What is a Church?

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Printable Scale Model of Noah's Ark

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John Brokaw

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Crossword Puzzle Maker

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Karen Hoy

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 Baptism

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In Genesis 11:26" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 11:26 we read, “Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran,” and in V. 32, “and the days of Terab were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Haran.” Now, taking 70 from 205, would make Abram 135 years when Terah died, while we know from Gen. 12:4" TARGET="_blank">Gen. 12:4 that Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran, and from Acts 7:4" TARGET="_blank">Acts 7:4 that he did not leave Haran till Terah died.

It is not necessary to believe from Genesis 11:26" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 11:26 that Abram, Nahor, and Haran were all born in the same year, but simply that Terah had no children till he was 70, and then had three sons born at intervals. In Genesis 5:32," TARGET="_blank">Genesis 5:32, we have an instance of the same thing, when we read that “Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth,” and yet Genesis 10:21" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 10:21 tells us Japheth was older than Shem. It is equally clear that Abram was not the eldest of the three brothers. He and Shem are put first because of their importance as the progenitors of the chosen race and the Messiah. It is generally held that Haran was the eldest, born when Terah was 70, and that Abram came into the world 6o years later. This would account for the fact that he and his nephew Lot, son of Haran, seem to have been much of the same standing. Besides, we are distinctly told that Abraham was 75 when at the death of Terah, he departed out of Haran. He was born, therefore, when his father was 130 years of age.

W.H.

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THE “FALLING AWAY” DOCTRINE

Is it possible for one who has been truly converted and has eternal life to be eternally lost?

Surely the terms “eternal life” and “eternal perdition” are incompatible and mutually exclusive. A life that can be lost cannot be eternal. The Lord says of His sheep: “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28)," TARGET="_blank">John 10:28), and again, “He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (lit, judgment) but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24)." TARGET="_blank">John 5:24). Christ is the life of His people (“Christ, who is our life”—Colossians 3:4)" TARGET="_blank">Colossians 3:4) and each true believer is “baptized in one Spirit into one body,” and is a temple of the Holy Spirit and a child in the family of God. Not one such then could be lost, for if so, the Church would be blemished; the temple marred; and the family broken for all eternity. The Word says, “He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6)." TARGET="_blank">Phil 1:6). It behoves us then to be sure that this good work has truly begun in us, for as there were false brethren crept in unawares in the primitive churches, so there may be spurious Christians to-day even in the most scriptural assemblies, men who can pass muster with their fellow-men, but who are only counterfeit professors, and who will one day be exposed as such—”Every tree that my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted out.” We should not then take ourselves too easily for granted. Perhaps a few doubts about ourselves now and again are not a bad sign, though we should never, never doubt Christ. I question whether false professors often doubt themselves. How then does God begin His work in a soul? By convicting of sin by His Spirit and then revealing Christ crucified as the all-sufficient Saviour. He continues, however, to shew us increasingly the evil within, till we find that we must look away to Christ for everything, and be content to have Him for our All in All. But if we want to convince others that we are indeed true believers, something more is needed than a profession of faith. We read of some who became antichrists, who had no doubt professed faith, been baptised and broken bread: “They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19)." TARGET="_blank">1 John 2:19). Not even great gifts, successful preaching and mighty works prove reality. Judas Iscariot had all these, and so also have the wonder-workers of Matthew 7: 2, 23," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 7: 2, 23, of whom the Lord utters one of His most solemn warnings: “Many will say unto me in that day, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out demons, etc.?” Yet He will say to them “I never knew you.” They were never possessors of eternal life through faith in Him. Gift is of great profit, where there is grace, but gift without grace is nought. There is a number of tests in the Epistles of John, which we may apply to ourselves, if we would be assured that we have truly been born of God, of which I will here quote two or three: “Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29)." TARGET="_blank">1 John 2:29). If a man is crooked in his ways, unrighteous in his acts and untruthful in his words, he may well tremble for himself. Then here is another test: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin” (i John . ). This does not mean that a true child of God never sins, for in chapter i. we have God’s gracious provision for the failures of His people, but it means he does not continue in it, like a swine in his wallowing. Alas! with what warning voice to us all do the sad exposures of years of immorality and dishonest dealing of which we sometimes hear, even among professed believers, speak. It is not for us to say glibly of such that we know them to be children of God, because they have long passed as such. The hidden life which has come to light, seems to give the lie to any such theories. One more such test will we quote:
“Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4)." TARGET="_blank">1 John 5:4). The overcomer is not one who is never overcome, but who, like Joshua, overcomes at last (Exodus 17:11)." TARGET="_blank">Exodus 17:11). The final overcomers are not some extraordinary kind of Christians; they are true Christians who prove themselves to be such by continuing to the end. For other tests we may see chap. 3. 1 and 14; 5:1; 2 John 1:9." TARGET="_blank">2 John 1:9. Enough has been said to remind us of the solemn words: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”; “Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation!” Thank God for the words of our Lord Jesus, “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out”; which not only mean that He will not reject, but that He will not eject the one who comes to Him.

William Hoste

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Using Bible Search Dialog Box on MySpace

MySpace allows you to insert HTML text into your profile to add links, images and portals to other online programs.  Below, you will find HTML text that you can copy and paste directly into your online MySpace profile.

This is what the form looks like.

This is how you add it to your MySpace profile.

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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Does there seem sufficient scriptural warrant for the teaching that “Hades is in the heart of the earth”? (Matthew 12:40" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 12:40 being cited). In the Old Testament the passage of souls to it is frequently spoken of as a descent.

The word Hades (from two words, “a,” not and, “idein,” to see) means the Unseen world. It never represents “the grave” in the sense of a tomb, but “grave-land,” the place of departed spirits. This was the Greek classical use and there is no proof but that exactly the same sense was carried on into New Testament Greek. Certainly a burial place is not unseen. It is the equivalent of the Hebrew, Sheol. There are rare places, e.g., Psalm 49:14-15" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 49:14-15 where this may seem to be equal to a mere tomb, but with the large majority of cases before us, we may say that even in such, the tomb is viewed as the gate for the particular soul into the underworld. David’s words in Psalm 16" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 16 bear out the ordinary meaning:
“Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.” Sheol then was the place where the Spiritual part went; the grave, where alone corruption is seen, where the body was interred. The Annihilationists try to confuse the two; and deny any existence between death and resurrection; but this is Plainly contrary to many Scriptures. “The wicked shall be turned into Sheol” (Psalm 9:17)," TARGET="_blank">Psalm 9:17), surely means more than mere burial. “Shall burn unto the lowest sheol” (Deuteronomy 32:22)" TARGET="_blank">Deuteronomy 32:22)—graves don’t burn. “Speak to him out of the midst of Sheol” (Ezekiel 32:22)" TARGET="_blank">Ezekiel 32:22)— so it is not then a place of silence as a grave certainly is. Jacob in Genesis 35," TARGET="_blank">Genesis 35, knew his son Joseph was devoured by some beast and so had not been buried at all, and yet speaks of going down (yaradh) to his son to sheol. This word, yaradh (always to go down or descend), certainly favours the thought that we are intended to conceive of Hades as in the heart of the earth. It is the word used of Korah, Dathan and Abiram “going down alive into the pit (sheol),” (Numbers 16:33)." TARGET="_blank">Numbers 16:33).

The Spirit of Samuel was also seen to ascend, when the witch of Endor, for the first time in her miserable career, was permitted, to her own horror, actually to call up one of the departed, instead of the lying familiar spirit, who usually impersonated them—”An old man cometh up” (1 Samuel 28:14)." TARGET="_blank">1 Samuel 28:14). Also in Psalm 55:15," TARGET="_blank">Psalm 55:15, we read, “Let them go down quick into Sheol.” But the passage which may well settle the matter for us is Ephessians 4:9 “Now that Christ ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” There does not seem to be any real difficulty to those who believe in God’s Word. Naturally those who deny there is such a place as Hades, are unwilling to allow anyone to assign It a location. What they want is that someone should prove it does not exist at all.

W.H.

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