The Bible and Life

Friday, November 10, 2023

No Turning Back

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an interesting article that I wanted to share.

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The Story behind the Song

"I have decided to follow Jesus"

By the Grace of Our Lord Jesus

In 1904 a Welshman ventured halfway across the world to India and he trekked up the mountains towards a remote village in the east.

He was told

"Go back! The tribe in that village are famously

violent"

But the Welshman ignored the warnings because even these savage headhunters should have the opportunity to hear about the mercy of God.

One Garo tribesman from the tribe Meghalaya named 'Nokseng' and his family heard the Gospel and received Jesus as their Savior. The good news was too good to keep to themselves and they shared the Gospel with others in the tribe.

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The chief was very angry and he had the tribesman and his family dragged before the village.

"Stop following Jesus!" the chief demanded.

The tribesman replied "No I have decided to follow Jesus I am not turning back"

The chief was furious and killed the tribes man's children.

"Stop following Jesus!" the chief insisted.

The tribesman replied

"Though none go with me

I still will follow no turning back."

The chief showed no mercy and he killed the tribes man's wife.

"Now you will stop following this Jesus!" the chief said.

The tribesman looked the chief in the eyes and replied "The cross before me the world behind me no turning back."

The chief could not believe his ears and he killed the tribesman.

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Jesus said if a grain of wheat dies it bears much fruit and that day many of the villagers who witnessed the persecution of that tribesman and his family also decided to follow Jesus - even the chief himself became a follower of Jesus Christ.

The tribes man's last words became the song of the village and today it is sung all around the world.

A hundred years later, you still sing this song to church.

"I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back, no turning back."

Do you know that you are singing the words of a dead man who lost his children, lost his wife, and eventually lost his own life for Jesus?

How many people have you lost? Some of you might have, but the fact you are reading this means you still have your own life. Why falter in faith when you lose the little things you value on this Earth? Why do you threaten yourself to stop following Jesus when hardships come? Why do you deny Christ’s Lordship over your life when your friends are around?

You can lose your job.

Lose a loved one.

Lose all your friends.

Lose an exam.

Lose a great opportunity.

Lose a romantic interest.

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You can lose literally EVERYTHING here on Earth, but remember Nokseng and the words he said when he lost everything:

"The Cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back."

Friends, whether you have decided to follow Jesus this week, last month, last year, or many years ago...

Remember,

N O T U R N I N G B A C K

Credit to The Imperial Patriarch

William James Roop

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Is Speaking In Tongues For You?

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article by an unknown author that I would like to share.

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Is speaking in tongues for you?

One answer to that question is this, tongues is not the Holy Ghost, it’s only the evidence of it. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God. Christ in you, the Hope of Glory. A resounding yes! It is for you!

Factually and without argument, it is for every man, woman, boy, and girl on earth. It is for Methodists, Episcopalians, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Nazarenes, Catholics and more. In short, it is for you.

To those who say it was for the Apostles only, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost fell on 120 men and women. To those who say it was only for the Apostles, the Apostles only represented 12 of the 120 that were present.

Twenty five years after the day of Pentecost Apostle Paul addresses speaking in tongues to the Corinthian church in 55AD. Many churches, and many organizations teach that speaking in tongues was only for the Apostles. Paul’s writing to the Corinthian church clearly, and completely refutes that. Simply put, why would he give instructions to a church regarding it if it had ceased?

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What is tongues? Tongues are languages not unlike English, Spanish or French. Tongues are not unintelligible, rather every utterance is a word. There are tongues of men, and tongues of Angels. Every tongue (language) is understood by God, and there is a language(s) that is/are only and exclusively understood by God alone.

Tongues can be understood by the speaker if they pray for understanding. Tongues can also be understood by those listening if it is a language they know. And finally tongues can be a conversation exclusively between you and God.

Some point to the scripture that says do all speak with tongues? This is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. However, this reference to tongues is referring to the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues only works in relation to another gift of the spirit; the gift of interpretation of tongues. What Paul is asking is do all have the gift of tongues. The answer is no they do not. Neither does everyone work miracles. However, the Holy Ghost is promised to all.

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On the day of Pentecost, the gift of tongues was not in operation, the gift of the Holy Ghost was. When the 120 men and women came out of the upper room, they were speaking in the languages of those present. Consequently, no interpretation was needed. If I speak in Spanish and you understood Spanish, no interpreter is needed. The gift of tongues only operates in concert with the gift of interpretation.

Tongues is nothing to fear. It is simply a language. When we yield ourselves to God, He will speak through us. God gives the Holy Ghost to those who obey Him. It is a promise to everyone on earth. To everyone from the day of Pentecost until this day, the Holy Ghost is for you.

Apostle Peter knew that the house of Cornelius received the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues. The house of Cornelius was comprised of Gentiles and this took place eight years after the day of Pentecost. This refutes the belief that the Holy Ghost was only for the Apostles.

The reason Baptists, Methodists and every other religion does not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost is because they don’t seek for it. If you repent of your sins you can receive the Holy Ghost. If you repent of your sins and are baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, receiving the Holy Ghost then becomes a promise to you.

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The gift of the Holy Ghost is not the same as the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues needs the gift of interpretation to work properly. On the day of Pentecost they spoke in the languages of those who heard. An interpreter, as happens with the gift of tongues, was not present. The gift of the Holy Ghost is for everyone.

William James Roop

Monday, November 6, 2023

Holy Ghost Fire

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article from an unknown author that I wanted to share.

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8 Truths About the Fire

God’s presence is like a fire (Heb 12:29).

God’s Word is like a fire (Jer 23:29)

The Holy Spirit is like a fire (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:3).

1. Fire brings light -

How can we be the world’s light without a flame?

2. Fire brings heat -

God wants you to live radiating His love.

3. Fire purges -

God’s fire purifies your heart.

4. Fire needs fuel -

God may start the fire within you, but you must keep it going by your habits.

5. Fire spreads -

When you catch on fire for Jesus, those around you get affected.

6. Fire can be extinguished -

Bad habits and wrong people can put out God's fire within you.

7. Fire produces smoke -

When you get on fire for God, it can produce criticism and attract opposition.

8. Fire leaves ashes -

Ashes are a sign that your fire is no longer there, and only the memories of how you once loved God remain.

William James Roop

Saturday, November 4, 2023

In The Beginning, The Son?

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article by an unknown author I would like to share.

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In the beginning what form was the Son in? There was no heaven. He wasn’t sitting next to the Father. There wasn’t a place to sit. Nothing visible or invisible had been created. There were no angels. What form was God manifested in? None. There were no manifestations. There was nothing except the Word. And that Word was in the form of an invisible Spirit- and still is. Logos is the mind and thoughts of God.

People have for centuries conjured up images of things that are not accurate or true. Please understand heaven was “created.” It has not always been there. The one throne in heaven wasn’t always there.

All things that were created? They were created by Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? God manifest in the flesh.

The Bible doesn’t teach the Trinity in any measure, -the Bible teaches about one God. Some say these three are one. That’s not true. Three are not one, but one God is manifested in three.

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In the beginning then, what form or essence was the Father? The Son? The Holy Ghost. Three Spirit forms? The Son was an invisible Spirit? Three minds? You can’t say three minds are one mind.

God is a singular Spirit. Just one. John 4:24. The Holy one of Israel. The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is simply the name of God’s Spirit in us. It is a designation.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t think anything God doesn’t think. Two minds would be two Gods. Three minds would be three Gods. It’s unlearned to believe the Holy Ghost is a separate Spirit.

We are made in God’s image and likeness. Body, Soul, Spirit. We are for sure one being.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God. God was in Christ. There are not three persons in the Godhead.

It’s against what the Bible teaches.

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The Father and the Holy Spirit are one and the same.

The Father is a Holy Spirit. There is only one Spirit. That Spirit is God. That Spirit took on the form of man.

Heaven was created. In the beginning was the Word.

Nothing else.

That Word was God. The Word was the only thing. The mind of God, the thoughts of God. What form? The same as today.

God is an invisible Spirit. He has always been an invisible Spirit, and always will be. You cannot see God and you never will see God.

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The imaginations of the Father sitting on the throne are just that- imagined. God is an invisible Spirit who no man has ever seen nor can see. He is light that cannot be seen.

“which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of Lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” 1 Tim ‬ ‭6:15-16‬ ‭

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Tim‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:” Colossians‬ ‭1:15‬ ‭

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Stephen did not see God when he looked into heaven. The Bible says he saw the glory “of” God. Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the brightness of His Glory. It all points to Jesus Christ. In Him - not them - dwells all the fulness of the Godhead Bodily.

That invisible singular Spirit overshadowed Mary and was born of woman.

He was then in the world and the world was made by Him. That’s simple. It says it was made by Jesus Christ in more than one place.

Some Christian leaders get angry when someone gets baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They will cast you out because you baptize in the only name that can cast out devils. They choose to be baptized - I can’t say in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, because they don’t. They get baptized by simply repeating the command of Jesus Christ instead of obeying it.

They say, “I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and the name of the Son, and the Name of the Holy Ghost.” Only they don’t - they don’t say one name. They don’t say the only name. Jesus Christ. Seven days after Jesus ascended Peter said to be baptized in that NAME.

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Baptism is in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

NAME of The Father, Son, Holy Ghost Mt‬ ‭28:19‬

NAME of Jesus Christ Acts‬ ‭2:38‬

‭NAME no other name than Jesus Christ Acts‬ ‭4:12‬

NAME of the Lord Jesus Acts‬ ‭8:16‬ ‭

NAME of the Lord Acts‬ ‭10:48‬ ‭

NAME of Lord Jesus Acts‬ ‭19:5‬ ‭

‭NAME all in the name of Lord Jesus Col 3:17

William James Roop

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Church Hurts

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article from an unknown author I would like to share.

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The church is perfect. The people in it are not.

The church is Holy. Sometimes we are not.

The church is Christian. Sometimes we are not.

The church can’t hurt you. It can only help you…

Someone “in” the church may have hurt you, but that wasn’t the church. We may be less than Holy, and less than Christian, but the Church is calling us to be Holy and Christian. While we fall short, the church does not. The church is glorious, illustrious, honorable, and free from sin. The church is without spot or wrinkle, but the people in the church need their spots and wrinkles removed again and again. Don’t hold the church to a standard, the church is the standard. We all fall short of what God wants the church to be, it’s why we keep attending. The church is always calling us higher. The church never failed you, although someone in the church may have. The church is a place of perfection filled with imperfect people. Go again!

Go again. Worship again. Give again. Believe again. Forgive again!

William James Roop

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

The Way Of Truth

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article from an unknown author that I wanted to share.

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Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life. The truth will make you free. Truth is defined as that which is fact. You can go no higher than truth. You can go no higher than Jesus, He is truth. Everything else is below Him. He is truth personified. He is truth in word and deed. The truth is absolute, complete, absent of any falsehood, pretense, or inaccuracy.

Truth is pure, free from the smallest inkling of an error. It is exact, precise. If we are to attain truth, we must build our pursuit on truth. The truth is the Word. Truth is every jot and tittle in its place. The God who has kept the word – kept His word.

Who is the Father? How would we describe him? A search of the entire book would yield two defining characteristics: He is the Holy one of Israel. He is Holy and He is a Spirit. Would it be correct to call Him a Holy Spirit? Yes. He is the ancient of days. Is it true the trinity is three co-equal persons? Jesus said my Father is greater than I. He was simply saying; my Father is a spirit, and the body I have taken on is flesh. The Spirit of God is greater than a fleshly temple.

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent Me.

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God is an invisible spirit that fills the universe. He fills the heaven of heavens. At what time He chooses, He has manifested Himself in the form of angels and light. Jesus said, “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Mark 8:36 What would it profit a purpose driven man to have his best life now and lose his own soul? You can absolutely, unequivocally , undoubtedly count on the Lord Jesus Christ to do everything He says He will do. He is Logos. He is the Word of God. He is our father. Malachi 2:10 says have we not all one Father? He is the everlasting Father full of grace and truth.

His word fails not. Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail…Isaiah 34:16 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Luke 16:17. He will not fail. (tittle= the tiniest bit--A small mark used in printing and writing such as an accent or punctuation mark.

He is the Chief Shepherd. He is the lamb of God. There is no office He does not fill. He is the high priest that offered Himself as the sacrifice. Truth, do you want it? Truth, do you have it? He is the spirit of truth. He is the way the truth and the life. There is only one true church. That church was founded on the day of Pentecost. If we are brothers, truth binds us. There are no cousins in this church.

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Jesus said it was His church. On this rock I will build my-(singular possessive pronoun) church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The bible is one book written by one God.

The bible was written by 40 different writers, over a period of 1600 years. The single most important event outlined in the Holy Book is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The reason He came was not to live, rather He came to die. The culmination of the sacred thoughts of God were finally finished. When did it begin? He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It was not written back then, but it was in the mind of God. He would one day manifest himself in flesh and be crucified for you and me.

The event of the ages has taken place. 2000 years ago Jesus Christ of Nazareth died on Mt Calvary. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. He arose on the third day.

He is God. He is God alone. There is none like Him. None can be compared to Him. None can give Him counsel. He will not share his glory with another. There is only one thing He does not know; another God. His breath is our life. Our lives are in the palm of His hand. In Him we live and move and have our very being. He made us a living soul. There is only one perfect, Holy, God breathed book in the entire universe. Let God be true and every man a liar.

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He is Logos. He is thought. But his thoughts are much higher than ours. If He thinks it, it was already there. He does not discover truth, He is Truth. He does not increase in knowledge. His thoughts are perfect. He does not think before He speaks. He doesn’t ponder, hesitate, wonder, experiment, He is perfect. He is complete. He is God. Every adjective fails to come close to matching his Glory and splendor. He is the only true and wise God, Jesus Christ our savior.

His ways are higher than ours are. He is beyond finding out. Our wisdom is foolishness with Him. There is only one thing to do. Worship Him. He is Alpha, Omega, the beginning and the end the first and the last, and beside Him there is no God. Who has given Him counsel? None. Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. Jesus Christ was born a man. His name shall be called Emmanuel. He was in the world, and the world was created by Him. He reveals Himself to select ones. He won’t slip trip or fall, and He doesn’t wear safety shoes.

If you know who He is, there would be no necessity of a revelation. No man can say Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Ghost. This is the crux of the matter, the hinge point of Christianity. Do you know who Jesus is? He is God, Spirit, Holiness, and manifested in the flesh. He is not the second person in the trinity manifest. Not the son of a father. Answer these questions if you can. What form was the Son in the beginning? What form was the Father in? The Spirit? There was no form, there was no manifestation there was the thought of God which is invisible, the Spirit which is invisible. The Spirit, the Word are indivisibly one. Jesus said the words I speak are spirit and they are life. The Father, the Word, the Spirit are inextricably linked together.

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In the beginning was a throne? No. In the beginning was the heavens and the earth? No. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. In the beginning was the Word. In what form? A bible? Written words? None of these. The very essence of God is what makes him God; His mind. Logos.

That’s who He is. One single mind. In the beginning, if our finite minds can imagine it, there was nothing. There was only God alone. No heaven, no earth. Only God in his eternal form that never changes. He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. Time was not yet on the clock. There was no light. There was no darkness. There was only God. There was only Logos. There was only a name. A name that would one day be revealed, the name above every name. His name is above every name in this world, and the world to come.

Isaiah would come the closest in describing that name. He shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. His name heals, delivers, sets the captive free, heals blinded eyes, opens deaf ears. His name is the saving name. His name is the only name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. There is salvation in no other name. Jesus! We must be saved by that name. The salvation is in the name.

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Who is Jesus? How would you describe him? He is the Word of God. He is the thought of God. He is God. He is all, everything, complete, perfect. He is indescribable. He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

He has exalted His word above all His name. His word is the very essence of who He is. He is the Word made flesh. His essence is His character. He is Love. He is the I AM. He is the creator of this universe. He is the creator of all things. He is the saviour of the world. He is the BRANCH. He is the door. He is the lamb. He is the high priest. He has a name and that name is Jesus Christ. He kept us, and died for us before we ever heard the Name. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Before His Name came from our lips, He was calling us.

William James Roop