Do You Have Oil in Your Lamp?

Have you ever heard of a person who lights up a lamp or a candle and then puts it away under the bed? That would be a foolish man indeed. For the purpose of the lamp is to provide you with light. If you hide it away, it would make no difference if you did not light it in the first place. Jesus taught about the lamp and used it as an analogy to something more as we shall find out.

A Quiz About How Thankful You Are

In my High school days, I remember reading in my literature class a poem about the ‘ungrateful ingrates’. It was a famous analogy of a man who lives off another without any sign of gratitude. It was as if he was entitled to the mercy and grace from the other man and would even demand it. Fed up by his annoying behavior, the other man kicked him out. How many times do you say ‘thank you’ to God? Your parents? Friends who have supported you through difficulties? That loving and supportive spouse? Today, I want us to look at a story in the Bible about nine men who refused to show gratitude to Jesus.

God Has Got Great Plans for You

“For I know the plans for you, they are plans for good, not for evil to give you a future and a hope”-Jeremiah 29:11 I was enormously blessed when I read this verse the other day. You need to understand the context of the words of Jeremiah. Many a times we lose hope in life. We do not know where we are going and hence ask questions. We make plans on investment, raising children, going back to school….but we are weighed down by feelings of hopelessness and despair for we do not know where to start. We therefore stop and ask if there is indeed any hope.

Of Popes and Condoms

The remarks that ignited a “firestorm” by allegedly condoning condoms: “There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants.” Benedict’s circuitous comments, made in an extensive, book-length interview with German writer Peter Seewald, do not at all change Church teachings on sex and birth control but rather assert that condoms make health sense for male prostitutes as well as, presumably, male homosexuals whose only chances of becoming parents don’t begin in bedrooms but in courts.

The Blessing of Mercy and How It Effects Others

To be merciful is to a loving disposition towards those who experience suffering, distress. If you love, show compassion and forgiveness towards your neighbor, you will bring peace in your relationship. Remember that even in our Lord’s prayer, we ask forgiveness for our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. It means that if we are merciful towards others, so shall God show mercy unto us.

How to Conduct a One-To-One Bible Study on Revelations As a Freshman Prophecy Student

You don’t have to be a lettered theologian in order to conduct an effective Bible study on Revelations. While adequate knowledge of the word is crucial, if you have a love for the word of God and a burning desire to learn and share His wonderful truths, within a short time you will be able to gain enough knowledge to at least do a one-to-one study.

2012 Cataclysm and Doom, Is History Repeating Itself?

2012 is emerging as the doomsday narrative of choice, the pierce de resistance of End of World scenarios. This is not surprising really; the allure of 2012 is a combination of both its scale and diversity, as numerous traditions and mythologies point to this year as a significant milestone, as well as a growing collective notion that ‘something is just not right’. Is history really repeating itself and did the ancient Maya predict a cataclysm in the near future? In this short article, you will learn that history is indeed repeating itself, but the form of this repetition may take you by surprise!

The Crusades: First, Second and Third Crusades

The First Crusade was provoked by the preaching of Crusade against the Muslims by Urban II, at a synod at Clermont in November 1095. There had earlier been an appeal to the West for aid against the Muslims by Alexus Emperor of Constantinople, whose Eastern Roman empire the Muslims were threatening. Urban’s appeal widened the scope of the affair into the pious goal of rescuing the holy places in Palestine from Muslim domination.

Failed End-Of-World Predictions of Jesus’ Coming: Montanists and the Ecumenical Council (1000 AD)

Christianity has a long and richly varied history of failed predictions of Christ’s coming. Enough to warn Christians that their hope might after all be mistaken. But what is most remarkable about Christian belief in the second coming of Jesus is its resilience in the face of negative feedback blows of failure of predictions.

End-Of-The-World Armageddon-Apocalypse Religious Cults: The Taiping Rebellion in China (1850-1866)

But for the Eurocentrism of Western historians, the Taiping rebellion in China (1850-1866) was the greatest single revolution of the nineteenth century. Even in the nineteenth century, China was the most populous country in the world with a population of over 400 million. The scale and ferocity of the civil war in the Taiping rebellion exceeded any other in history up to that time.

The Christianity Delusion: Jesus Is Coming Soon – But When?

The Nineteenth Century was a particularly productive period in history with regard to the delusional Christian hope of Second Coming of Jesus. Some of the leading examples of Christian millenarian movements and failed predictions of Jesus’ coming came from the nineteenth century religious world of America.

The Book of Daniel and the Christian Armageddon – Apocalypse Millenarian Delusion

The Book of Daniel is probably the single most important influence in the evolution of Judeo-Christian Armageddon-Apocalypse Millenarian and eschatological culture. The book was also a significant factor in the emergence of the politically and ideologically fractious society of the first century B.C. into which Jesus was born. The first century Jewish historian, Yoseph ben Mattiyahu, known to history as Flavius Josephus relates the tale popularized in the bid to claim a date of authorship for the book which precedes the Greek Empire era: that when Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem in the fourth century B.C., Jewish priests (the predecessors of the Sadducees) opened the gates of the city to him and showed him Daniel’s purportedly 200 years old prophecy of his world conquest.