Many people today hear the word submission and immediately think of something degrading or humiliating. They associate it with weakness or inferiority, and thus the Bible’s teaching about a wife submitting to her husband is often quickly dismissed without proper consideration. The Scriptures present a very different picture, which is neither shameful nor demeaning. Submission is honorable, reasonable, and an example of God’s wisdom in designing the home. Any group of people requires leadership to be orderly and function properly.… Read more
Category: Obedience
A Tremendous Lack of Love
If we know the Truth but refuse to live by it, this reveals a tremendous lack of love on many levels.
• A lack of love for God: If we truly loved Him with all our hearts, we would be doing His will to please Him and to be with Him forever (Mt. 22:36-38; 1 Jn. 2:3-4; 5:3).
• A lack of love for Christ: If we truly loved God’s Son, we would be obeying Him out of gratitude for His selfless sacrifice: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn.… Read more
What If Jesus Were Coming Back Next Week?
When asking the question, “What if Jesus were coming back next week?” understand that there is absolutely no way to know when Jesus will return. Jesus said we cannot know when He will return, and even Jesus Himself did not know when He would return: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Paul wrote that there is no need to waste time speculating about “times” and “seasons” regarding Christ’s return: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.… Read more
Why Ephesians 2:8-9 Does Not Teach Salvation by Faith Alone
• Acts 19 records the day the Ephesians were saved, and they were not saved by faith alone or told to pray—they were baptized to wash away their sins, just as others had been (Acts 19:5; cf. 2:38; 10:35; 22:16). Ephesians 2 was written after they had been saved by grace through obedient faith, submitting to Christ in baptism (Mt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15-16; Gal. 3:26-27).
• Paul was not contrasting faith and obedience, but grace and the Law of Moses.… Read more
Men, Keep Your Shirts On
Many people now consider it socially acceptable for men to be shirtless in public, with much of their bodies on display. Is this pleasing to God? For many years, faithful Christians have taught that God set an objective standard for modesty that applies to both men and women when He clothed Adam and Eve in a garment that covered them from the neck to the knees. Scholars and commentators also note this same point.
In Packer and Tenney’s Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible, the Hebrew word translated as “coats” (KJV) or “tunics” (NKJV) in Genesis 3:21 is described as a garment that reached from the neck to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles.… Read more
God Comes First
Jesus left no doubt about the top priority in life: God must come first. No relationship, career, or personal interest should ever take priority over our loyalty to Him. In fact, placing anything above God is a form of idolatry (Col. 3:5).
1. God Comes Before Family – Jesus warned that following Him may cause division, even in our own households: “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.… Read more
Immigration into the Holy Nation
Countless millions have longed to enter the United States seeking freedom and opportunity. Still, as great as this nation may be, there is one far greater: the “holy nation” built by Jesus Christ nearly 2,000 years ago (1 Pet. 2:9). The USA will not last forever, but Christ’s nation/kingdom/church will last forever and ultimately be “delivered up” to Heaven (Dan. 2:44; Matt. 16:18–19, 28; 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 5:23). Regarding immigration into Christ’s holy nation:
We Must Go Through the Legal Process – Just as legal steps are required to become a U.S.… Read more
Without Holiness, We Will Not See God
Many who claim to be Christians do not seem to take sin seriously. They joke about their disobedience and show little concern for living righteously—but sin is what nailed our Lord to the cross. There is nothing more serious than that, and true love does not rejoice in iniquity (1 Corinthians 13:6). Impenitent sin is just as deadly after conversion as it was before conversion (Acts 8:12–24; 1 Corinthians 10:11–12; James 5:19–20).
Jesus, the very one who died to save us, also commands us to take up our cross of obedience and self-denial daily (Luke 9:23).… Read more
Another Jesus, Another Spirit, Another Gospel
Paul feared that the Corinthians might be deceived as Eve was, being led away from the pure doctrine of Christ. He wrote, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).… Read more
The Truth May Seem Strange at First
Just because simple New Testament Christianity may seem “strange” to you, that does not mean you should reject it.
When Christ’s church first began, it was new and unfamiliar to everybody. It did not match the Jewish traditions or the pagan practices people had followed for centuries. However, when they realized the Truth, they did not let unfamiliarity stop them. They made the necessary changes and became part of it. That is what God expected then, and that is still what He expects today.… Read more
Why Christians Do Not Observe the Sabbath (Brief)
The Bible teaches that the Sabbath was given only to Israel, and only from the time of Moses until the cross of Christ. It was never meant to be a law for all people across all generations. Today, under the New Covenant, Christians live under the Law of Christ, not the Law of Moses. The following points briefly explain why Christians do not observe the Sabbath.
- Because the word “Sabbath” is not found in Genesis—there was no Sabbath command, example, or punishment for anyone from Adam to Moses, indicating it was not a universal law for all people of all periods.
ChatGPT and the “Deathbed Salvation” Objection to Water Baptism
Question for ChatGPT:
You have repeatedly stated that water baptism is necessary for salvation (based on Biblical teaching), and I agree, but what if someone argues that water baptism cannot be essential, because that would mean people on their “deathbeds” could not become saved?
ChatGPT said:
That’s a great question, and it’s a common objection. Here are a few ways to respond to the argument that water baptism cannot be essential for salvation because it would allegedly exclude people on their deathbeds from being saved:
1.… Read more
ChatGPT and The Thief on the Cross
Question for ChatGPT:
If people use the penitent thief on the cross to say that people do not have to be baptized in water today to be saved, how would you respond?
ChatGPT said:
“If someone argues that the penitent thief on the cross proves that baptism is not necessary for salvation today, here are a few ways you could respond:
1. The Thief Lived Under the Old Covenant
- The thief on the cross was saved before Jesus’ death and resurrection, meaning he was still under the Old Covenant (Hebrews 9:16-17).
How Are We Using Our Days?
A 30-year-old person has lived about 11,000 days. 50 years is 18,250 days. An 80-year-old has lived over 29,000 days! What have we done with our days, and what are we doing with our days? God will hold us accountable for how we have spent the time He gave us (Matthew 25:14-30). Will we be justified to tell God we had no time for Him, the very one who gave us our existence? Do we realize how valuable time is, and do we use our time wisely?… Read more
We Don’t Love Jesus If We Don’t Obey Jesus
Did Jesus emphasize obedience to His commands, or simply believing in Him and trusting that “faith alone” will be enough? The following words are all from the same discourse to His disciples. Notice how He ties love with obedience: “If ye love me, keep my commandments…He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him…If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.… Read more