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Comments and Questions from our readers: God's Foreknowledge and Man's Free Will Can we be truly obedient to God’s commandments? How do we get victory over the sins that "spring up from inside us?" Should we separate from other believers over the doctrine of original sin? Could you tell me the beliefs of the nazarene? Why the insistence on the KJV? Is the call of God for service permanent? What toys should children play with? Is it really wrong for a man to have more than one wife? God's Foreknowledge and Man's Free Will Question: I have had much Biblical background, my husband on the other hand has had none. He has ask how we are "not" pre-destined. I tell him that we "are" destined, to Die. if we do not give our lives to Christ. I try to tell him that God has given us free will to choose eternal life or death, but cannot seem to explain. I believe my problem is that I don't believe it myself. If God knows all, He already knows what I will choose. (before I was even born) Why create a people that have to make such a choice? Why not just give them what He wants them to have? Eternal Life with Him. Why create a man that He already knows will mock Him and forsake His Son? Why are we born without a choice, just to be given a "choice" of whether to live eternally or die eternally? If it were so simple we all would choose Eternal Life, even not knowing what Eternal Life may be. No one wants to die, especially for all Eternity. Answer: Hi there, I apologize for taking so long to respond to your email and for responding on the website. However, our email keeps bouncing back to us because of your spam filter. I have been thinking and praying about how to answer you on this. I’ll do my best to give you my understanding on this matter and I pray it will be of help to you. The first thing I noticed about your comments and questions is that you make no mention of sin or the Saviour. These are the very two factors that best explain the answer to the dilemma in your mind. The fact that God sent his Son to be the Saviour of sinful men testifies to the fact that God’s goodness consists of far more than simple justice. God could have let all men perish and done nothing to save them and He would have still been a just God. Sin is MAN’S doing – NOT God’s! Men are sinners BY CHOICE – not by birth! If we perish it will be only our own fault – not God’s. If there is any truth in the Bible about God that stands out more than any other it is the fact that God cares about man and has done far beyond what He was obligated to do in order to redeem them from their sin. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:15 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Matt. 18:14 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Pet. 3:9 God created man, and He gave him a free will. God did not want robots or lifeless baby dolls to play with. God didn’t have anyone to show off for, so it isn’t like God was creating things to impress anyone. He created man for himself – not to satisfy selfishness, because He is not a selfish Being. God created man to bestow his love upon with the expectation that man would love God in return. Because God is a completely benevolent Being his greatest pleasure is bestowing his love upon the one He created in his own likeness. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. 4:11 God is love and He created man as an object of his love. Love is not really complete unless it is reciprocated – thus the pattern in all of creation of male and female, which is a testimony to us of why God created man. Christ and the church further displays the love of God toward man. Love is a choice – not an emotion. Therefore, God created man with a free will. In order to truly love God he had to be able to choose to do so. If God pre-programmed man without the freedom to choose, there would be no satisfaction in the attention He received from man. He wanted fellowship with someone as near to what He is as He could make them. Therefore, He made man in his own image and likeness. He has angels, but they are not made in his image and likeness. They can praise and worship him, but they can’t love God the way man can. God put himself at risk, so to speak, when He created man in such a way. He gave to man what He hadn’t given to any of the other created beings – his own likeness AND the freedom to choose or reject God. Man sinned. Basically, sin is rejecting God, his counsel, and his law, and living instead for your own selfish interests. Did God know man would do this? If He did, then why did He create man in the first place? Those are the age-old questions of those who fail to seek after God with all their heart. In their selfish human reasoning they conclude that God isn’t just if He knew man would sin, but created him anyway and then punishes him eternally for his sin. For many, this is a good excuse to live their life in sin and reject God. What a shame that they stumble at this trick of their own mind and perish forever after God has done so much to redeem them! God is just. God is also totally benevolent. That means that He does what is best to bring about the highest good for the whole universe. God doesn’t compromise his justice or his benevolence to suit the selfishness of a single sinner or a world full of them. Jesus said that one soul is of more value than the entire world and its riches. The value of the soul in the sight of God is far more than man seems to understand. What God has prepared for the redeemed in eternity is so far beyond the comprehension of mortal man that the Bible says, "…eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Cor. 2:9 The good in eternity that will be reaped because of God’s redemption will far outweigh the bad that will be reaped by those who rejected it. So God is GOOD, and God is JUST, and He has as his goal the highest good of the universe. Because sinful men reject God does not make God unjust. The problem is that man just can’t see all things clearly from where he is now. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part … 1 Cor. 13:12 God does have foreknowledge. But the first thing you need to realize concerning God’s foreknowledge is that He is outside of time and space. Those are limitations that He created for US – NOT himself. God sees everything from eternity while we see from inside this box of time and space. He sees from beginning to end all at the same time, while we see only what is happening at the present moment. When you attempt to put the same limits on God that are on man you will never be able to reconcile his foreknowledge with man’s free will. God isn’t doing things one step at a time – so to speak. God created everything in six days and then He rested from his labors. The Scriptures speak of times when God did enter time and space to deal with man, but He is not bound by those limitations. (i.e. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us"…John 1:14) We also need to realize that WE understand EVERYTHING in relation to time and space, so anything outside of that realm just doesn’t compute in our earthly minds. God not only knows what is going to happen from beginning to end, but He also knows what awaits beyond the end of time in eternity. Because He knows that, and we don’t, we are really charging God foolishly when we accuse him of being unjust because men die and go to hell. You CAN trust God. He does all things well! He IS trusthworthy! He is just and holy and has YOUR best interests in mind. When you simply trust him completely and give your heart to him, your understanding will be opened. Jesus said: "Except a man be born again he cannot SEE the kingdom of God." – John 3:3 He also said: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine… John 7:17. You must trust in God’s character before you can begin to understand his workings and his plan. All of creation cries out that God is a good, benevolent, loving God. All of the Word of God testifies to the same. How thankful we should be for that! If He were a malevolent being we can’t imagine what the universe would be like! Only sin can cause a person who is made in the image of this great God find fault with Him. I hope this will be of help to you and your husband in being able to have faith in God. We appreciate you writing and if we can be of any more help please let us know. Can we be truly obedient to God’s commandments? QUESTION: Okay, I agree that the commands of God are righteous and holy and need to be obeyed. I am truly born again and still have trouble walking in true obedience. Please explain how this is really accomplished in reality. Please give practical examples. It seem like I always fall short of the required obedience. HELP!! ANSWER: First of all, we are able to obey by the grace of God. That doesn’t make any real practical sense unless you get a clear understanding of what grace really is. Very simply, grace is the divine influence upon the heart. That is the dictionary definition. So many songs have been written, and so many sermons have been preached, calling grace "unmerited favor," and that has left the majority of people totally in the dark about what the true grace of God is, and how it works. One example of how grace works is this: if you are aware of God’s presence, you will be influenced by Him. For example, if you really realize that Jesus is watching, you will be able to turn from some temptation and obey Him. That is the grace of God at work. If you are not aware of his presence you will go ahead and yield and disobey. In this case you "fail of the grace of God," as spoken about in Hebrews 12:15. Most people think of grace as being something that they have nothing to do with and it is just arbitrarily bestowed upon them by God at his will. That is not correct. We are to be partakers of his grace. We are saved by grace – through faith. (Eph. 2:8) If you have faith in God, you will not only be conscious of his presence in your life at all times, but you will be seeking God’s will and influence in your life. You will want to know what God thinks, and what He would have you to do. Therefore, faith is the means by which we can be partakers of the grace of God. Without faith it is impossible to please him. Without faith, grace will not be alive and working in your life. "The just shall live by FAITH." That is the only way they can be partakers of God’s grace, and grace is the only way they can obey God and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Practical examples? Well, I can see this at work in my own life from the time I was saved. Before I was saved I didn’t tithe, I used bad language, and I had bad habits that I was addicted to. As soon as I was saved I knew that those things were not pleasing to God. I wanted to please God, so I started tithing, and have done so ever since. I stopped using bad language and never have done it again. I quit those bad habits and never returned to them. I was able to do this because of God’s presence in my life. I began to walk with God and to be aware of his presence all the time. I wanted to know what God desired for me to do and I began seeking his face and his will in everything. It has been almost 30 years, so I think I can safely say that I have the victory in those areas. Now if I can have victory in those areas, why can’t I have victory in any other area? If I can do ALL things through Christ, which strengtheneth me, then there should not be some sin that I just can’t shake. There should be no commandment that I can’t keep. Really, to think that there is some commandment we just cannot keep, or some sin we just cannot resist, is contrary to the Word of God. We have this promise: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Cor. 10:13 Now that is God’s word on the matter. Very simply, if we can’t obey it is simply because we don’t believe God (lack of faith). A person who really and truly cannot obey God, even though they desire to, and strive to, needs to examine his soul closely. He hasn’t yet attained to the true salvation that the Bible speaks of. Saved people are overcomers – by faith: For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5 The common teaching on Romans 7, that presents a normal Christian as one who desires to do right, but isn’t able, is WRONG! It is a total contradiction to the rest of the Bible, and especially the New Testament. All anyone has to do to see the fallacy of that awful teaching is simply read the following chapter – Romans 8. Romans 7 describes someone who is under conviction, but still ruled and led by carnal desires, so they cannot do right and obey God. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7) This is a description of an unregenerate person. I wonder if you are considering bad thoughts to be disobedience? Many people are making the mistake of confusing sin with temptation. They think a bad thought is evidence that they are wicked. Consider the fact that temptation starts in the mind. If you are going to sin you are going to have to think about it first. Sin is a conscious decision to do what is contrary to God and his law. That is far beyond a bad thought. There is a Tempter, and he will come to you in your mind first. What you do with that thought is what determines if it is sinful or not. Just a bad thought is not sin, it is temptation. But when you start devising a plan to carry it out, you have passed over the mark. You can resist temptation by dismissing that bad thought. You can do that by thinking on the things God said to think about: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phil. 4:8 You will find that when you are thinking on these things the bad thoughts are gone, and so is the temptation. Finally, let me say that since we are mortal and finite, and God is eternal and infinite, obeying God will make us humble and not haughty. We owe God so much more than we can ever repay, so even though we obey we still feel unworthy and inadequate in God’s sight. The closer we get to God, the smaller we get in our own eyes, and the more we realize that without Him we can do NOTHING. The life that we now live, we live by the faith of the Son of God. (Gal 2:20) We are not proud of ourselves because of our obedience to God, but realize that it is only by the grace of God working in us that we are able to do anything right. I hope this will be of help to you. If you have other questions please feel free to write. May God help you to find victory in this area. How do we have victory over the sins that "spring up from inside us?" Question: How do I get victory over sins that seem to spring up from inside me. Like lust, envy, pride, and anger? Answer: Hi there, I've been thinking about how I can answer you so that it will be of real help to you. I have also had to try to figure out how to say to you what must be said, and say it in a way that you will receive it. I certainly hope you will, because it is sent with a sincere desire to help, and not hurt you. First, I'm glad that you acknowledge that victory over sin is possible, according to the Bible. That is a step in the right direction, since most of the teaching going on these days does not agree with that, but teaches just the opposite. You have already overcome one major obstacle if you just believe the Bible instead of what is being taught by the majority of so-called Christians. If you really DO believe the Bible above what men teach then what follows will most likely help you. I was very troubled to hear you say that the presence of Christ didn't make any difference. It sure made a difference in the lives of everyone that we read about in the Bible who knew his presence. I also know that it DOES make a difference in my life. I was also very troubled that you seem to think that everyone is in the same boat as you are. I don't know what kind of people you fellowship with, or look to for counsel, but I can assure you that there are people who live in true victory and are not just "faking" it. You need to see that victory over sin and the world is one of the marks of those who are truly saved. It is not just a special blessing that some obtain - ALL who are born again are overcomers. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4 All the promises given in Revelation 1, 2, 3, and 21 are to those that "overcome." There are so many Scriptures, and I assume that you already know them, so I won't labor here to prove that the Bible teaches that saved people are overcomers. The Word of God describes very well for us the things that accompany salvation. 1 John is a good book to read to find the marks of a born again person. We have no right to assume we are saved if we do not measure up to what the Bible says. There are many people who claim to be saved even though they have no Bible evidence in their life at all. A simple profession does NOT constitute salvation. You have a problem and unless you are willing to examine EVERYTHING in your heart and life, you will not find an answer and you will not find victory. Now, the bottom line is that you are either confused about what sin really is and what it is not, OR you simply are not truly saved. I'm not telling you anything that I wouldn't apply to myself. We are told to "examine" ourselves to see if we be "in the faith." In other words, God instructs us to always be willing to lay it all on the table. God NEVER tells us to drop anchor and be so sure of ourselves that we are unwilling to check up once in a while. If you want a deceived heart I can't think of a better way to get one. Sin is an act of the will against the known law of God. (1 John 3:4) That is what sin is and we need to make that very clear. Natural desires (lusts) may lead to sin, (James 1) but natural desires are not sinful in themselves. God made us with those desires. It is when you ignore God's boundaries and formulate a plan to indulge those desires without regard for God's law that you enter into sin. It may be that you are blaming yourself for sin, when you are only being tempted. I cannot see into your mind, so only you know what is going on there. Just because a person is saved doesn't mean they will never be tempted. JESUS was tempted - but did not sin. He didn't yield to those suggestions by the devil and others to indulge himself regardless of God's will. You can do the same thing if He lives in you. Get a dictionary and look up those sins that you mentioned - envy, pride, lust, and anger. Envy is also defined as jealousy in the Bible. God is a jealous God, but He doesn't sin with it. Envy carries the meaning of wishing evil on someone because of their superiority in blessing or ability, or whatever. You despise them and would take great pleasure in seeing them fall. Is that what you are really struggling with? Or do you simply notice the fact that others do better, or are regarded more highly than you and you feel sorry for yourself? I don't believe that to be envy. To recognize the superiority of others will INSPIRE you unless you are caught up in your selfishness and can only think of yourself. If you really are struggling with true envy and you wish evil on others because they have things better than you, then you have a serious heart problem. You have natural desires, just like everyone else. Are you condemning yourself simply because you HAVE those natural desires? Just because people get saved doesn't mean they lose all their natural desires, but it DOES mean that they have them under control and exercise them within the boundaries God prescribes in his Word. They have yielded their "members servants to righteousness unto holiness." (Romans 6:19) If you are considering the mere possession of natural desires to be sin, then you are punishing yourself for nothing and you will never have victory. You will have those natural desires until you die. A. W. Tozer said, "We do God no honor and ourselves no good by assuming that we have sinned if we have not." However, if you are allowing your lusts to control you and you are seeking to fulfill them in ways contrary to God's will and God's Word, you need to realize that you have a real heart problem. People who are saved find the grace of God sufficient. You mentioned anger. God is angry with the wicked every day. (Psalm 7:11) Jesus looked around at those Pharisees with "anger." (Mark 3:5) God doesn't sin and Jesus wasn't sinning when He was angry with those Pharisees. It depends on what you are angry about. Is the root of your anger some selfish purpose? Is your anger springing from your pride? Or is your anger about some injustice or wicked thing that has been done? If you are angry with the wicked, you and God are on the same channel. If you are angry because you can't have your way, or someone is hindering you from fulfilling your own selfish desires, then it is sin. You mentioned a struggle with pride, also. Notice that all these sins that "spring up from inside" you could be summed up in one word - selfishness. Jesus made it clear that the first step in salvation is to deny ourselves. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matt. 16:24-25 When a person is truly saved, self has been crucified and the new life that you now live is CHRIST living IN you. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20 Because this is the way it is you are able to live according to the great commandments as Jesus laid them out: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matt. 22:37-40 You cannot have Christ AND self on the throne of your heart at the same time. If you love God supremely you will love others more than yourself. When that is a reality in your life these sins will quit "popping up," because the supreme purpose of your life will not be your own selfish designs, but the glory of God and the good of others. THAT is when you will find victory in your soul. The natural man loves himself supremely - not God. When the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and reveals to your soul what God really did by sending his Son to be the Atonement for your sins, you will fall in love with God. The Atonement is so designed that it will conquer your heart and all its worldly affections. That is the way it works. It isn't a mere financial transaction, where Jesus paid what we owed and the account is now settled. It is much MORE than that! The gospel is all about God winning the heart of a rebellious sinner - not just prescribing a pattern of behavior for him. It is all about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. When that becomes a reality to you, you will have victory - I can promise you that. Jesus answered and said unto 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. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:... John 14:23-24 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:3 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 1 John 2:4-5 I've done my best to give you a straight answer and identify the problem for you. You need to understand that I don't know you or your circumstances and so I have addressed all this with very little knowledge of what is going on in your life. I have not said that you are lost, but I see that as one of the possibilities from the facts you have given me. If you are not lost then you need to do some deep soul searching and study of God's Word to settle in your mind what is really sin and what is really just temptation. I pray that this will be of help to you in finding victory in your soul. You can have it – if you want it. Should we separate from other believers because of the matter of original sin? When the Bible talks about separation, who are we to separate from? I know that we're not supposed to fellowship with those mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6 and others but what about the people who go to church and act right but believe strange things? Like the 'sin nature'? Should I separate from them because one area of their Christian belief is not according to the Bible? In 2 Cor 6:14-18 we read about being separated from sinners. We cannot yoke up with unbelievers because there is just too much difference between us. We are in disagreement with them on the most important matters. We don’t even agree on what life is about or how it began. Our values are different and our morals are different. Our goals are all different. There is simply not any common ground on the things that matter most. Besides that, we will be corrupted in our minds and in our hearts by associating with lost people in such a way. We will start to think and reason like they do. We will begin to love the things they love and our heart will be drawn away from God. We are clearly warned that this will happen in the Word of God. God warned the Israelites repeatedly that if they took strange wives and gave their sons and their daughters to be married to the heathen around them they would forsake God and serve their idols, and that is exactly what happened over and over. We are a better and stronger influence when we don’t make leagues with the world, but keep ourselves separate from them. We have to live in the world and we have to buy and sell, etc., but we don’t have to yoke up with them. We shouldn’t involve ourselves in close relationships and fellowships with worldly people. There are worldly people in the church that a good Christian shouldn’t form close fellowship with. People who attend church but live their life in the realm and fellowship of the world are more dangerous than those outside the church. They have a cloak of “Christian” but are of the same mind and heart as the world. Because they are such we have a difficult time dealing with them, but we must treat them just like we do the lost world – with kindness and friendliness, but guarding against any close relationship that will draw us into their realm. For all these same reasons we cannot worship and serve God with those who do not believe the basic doctrines of the Bible. For example, we cannot associate and fellowship with Catholics because they do not believe in salvation by grace through faith. They believe and practice many other things that simply cannot work with what we know the Bible says, such as praying to Mary, baptizing babies, the priesthood, etc. This matter of being “born a sinner” is an issue that we believe is very important, as you can tell from our other writing. However, this issue alone is not something that should cause you to separate from other believers. The doctrine of original sin is an abomination that the devil has been able to use to weaken the gospel and confuse many people. But many of us were saved in churches where this doctrine was taught and believed. I have known many men through the years who claim to believe this doctrine but reject all the natural conclusions that follow if they would simply study and reason it out. They believe that men are responsible for their sin and must repent and trust Christ in order to be saved. They believe that there is victory for the Christian – that the “old nature” is dead and we are now partakers of the “divine nature.” They believe we are overcomers and “more than conquerors,” just as the Bible teaches, but they still occasionally fall back to the idea that we were “born sinners.” It is confusing and it is discouraging to those who have seen the falsehood of this doctrine, but it isn’t grounds, in my opinion, to separate from them. Now there are different degrees in which people immerse themselves in this doctrine. I mentioned that I know some men who still cling to the doctrine, but rarely mention it. There are others who cannot present the gospel without using original sin as a starting point. Everything they believe is based upon this false doctrine. You will hear it every time they preach. It affects everything they believe and therefore it affects the way they live their lives. It also affects the way their listeners live their lives. There will be no victory and there will be much lasciviousness and loose living there. If I were in a situation like that I’m afraid I would have to separate from them. People like this will make an issue of this doctrine. If they find out that you don’t believe their basic doctrine they will demand that you agree with them or they will do the separating and you won’t have to worry about it. Separation is very important, but we should be very careful about it. It is a serious thing to separate from brethren and there are consequences that last forever. Our hearts are affected in ways we don’t even realize at the time, and so are the hearts of our children and everyone else who is watching. We better be doing right when we separate from each other. Remember that there is also another verse in the Bible that says, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” (Rom. 12:18) If we do have to separate from brethren it better not be with a haughty or arrogant attitude, but with a broken heart, or our motives are wrong and God is not pleased. Could you tell me the beliefs of the Nazarene? Could you tell me the beliefs of the Nazarene? i as a Baptist have always been taught that they were a cult. is this true? or has that been over exaggerated? is Nazarene something that a true Christian should not be involved in? You asked about the beliefs of the Nazarenes. I assume you are speaking of the denomination called Church of the Nazarene. The main thing that sets them apart from other churches is that they believe in "sinless perfection." In other words, they believe that a person can become completely sinless and live without sin in this life. They believe this is accomplished by a "second work of grace," which is something that happens to a person AFTER they have been saved. They believe when that happens the sinful nature is eradicated and done away with and therefore they can live without sin. We have been, and are still, constantly accused of believing this false doctrine, but we do not believe that way at all. Why the insistence upon the KJV? Why the insistence upon The AV as the only acceptable Scripture? This denies the great work that William Tyndale labored for in bringing forth the English language Bible. Also, are you actually using the original 1611 version? What if I only spoke Spanish? Would you deny The Great Bible, or The Geneva Bible, or Miles Coverdales version? I take no umbrage with your position, just curious, as the AV used some 60% of its material from Jeromes Latin Vulgate. We do not use the original 1611 KJV - nobody does, that I know of. What we call the King James Bible is actually the 4th revision which was in 1769. The 1611 was so different in the spelling and the way the letters were written that it is actually very hard for us to read. It is not a subject that I spend a lot of time dealing with, but maybe I should. I made up my mind a long time ago about the Word of God. The King James Version is very obviously the one version that God has blessed far beyond any other version. It was the ONLY English Bible used by the masses of the people for hundreds of years. The modern versions began about the same time as the Age of Reason, which I don't consider a coincidence. The Age of Reason was a major attack on faith in God and the modern versions are an attack on his Word. The first thing recorded in the Bible that the Devil attacked was the Word of God. Al he needs to do is to plant a doubt about what God has said and his work is accomplished. The KJV is based on the Textus Receptus and not on the Latin Vulgate. Those are two distinctly different lines of Scripture. You mentioned Spanish or people who speak a different language. God promised to preserve his Word forever (Psalm 12:6-7). That is a promise not only to the English-speaking people, but to everyone. The best Spanish Bible (or any other language) will be the one that is based on the Textus Receptus, rather than the Latin Vulgate. The forerunners of the English Bible were important people who prepared the way, but to me it is obvious which Bible God has put his blessing on. The modern versions leave out entire verses and portions of verses. They change words and change the meaning of passages. They make room for a lot of the false doctrines being taught in our day. Above all, they create confusion, and that is their purpose, I think. It matters very much which Bible we use because we MUST have a final authority. If we have no Bible that we can look to in order to settle questions and differences of opinions, then we are totally adrift. If there is no "thus saith the Lord" then it is every man for himself and everyone will "do what is right in his own eyes." That is about what we are seeing in our day, and you can see what a mess it is. I'm not sure if you have considered this subject before. If you haven't and you are really interested in finding out what all this is about I can send you some more material and information. Why use any other Bible than the King James? Anyone who speaks English can understand everything it says. It is the only one that has produced real revivals. It is the one that showed the great Christians of the past the way of salvation. It is still good enough for us today. Is the call of God for service permanent? If God calls someone to be a missionary, or a preacher afterwards does he change his mind? or is there a calling at all? This has nothing to do with what you believe, I would just like to know. Thanks Thanks for writing and submitting your question. The call of God is a life time, 'til death do us part calling. God is never taken off guard or by surprise, by a person actions. He never makes a mistake on character judgment. God is all knowing and you can be assured of this. - Pastor Owen What toys should children play with? What toys should my children play with? We have gotten rid of all the dragons,fairies,ogres and trolls. People think we are crazy. Do these toys really have a negative effect on my children as Christians? Please help. It is important what children play with. It affects the way they think and perceive things. If they are continually looking at and playing with things that represent evil they will be less sensitive to evil in general. Children who do not look at these things all the time will be shocked when they see them. Constant exposure to evil and things that are identified with evil dulls our senses toward it. Therefore, we will be much more vulnerable to the devil and the temptations of the world that lead us away from God and can wreck our lives. In Sodom Lot was vexed daily "in seeing and hearing" the things that were going on there. Lot's life was a mess, too. Children should play with toys that prepare them for real life. Little boys should play with trucks and tools and things that they will be doing when they grow up. Little girls should play with baby dolls (not Barbie dolls) because that is the nature God created them with - to be a wife and a mother. They should play house, and play with toy dishes and such as that. Children's play is all about imagination. All their play is about pretending to be grownups. If they are playing with toys that represent evil they will be imagining evil things instead of natural, real-life child's play. It will change the way they reason and think and that will affect them the rest of their life. I know that most people will think you are crazy for forbidding your children to play with monsters and demons, but most people do not think for themselves. Most people just mimic what they hear from the world through the TV and educational system. The world is in a mess because of that and so a Christian should do things differently. May the Lord give you wisdom to rear your children for Him! Bro. Mike Is it really wrong for a man to have more than one wife? Why was it okay in the Old Testiment for men to have many wives and in the New Testiment they were not? Wouldn't God speak to the men directly, or through a prophet, and tell them it was wrong? (If it was wrong?) God has never approved of a man having more than one wife. It is a major mistake to assume something is acceptable to God just because it was done by someone in the Bible that He used. The Word of God is true, and it is the final authority, no matter what men do or don't do. Just because God used someone as a judge or a deliverer doesn't even mean that person was saved. So to determine the morality of something based upon someone's actions is a very bad way to discern good and evil. The Scripture plainly forbids multiple wives, specifically to the king, because he was probably the most likely one to do that. If the king's heart would be drawn away by many wives you can be sure that the peasant's heart would be, too. Besides, the whole creation of God and the plan of redemption; Christ and the church; all would be turned upside down if men were supposed to have more than one wife. I haven't even mentioned the strife and trouble that would certainly be present in a home with one man and a number of wives and their children. All the homes mentioned in the Bible where a man had more than one wife were plagued with discord and trouble. Much more could be said, but that's it in a nutshell. If you want to have a happy home and be right with God - one wife is all you get.
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