More On Sin These are just a few more thoughts of depravity—our falling short of God’s righteousness… Sin connotes the serpent in the minds of men and is a transgression of God’s laws (1 John 3:4). Sin is the inherent unwillingness of man to abide in the sphere of limitation set by God. While an angel became sin (the source…
Greed, Depravity, and Judgment Reference verses: Deuteronomy 5:1 through 6:1 After dictating the Ten Commandments, God wrote them in stone. He said nothing else. These laws were given by God Himself. They are an indictment against the obvious traits of human nature. Therefore, all moral conduct and theory hangs on the commandments. Redemption is the only hope for fallen humanity…
The Fall of Man Webmaster’s Note: A deeper understanding of both God and the Living Word comes not only from accurate Bible study materials and proper instruction, but also from you. When you take your time, meditate upon key points, and look up given verses for yourself, in your very own physical Bible, your walk with the Lord takes on…
The Nature of Humanity THE PRODUCTION OF THE HUMAN SIN-NATURE People are basically the same wherever we go and wherever we find them, except for certain characteristics such as: culture, color, language, personality, and physical appearance. These differences are distinguishable, but they are only superficial. Man’s nature is inherently human. Thus, all mankind share a common denominator – the human…
The Weight of Self People spend much time pursuing ambition, material possessions, and lusts of the flesh and of the sin nature, when infinite peace and joy are available to them every day. People allow peer pressure in the work place, social groups, and other relationships to keep them distracted and competing for temporary happiness and material possessions. Inordinate ambition…
What… is Evil? Evil is not something that has a life of its own, rather, it is a corruption of a perfect creation. Evil is the addition of corruption that caused perfect to be imperfect. Good has always existed but is restricted—good is something less perfect because evil co-exists. Both exist, but neither is an entity. Evil is a perversion…
Find Your Way Back… Come Home Thirteen points on back-to-basics: Do you want to feel better about who and what God is? Then realize who and what you are. So, who are you? You, like everyone else, are a sinner saved by grace. So, what are you? You are a human being, meaning: you’re not God. Your being is human….
The Struggles of the Soul Through the lens of Christ my Savior, I can see (and live) closer to the reality of eternity because the view is more clearly defined. The errors of worldly thinking are many. Ravi Zacharias once explained that: “For the Hindu, ‘karma,’ the moral law of cause and effect, is a life-defining concept. Life carries a…
Lusts of the Flesh Our sin nature covets the praise of peers, the approval of others, and our approbation lust runs wild… until we are slaves to it. Examples: The self-righteous person, those with an inferiority complex, and self-centered individuals. Egotism: power lust, the need to be seen. Bullying: internal conflict and misplaced aggressions. If you want to eliminate trouble…
The Sin Nature Arrogance of the Species We humans sin because we can. We sin because we have the knowledge of good and evil. We sin because we have volition (freedom to choose). We sin because we have the Adamic (Adam’s) Nature—the sin nature; the “old man” of Ephesians 4:22; the “flesh” of Romans 8:3,4; the principle of “sin” of…
Apostasy in the Last Days Apostasy is defined as “One who has fallen away from the consistent, daily intake of God’s Word.” In times of apostasy, society turns its back on God and in so doing, depends more and more on government. As a result, the government becomes too big and too powerful. The more society depends on the government,…
Addiction Since everyone has a human nature that sins, everyone has a sin nature. We all have addictions—many kinds, and another one, too! A lifelong, close friend—Leroy Wyatt (now with the Lord), confided in me often—just about every time we got together. The one statement I remember most of all was this: “Chancey (my friends growing up called me Chancey—my…
Smudge Pot or Torchbearer The Doctrine of Worry In certain parts of California, it can be a disaster of catastrophic proportion to the citrus crop if the temperature drops below 32°F. Therefore, the industry, in an effort to help reduce loss of crops, place thousands upon thousands of little pots in the citrus groves which they light at night during…
The Sin We’re In — What Is Sin? “The Sin We’re In Blinds Us To The Sin We’re In!” Victor P. Hamilton, author of Handbook On The Pentateuch (Baker House Books, 1982), aptly inquired: “Why should one want to abandon his sin(s) if he can have both his sin(s) and the presence of God?” “How convenient is that…
Addictions COUNTERFEIT WORLDS Fleshly Addictions Christ Himself told us that we have three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The “world” refers to other people, temptations, and counterfeit living without God in the Devil’s world. The flesh is our most powerful enemy… the flesh is most attracted to the world and its addictions. The Devil is the most…
Peace in the Valley Our primary function as believers is spiritual growth through the inhale and the exhale of God’s Word (studying and meditating upon His Truths, then applying what we learn to every detail of life) and its constant application to the details of life. When hardships, difficulties, and even suffering cause us undue pressure or pain, we are…
Wisdom – Appreciating and Respecting God A Brief Summary Commentary “Choose you this day whom you will serve (follow), as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”—we will follow wisdom. Think on this: Believing is intellectual. Wisdom is respecting God. Please turn to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is, in part, a biographical documentation of a king who had everything,…
To Forgive is Difficult This study appears under several categories. This is intentional. The doctrine of forgiveness may be defined as: letting go of resentment; excusing a guilty person of trespass; release from payment; forgetting an offense, never throwing it back on the person again; and finally, it means loving those who mock us, bully us, talk about us, and…
Instant Gratification Right after birth, the new born baby soon learns that crying will get it what it wants. Since it cannot talk, crying is also the baby’s only way to communicate that it is wet, or hungry, or something is wrong. When over-sensitive parents overreact to every little peep from their precious possession, they soon learn that that was…
I Will There are two wills in life: “I will” and “God’s will.” When we become more important than God, “I” dominates our thinking. When God is more important than self, God dominates our thinking and our lives. “Self is god of our life or God is God of our life. It’s one or the other.” – C. S. Craig C….