned is that God always has something to teach us no matter what our spiritual state is.

Job learned more about God in the trial than he knew before.  Job was a great man of God before the trial.  Even God says “there is no one like my servant Job.” In the closing chapters of the book, however, we see Job learning that he is “vile”. Why? Was God wrong in His assessment of Job?  No.  In comparison with all other men on the planet, Job was the highest example of godliness. But in comparison with the holiness of God in heaven, Job saw his true nature – sinful.  When he learns more about God and His holiness, Job comes out of the story looking better than ever.

Conclusion

Keep in mind the words from Job’s brilliant statement about trials:

“He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold”

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