The Gospel Of Repentance

Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world give I give to you.” What Jesus gave to His disciples was a forever promise. The word peace in Greek is eirēnē. The Hebrew is salom or shalom. It appears about 429 times in the King James Bible. The word has several meanings: wholeness, completeness, welfare, health, freedom from war, unharmed, prosperity, et al. It’s a wonderful thing that Jesus would leave His peace with us, but what is His peace? Does everyone have this peace? Can anyone obtain it? Peace is such a broad term. God’s peace is varied. Ultimate or Godly peace would have to be connected to salvation. No one can have true peace unless their soul is saved. The peace the world gives is temporal, a mirage. It will ultimately fail. The peace that God gives is an everlasting peace. His peace gives us assurance in this life and the next. I want to explore some wonderful features of God’s peace. In Ephe...

The answer to this question is yes and no. When God created Adam and Eve He created them with a free will, to choose between good and evil. Before the fall, man’s will was absolutely free from sin – it was perfect. However, since man has peccability (i.e. the ability to sin), his will is always challengeable – particularly to sin which Adam and Eve committed plunging the entire the human race into sin and death. Here is the status of our will/and or choices now; we are still free to choose, but due to our sin nature, we will not always choose what is right. Sadly, our choices are bound because of our sin so in essence our choices are not always free to choose what is ultimately right and good. Our will is conflicted because of internal evil.  Listen to the Apostle Paul’s words: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that is good. So now it is no longer I ...

The third book of Moses is called Leviticus. It means, “matters of the Levites” The title and meaning come from the Latin Vulgate version of the Greek OT (LXX or Septuagint which means seventy). The Levites were the priestly tribe of the twelve tribes (or sons) of Israel. The Levites are the descendants of their ancestor Levi who was the third son born to Jacob with his wife Leah (Genesis 29:34b). Moses and his brother Aaron the High Priest were from the tribe of Levi or the Levites. Now, what was the purpose of the OT offerings? What did they signify? The short answer is the OT offerings were a foreshadowing that prefigured the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ dying on  Calvary’s cross for mankind’s sins. The sacrifice was accompanied with great ceremony and had to be executed the right way for God to accept it. Let us take a look at a couple. The Burnt Offering Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting say...

There are many, thousands even that believe Catholics and Protestants (or Evangelicals) believe the same thing. Nothing could be further from the truth. This article will not be a history regarding the relationship between Roman Catholics and Protestants, but it will deal with the very important matter of how one is justified in the eyes of God. This is a matter one MUST get right! Your eternal destiny depends upon your understanding of this vital matter. Unfortunately, there are two views regarding how one is justified. I say unfortunately on purpose because one view is right, and the other is wrong. What I will attempt to do in this article is explain the clear distinctions between the two ideas. For Catholics they teach that one is saved or justified by grace plus works. What are the works? The sacraments of course. And what are the sacraments? They are: 1.        Baptism – Catholic Church teaches that Baptism removes original sin and infuses...

In the Book of Revelation the Apostle John writes to seven churches is Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey). The seventh church is in the city of Laodicea. The city of Laodicea gets its name from the Seleucid King Antiochus II (261-246 B.C.). It was located in the Lycus Valley in Phrygia. [1] He named the city after his sister and wife Laodice. The city was 90 miles east of Ephesus which was on the coast in that area – Laodicea was an inland city. Laodicea was a famous commercial and wealthy center due to its production and selling of their world famous black wool.  The city was so rich that when it was destroyed by an earthquake in 60 A.D., it refused government aid. The citizens rebuilt the city with their own resources. [2] Laodicea was also well known for its banking industry and medical skills especially for a Phrygian powder – a medicine for the eyes; an eye salve. [3] The city water supply came from an underground aqueduct miles away. The water flowed through pipes m...

In my previous article, I covered from creation to the death of Shem – son of Noah. I said that covered 2158 years of human history. Now as we continue through the life of the Patriarchs, we come to Abraham. There are at least two dates given for the year of Abraham’s birth. The first one we will consider is the early birth date of ca [1] 2166 BC. How this date is derived is by moving back in time. The year given for the Exodus out of Egypt is 1446 BC. Moses is 80 years old which means he is born in the year 1526 BC. We read in I Kings 6:1 that King Solomon begins to build the house of the Lord in the fourth year of his reign – 966 BC 480 years after the Exodus. Adding 480 + 966 = 1446 BC. Add in the 430 years the Hebrews were in Egypt before the Exodus, we get to 1876 BC. when Jacob enters Egypt at 130 years old (Genesis 47:9). As we continue through our time machine, we go back to the birth of Isaac, Jacob’s father who was born 190 years ago from the time Jacob entered Egy...