By Biblestudycompany.com Ric Joyner
We will state upfront that Christmas is not a biblical holiday. But it is not unbiblical to celebrate the birth of Christ. We should also not equalize Christmas with the advent of our Savior. The Old Testament prophesized over the birth of the Savior to come. The current secular traditions of Santa, with almost God-like qualities and manipulating kids to "further fantasize" a jolly old man who can give all children on earth toys and an "elf on the shelf" that watches how they behave, is unbiblical. Still, some feel it is acceptable to create a myth around Santa Claus while children are young. We disagree. It is always best to be honest with children about Santa. Giving presents at this time of the year is not wrong because the Magi gave Christ's family gifts in worship to the young boy Messiah, who helped the family with the expenses of fleeing to Egypt. Consumerism and greed are wrong and sinful, but only the Holy Spirit can lead you to that truth, and He knows your heart.
Frustration mounts as we approach this time of year in the Christmas season. Screams of "Christmas is pagan" escalate into a crescendo with arguments against Christmas on social media and by some bible teachers. Could this be a veiled attack on the Gospel in the name of "we don't want to be idolators"?
Let's take a look. Please reread these scriptures prayerfully as we begin our biblical study.
Matthew Chapters 1-2 highlights
"30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."
Luke Chapters 1 and 2. Pay attention to what the angels say a couple of times: "Good news," translated as the same word… Gospel. The birth of Christ was good news for Jews because their long-awaited Messiah was finally here, and the prophecy was fulfilled. We write this paper 2,000 years later for Gentiles, grateful that the apostles preached the Gospel to us: Good news: Christ came as a child to break the back of sin and death and allowed us Gentiles an eternal "home" and become children of God! Gentiles are not part of the nation of Israel, but we are part of God's family! (Eph Chap 1-4) We celebrate the birth of Christ because of the Gospel!
Read John 1 for a view from heaven of why Christ came.
"9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the intention of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. We saw His glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."
If it is, then are you a pagan for celebrating the Day of Christ's birth? The historical false proof that Christmas is pagan is thrown at you with overwhelming emotional authoritarianism. Is emotionalism based on biblical truth? How about historical facts? We know the origin of Christmas (birth of Christ) is biblical. The story of our Savior starts with His birth because the prophets mentioned He was coming. We suspect the anti-Christmas vehemence is agenda-driven. We ask this question because born-again believing Christians are not worshipping pagan deities by participating in the birth of Christ called Christmas today. I spoke to a Torah-keeping brother who said, "Yes, Christmas is pagan." I asked how that could be, and he shared, "When you put a present under the tree, you are 'bowing' down to the tree." I was stunned. The logic he displayed defied logic. Yeah, no. Worshipping a pagan deity requires one to engage the diety knowingly.
In our research, there were pagan celebrations that started around the time of 274 AD, but they appear to be in response to Christians in Rome celebrating the birth of Christ! We then ask what came first, the "chicken or the egg?" "However, it has also been argued that, on the contrary, Emperor Aurelian, who in 274 instituted the holiday of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, did so partly as an attempt to give a pagan significance to a date already important for Christians in Rome.[76]
Is the nearness of a pagan holiday make Christmas pagan? When I sift through the concerns of 'Christmas is pagan,' people, did you know there was a pagan holiday at this time? We will deal with this later, but does that make celebrating the birth of Christ pagan today? Let's ask another question: Is Hanukkah pagan? The answer is no. Yet, Hanukkah is square in the middle of this pagan holiday called Saturnalia. The true church pushed hard against these wicked holidays, and to assume born-again believers were participating in pagan festivals doesn't make much sense since Christians had to live outside of society for several hundred years because of severe persecution.
Calling Christmas pagan because of the nearness of the same period of a pagan holiday would be the same as calling Easter (the resurrection of Christ) and Passover pagan. The proximity does not work because a pagan spring festival may happen simultaneously.
We can confidently say that born-again believers would not have observed a pagan holiday and dishonored our Lord Jesus Christ, who rescued us from sin and death. Born-again believers do not participate in pagan rituals today, and Christmas is about the birth of Christ.
Conclusion. We will focus on the birth of Christ currently and not conflate the past to today.
"Certainly today, the mix of consumerism (AKA Santa Claus) can take people's eyes off Christ, but our job is to bring them back to the salvation message of the Gospel. Will you join us?" BSC.
Note: In our extensive research, we stumbled upon a Wikipedia article. We usually would bypass Wikipedia as higher education frowns on the use of Wikipedia; however, this article has stood the test of time (2001) and is updated continually, even in 2021. Once you dive into the article, you will see the extent and expanse of the research on Christmas.
"Got you, Biblestudycompany…see, Christmas is pagan". Well, no, and not so fast. This Wikipedia article on Christmas is excellent and thorough for a balanced perspective.
Here are some highlights:
"Christmas" is a shortened form of "Christ's mass." The word was recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131.[22] Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ), "Messiah," meaning "anointed";[23][24] and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist.[25]”
"December 25 was the winter solstice date in the Roman calendar.[16][53] A late fourth-century sermon by Saint Augustine explains why this was a fitting day to celebrate Christ's nativity: "Hence it is that He was born on the Day which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us chose the shortest Day, yet the one whence Light begins to increase." [54]
We conclude by the historical facts that the Roman Catholic Church did not exist at the beginning of Christian recognition of the birth of Christ.
"The Roman Emperor Constantine established himself as the head of the church around 313 A.D., which made this new "Christianity" the Roman Empire's official religion. The first actual Pope in Rome was probably Leo I (440-461 A.D.), although some claim that Gregory I was the first (Pope) (590-604 A.D.). This ungodly system eventually ushered in the darkest period known to man, called the "Dark Ages" (500-1500 A.D.). Through popes, bishops, and priests, Satan ruled Europe, and Biblical Christianity became illegal."
"And therefore, we should not celebrate the birth of Christ." We would say, "Tell that to the angels engaging the shepherds because heaven celebrated the birth of God's Son!" Luke 2:2-14
"And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
Note: the words Good News are translated from Greek
Original word: εὐαγγελίζω
Transliteration: euaggelizó
Definition (short): preach
Description (complete): to announce good news
Yep, evangelize during Christmas. There are hurting hearts at this time of the year, and many blindly celebrate a holiday not connected to Christ's birth. Let us help people relate it to Christ, our Savior.
If not Christmas, what should we celebrate instead? We should celebrate Hanukkah to return to our Jewish roots. Hanukkah was not part of the Gospel, and the birth of Christ IS part of the Gospel.
We encourage everyone everywhere to ask God whether one should participate in the celebration of the birth of Christ. We say YES! We can confidently push back on anti-Christmas and anti-birth of Christ people with correct historical and biblical facts.
During this time of the year, people are open to the Gospel for nearly one month. Do we let this opportunity slide through our fingers? In Matthew 28, our commission is to go and make disciples. To make a disciple, we must present the Gospel first. Will we waste our time arguing over the birth of Christ, whether it is pagan or not? To this, we say that people saying Christmas or the celebration of the birth of Christ is pagan are avoiding the Gospel! Why? Who in the spiritual realm attacks the Gospel and wants it destroyed? Satan. Think about this tidbit. Imagine a worldwide focus on Christmas, even in Buddhist countries. Why not present the Gospel at this time of the year? As Paul said, his focus was on getting people reconciled to God. (2Cor 5:18-21)
"15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." The Accuser is bound and determined to use people, even with good intentions, to stop the message of the Gospel of Salvation. We use the word accusation intentionally because people who celebrate traditional Christmas are called pagans. A severe charge but, fortunately, untrue.
God is a God of prophecy. He wants us to know what is coming. He answered His word and has "healing in His wings" to "reconcile us to God." There are no other holy books that contain prophetic words fulfilled!
Every Christmas season is a literal miracle that this holiday (holy Day) is focused worldwide on Jesus Christ, our Savior. Even the Wikipedia article acknowledges this undeniable fact.
Therefore, let us turn aside from the poor handling of scripture and agenda-driven history "facts" and focus on the birth of Christ and sharing the Good news of His coming to rescue us from our sin, thus giving us eternal life without works and fear in the blood of Christ!
What can you and your family do to share the love of Christ with a hurting world this Christmas season? Here is one video that touches our hearts when we watch it.
Feel free to share the resources.
Melton, James. "The Plain Truth about the Roman Catholic Church." biblebelievers.com. Bible Baptist Publications, 1998. https://biblebelievers.com/jmelton/Catholic.html.
Wikipedia Contributors. "Christmas." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, October 31, 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas.
———. "Christmas." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, October 31, 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
William Federer: There is a Santa Claus - History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions
by Amazon.com Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0965355748/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QVM4MJF835RK35KMWAHR
Christmas has nothing to do with paganism: Red pen logic
Was December 25 the date of Christ's birth? The Greek Orthodox church thinks so.
Mike Winger on Christmas:
1. Is Christmas PAGAN? In defense of Christmas
3. Stop Twisting Jeremiah 10 Because It's Not About Christmas Trees
4. Alisa Childers on Christmas
5. For the extensive history of Christmas with the discussion of the dates for the birth of Christ, God Became Incarnate James Quiggle by Amazon.com
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/149918669X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AR6NEZ6XB0TPZ5N1VB90
6. The star of Bethlehem is an excellent movie on the astronomical view of the star. https://youtu.be/55VRdLnkvDw
Playlist of videos that will go step by step
Article On how to study the Bible from BSC step by step
Article by Dr. Baruch on how to study the Bible
Article on how numbers play a role in Bible Study
Blog article and podcast on how we learned to study the Bible with Dr. Baruch
See full post & commentsThis prayer is a guide and biblically based. All a person needs to do is cry out to God in their own words. If you are not sure how to pray, please use this as a guide.
To have a relationship with God versus religion, pray this prayer sincerely and in your own words.
Dear Heavenly Father, (Matt. 6:9) I want a relationship with You...not a religion. I come to You and open my heart. (John 3:16) I will be honest and sincere with You. (John 4) I am running my life and need Your help. (Matt. 6:10) I am made in Your image (Gen 1:26, 27), and I won't be happy until I am in a relationship with you. (Gen. 3) Most of my behavior does not please You. (Romans 3:23) I know I am a sinner, so please forgive my sins because of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who came to die for my sins. (John 3:16) His death on the cross is the punishment I should receive, but You were gracious to die in my place through Christ. By faith, I place all of my past, present, and future sins on Christ. I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior, and salvation is a gift! I know I cannot earn my way to heaven by being good through good works. (Eph. 2:8) You did this so I can be in a relationship with You on earth and for all eternity. (Romans 10:9-13) And I will forgive those who have sinned or hurt me because you have forgiven me. Take away any bitterness or resentment I carry toward You or other people. (Matt. 6:13-14) Please show and teach me how to live a praiseworthy life on earth to You starting today. (Matt. 6:33, Acts 9 and 10) I ask you to be in my heart, as Paul said in Ephesians 3:17. I know that You love me, Father, and I want to love You and that you have a purpose and plan for my life. I accept You as my Lord and Savior. Lord, because You gave me breath in my lungs and Savior, because you paid my sin debt. Please teach me to pray. (Matt. 6:9) Thank You, Jesus, for saving me to Yourself (Ex. 19:1-8) and making me a new person! (2 Cor. 5:17) In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!
Learn to grow at www.biblestudycompany.com, Grace Bible Church, and Christ Community Church.
See full post & commentsHey Everyone,
We are coming up on Passover (Pesach) and Dr. Baruch Korman has done an outstanding video regarding how the Passover is done in Jewish homes. Remember, that to the Jewish people, believing in the blood of the lamb on the doorposts in Egypt, "stopped the destroyer angel". In the action of adding the blood of the lamb to the doorposts, the angel would pass over the house and not cause death to the firstborn. Many Egyptians and Jewish families who saw the mighty signs of God's destruction through 10 plagues, decided to participate and believed God by faith in the blood of the lamb on the door posts. On those households who decided not to participate or rather did not believe God's word, and stubbornly refused, someone died in their household in Egypt. The King of Egypt, "let the Jewish people go" into the wilderness and into God's care. The Jewish nation was born. A nation based on God's word. As Christian, (One who believes and follows Christ and His word) we recognize and remember His blood shed for our sin! That is significant. We can place our sin on Christ by faith, just as the Jewish believers did in the Passover lamb.
As Christ said, "It is finished". That is all of our sins were washed away...if we put our sin on Him and believe in His resurrection. He literally trades us our sin for His righteousness! Doesn't that make you want to live for Him? On top of this wonderful gift, which is good news, Christ sent us the Holy Spirit to make us born again and to write the laws of God on our hearts! WOW! So turn to Him today and believe in His death, for your sin, and believe in His resurrection as our promise of eternal life. Through Christ, our sin problem was "fixed" with God and we have "Peace with God", and we now have the power to walk with our God and please Him. Titus 2:11-12. Make peace with Him today!
Pray this way: "Lord, Jesus there are only two ways to look at life. I can try to be a good person based on what I think is good or some other religion. Or I can place my sin on Your death and resurrection and ask You to forgive my sin which I do. I am so sorry for what I have done and the people I have hurt. I beg you to forgive me. Will you give me a new heart? Please send the Holy Spirit to live in me and give me new birth so I can be a part of Your Kingdom. The thief on the cross had minutes to live and asked You to remember him when You get to Your heavenly Kingdom. Will you do the same for me? Please save me by Your power. Amen."
Passover Demonstration from LoveIsrael.org on Vimeo.
See full post & comments#Jesus #Bible #Biblestudy #inspirational #inspiration #motivation #inspirationalquotes #weneedanexodus
Episode Summary
What is your Exodus? Part 1 discusses Ric and Mary Joyner learning to study the word of God properly and the life-changing impact our lives. Healed marriage, God opening the word in profound ways and His active presence in our lives on a daily basis. Join us for this personal and transforming podcast.
Episode Notes
We participated in churches for many years. We can honestly say we did not learn how to properly engage and study the Bible. Is this strange? We think so. But more than not learning how to understand the Word of God caused major problems for us in our lives and marriages, and we looked through nonbiblical filters at the Bible. How is this possible?
Changes in our life created the need for help. We almost lost our marriage. Why wasn't Christianity working for us? What was wrong? Through Dr. Baruch and Rivka Korman, we learned how to study the Bible properly.
Below is a PowerPoint in PDF that you can read the whole story. But we are discussing one of the most neglected aspects of churches which is to show people how to feed themselves with the Bible, and encountering God in a new relationship. He is our Creator. We are made to serve Him. So, why didn't we learn to study His word? Good question.
Join us for a review of the last 6 and half years it took us to learn how to study Exodus.
#Jesus #Jesussaves #Godislove #Godishope #cancersucks
A heart-stirring conversation of someone facing down a GIANT (cancer). How would you react? What would your decisions be? Is God in our suffering? Is God fair? Finding a relationship with Christ while facing down a Giant! Join us for a memorable podcast and video with my dear friend Erv Puckett.
The urgent knocking on our glass screen door came with a surprise. My neighbor, who walked downcast on the sidewalk occasionally with a colts hat or jersey, was at my door insisting we "talk".
The heat and humidity were oppressive as Florida summers tend to cook. Erv's countenance matched the stickiness and blanket of heat. I asked him if he would like something to drink. Erv had his trademark Mountain Dew and thus said, "no need."
I politely asked how I could help. He said something like this, "All these times you have prayed for me while I walked by, I need to talk to you. I will die from this cancer because there is no cure, and I don't know where I am going when I die?"
We spoke at length. He had gone to church in the past and even been baptized. But here, Erv was someone facing a real giant and unsure of his eternal destiny. Why?
This podcast/video finishes the story. You will be challenged. You may be changed. You may have hope you can share. Pray for Erv. We don't know the ending of the story...YET!
If you would like to know where your eternal destiny is headed click here: my eternal destiny
If you would like to support Erv Puckett with prayer you can give $5.00 to have an Erv bracelet: Send to info@biblestudycompany.com
To pray a prayer for a relationship with Christ and to accept His free gift of salvation forgiveness of our sins:
Dear Heavenly Father, (Matt. 6:9) I want a relationship with You...not a religion. I come to You and open my heart. (John 3:16) I will be honest and sincere with You. (John 4) I am running my life and need Your help. (Matt. 6:10) I was made in Your image and I won't be happy until I am in a relationship with you. (Gen. 3) Most of my behavior does not please You. (Romans 3:23) I know I am a sinner, so please forgive my sins because Jesus Christ, Your Son, came to die for me. He is the Lamb of God so I place my sins upon Him, Who died on the cross for my sin. The Lord Jesus Christ was sinless and died in my place so I could have eternal life with you. My relationship starts today! (John 3:16) I believe Jesus Christ is my savior and salvation is a free gift! It cannot be earned through good works. (Eph. 2:8) You did this so that I can be in a relationship with You on earth and for all eternity. (Romans 10:9-13) And, I will forgive those who have sinned or hurt me too, since you have forgiven me. Take away any bitterness or resentment I carry. (Matt. 6:13-14) Please show me and teach me how to live a praiseworthy life on earth to You. (Matt. 6:33, Acts 9 and 10) I know You love me Father, and I want to love You as well and that you have a purpose and plan for my life. Please teach me to pray. (Matt. 6:9) Thank you, God, for saving me to Yourself (Ex. 19:1-8) and making me a new person! (2 Cor. 5:17) In Jesus's name, I pray, Amen! Learn to grow at www.biblestudycompany.com
See full post & comments
This document provides instructions for how to create an account with the Bible Study Company mobile app on Apple and Android devices. Bible Study Company is a free app and you don't need an account to use the Bible reader and word study tools, but an account is required if you want to...
An account is required for these actions so that this information can be saved to your user profile so that you can access it later or on different devices.
This is a log in from our mobile app vendor called Subsplash and is not the log in for the Bible Study Company app. We are aware of this confusion and are working with the vendor to determine a better experience.
Actions include the first 4 features in the blue menu when you click on a Bible verse or word. You will also be prompted if you try to join or create a community group.
The log in screen will prompt you for the email and password that you created in the earlier steps.
#JesusChrist #Jesus #areyouatare #areyoubornagain
By Ric Joyner
We have been talking with people that have been in church all their lives. Most are or were in mainline denominations. However, they "don't connect" with the church anymore, and worse, the Word of God (Bible) they say they can't understand or don't want to. "Church is a business." "God doesn't answer my prayers." "Too many bad things in the world." "Too many hypocrites (like me in the church)." I added the "like me" because we are all broken pottery. I get it. But the problem is that Jesus warned, in a parable Matthew 13:24-30, that..."The wheat sprouted and bore grain; then the tares became evident also. 27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' (NASB Matthew 13:24) AN ENEMY. Could people be in church and never know they need to be born again? YES. They are tares! What is born again? Christ told the equivalent of the POPE of Israel in John 3, named Nicodemus; he needed to be born brand new from heaven. Only God can make us born again by His Spirit. If we think being good is good enough or what we do to be good is the answer, we are in trouble. But how are we born again? We must put our faith (in God's word) and trust in Christ to save us from our sin and place our sins upon Him by faith, or we are in danger of carrying them into eternity while thinking we are a good person. Good people, by whose, or WHOSE standard? Ours or God's? I don't care about the denomination, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, or a host of others. We all must be born again. BTW, if you are living a life full of sin and have been in church all of your life, perhaps that is a significant indicator you need to ask the Lord to save you. Here is an excellent link in case this is missing in your life. DON'T BE A TARE (an enemy of God) that does not bear fruit (wheat) for their Master. You can come to Him today and cry out to Him for salvation just by asking Him. Are you struggling to believe in His saving work on the cross? Then share that too with Him, but ask Him to help you believe. Here is the link. https://biblestudycompany.com/blog/article/81
See full post & comments
Episode Summary
Do you need some new fresh glasses to view for your Bible study? Do you know that the entire Bible can be summed up in this theme? "God is restoring us to Himself and to the Garden".
Episode Notes
We are offering new glasses for you to put on as a bible study tool for 2021 and beyond. But we must ask ourselves if we should wear glasses when approaching the Bible? The answer is no and yes.
If we study the bible to "get something out of it for ourselves" we are in danger of treating God's Holy Word as a "devotional" and being a consumer. Using it as a devotion is "ok" but we could be missing more. Such as, these words were used to create the universe. Maybe there is more to see than just devotional reading? But we can turn to Him, knowing this Bible is God's revealed Will for us to embrace, it will change us to know we are studying what Our King wants us to obey. Does this make us disciples versus pewsitters? Yes, because Christ said in John 14:15, "If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.
Let that sink in. First, if we love Him we will obey. Second, did He just say He is the author of the commandments given on Mt. Sinai aka God Almighty, the great I AM? We would say, yes. So, Christ gives us a major clue on how we are to respond to Him to show we love Him...by obeying His word. His World, His Word, we are His servants.
"Ok, Ric and Mary, we get obeying God's word is a major theme for Podcast for Pewsitters but what is this restoration thing you are pushing?"
We cover the restoration theme of the Bible from start to finish in one episode which clearly shows that God's Will for us is to fellowship with Him in a garden. The garden is a repeat pattern in the Bible from Eden to Revelation! For 2021 we will be pointing out restoration as it shapes our biblical studies. Will you join us? Grab your beverages!
Join us for exploring some new glasses. Please share! This is how we grow!
YouTube
Audio Podcast
DOCUMENTS FOR THE PODCAST
See full post & commentsRegardless of when Christ was born, we celebrate; "The Great Rescue from Heaven". Mankind chose to sin after being created sinless and was separated from God. We are born into sin. But because of His Great Love for us, our Creator gave us free will. We all will die. We also live in a world full of sin and death. He prophesied a Rescuer to come and fix the sin and death issue. Our world is destroyed based on the choices of mankind. But the Great Rescue was underway from heaven. Christ came as a baby. Why? To live a full life in a human "tent" but remained Creator God. Think of the impact of this statement. The sinless Creator God came! The same ONE in the garden of Eden. Only He could come and fix what our ancestors "broke". After showing clearly with "signs" that Immanuel (God with us) came to earth and was the Messiah, by fixing broken hearts, bodies and restoring people who were lost to religious works and expectations of the world around them..so to the cross He went. To show us the Way to be obedient to God is our hope. Why a cross? Because it was the worst human experience that people could do to others as human "justice". Christ willingly gave His life to pay what we could not....our sin debt we accumulated against God. That cross represents what God thinks of sin. It is horrible to us and others. But we don't see ourselves badly. And why would we? We are good, right? But by whose standards? But we need a mirror, which is God's Word to show us what is REALLY in us! Today the great rescue for all of us is available as a free gift from Heaven. We can accept or reject it. We had a choice in the garden. We have a choice to now in the tomb garden. If we reject this Gift, are we are telling God His "Gift" from heaven is not good enough to forgive our sin? And that you will take your chances upon death? Our sin debt and the fear of death were defeated at the cross, and placing our sin on Him by faith and, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection, which was to show us our promise of eternal life with our Creator! Will you open the Gift? Do so now, right where you are, and kneel down like the wise men and offer your heart to Him in gratitude and give to Him your sin by faith. He washed our sin away with His very own blood. We now can rejoice! Christmas came into our hearts because we are born again by Heaven's Gift!!! Let us know if you opened your Gift from Heaven.
See full post & commentsYet, our website and apps are only one part of the ministry we call Praiseworthy Life, Inc which is also doing business as (DBA) Biblestudycompany.com.
We do ask that when considering BSC for donations, please do NOT take from your local congregation. Nor take from Loveisrael.org. Consider us standalone.
You can donate here. Please consider selecting the monthly donations sequence. This helps us with our budget.
Ric and Mary Joyner
See full post & comments#prophecy #trumpprophecy #electionresults #biblestudy #falseprophets
CLICK BELOW FOR THE MEDIA FORMAT YOU WILL LIKE
There is a whirlwind of prophecies out on the internet. Trump will win. Trump won't win. "You will receive your breakthrough" (whatever that is). Is your head spinning? Mine is, and I picked up the zoom tool and called Dr. Daniel Goepfrich of Theologyisforeveryone.com. Join us for this rousing and spirited topic.
EPISODE NOTES
Did you know that NOT ONE OF THE PROPHETS SAW COVID? Yep! Should that end our trust in these so-called prophets? You have the same anointing as they do. Don't believe us? Go to 1John 2:26-.
Mary and I were in many Charismatic churches. The more we have learned how to study the bible and respond to God, asking Him to help us change to His will, we are moving away from the teaching of Charismatic churches and researching what we grew up having been taught.
It is a breath of fresh air that Dr. Goepfrich, who was not in Pentecostal or Charismatic churches, has a tough time understanding "our thinking" and this provides us with great fodder for our discussion. He cautions heavily against listening to these prophets. I would not caution: We go further. We would say RUNNNNNN! Read your bible instead.
We say, in "Charismatic circles," that the bible is our foundation. But sadly, this is not true in practice. We tend to look for experiences, trust our experiences, put too much weight in leaders we thought are more "spiritual" than we, and looked for "words from the Lord" through men? Is this the right thing to do? The bible has a lot to say about false prophecies and their effect on God's people. What is the effect, you may ask? That we are led AWAY from seeking the Lord for OURSELVES. That is scary, isn't it? Jeremiah 14 discusses false prophecies, and especially Jeremiah 23, prohibits us from speaking for the Lord. And that makes sense as we are only human, frail and sinful. But can we have confidence in our God that He spoke the Universe into existence, and made each one of us? Is God on the throne of His creation? Of course. Dr. Goepfrich relates with us his views from Scripture.
He said this, and I paraphrase: "I do know this...when we open the Bible and let it speak to us, we are on the safe ground". The Bible is objective truth.
Bible study company will always be in the "Reformed Charismatic" camp. Meaning, that like in the reformation of church history, the Christians went back to the Bible. We are going back to the Bible.
Seeking revival? It starts in our hearts when we study God's word to live praiseworthy to Him.
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