Truth Magazine

By Clarence Fell

Anger

• Be slow to anger (Prov. 16:32).
• Warps understanding (Prov. 18:13, 17, 19).
• Overlook mistakes sometimes (Prov. 19:11).

Assembly

• Not to be forsaken (Heb. 10:24-25).

Baptism

• Christ commanded (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16).
• Rejection of baptism is a rejection of God (Luke 7:30).
• Baptism is into Christ (Gal.3:27).
• Baptism is unto remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
• Baptism is part of the plan of salvation (1 Pet. 3:21).
• Baptism is a burial (Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12).

Belief and Obedience

• Saving faith obeys (Rom. 10:16; Heb. 3:18-19; 5:9; Jas. 2:14-26; 1 Pet. 2:7).
• Love obeys (John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10, 14).

The Bible

• God’s final and complete word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3; Jude 3; John 15:15).
• It will judge all men (John 12:48).
• It will never pass away (Luke 21:33).
• Reveals salvation (John 8:31-32; Rom. 1:16).
• Man not to alter (Gal. 1:6-9; 3:15; Rev. 22:18-19).

Bible is the Pattern

• Avoid those who change (Rom. 16:17; Gal. 1:6-9).
• Follow apostles’ example (Phil. 3:17; 4:9; 2 Thess.  2:15; 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:3; 4:6; 2 Tim. 1:13; Heb. 6:12;
• Jas.1:25; 1 John 2:24; 2 John 9-10).

Blood of Christ

• Blood saves (Rom. 5:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20).

Boasting

• No grounds for boasting (Luke 17:7-10).
• Is foolishness (Jas. 4:13-17).

Calling of God

• Is through preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:14-17; 2 Thess. 2:14; John 6:44-45).

Celibacy (1 Tim. 4:1-5).

Children

• Are a blessing (Ps. 127:3-5).
• Are to obey parents (Eph. 6:1-3).
• Are to be taught (Eph. 6:4).
• Are to be imitated (Matt. 18:4-10).
• Jesus enjoyed them (Matt. 19:13-15).

The Church

• Jesus established one church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:4).
• He purchased it with his blood (Acts 20:28).
• He is the only savior and head (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23).
• The church is reproduced only by planting the pure word of God (Luke 8:11; 1 Tim. 3:15).
• Denominational division is contrary to God’s plan (John 17:21; 1 Cor. 1:10).

Confession

• Essential (Matt.10:32-33).
• Of faith in Christ (Acts 8:37).
• Unto salvation (Rom. 10:8-10).
• Confession alone is not enough (Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 6:46).

Death

• Christians not to fear (Matt. 10:28).
• Like a sleep (John11:11; Acts 7:60; 13:36).
• A rest for saints (Rev.14:13).
• Not the end (Luke 16:19-31).
• We carry nothing out (1 Tim. 6:7).

Divorce

• Forbidden (Matt. 5:31-32; 19:1-10; Mark 10:1-12; Luke 16:18; Rom. 7:1-3; 1 Cor. 7:1-16).

Elders and Deacons (1 Tim. 3:1-13; Tit. 1:5-9).

Faith

• Comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17).
• Obeys (Rom. 10:16; John 6:26-29).
• Is essential (Heb. 11:6).
• Can be worthless (Jas. 2:14-26).

 

Forgiving Others

• Is to your glory (Prov. 19:11).
• Required (Matt. 6:14-15; Col.3:13).
• God is our example (Eph. 4:32).

Good Intentions

• Alone not enough (Matt. 7:21-23; Rom. 10:1-2).

Government (Rom. 13:1-7).

Heaven

• Home of the faithful (Rev. 21:1-27; 22:1-5).

Hell (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 14:11; 20:10, 15; 21:8).

Homosexuality

• Forbidden (Lev. 20:13; Rom. 1:27; 1 Cor. 6:9).

Husbands (1 Cor. 7:3; 11:3; Eph. 5:25-33; Col. 3:19; 1 Tim. 5:8; 1 Pet. 3:7).

Judging Others

• Judge righteous judgment (John 7:24; Matt. 7:15-20).
• Restore the fallen (Gal. 6:1).
• Avoid evil men (1 Cor. 5:11; 15:33).

Kingdom of God

• Not visible (Luke 17:20-21).
• Not of this world (John 18:36).
• Established in the first century (Mark 9:1; Col. 1:12- 13).

Law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21).

Love

• Obeys (John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10, 14).
• Brotherly (Rom. 12:9-21; 1 Cor. 13:4-7).

 

Obedience

• Required of all (Matt. 7:21-23; John 14:23-24; 1 Cor. 7:19; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Heb. 5:9).

Once Saved Always Saved

• Unfruitful cast out (John 15:5-6).
• Fear of being disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27).
• Take heed (1 Cor. 10:5-12).

Parents (Deut. 6:6-9; Prov. 13:24; 29:15; Eph. 6:4).
Peace (Phil. 4:6-7).

Persecution (2 Tim. 3:12).

Prayer

• Brings peace (Phil. 4:6-7).
• God answers (Jas. 5:16).
• No need to fear in prayer (Heb. 4:16).

Repentance

• Required (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30).
• Is a privilege (Acts 11:18).
• God desires all to repent (2 Pet. 3:9).

Resurrection (John 5:28; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Riches

• Desire for can cause pain (1 Tim. 6:6-19).
• True riches are in Heaven (Matt. 6:19-21).
• Can’t serve two masters (Matt. 6:24).
• Your soul is priceless (Matt. 16:26).

Salvation

• Hear God’s Word (Rom. 10:14-17).
• Believe in Jesus (John 3:16; Heb. 11:6).
• Repent of your sins (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30- 31).
• Confess Jesus as Lord (Rom. 10:9-10; Matt. 10:32-33).
• Be baptized for the remission of sins (John 3:5; Mark 16:16;Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-5; Gal. 3:27; 1 Pet. 3:21).

Silence of God

• We are to respect God’s silence (Lev. 10:1-2; Deut. 29:29; 2 Sam. 7:7; Isa. 55:8; Jer. 14:14; 23:21; Ezek. 13:7-8; 1 Cor. 2:11).

Singing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

Speech

• Let your yes be yes (Matt. 5:37).
• Every idle word counts (Matt. 12:36).
• No corrupt speech (Eph. 4:29; 5:4, 12).
• Seasoned with grace (Col. 3:8; 4:6).

Study

• Complimented (Acts 17:11).
• Commanded (2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:18).
• The way of growth (2 Pet. 1:5-11).

Trust

• Absolute (Job 13:15).
• In the face of danger (Dan. 3:16-18).

Wisdom of Man (Prov. 14:12; Isa. 55:8-9; Jer. 10:23; 1 Cor. 1:25-27).

Wives (Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18; 1 Pet. 3:1-6).

Working (Eccl. 3:12-13; 1 Tim. 6:1-2; Tit. 2:9-10; 1 Pet. 2:18-21).

Works (Gal. 5:6; Eph. 2:10; Jas. 2:14-26).

Worry (Matt. 6:25-34).

Zeal

• Zeal alone is not enough (Rom. 10:1-2).
• God’s people are zealous (Tit. 2:14).

By Harold Fite

Guilt is a heavy burden to bear. It caused Peter to weep and drove Judas to hang himself. It prompted David to say, “Make me to hear joy and gladness” (Ps. 51:8). Guilt removes joy, peace, and tranquility. It can destroy our physical and mental health. To continue in guilt over a prolonged period is to lose respect for self, and not having a self to live with is tragic.

Guilt feelings may be justified or may not be justified. You may feel guilt because of a failure to measure up to what people expect of you. You may also feel a sense of guilt because you didn’t measure up to self-imposed goals. The greater problem is a failure to measure up to God’s law. This is what this article is all about.

Guilt is, “trouble arising in our mind from a consciousness of having done contrary to what we are verily persuaded was our duty” (Oxford Dictionary). It is a failure to live up to the “ought.” Where there is no sense of “ought,” there is no sense of guilt.

Guilt comes as the result of breaking law. To violate God’s law is sin (1 John 3:4; Isa. 53:6; 2 John 9; Rom. 3:23). Sin produces guilt. Conscience also comes into play. There is no guilt without conscience! Conscience is “the sense within us by which we approve or disapprove for having followed, or failed to follow a standard known by us.” In speaking of the Gentiles, Paul said, “they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thought one with another accusing, or else excusing them” (Rom. 2:15). Our standard is the word of God and our conscience excuses or accuses us when we follow or fail to follow that standard. We must not ignore conscience.

There are two kinds of guilt: (1) Subjective, (2) Objective. In most states a person who commits a crime must be examined by a psychologist to determine whether the defendant is mentally capable of standing trial. The psychologist is not concerned with “what” he has done but “why” he did it. What were the circumstances? What pressure was he under at the time? What in his background would cause him to commit the crime? The prosecutor, on the other hand, is not concerned with why the person committed the act, but that he violated the law and must pay the penalty.

Many look to God as the psychologist. They think explaining to God why they sinned against him — outlining the circumstances; the tremendous pressure they were under at the time — that God will understand and rule in their favor. Saul pursued this course without success. Saul didn’t destroy the Amalekites and tried to blame the people for his failure: “the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen . . . I feared the voice of the people and obeyed their voice” (1 Sam. 15:15, 24). God was not concerned why Saul disobeyed him, but that he did, and he removed him from being king. While transporting the Ark, Uzzah touched it, violating God’s command. God killed him on the spot! Uzzah could have argued that the oxen shook the Ark and it looked as if it were going to fall and he instinctively reached out for it. God’s concern was that his commandment had been broken and Uzzah had to suffer the consequences of his action, circumstances notwithstanding. God is not concerned with the circumstances surrounding our sin, but that we have sinned and must bear the guilt of sin.

The Jews under the law could not remove the guilt of sin. It was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin (Heb.10:4). Their sacrifices reminded them daily of their sinful state (Heb. 9:9). It took the blood of Jesus Christ to “cleanse your (their) conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). Guilt is expiated by punishment or atonement. Thanks be to God who chose for us the latter. “Him who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Modern man is trying to flee from guilt. The word “sin” has almost become archaic. A new vocabulary is being created to negate guilt: abortion, alternate life-style, love baby, unacceptable, etc. Renowned psychologists flippantly announce to the world, “You can have it all without guilt.”

Only the blood of Christ can remove the guilt of sin. For the blood to be viable it must be applied. The blood is the remedy for sin; the word is the applicator. Jesus said, “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). Peter, how- ever, told those gathered on Pentecost, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins . . .” (Acts 2:38). Without the blood of Christ one cannot be saved. Jesus shed his blood for all men, but we will never receive the blessings that God intended for us to receive unless we apply the word.

The sinner might reply, “That’s too easy! I must suffer for my sins.” Here is the good news: Jesus has already done the suffering for you and atoned for your sins.

Dear reader, why go through life burdened with the guilt of sin? Purify your soul in obedience to the truth (1 Pet. 1: 22).

By Steve Wallace

Luke 16:19-31 contain an inspired account of life after death. Both Lazarus and the rich man died. The Bible re- cords what happened to them afterwards. We, by faith, look at this and other inspired accounts to learn God’s teaching about the afterlife.

We are presently experiencing an explosion of information regarding another supposed source of knowledge about life after death: The Near Death Experience or NDE. In 1994 the recent history of the NDE was chronicled from the standpoint of books in print:

As a publishing phenomenon, it all began with Closer to the Light, written a few years ago by Melvin Morse. That book sold well and so was soon followed by his sequel, Transformed by the Light. Mr. Morse did not claim an otherworldly encounter himself but soberly catalogued the stories of hundreds of near-death cases. Next came the classic of the genre, Betty J. Eadie’s 1992 Embraced by the Light, so successful that even now it tops the bestseller lists. Then Saved by the Light, by Dannion Brinkley, also a bestseller. He sees Mrs. Eadie one up by having died not merely once but twice, returning each time with various prophesies we ignore, he warns, at our peril. And now we have Beyond the Light, by Phyllis Atwater, who has trumped Mr. Brinkley with a third trip to higher realms (The National Review, September 12, 1994).

Suffice it to say that it will help us if we prepare to confront the NDE phenomena in people to whom we try to teach the gospel. We will likely meet people who have been in some way influenced by it.

While NDEs of many people contain similarities it must be pointed out that researchers have found differences in almost every story in spite of similarities. Cases have been found where people had negative NDEs in which they imagined themselves in hell or in a very unpleasant place. Others have had NDEs that are compatible with the teachings of Hinduism. An atheist reported having an NDE and continued on in his unbelief after being resuscitated. In another case, a criminal who confessed to having killed two people had an NDE where he saw himself among saved people. Still another woman who had an NDE said that she now believes in reincarnation but not in God. Others have switched religions or become more religious. There is no consistent message from NDEs.

By contrast, the Bible speaks against the NDE as a source of knowledge about matters pertaining to God, the afterlife, and salvation. To show this we offer the following points:

1. Near death, not dead. People who have had NDEs were brought back from being clinically dead. They were clearly not dead in the Bible sense of the word (Jas. 2:26; Eccl. 12:7). Biblically, a person only dies once (Heb. 9:27). The Bible teaches that we go to the afterlife after death, not near death (Luke 16:19ff). Hence, reports from NDEs are similar to someone coming back from a ride in a balloon and telling what they saw on the moon!

In light of the above facts, the next point logically follows.

2. NDEs are born of one’s subjective feelings. They are not found in the Bible. The NDE is our age’s contribution to the “religious experience” common among denominationalism. For centuries, people have claimed to have had some sort of “salvation experience.” Today, people are simply going a step further, claiming not only to have been saved, but to have gone into the spirit-realm of saved beings. The same verses that answer the claimed “religious experiences” of our denominational friends answer the experiences claimed by those resuscitated from near death (Jer. 10:23; Prov. 16:25). God’s people should not let NDE claims bother them anymore than the traditional claims people have made in past. They all come from the same source: the mind of man.

3. People who claim to have had NDEs are not Christians! Do you know a N.T. Christian among the people claiming to have had a “positive” NDE? (I do know that one man who had such an NDE had killed two people!) How can a person who has had an NDE claim to have the comfort of the knowledge of salvation when God has said he has fallen short of what it takes to enter heaven (Matt. 7:21)?

4. Reports from NDEs are inconsistent with Bible cases of people returning from the afterlife. Paul was forbidden to reveal what he heard in “the third heaven!” (2 Cor. 12:1-7). Further, there is no account of any resurrected person — in either the O.T. or N.T. — telling what he experienced while dead! This is especially noteworthy when we consider the number of people raised from the dead in the Bible (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37; 13:20-21; Mark 5:35-43; Luke 7:11-16; John 11:1-54).

5. There is no value in those really dead returning. The rich man thought it would be a good thing if Lazarus went back from the dead and spoke with his five brothers. Abraham told him otherwise (Luke 16:26-31).

6. God communicates to us today through his word. The many books being written about NDEs and the messages of comfort they contain are like so many denominational creed books. They represent another gospel, separate and apart from that found in the N.T. (Gal. 1:8-9; 2 John 9-11). It is the gospel of Christ that holds the power of salvation for all men today (Mark 16:15; Rom. 1:16). Let us do our best to turn people away from the message of the NDE and to the inspired word of God.

Conclusion

There is only one credible testimony regarding what happens when we die. It is the Bible. In a precarious world, we are all potentially “near death.” Are you near heaven or hell? The Bible will both answer this question for you and tell you how to prepare to go to heaven and avoid hell.