How should elders treat believers who show no change of life after professing faith in Christ?

What should be the attitude of those in oversight with regard to new converts who continue to attend worldly amusements, and whose manner of life shows no change?

If what the questioner means is that these so-called converts have already been received into the fellowship of the assembly, then the only fitting attitude for the leaders and others, who in such circumstances allowed them to come in, is one of humiliation before God for their negligence and sin. If, on the other hand, they are still outside the assembly, this is the place to keep them, until they show some satisfactory sign that they have become “a new creature,” in Christ, with the “old things passed away,” and “all things become new.” 2 Corinthians 5" TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:

There is a regrettable lack, amongst both Gospel preachers and assemblies, of giving due emphasis to the truth that there can be no real conversion to God, without changed interests and changed conduct.

W.R.

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Was Adam alive before God breathed into him the breath of life?

Had the body of Adam physical life, before the Lord God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”? (See Genesis 2:7)." TARGET="_blank">Genesis 2:7).

I should consider such an idea most speculative. How do we know what interval, if any, occurred between the formation of Adam’s body and the inbreathing of the breath of life? There is no necessary thought of Adam’s body lying without breath, but even so, that would here prove nothing, for the body of a person who has just died has still the blood in it, but there is no life in the blood. James by the Spirit distinctly affirms that “the body without the spirit is dead” (James 3:26)," TARGET="_blank">James 3:26), therefore Adam’s body could not be alive before receiving the spirit. It is striking, but not surprising, how the Bible confirms true science, which are both products of the same divine Mind; but science is a very different thing from “scientists” self-styled, and their theories. Scientists used to make merry at the idea of a body made of the dust of earth. Now it has been discovered that the fourteen elementary substances said to be found in the dust of the earth, do occur also in the human body in greater or lesser quantities. The word for “breath” in Gen. 2." TARGET="_blank">Gen. 2. 7 is UeShãnij, a word only used of God: 2 Samuel 22:16" TARGET="_blank">2 Samuel 22:16 (blast); Job 4:9;" TARGET="_blank">Job 4:9; Job 32:8;" TARGET="_blank">Job 32:8; Job 33:4;" TARGET="_blank">Job 33:4; Isaiah 30:33," TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 30:33, etc.; or of man: 1 Kings 15:29;" TARGET="_blank">1 Kings 15:29; Job 26:4;" TARGET="_blank">Job 26:4; Isaiah 2:22;" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 2:22; Isaiah 57:16," TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 57:16, and in contrast with animals—see Joshua 11:11, 14," TARGET="_blank">Joshua 11:11, 14, where “everything that breathed was slain”, but the cattle were left alive.

W.H.

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Sunday School Curriculum

How to use the Sunday School Curriculum

This Sunday School Curriculum was created to provide a Sunday school teacher the direction for 3 years of lessons without repeating Bible stories.

The sunday school curriculum is found in the Sunday school lessons section of this site.

It's purpose of Sunday School Curriculum is to support the creativity of a teacher by giving him/her a framework to follow. It works as a guide for teaching the entire Bible and God's workings with people of every part of the globe and from every walk of life.

You will see that there are more stories in the Sunday school curriculum than could be covered a single Sunday School year. The typical school year for the Sunday School Cirriculum lasts fifty two weeks, but churches sometimes have special weeks for their Sunday School such as a program or some Sundays could be utilized for guest teachers who teach a lesson to the entire group. The Sunday school cirriculum is designed to be generalized enough so that various age groups can be accomodated.

Emphasis for each age group.

K to middle school

Teachers using the Sunday School Cirriculum with the youngest students should emphazie what the Bible says about God's Character and Person and His Personal Interest in each of us. The early years are the critical time when we form our first opinions of God.

Teenage Classes

Those who use the Sunday school curriculum for middle and high school students may wish to emphasize how people of the Bible obeyed God and followed sound advice. During this critical time of life, it is important that the students learn how to apply the Scriptures to personal decisions and needs.

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Did Christ use the power of resurrection in his own resurrection?

Did Christ use the power of resurrection in his own resurrection (John 10:18)" TARGET="_blank">John 10:18)?

In John 10:17, 18," TARGET="_blank">John 10:17, 18, the Lord Jesus declares that He is God: "I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."

While speaking as the sovereign Lord, He displays the beauty of His meekness, obedience and perfect unison with the will of His Father, saying, "This commandment have I received of My rather." As the Lord Jesus determined His own death, so also His resurrection was His own work. Verse 18 states that He had the power to do both, although in this verse He refers only to using that power to "lay it down of Myself." However, in verse 17 He stated that the purpose for this was "that I might take it up again."

The scriptures teach that God is one God without division, yet in a trinity of Persons. It is instructive to notice that each of the Persons, Father, Son and Spirit, is engaged in the work of Christ at Calvary, salvation, eternal life, the coming of the Holy Spirit and also in the resurrection of Christ. (I Corinthians 6:14," TARGET="_blank">I Corinthians 6:14, John 10:18," TARGET="_blank">John 10:18, 1 Peter 3:18)." TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 3:18).

J. Smith

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Does the "Book of Mormon" have any spiritual value?

Does the "Book of Mormon" have any spiritual value?

No. Revelation 22:18" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 22:18 warns against adding to the prophecies of that book. Hebrews 1:1-2" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 1:1-2 indicates that the time of varied and partial prophecies culminated and concluded in the coming of God’s Son. The Lord authorized His followers to complete the revelation of truth (John 14:26; 16:13, 14)." TARGET="_blank">John 14:26; 16:13, 14). Biblically, then, the Word of God was completed when John went home to heaven. The purported origin of the "Book of Mormon" cannot be confirmed. The three witnesses who allegedly saw the "plates" from which it was translated all eventually turned from Mormonism. In the ensuing years, the "inspired translation" has been changed in over 2000 places. It contradicts the Scriptures, saying, for example, that the Son of God would be born at Jerusalem. Its history contradicts available evidence; its language is an apparent plagiarism of the King James Version and violates accepted rules of grammar; it contradicts its own statements of doctrine. (W. Martin, "Kingdom of the Cults," Bethany House Publishers, pp. 156-171.)

D. Oliver
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Who was Asaph?

What Asaph is it who wrote the Psalms bearing such a name?
There seems no reasonable room for doubt that the Psalmist is Asaph —son of Berachiah, a Levite of the family of Gershon, one of the leaders of David’s choir (see 1 Chronicles 6:39)." TARGET="_blank">1 Chronicles 6:39). The only other Asaph is generally known as “the Recorder,” but this seems to be based on a mistake, owing to a certain ambiguity in the English version—it seems more correct to understand Joah as the recorder, of whom Asaph (quite possibly the one mentioned above) was the father or progenitor. In any case, if they are distinct persons, the role of psalmist fits in better with the first named. He was then the author of Psalm 50" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 50: , and of the first eleven Psalms of Book Three. There are passages which must be understood prophetically whether the author lived in the days of David or of Hezekiah (e.g., Psalm 74:6;" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 74:6; Psalm 80:16)." TARGET="_blank">Psalm 80:16). There is a didactic, historic character about Asaph’s Psalms. He was, like Apollos, “mighty in the Scriptures,” and he applied them to the present need.

W.H.

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What does the Bible phrase mean - the redemption of their soul is precious?

Please explain Psalm 49:8" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 49:8

Psalm 49:8" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 49:8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

Verses 6 and 7 circumscribe the power of riches; for all the wealth of the world cannot redeem a brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. The word for “redeem” is not the more usual word gã’al (subst. go’el. Job 19:25;" TARGET="_blank">Job 19:25; Jeremiah 50:34)," TARGET="_blank">Jeremiah 50:34), but pãdãh—to loose, hence to redeem by paying a price, to let go—preserve (Numbers 18:15;" TARGET="_blank">Numbers 18:15; Psalm 25:22)." TARGET="_blank">Psalm 25:22). The word for “ransom” is the atonement word—Kopher.
Now comes the subject of the question (v. 8): “For the redemption (pidyon, same root as pãdãh) of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever.” This certainly seems ambiguous, but the R.V. is an improvement, if more correct: “For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be let alone for ever.” This almost goes back to the English version known as “the Great Bible” brought out in 1539, under the superintendence of Miles Coverdale (subsequent to his own well-known translation), the Psalter of which is still found embedded in the “Book of Common Prayer” of the “Established Church.” This version runs: “It cost more to redeem their souls, so that he must let that alone for ever.” The meaning then seems plain; Redemption is beyond man’s means, so it is wiser to let that alone. But verse comes in as the positive solution. “But God will redeem (pãdãh) my soul from the power of the grave, for He will receive me.”
W.H.

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Should a Christian voluntarily vote?

Should a Christian voluntarily vote?

This has probably never been more relevant than now. Evangelical leaders are insisting that Christians vote. They purport to teach this from the Bible. This is different from assembly teaching in the past, so respect and wisdom ask, "What has changed?"

Two suggestions may help us regain our perspective. First, the history of democracy in North America has roots in Christian principles, thus the designation, "Christian countries." A "mixed multitude" formed without a clear gospel has produced a constituency that makes the political world appear friendly to God. Pluralism and humanism, however, now threaten this "Christian government." Evangelicals see a "good world" becoming corrupted. More biblically, the world is removing its mask. Christian principles had weight in the past because of the gospel’s spiritual impact on society, not because the world had changed. Being "the salt of the earth" does not require Christian involvement in the world. The Christian preserves the culture by the truth he represents and presents. The world needs the gospel that grants life, rather than laws that guide living.

Second, evangelicalism’s present emphasis on political involvement appears to result from a shift of understanding and emphasis regarding future events. A growing part of evangelicalism no longer understands that the Lord’s coming precedes the tribulation and the millennium. This places a greater emphasis on improving the present world. It also blurs the distinction between God’s dealings in the past with an earthly people Israel and in the present with a heavenly people. The citation of Old Testament passages to support political involvement witnesses to this. Even evangelicals who believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture have been unduly influenced by those with wrong views of future events. Added to this is the danger that prosperity has historically made Christians more at home in this world. Rather than looking for the imminent coming of Christ, we become increasingly involved in the world.

The past teaching that Christians should not voluntarily vote is based on sound biblical principles. Christians are separate from a world system which is opposed to God and is not redeemable apart from the coming of Christ. Christians are not directed to improve the world, but to proclaim the gospel that condemns it and offers salvation from it.

D. Oliver
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What is a woman's "meek and quiet spirit" in 1 Peter 3?

What is a meek and quiet spirit, spoken of in 1st Peter 3:4" TARGET="_blank">1st Peter 3:4?

Peter uses Sarah as an example for godly wives. The recorded occasion when she called Abraham "Lord" (Genesis 18:12)" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 18:12) took place when her husband and their guests discussed Sarahs having a child in her old age. She laughed at the impossibility of such a thing, but was to learn the value of not unresisting Gods ways with her. This is meekness. It is not an undesirable feature that grows in the garden of weakness. It is the strength that responds submissively to the Lords way of accomplishing His will in us.

True beauty of spirit embraces Gods ways with us as being only good. A number of translations use the word "gentle" for "meek." Respect for the Lord, rather than fear of others, produces this gentleness. Societys view of a meek woman pictures her as being afraid because she dare not do otherwise. Scriptures view of a meek woman presents her as willingly bowing to the Lord, because she knows His ways are best.

The word translated "quiet" has the thought of tranquility, peace. Her quiet spirit is at peace in the enjoyment of the Lords presence.

These are features unknown or unappreciated in the world, but regarded by the Lord as "an ornament of great price."

D. Oliver
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Why did God speak through dreams?

Why has God communicated His message through dreams?

In general, God communicated truth through dreams when the Scriptures were not completed. In the future, He will also communicate through dreams to Israel, a nation which seeks signs (Matthew 12:39;" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 12:39; 1 Corinthians 1:22)" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 1:22) and whose language is like Thomas’, "Except I shall see..., I will not believe" (John 20:25)." TARGET="_blank">John 20:25). Perhaps all recorded dreams relate to God’s earthly purposes for Israel and unfold His immediate plans. This may suggest another reason for God’s instantaneous communication by dreams to a completely passive (sleeping) individual.

God links dreams with prophecy: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28)." TARGET="_blank">Joel 2:28). This will have its fulfillment during Daniel’s seventieth week ("the Tribulation"), when events in the prophetic Scriptures will unfold. No additional truth will be revealed, because the canon of Scripture is complete (2 Timothy 3:16, 17;" TARGET="_blank">2 Timothy 3:16, 17; Revelation 22:18);" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 22:18); instead, with prophetic authority, these "dreamers" will use language similar to Peter’s in Acts 2:16," TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:16, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." These dreams will not reveal new truth, but the fulfillment of what was previously revealed.

Solomon explains the normal source of dreams, "A dream cometh through the multitude of business," or, as a less literal translation (TCV) says, "Bad dreams come from too much worrying" (Ecclesiastes 5:3)." TARGET="_blank">Ecclesiastes 5:3). Most dreams, then, are an expression of the individual’s thoughts, happy or sad, optimistic or pessimistic, worrisome or encouraging. Dreams tell us more about ourselves than about God. Even dreams in which God speaks to the unconverted (Job 33:15)" TARGET="_blank">Job 33:15) may result from thoughts stirred by the Spirit during waking hours. Such dreams do not reveal truth, but impress it on the sinner.

D. Oliver
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