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• The Joy and the Danger of a Clean Conscience

  ster WongMixxMySpaceNetvouzNewsvineoneviewOnlyWirePlugIMPropellerRedditSegnaloShoutwireSimpySlashdotSurphaceSphinnSpurlSquidooStumbleUponTechnoratiThisNextTwitterWebrideWindows LiveYahoo!Email This to a Friend  Link HTML:  Permalink:  If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.Powered by Bookmarkify™ More »A good conscience is a wonderful thing to have.  Without it there is no in…

• Walk in Truth—the Joy of John the Apostle

  The Bible is a troublesome book.  It is full of things men do not want to believe and often want even less to obey.  The thing that makes it most troublesome is that it just will not go away.  It is always there to bother the mind and the conscience.  Worse yet you cannot get it to read any differently in this enlightened high tech computer age in which we live than it did 200 years ago when in this country people were still living a primitive l…

• The Need to Sing in Worship

  I am not sure I ever heard a sermon on just singing.  Often I have heard it discussed in a second hand sort of way when the subject of instrumental music is under discussion but I don’t think I ever heard a sermon on just singing. Almost without fail no matter how small a congregation gets you will find some brethren not singing.  If it was just a matter of having a bad cold, a sore throat, or something along those lines there would be no …

• Does God Really Care?

  Over the course of time just about all of us are confronted with the reality of suffering and abuse not just on newscasts but in our own personal world where we live day by day and experience life up close.  Why are small precious children abused?  Why do many of them from all outward appearances not have a chance from the get go due to the circumstances they were born into?  Why do old people often get in such horrible conditions as you find th…

• Weak, Defiled, and Seared Consciences

  sin.  This is a fearful state to be in. Before closing it would be good to give hope for who among men has not defiled his/her conscience at one time or another?  Is it possible to be forgiven and have one’s conscience cleansed?  The seared conscience may be past that but not the defiled conscience, not the conscience that still has some feeling.  Yes, it is possible to restore one to a clear and good conscience.  How? By gospel obedience …

• Three Benefits of Being a Christian in This Life – Hope, Love, Peace

  r and over again in the scriptures. I have equated peace with comfort in times of trouble and that is a part of it but there is such a thing as peace itself in normal times when trouble has not made its appearance.  To have a clean conscience, to know you have lived by Christian principles and have not mistreated anyone, is another wonderful blessing, a blessing of peace of mind. When the Christian does sin, as all men do, he has a way to renew w…

• Abortion Luke 1 – All You Need to Know

  Luke 1 tells you all you need to know about abortion and a woman’s right to choose.  Abortion in politically correct liberal speech is referred to as a choice today but I am far more concerned with scripturally correct speech than I am politically correct speech and I think you ought to be too.  Our concern ought not to be how society views a matter or how those who have gained power view a subject but how God sees it. I remind you that th…

• The Peace Found in Forgiveness of Others

  If you or I or any other were asked to compile a list of the ugliest traits of character that a person could have and that we run across in people I am sure that things like hatred, anger, bitterness, malice, and an unwillingness to forgive would all rank up there near the top of our list.  People who possess these traits are not pleasant to be around.  That is not to say they have no friends but only that the kind of person that takes up with t…

• Ghost Hunting and Consulting the Dead

  played up as though it is something every normal person that is unmarried ought to engage in as just a normal part of life.  Seinfeld is a good example of that kind of show. Well, how about ghost hunting shows?  Are they just clean innocent TV entertainment?  I am fairly certain most of us would at first, without thinking it through, say yes–just like watching a horror show or something like that we would say.  I thought that way myself whe…

• A Good and Pure Conscience

  ats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23 NKJV)  Why is man condemned if he eats?  Because he doubts whether he ought to be doing it or not and thus cannot do it with a clean, good, and pure conscience.  If he goes ahead and eats thinking it might be wrong what does he do?  He violates his conscience. There is a lesson in that passage we must all learn and live by.  What is it?  “What…

• Did Christ Rise From the Dead or is Faith Folly?

  Paul, in answer to the question proposed, would say faith is but folly if Christ did not rise from the dead.  “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor. 15:16-17 NKJV)  If Christ did not rise from the dead what hope do we have as we grow old and face the inevitable?  Are we but animals? The evolutionist would say yes we are only animals and talk l…

• Conscience

  The Conscience as a Witness The Joy and the Danger of a Clean Conscience A Good and Pure Conscience Weak, Defiled, and Seared Consciences …

• God’s Plea–On Christ’s Behalf be Reconciled to God

  The word reconciliation is a very emotionally laden word.  There are millions upon millions of people in this world of billions who have sorrow in their hearts that words cannot express.  It is a sadness that goes with them day by day and night by night, month by month and year by year, and how can they tell anyone about it?  What can they say?  They cannot verbalize the feelings even to themselves let alone to others.  It is a sadness, a depres…

• Lessons for the Church from Isaiah (Chapter 1)

  applicable to those who will teach “as doctrines the commandments of men” and who still try to worship God while doing so. (3)  A third lesson we can take from Isaiah 1 is that God gives man the ability and the opportunity to cleanse himself of sin.  “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.  Cease to do evil, learn to do good.”  (Isa. 1:16 NKJV)  A little clarification is in order lest there b…

• Honestly Deceived

  In 1 Kings 13:1-33 we read of a man of God, a prophet, who came from Judah to Bethel to prophecy against the altar there.  Jeroboam, the king of Israel, was present at the altar.  Jeroboam was the king who had made the two golden calves for the children of Israel to worship one of which resided at Bethel (1 Kings 12:25-33).  On the altar there sacrifices were made to the golden calf that resided there.  As the prophet arrived he found Jeroboam a…

• How Does the Blood of Jesus and Baptism Tie Together

  ad by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:4 NKJV)  When is a person to walk in newness of life?  After baptism.  Can one walk in newness of life unless the blood of Jesus has cleansed him?  Newness of life comes to a man upon being raised up from the waters of baptism.  God placed the cleansing blood in the waters of baptism.  In that act, when done from a heart of faith, the blood of Jesus clean…

• Anger

  A Treatise on Matt. 5:22-24—Part 1–Anger “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has s…

• Resource Sites

  Here are some links to what I consider to be some great sites I highly recommend. Christian Courier  (This site is owned and run by Wayne Jackson who does the writing found on it.  I don’t know where you would go to find more scholarly Christian articles on the web.  The man does his homework which means he does extensive research before he starts writing.  All of this will be readily evident to you once you read an article or two of his. …

• The Book of Ecclesiastes

  Is the book of Ecclesiastes the most depressing book in the Bible?  Well, it can be–no doubt about it.  I don’t think it would make very many people’s list of favorite Bible books.  I know personally it always kind of depressed me in days gone by when I would read it but that was my fault, not the book’s fault.  I would like to try and show the upbeat side of the book of Ecclesiastes. What the book of Ecclesiastes does is…

• Indifference – The Great Destroyer

  Indifference is one of the scariest words in the English language for it is a word whose companion is another word called failure. The word indifference refers to an attitude held by a man or woman indicating a lack of zeal or commitment or concern regarding whatever that person is indifferent toward. There are many things a person can be indifferent toward and it does not make the least bit of difference. For example, I am indifferent toward wh…

• Faith is Not Just What You Believe

  Sometimes I think faith is about the only subject everyone is an expert on but faith is a complex subject involving far more than just the mind and its thoughts and is a subject that needs continual study to mine all its depths. Faith is not just thought but action.  It is a driving force, an inward power that drives man to act and do, to sacrifice, to seek, to suffer, to endure, to commit, and drive on when there appears to be no longer reason …

• Acceptable Prayer

  When a person runs into trouble in his or her life they are often counseled to pray.  That is usually one of the very first things that is done and most certainly we ought to turn to God in our times of trouble.  James says, “Is anyone among you suffering?  Let him pray.” (James 5:13 NAS)  The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grac…

• Repent–How Hard It Is To Do

  It is hard to repent, no doubt about it.  I remember the comment made by a well known preacher of the nineteenth century that the hardest thing there was to do was to get men to repent.  By contrast it was easy to get men to believe.  He considered his greatest failure was in convincing men to repent. He was not the first preacher to have that problem.  The Bible calls Noah “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5 NKJV).  Most Bible students b…

• The Heart of Man from a Biblical Perspective

  The Bible has much to say about the heart of man.  The word “heart” in the New King James Version of the Bible is found 835 times in 775 verses according to the E-Sword concordance for the NKJV.  The study of the heart of man is thus a massive study and I might add from a human point of view a complex one.  God knows all of our hearts, “For you alone know the hearts of all the sons of men.” (I Kings 8:39 NKJV)  The question is do you and I know …

• Though He Slay Me

  The title for this article comes from the Old Testament book of Job, chapter 13 verse 15, where Job makes the statement, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” (NKJV) The story of Job as told in the Old Testament is one of pain, suffering, and sorrow, of the loss of loved ones (sons and daughters), of possessions, of health, and very nearly of hope.  His state got to be such that his wife’s advice was, “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9 NKJV)  De…

• The Conscience as a Witness

  righteousness.  Conscience talks to us and if properly trained prompts us to turn around and return to God. In Rom. 9:1 Paul spoke of his conscience “bearing me witness” meaning simply his conscience was perfectly clean and pure in the matter about which he spoke.  When we live the truth and tell the truth our conscience becomes a character witness on our behalf.  Men may not be able to read our conscience but God can and we know our …

• Christian Circumcision

  ood heart) while defying Peter?  When Paul was directed by Ananias to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins (Acts 22:16) could Paul have walked away from it disregarding the command and said my conscience (my heart) is clean?  How about the Philippian jailer (Acts 16) who could have said “see here it is already past midnight, let’s just put this thing off (baptism–Acts 16:33) to a more convenient time when we are not all …

• Faith in the New Testament–Different Meanings

  s were unclean and to eat them was sin.  Under Christ this was no longer so but some doubted and thus for them to eat, thinking it was possibly sin to do so, and eating anyway, to them it became sin.  Their conscience was not clean. Faith is at times used as a reference not to trust in God but as a reference for the whole Christian system, the entirety of New Testament teaching.  The best example, and one all can readily see for such a usage, is …

• The Mysterious Eloquent Evangelist

  s direct application to the remission of sins under the baptism of John.  The writer says, quoting from the original ASV of 1901, “Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”  When your sins have been forgiven they have been forgiven.  There is no need for a second baptism and so Apollos having been baptized once with John’s bap…

• Hypocrites in the Church

  0;sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.” (Phil. 1:10 NASU)  The writer of the book of Hebrews instructs us to draw near to God “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:22 NASU)  Enough has been said without going further–God demands of us honesty, sincerity, and not hypocrisy. No one can defend a hyp…

• Never Give Up

  en by David the result of this sin he had committed and after Nathan had confronted him and David had repented.  First, he asks for forgiveness and acknowledges his transgressions but then he says in verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (NKJV)  Do you think God was capable of doing that with David?  Do you think he is capable of doing that with you or me when we get caught up in sin?  Remember Dav…

• A Heart Right With God (Test Your Heart)

  “deceives his own heart” (James 1:26 NKJV) and yes, a man can fool himself.  “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits (‘motives’ in the NASU–DS).” (Prov. 16:2 NKJV)  Such a man is clean in his own eyes for he has convinced himself his motives are above board whether true or not. I think one of the most fearful statements found in the Bible is this one:  “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” (Pro…

• Why Do Men Run From God?

    Churches today have many, many people in them who are in reality running from God but are not willing to admit it to themselves.  They left the old place and came to the new so they could persist in their sin rather than be cleansed from it. Yes we can run from God; we just cannot stay hidden from him.  We must give an account.  The day of accounting will be a terrifying day for many for in that day the heart of man will be revealed and we will…

• The Fragrance of Christ

  of mind) and they thus harden their heart as they do not want to hear what they will not accept and that which condemns them. To the one who hears the gospel and accepts it there is a sense of freedom, the conscience is made clean, and burdens are lifted as the song goes “at Calvary.”  To the one who will not hear, does not want to hear, his view of Christ and his gospel is a message of enslavement, of the loss of personal freedom.  Thus the fra…

• If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications

  Have miracles ceased?  They have if we are talking about the kind of miracles performed by Jesus, the apostles, and those possessed of spiritual gifts in New Testament times.  The purpose of those miracles was to confirm that the word spoken was from God himself.  Such confirmation was needed.  Put yourself in the shoes of those living back then.  Here one comes into your midst claiming to speak for God.  Is he delusional, a mad man?  Is he a ch…

• Spiritual Mirages

  It is so easy to be misled in life.  Things appear to be a certain way when the reality is they are just the opposite of what they seem to be.  Ask any young man or woman or husband or wife who has been deeply in love and then found out to their utter dismay that the love they felt sure was mutual between them and their beloved was all just an illusion and the object of their affections was in reality ready to dump them.  The first reaction is o…

• Reconciling With a Brother

  “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there…

• The Sin of Being Unthankful and the Need for Thanksgiving

  s expressions of love for us through these things begin to change us if we will allow it.  Love and thanksgiving begin to develop in the heart that will allow it. We have to be very careful lest we be like the 10 lepers Jesus cleansed.  They were told to go show themselves to the priests and in obeying, heading out on the road to the priests, while going, they were healed.  Only one returned to give thanks to Jesus and he was a Samaritan.  Jesus&…

• Fools, Speech, and Christianity

  “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there…

• The Pleasures of Sin

  Is there pleasure in sin?  The Bible teaches that sometimes there is–that is for a time.  You are probably familiar with the passage in the Bible found in Heb. 11:24-25 that speaks of the “pleasures of sin for a season” (KJV) or “the passing pleasures of sin” as the New King James puts it.  “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God…

• The Parable of the 10 Virgins–7 Lessons

  The parable of the 10 virgins found in Matt. 25:1-13 has more to say to us than we often realize. One of the things that troubles a person most, that nags and gnaws at our spirit, is when we mess up, make a bad mistake, and then have to pay for it when we had realized from the beginning what it was we needed to do which would have avoided the whole thing but simply failed to do it for one reason or another.  We blame ourselves for the mess we go…

• Why Men Today Cannot Be Saved Like The Thief On The Cross?

  I recently had an individual ask the question that if baptism is essential for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) then why did not Jesus tell the rich young ruler?  (This individual does not believe what Peter taught on the subject in Acts 2 where Peter makes baptism essential to salvation.)  It is the wrong question to ask.  Why?  Because when Jesus was talking to the rich young ruler he was not talking to you and me.  The only lessons in the …

• Is Denominational Baptism Scriptural?

  There are many different baptisms being performed today by religious people–different methods and for different purposes.  However, the only baptism that I as an individual facing eternity ought to be concerned with is the baptism that Jesus spoke of when he said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16 NKJV) This is the baptism of the Great Commission when Jesus told the apostles, “Go therefore and make disciples of a…

• Christianity and Multiculturalism

  How does Christianity relate to the concept of multiculturalism?  The answer to that depends in large part on one’s definition of multiculturalism and there are many definitions of it given as you see when you begin researching the topic.  For the purpose of this article I will define it as the idea that all cultures are of equal value, none to be judged as superior to another, that society should be oriented around groups versus a common …

• Jesus the Foundation of and the Builder of the Church

  17;s body–”his body, which is the church” (Col. 1:24 NKJV – see also Eph. 1:22-23 and Col. 1:18).  “He is the Savior of the body.” (Eph. 5:23 NKJV)  This is the body which he sanctified and cleansed “with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26 NKJV), a reference to baptism all denominations to the contrary notwithstanding, in order that “he might present it to himself a glorious church, …

• They Loved the Praise of Men

  urselves.  We seldom seem concerned with being praised by the poor man or one whose circumstances are humble.  We do not care about the opinion of the man with the eighth grade education, or the janitor, the trash man, or the cleaning lady.  We are arrogant.  We are only interested in what you think about us if you are one whom we deem to be better than others.  At a very minimum you must be one of our peers, as we see it, before we are intereste…

• Demas Has Forsaken Me

  The man by the name of Demas is only mentioned in the Bible three times, all three times by the apostle Paul.  Demas was for a time a fellow traveler and fellow worker with Paul.  He is mentioned in the closing of the book of Colossians, a book written around AD 60, as one who with Paul and others sent their greetings to the church at Closse (Col. 4:14). Again in the book of Philemon in verse 23 and 24 he along with Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, …

• The Blessing of Affliction and the Goodness of God

  In the book of Psalms 119, verse 71, there is a passage that has come to have personal meaning to me as I have contemplated it over time and made application to the things that have befallen me.  The Psalmist said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (NKJV)  Earlier in the same chapter the writer had said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” (Psalms 119:67 NKJV) We all learn very early in life that we wi…

• Better to Never Have Been Born–Why?

  Jesus in reference to his betrayer Judas said, “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” (Matt. 26:24 ESV)  Most of us who believe the Bible can understand what Jesus said and why as it pertains to Judas and if we could leave it at that we could rest in peace.  Why then does such a statement torment us? The answer is because we know the truth to be that any man or woman whether it is our mother or dad, our wif…

• The Christian, Politics, and the Government

  What role if any should the Christian play in politics?  All any man can know about the subject is what the Bible says and since it was written for the benefit and enlightenment of all men in all ages of time from the time it was first penned until the last day of this earth’s existence and for all cultures and under all the different kinds of governments under which men have lived it speaks to us not in specifics but in general statements on th…

• Healing For the Brokenhearted

  “Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.  And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalms 69:20 NASU)  Read in context one sees clearly that this passage of scripture refers to Jesus toward the very end of his life on earth when facing the cross and perhaps, very possibly, on the cross itself.  The heart has been broken to the point of sickness. Is there a person whose heart has …

• Non-Offensive Christianity

  If someone was to ask you or me what constitutes Christian character what would we say?  Off the top of our head we would most likely say love for God and our fellowman and faith in the Lord Jesus.  As we thought about it more intently we would add things like the fruit of the spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23 NKJV)  We m…

• Is Church Attendance Essential for Christian Salvation?

  Whether or not a Christian must attend church to be saved is a question of utmost importance.  There is nothing more important than one’s eternal salvation.  Where will one spend eternity?  Will it be in a place of happiness and joy where “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain” (Rev. 21:4 NKJV) or will it be in the place of torment “where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’” (Mar…

• The Prodigal Son–When He Came to Himself

  The story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32 is too long to quote here but also so well known that almost everyone acquainted with the Bible at all knows the story and the main thrust of the lesson taught there.  However, there is one phrase in the account we do not talk enough about–the phrase “when he came to himself” found in verse 17. This verse marks the point in the young man’s life where his eyes were opened to th…

• The Kind of Faith in God That Destroys

  There is a faith, a so called Christian faith, which destroys.  Those who hold such a faith, while sincere, do not understand faith from a scriptural point of view.  Faith is all too often defined as “what I believe.”  There is more to saving faith than just believing in Jesus, believing he is the Son of God. If faith alone, defined as what one believes, could save by itself then even the demons could be saved for James says, “…

• The Grace of God and the Parable of the Laborers–Is God Just?

  Everyone is pleased to have the grace of God in their life but are we disturbed by it when his grace shows up in the lives of others seemingly more generously than in our own?  I am afraid that is sometimes the case.  The parable of the laborers found in Matt. 20:1-16 is a perfect example and is also an excellent illustration of how man feels he knows more about what is just and right than God does. The passage is too long to quote here but I wi…

• Things God Cannot Do

  The Bible teaches there are things God cannot do.  Why not?  It is certainly not because he is wanting in power or knowledge but it is a matter of who he is, his nature or character.  We can understand that.  There are things you and I could do but our character would never allow it.  I thought it would be good to use an online Bible concordance for the New King James Version and type in the word “cannot” and see what came up.  I was…

• Fear God

  I have often heard it said that a Christian should have no fear of God.  I have mixed feelings when I hear that for it is one of those truths that can easily lead to false conclusions unless the statement is clarified. John indeed says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”  (I John 4:18 NKJV)  It is true that every Christian can have fear …