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Fernando Medina

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Aric Stickfort

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Rosa and her son Jesus

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 Marriage and the Family - Dr. Sandy Higgins explores the roles of parents, raising children, abortion, courtship, the Basis of Christian Living in the Home, God's Pattern Under Pressure, Heartbroken Homes, Being Single, Failing Fathers and other topics from the Bible's point of view.

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Jason My Child

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An evangelist is a person who is dedicated to the work of teaching and preaching the gospel message.  That is, he is teaching how that Jesus' death and resurrection is God's answer for your sins.

The word "evangelist" comes from the greek word for "gospel" or "good news".  An evangelist is the messanger of good news.

The word is mentioned two placed in the New Testament.  

Acts 21:8" TARGET="_blank">Acts 21:8  And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.

2 Timothy 4:5" TARGET="_blank">2 Timothy 4:5  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

1 Peter 3:15" TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 3:15  but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

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Are there more earthquakes occurring in our world?

The reason that this question appears in a religious context is that Jesus Christ mentioned an increase in earthquakes during the time of the Tribulation.  Are recent earthquakes in Japan, Chile, Iran, California and other places a sign of the end?

Matthew 24:5-8" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 24:5-8 many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray.  (6)  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  (7)  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  (8)  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 

It seems to us that that earthquakes are increasing in intensity and frequency.  News and video from Chile, Iran, Japan and other locations flood into the 24-hour news cycle with regularity.  But our perceptions are not the most accurate way to answer the question “Are more earthquakes occurring in our world?”

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) keeps a very close watch on the number of earthquakes, their intensity and size and locations.  At first glance at their data, one could conclude that earthquakes are indeed increasing but this is due to the fact that we have the capacity to measure more earthquakes.  In 1931, there were 350 locations measuring seismic activity.  Today the total of measuring points on the earth is over 4,000!  The instruments in use are much more sensitive and are able to detect smaller earthquakes. Each year between 12,000 and 14,000 earthquakes are detected.  Earthquake apps and alerts now show us instantaneous results on our smart phones.

Instead of looking at the total number of earthquakes that occur each year, it is more accurate to count the number of MAJOR earthquakes that occur.  Since 1900 there have been 18 earthquakes each year between 7.0 and 7.9.  On average there has been one earthquake each year above 8.0 on the Richter scale.  In recent decades, there has actually been less than the historical average of 18 major quakes per year.

The following graph shows the number of earthquakes that have occured world-wide each year from 2000 to 2011. The yellow line shows the number of earthquakes between 6.0 and 6.9.  The pink line shows the number of earthquakes measuring between 7.0 and 7.9.  The blue line shows the number of earthquakes 8.0 and higher.  The graph shows that the number of earthquakes is not increasing.

Shad Sluiter

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How can God be fair and send people to Hell for eternity?

 “Fair” is a word that implies “treating everyone the same”, or “giving everyone an equal chance”.  In the Bible Jesus tells us a true story (complete with names, Luke 16)" TARGET="_blank">Luke 16) about a very rich man and a beggar, a homeless man so destitute that dogs licked his untreated oozing sores.  He survived on the garbage the rich man threw out.  

Is that fair?  No . . . it is not.  

Many are bitter toward God because He has allowed them to be poor, broken and sick in this life while, taking away friends and family while others sail along without a care or trouble.  The famous poem “Invictus” was written by a man who – through no fault of his - suffered deeply in this life and shook his fist at God in return.

But this story gives us the other side of the story.  When God gives poverty and earthly suffering He tends to compensate by giving spiritual favors to the ones who missed out.  “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?”  (James 2:5)" TARGET="_blank">James 2:5)  Jesus even said, “Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God . . . blessed are ye that hunger now . . . blessed are ye that weep”  and contra positively, “Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation”  (Luke 6:20-27)" TARGET="_blank">Luke 6:20-27)  

As it turned out, the rich man never prepared for eternity, and the homeless man, having nothing this life, did.  When they died the saved man went to heaven, and the wealthy man opened his eyes in the flames of hell.  The rich man, now the beggar, asked his many times over great-grandfather Abraham to send the homeless from heaven with a drop of water to cool his tongue, but was told it was physically impossible to move from one place to the other.  Abraham reminded the rich man, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented”, explaining how fair God is.  

When the rich man appealed for the homeless man to be sent back to earth to warn the rich man’s brothers to get saved we get another insight on how fair God is.  Abraham explains that EVERYONE has the Bible and churches and preachers to tell them all they need to know to get desperate to get ready, and a supernatural visit from a dead person would not change a single mind.  Other Scriptures that tell us that even the creation all around us drives us to seek the One who made it, and that God is carefully looking for any seeking heart anywhere in the world to guide to His Son.  If what you already know should persuade you to drop everything and – to the point of losing everything, if necessary – gain eternal life for yourself, miracles will not change that.  

Turns out God balances everything out very carefully.  Everyone gets enough information to motivate them to find God’s salvation.  The Lord says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 19:13)" TARGET="_blank">Jeremiah 19:13)   Eternal hell cannot be changed, as this is the unavoidable consequence of dying without knowing God, part of the fabric of the universe.  God has, however, sent His only Son – Jesus – to bear the punishment of hell for us in unimagined and completely unfair suffering on the cross so we can all be born again.  That payment is worth more than the universe, all of us included.  Having done so He commands us all to repent and trust Jesus as Savior and Lord (master).  God expects us to drop everything and do exactly what He says.  When He provides opportunity after opportunity to do so, even with special favors given to us that He withholds from others as well as special warnings aimed directly at us, and we decide we have better things to do, is God unfair when we suddenly open our eyes to find that we have shamed and dismissed Him one too many times?

Alfred Corduan

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Abel

Hebrews 11:3-5" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 11:3-5 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

 Noah

1 Peter 2:25" TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 2:25 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.

 Jacob

Genesis 49:1" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

 Aaron

Exodus 7:1" TARGET="_blank">Exodus 7:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Moses Exodus 3:10" TARGET="_blank">Exodus 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

 Samuel

1 Samuel 3:20" TARGET="_blank">1 Samuel 3:20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.

 David

Acts 2:29-30" TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:29-30 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

 Elijah

1 Kings 17:1" TARGET="_blank">1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

 Elisha

1 Kin 19:16." TARGET="_blank">1 Kin 19:16. Elisha … shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. Isaiah Isaiah 1:1" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah . His (Isaiah) name means “The Lord Is Salvation

 Hosea

Hosea 1:1" TARGET="_blank">Hosea 1:1 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah His name means “Salvation”. Verse 1 divine authority and message source. He is the first of twelve minor prophets

 Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1:3" TARGET="_blank">Ezekiel 1:3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. His message was to the exiled people in Babylon He was a priest and about 30years old when God called him to be a prophet.

 Daniel

Matthew 24:15." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 24:15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

 Malachi

Malachi 1:1" TARGET="_blank">Malachi 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?

 Zacharias the father of John

Luke1:67" TARGET="_blank">Luke1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

 Anna

Luke 2:36,38." TARGET="_blank">Luke 2:36,38. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

 Paul

Romans 1;" TARGET="_blank">Romans 1;1-6 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:

 Peter

2 Peter 1:1-3." TARGET="_blank">2 Peter 1:1-3. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour

 Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

 John

Revelation 1:1-2" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 1:1-2 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 

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Do bad dreams/nightmares warn us about hell?

Dreams allow us to experience things that are not real as though they were.  That can include our “daydreams”, where our spirits create scenarios to exercise our mind and emotions, as well as dreams as we sleep, over which we have little control.  In both cases we can gauge our feelings and reactions to things that have not happened.  

The Bible is clear that dreams can be misleading and unhelpful.  Solomon said, “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.”  (Ecclesiast. 5:3)  He is telling us that dreams of things that do not exist can distract us from the vital need to deal with the things that do.  Some people waste countless hours examining their dreams, trying to find meaning in them.  People who smoke opium have wonderful dreams, from which they must always awake to a reality that is depressing and deteriorating.  The devil can use dreams to unnecessarily terrify us, as Job experienced (Job 7:14)." TARGET="_blank">Job 7:14).  Some people experience strange nightmares if they eat a big bowl of ice cream just before going to bed, perhaps from a hypoglycemic blood sugar drop a couple of hours later.  Just because we had a bad dream or a good dream does not mean anything about it is real.  We must exercise control over our dreams by learning from the ones that help move us in the direction we should go, and ignoring the rest.

Yet God can and does use dreams to “wake us up” to realities that we have never considered seriously.  A dream about hell can make us think hard about what it would mean to be there, because we know from the Bible it does exist and real people will be there.  Dreams of great tragedies can make us taste the inevitability of our own death.  In the Bible a wise man explains it this way:  “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.   In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;   Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.” (Job 33:14-17)" TARGET="_blank">Job 33:14-17)

We all tend to get comfortable with life and begin to ignore the realities of death and the eternity that lies beyond.  God would like to humble us all to take Him very seriously while we still have time to do so.  Time is running out, and He very much wants us all to be saved.  If a dream will help make us serious, He may purposefully allow it.

Alfred Corduan

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