Many Christians thought that Jacob worked seven years for Laban, realized that Laban deceived him to marry Leah, and then worked seven more years before finally getting married to Rachel. However the bible shows that he took both Leah and Rachel immediately before he began serving Laban. For clarity, I advise you to read this Jacob's story in other translations of the Bible aside King James Version (KJV). Meanwhile lets look at look at some of the facts from the Bible: (Genesis 29:21 KJV) And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Please note that the 7 years of service required of Jacob were the total dowry and not the customary waiting period before a wife was given to the groom. In other words, Jacob took Leah after the customary waiting period which was a couple of days just like we read in vs 21. Notice that he said, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled" implying a certain number of d...
By Lex Meyer The “Rapture” theory is one of the most recent doctrines to have developed in modern Christianity. It was developed around the nineteenth century and has become exceedingly popular in the past 50 years. There are a number of variations about the rapture, such as pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation, but the general idea is that all Christians will be taken up to heaven at some point during the last days. It is sometimes referred to as the “secret rapture” because they believe it will come suddenly and without warning. They teach that the rapture could happen at any moment, so we must always be ready because no one knows the day or the hour. Many of the recent books and movies about the rapture convey an almost comical situation in which piles of clothes are left on chairs where people once sat, vehicles are suddenly abandoned while driving down the road, and everyone on earth (who are “Left Behind”) are overcome with confusion and...
The phrase "rebuke the devourer" is found in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. (Malachi 3:11 KJV) And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. In this verse Malachi records a wonderful promise of God to the nation of Israel. The Hebrew word translated “devourer” means “eater” and refers to the locust or caterpillar or any such creature that devours crops. The NIV translates Malachi 3:11 as “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops.” The “devourer” could also refer to plant diseases—really, anything that would destroy Israel’s crops: the NLT says, “Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.” Swarms of locusts were common in the Middle East in those days and could destroy virtually all the produce of an entire country. The devastation brought by locusts could be horri...
The parable of the dishonest steward is about a steward/ manager who, knowing that his master/employer was about to dismiss him because he was unfairly enriching himself through unethical and immoral practices in the course of transacting business for his master, repented of his sin and asked the debtors to only pay what they owed his master. Let's read the passage in the bible. (Luke 16:1-8) And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had squandered [wasted] his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his l...
There is so much misunderstanding in the Church today regarding the gift of prophecy. Many people believe that prophecy only refers to telling something before it happens. However, even in the Old Testament, the messages of the prophets contained as much, if not more, about the present than they did about the future. In Hebrew, the word translated prophecy is based on the word stem nābā, which simply means “to speak by divine inspiration, either in prediction or simple discourse.” “ Prophecies ” is transliterated (i.e. brought straight over from Greek to English) from the noun prophēteia . It is made up of pro , meaning “before, in time or position” and a form of the verb phēmi , meaning “to tell.” The verb form of this word can refer EITHER : Foretelling (predicting or telling something before it happens). It seeks to predict the future. It predicts or reveals personalities, occurrences, circumstances that will hap...
The story of Jesus and the rich young ruler can be found in Mark chapter 10, Matthew chapter 19 and Luke chapter 18. In the story, a rich man approached Jesus and said to him, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” In His response Jesus asked, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one-God.”? (Luke 18:18-19 WEB) A certain ruler asked him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus asked him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one-God. Critics of Jesus’ claims to divinity often use the above statements of Jesus as their evidence that Jesus is not God. They say that Jesus denied being God here by refusing the title ‘good’ as it is something reserved solely for God. The Unbelievers should notice that Jesus never said, “Don’t call me good,” or anything to that effect. Rather, He asked the young man a question, "Why do you call me good?" He was simply trying to get the man to think about what he...
Many people are often unsure what sin is in the New Testament. The lack of clarity is because there are certain life events/ actions that do not have direct examples in the Bible for which they can reference to. For instance, someone that gave to charity might be committing a sin if his sole purpose is to post the action on social media. In such circumstances, how do you determine if your actions are sinful or not. In the New Testament, there are two key parameters for judging sin. The first one is love, the second one is faith. We will begin by taking a close look at these two parameters. Firstly, let’s read Romans Chapter 13 verse 8: (Romans 13:8-10 KJV) Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandments, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namel...
The phrase “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” is found in Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10. (Matthew 12:31-32 KJV) Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. (Mark 3:28-29 KJV) Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: (Luke 12:10 KJV) And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. The word translated blasp...
The bible defines eternal life in John 17:3 as thus: (John 17:3 KJV) And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. To know God eternally is eternal life. To know him for a time like Adam is temporary life Eternal life is not prolonged existence or eternal continuance of being, for all the wicked have this and will be punished in conscious existence forever. (Matthew 25:41 KJV) Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: It is not merely eternal existence but eternal knowing of God.
For many weeks I have been studying Jesus statement in John 4:24. I dwelt on this verse because I believe that the understanding of the verse is key to the fulfilment of God's desire; for Jesus said, God seeks true worshippers to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The question is, have we been fulfilling this God's desire? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth? (John 4:23-24 ESV) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. ” In the above verses, Jesus first said, "the hour is coming and is now here". In other words, the type of worship He told the Samaritan Woman has not been practiced by anyone prior to that hour. This new method of worship is what the Father seeks from then onwards. Jesus thereafter said, God is spirit. By this is meant that God cannot be...
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