FREE BIBLE LITERATURE (Tracts, Leaflets, Etc You Are Welcome To Copy And Use) This site  The Web  A Bible tract is a small paper with information based on the Bible.  Such tracts are either given to people or else placed where people can find and read them.  They are an easy way to witness to God's glory and especially handy if you tend to be a bit shy.  Good places to leave them are in library books, at phone booths, bus stops, in restrooms, at laundromats or inside magazines there, on park benches, inside magazines in a doctor's office etc.  Here is a list of all our current Titles.  Scroll Down To See, Copy And Use Them.  Make and distribute all the copies you want.  To do so you the readers are invited to go to the top left side of your computer screen, click EDIT and then use the cut, copy and paste features to put a copy of any or all the items onto a word processor, then print out and use copies. NOTE: The views expressed in some of these publications may differ some with your own since each Christian is free to hold his/her own views per Romans 14:1-22, although likely most Christians will find no major problems.  But if you do then simply choose whichever you do want.  Although I am an independent Christian and not in the Bible Students Movement I agree with their teaching that Christ came and died so that "ALL"  can be resurrected (Jn 3:16) including as Acts 24:15 says, not only the righteous but even the unrighteous, giving them a final second chance; also that resurrection for some will be to heaven but for others upon earth restored to paradise conditions during the Kingdom.  It's great to be teaching this comforting Good News (Lu 4:18, 19), helping cleanse some people's misperceptions about God and His goodness (Mt 6:9, 10), and making new disciples of Christ. (Mt 28:19)

I. TITLES OF OUR NOW WELL OVER 100 FREE BIBLE TRACTS: Abrahamic Faith And What It Is Absolute Terror Or Peace, Which Is Coming? Answering The Bible Skeptics Anti-Semitism: Why And How Watchtower Teaches It Arbor Day Archaeology, How It Is Answering Critics Are You Afraid Of Death? Babylon The Great And Her Daughters! Baptisms The Bible And Paul Do Show Great Respect For Women Biblical "Tongues" And "Laying On Of The Hands," Still Active? Birthdays, Why Most Christians Celebrate Them Blood, Its Use Approved At 1 Samuel 14:31-35 Brendan’s Christian Mission To North America Brother David Zeisberger Buddhism Contrasted Child’s Prayer Of Concern Christian War On Crime Christmas, The Date Christmas, Why Most Christians Celebrate it Christmas Star, Who Sent It Christmas Trees Coal-Miner’s Daughter Confucianism, Contrasted With Christianity Cross Versus Stake Dinosaurs, What The Bible Says Drug Addictions, Kicking Them Earth, How Christians Can Help Defend It Earth, Why And How To Not Ruin it Easter, Why Most Christians Celebrate it Eye Of A Needle Family Radio's False 2011 Armageddon Prophecy Father's Day Flags In The Bible Flags Or Banners Of The 12 Tribes Of Israel Food And Bible Health Tips Free Witnesses Contrasted To Jehovah’s Witnesses Gambling Or Gaming, Important Considerations God Does Have A Plan To Make All Things Right God’s Love Versus Armageddon Fears Good Time Francesco *** Heaven *** Heaven: Are Jewish Believers Also Resurrected There? Heavenly Objects, What Scriptures Say Of Them Hebrew  Hell: How Many People Will Or Might Go There? Hell:  Is It Fire Or Like Fire?  How Long Does It Last? Hell:  Proof That Watchtower Heads Falsely Teach What Christians Believe Regarding Hell Hell: Some General Points About God's Discipline After Death Not Being Unfair Or Extreme Hell: Why Teaching That Evildoers Just Sleep Forever After Death Is False And Wrong To Do Hell: If It Is A Place Of Literal Fire, Then Where Is It According To Scriptures Hell: Why People Need To Be Concerned About It Herbs In The Bible Hinduism, Compared And Contrasted Houses Of Life How All The Earth Will Become A Paradise How Candy Canes Originated How Prophecies In Isaiah Are Being Fulfilled Immortality Invitation To All Who Love Jehovah Islam, Comparisons And Contrasts Jesus Healing A Lame Man Lamp Light Languages, Which Did Jesus Christ Know And Speak? The Little Children Lord's Last Supper Lost Little Girl Magi, Who The Three Wisemen Were Manna “Marry Only In The Lord” Examined Closely Men And Women, Understanding One Another Mighty Widow's Mite Misplaced Indignation Model Prayer For All Christians Mother's Day Noah’s Flood Our Fellow Creatures On Earth Paganism Contrasted With Christianity Parable Of The Little Ones And Lost Sheep Peter Pharisees, Ancient And Modern Potatoes That Help Us Bond (Colossians 3:14) Prayer Psalm 23 Radio Preacher’s False End Of The World Prediction The Rapture: Is It Scriptural? Resurrection, Possible Or Not? The Return, Presence Or Parousia Of Christ Return Of Christ With Resurrection Details Sabbaths, Are They For Christians "Saint" William Bedell Santa Claus, Facts Versus Myth Satan, Is He Real? Saved By The Truth And Born Again Sex Crimes In The Bible Soldier For Christ Struggle Against Ambition And Scandal Telling The Good News The Tetragrammaton, (God's Name) Thanksgiving The Trinity, Some Views About It Valentine's Day Vincent The Invincible Walking On Water Wampanoag Christian Among The Pilgrims What Agnes Did That All Christians Can Admire What Would Christ Say To You? Why Most But Not All Christians Celebrate Halloween William Carey, Founder Of Modern Missionary Work Women Ministers, What The Rest Of The Scriptures Say Your Will Be Done II. CHRISTIAN SONG BOOK III. BOOK OF BIBLE STORIES IV. MANUAL OF IDEAS FOR See christianwitnesses.com for additional free, interesting Bible literature.

ABRAHAMIC FAITH AND WHAT IT IS A. In the Bible, Jehovah God Almighty (Psalm 83:18, King James; or "Yahweh") promised Abraham that his descendants would be numerous like the stars and have the holy land. (Genesis 26:4)  From Abraham have descended the Jews, smaller groups such as the Samaritans who do also still exist in modern times, through Abraham's second wife Hagar the Arabs who are mostly Muslims and for example Marionite Christians, Christians of all races, nations, tribes and languages around the Earth.  Not descended from Abraham are Hunduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Animism and Paganism. B. Thus, we see that Abraham’s descendants are of related but different groups and when we look at the holy land those groups do indeed predominate and control the holy land, that land being not only what we now call Israel but also Jordan and other nations in the region of the Middle East.  Judaism did not start calling Christianity a totally separate religion instead of a different branch of Judaism until after 132 A.D.  The break began then because Simon (or Shimon) Bar Kokhba had led a Jewish revolt for independence against Rome in 132-136 A.D. that was only briefly successful and the Christians did not participate in it.  Muhammad, whom Muslims believe restored the original faith of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets was born about 570 A.D. C. To clarify we can also say that the groups are all part of the “Abrahamic Faith.”  As such they all three have a high regard or reverence for the earlier books forming in what is often called the Old Testament or Torah.  The book embodies useful, practical beliefs such as God does not want people to hurt one another by murder, theft and adultery; also wants people to honor their mother and father, not worship idols but worship and respect God, have a day of rest, not bear false witness, not be greedy for our neighbors’ property.  Muslims also appreciate these points and speak of the other people of the book. D. Yes, indeed, there are many significant differences in beliefs and views among the groups of the Abrahamic Faith, but, again, there are also many similarities even beyond the fact that they all claim to go back at least as far as Abraham and through him to Adam, indeed having also inherited the land regarded as holy in the Middle East.  For true “peace on earth” they must learn to get along together, and the road there is very rocky and yet not insurmountable. (Luke 2:14)  The best way to replace wrong information with truthful information is not to go read another book which may also be slanted with bias but to actually speak to those of the other beliefs.  There are now atomic weapons, so more than ever people must directly seek an abundance of positive communication for peace. (Mt 5:5) E. The quickest and best way to replace wrong information with truthful information is not to go read another human-written book which may also be slanted with bias but to actually speak to those of the other beliefs.  We live in a modern world and we must seek communication and indeed actually communicate in order to get along peacefully.  Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall inherit the Earth. (Mt 5:5)  Christ says that his truth will set us free.  (John 8:32) At Genesis 1:5 God told Abraham that he would not be the ancestor of just one nation but of many..... and so he is. For More Free Bible Tracts And Literature See christianwitnesses.com

ABSOLUTE TERROR OR PEACE, WHICH IS COMING? Many people have assumed that Armageddon is a literal physical place such as a high place or hill called Megiddo that will be the location for a single one-time battle bringing about the terrifying destruction of the Earth, and while that might be true at least in part, still others who study the Bible believe that instead it is a time period with a series of many weighty, dangerous events by which humanity must learn to get along with one another.  For example Jesus Christ spoke of a time that would be unlike any seen since the beginning of the world to his life-time on Earth and the most deadly that would ever to be.  (Mt 24:21.)   Daniel spoke similarly of a special “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time." (Da 12:1.)  Daniel 12:4 tells us that a sign marking Armageddon’s start would be that "Many shall run to and fro" and "Knowledge shall be increased." (Da 12:4.)  Scientific and technology began to vastly improve and increase transportation and knowledge especially in the 1800s.  Armageddon’s beginning was also to be after the restoration of Israel which also started in the late 1800s.  Many people closely pondering events and or studies of Bible chronology have wondered if Christ possibly returned invisibly in 1874 although also to be visibly seen later, and meanwhile humankind has increasingly become able to “see” or “perceive” his presence by world events.  For example In 539 A.D. the Catholic Church became a political power under Pope Leo I, but its political power mostly ended in 1799 when Napoleon imprisoned Pope Pius VI.  The book of Daniel speaks of prophetic 1260 days periods and 1335 day periods.  The Bible prophetically equates days to years.  Adding 1260 years to 539 A.D. brings you to 1799.  If you add 1335 years to 539 A.D. you get 1874.  Events remindful of what one would expect of Armageddon especially picked up from 1914 onward, and this is in line with Revelation 12:12 saying that the Earth would have woe for a while due to Satan being cast down on it and thus realizing he had only a short time left to cause trouble.  The year brought World War I and later there came Spanish influenza, warfare and mass starvation in China, World War II with the exploding of two atomic bombs, the Cold War, AIDS, the war between radical elements of Islam based in the southern part of the Earth against nations in the northern parts such as the United States.  Many because of events and or studies of chronology have wondered if Christ possibly returned invisibly in 1874 although to be visibly seen too later, and meanwhile humankind has increasingly become able to “see” or “perceive” his presence by world events.  For example In 539 A.D. the Catholic Church became a political power under Pope Leo I, but its political power mostly ended in 1799 when Napoleon imprisoned Pope Pius VI.  The book of Daniel speaks of prophetic 1260 day periods and 1335 day periods.  The Bible prophetically equates days to years.  Adding 1260 years to 539 A.D. brings you to 1799.  If you add 1335 years to 539 A.D. you get 1874.  Events remindful of what one would expect of Armageddon especially picked up from 1914 onward, and this is in line with Revelation 12:12 saying that the Earth would have woe for a while due to Satan being cast down on it and thus realizing he had only a short time left to cause trouble.  The year brought World War I and later there came Spanish influenza, warfare and mass starvation in China, World War II with the exploding of two atomic bombs, the Cold War, AIDS, the war between radical elements of Islam based in the southern part of the Earth against nations in the northern parts such as the United States.  Happily World War II was cut short after only two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.  If that had not happened many millions of other people doubtlessly would have died including around the globe for otherwise more such bombs would have been dropped thus causing nuclear radiation to swept around the Earth killing all human life upon it including those most dedicated to doing Jehovah’s will, remindful of what Christ says at Matthew 24:22.  Scriptures indicate what will come after Armageddon.  In a period often referred to as a Millennium, princes or rulers will be in Israel and act there with great power and wisdom as granted by Jehovah God Almighty.  Christ’s Kingdom is more than strong enough to bring paradise upon Earth with blessings for all humankind.  Since the Bible does not tell the details for this, some Christians speculate that Israel will somehow literally rule all the Earth but still others believe it could rule or lead humanity forward by means of achievements in education and science that end disease and death, heal the lame and blind, make the deserts bloom again, provide an abundance of food globally etc. In any case, modern history has also shown that although God has at times allowed disciplining of Jewish (as also of Christians and others), it is also true that God has kept His promise to not totally abandon Abraham’s descendants but to restore them to the Promised Land. (Ge 12:7, Le 26:33-45, Amos 9:14, 15)  Despite Satan and Armageddon, Jehovah God will bless not only the Jewish people but indeed all humanity who will receive Kingdom blessings under the leadership of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and those chosen to go to heaven and serve with him as a healing for the nations. (Re 22:2)  It is “miraculous” to see even in modern history that true worshippers of God have persisted and prospered in spite of their many determined foes.  There is one deep step toward terror then a deep step toward peace, which may seem confusing except that the Bible shows that in the end God’s will shall triumph for what is good and brings happiness. So, to conclude, due to ongoing events it appears that many to most Christians do now speak of Christ’s return, which automatically also means the coming of God’s Kingdom with its blessings upon Earth as in heaven. (Mt 6:9, 10)   God also says He will ruin those who ruin the Earth (Re 11:18), and we know that He can inspire humans to find ways to solve problems so long as we practice peace and love toward others.  It appears there will be some absolutely terrifying times in humanity's future but also times of absolutely positive developments, and in the end there will be true peace for all of Abraham's seed, those who try to practice what is good toward others, whether peaceful Christians, Jews or otherwise..... For over one hundred additional Free Bible Tracts see christianwitnesses.com; use them for a study of the Bible on your own, to copy and email to others, to study in person with another person or group, etc.

ANSWERING THE BIBLE SKEPTICS "If God exists why does God permit evils, and even if God does exist and is good then He must be too weak to do punish wrongdoers and help the good people!" is a common charge counterbalanced by "Although God is all-powerful and good, if He forced all humans to only be good and caused only good things to always happen, that would make Him a dictator not allowing free-will, causing humans to be no more than robots.   His plan is that after allowing things to mostly freely happen, He will then bring the wrongdoers to justice, reward those who are good, bring back to life the innocents who suffered to heal them and more than fairly reward them so that all will see His perfect justice, love and fairness."  "Why can't we see God if He exists?" is a another common question by many sincere and curious people.  One answer as to why we can't see the energy source for this universe is because to see the source of all the fiery, radiation-filled stars would blind us, could give us radiation poisoning and cause us to die.  So not being able to directly see God is kind and merciful.  We can however see God's existence through the things He has created, like the stars, vast oceans, lovely flowers.  We also can't see the wind or gravity, but we can see what those invisible things do.  Likewise, although, we can't see God directly, we can see what God has done and is doing. Too, the source of all space, energy and matter has provided us with our planet, Earth, tasty food, water, life, and intelligence.  Since a good father is a good provider it really is not illogical to call such a Source our Father. The word God can be used as an abbreviation for "the source of this universe that provides for us in a fatherly manner." Early Earth may have had an atmosphere screening out much of the radiation which now ages humans, and there may have been plants, even a Tree of Life providing antioxidant richer fruits etc for prolonging life. The creative Days could have been billions of years as Hebrew yohm (day) like in English can mean a long time as in "in Rome's day."  Eve made from a rib is no stranger than cloning creatures from individual cells.  We now "resurrect" movie stars via TV, so why is it an impossible idea that the Source of all the universe and living creatures in it can cause resurrection?  Why call it impossible that God could float an axe on water, since even we humans can float  million ton sea-going vessels in water and space vessels in the nothingness of space.  Why make fun of the idea that Christ could walk on water when insects can do so and via devices modern humans may do so, too?  Some say the sun could not have "stood still" for Joshua, yet clouds with ice have sometimes reflected light from vast miles over the horizon.  Some say that if Bible censuses of the same tribe differ that proves the whole Bible is false, but they don't note that verses can vary due to children or elderly people being listed in one census but not listed in other censuses that are just for able-bodied men.  A verse may say a certain city was destroyed in one chapter but in another chapter say it was still existing, yet there could have easily been two cities with the same name. One verse says Christ baptized while another says disciples did.  Does this mean the Bible contradicts itself and so is telling lies?  Actually, even today we may say a man built a skyscraper when not himself directly but workers acting on his behalf did the building.  Is God cruel because humans die?  Does God make us die?  In fact, God wanted humans to live forever and warned the very first humans how to avoid death, but they themselves ignored the warning, causing themselves and all humans since to die.  True, God has permitted slaves but He gave laws that they were to not be mistreated but regarded as servants with legal rights and protections.   Slave overseers and owners didn't want slaves to read the Bible.  For example Deuteronomy 23:15 says "Don't return a runaway slave to his master; he's come to you for refuge.  Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don't take advantage of him." Some see the idea of a snake talking in the Garden of Eden as impossible although readily admit the earth is filled with amazing creatures including extremophiles that live in water 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit.  No one can say for sure what creatures lived on earth in the past, perhaps even intelligent serpents or serpent-like creatures.  Also, if God exists as the Good Spirit, then a Bad Spirit called Satan can also exist and be powerful enough to at least make a snake seem to talk.  Skeptics ask why would a loving God punish Adam and Eve so severely with death, but they forget that God didn't want them to die, told them which tree to not eat, and they themselves chose to sentence themselves and their descendants to death.  Skeptics can just as easily blame the actual sources of death such as accidents, wars of nationalism etc.  Christ pointed out that God permitted men to divorce women not because God wanted divorces for He doesn't and opposes divorces.  However, God also knew that if He did not allow divorces, it would lead to far more cruelty.  Those who believe in a source for all that exists do believe in God although that is not in the sense of a personally caring God.  Possibly by reading this thoughtfully, some of those will now understand why so many do believe in God in not only a personal way but also in a more objective, logical way.  Understanding the views of others helps us all. For More Free Bible Tracts See christianwitnesses.com

ANTI-SEMITICISM: WHY AND HOW WATCHTOWER TEACHES IT Charles Taze Russell taught from the 1870s on that God had not forgotten or abandoned his promises of blessings for Abraham’s seed the Jewish people, and God would restored them to the land of Israel and in due time brings blessings for them and all people around the globe.  However after Russell’s death in 1916 Joseph Rutherford seized control of the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses.  In 1931 he renamed his branch of the Bible Students movement “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and taught his followers from then on to believe that Jehovah’s Witnesses, not literal Jews or anyone else, are the “witnesses of Jehovah.”  He applied all scriptures of blessing to his Watchtower Bible and Tract Society Inc but applied the other scriptures that spoke of punishment to only literal Jews.    Then on June 25, 1933 Rutherford had over 7,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses assemble in Berlin, Germany, to adopt a resolution called “Declaration Of Facts” which was printed on millions of tracts and mailed to all high Nazi government officials including Adolf Hitler and left all over Germany.  In it Rutherford said of his Watchtower organization: “It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this moment there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. The greatest and most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By this is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of British-American Empire that have built up and carried Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. “This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: ‘the Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.’  We have no fight with any of these persons mentioned but, as witnesses for Jehovah and in obedience to his commandment set forth in the Scriptures, we are compelled to call attention to the truth concerning the same in order that the people may be enlightened concerning God and his purpose.”  It added “The present government of Germany has declared against Big Business oppressors [America and Britain] and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our position.” To tickle Adolf Hitler’s ears even more it said: “Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles.”  So at the start Rutherford is saying the Watchtower Society agrees with Hitler in being against the Jewish people, but then he makes the mistake of saying that people should look to God instead of Hitler.  That angered Hitler who wanted Germans to look to himself not God.  Rutherford wrote anti-Semitic remarks in other works either because he himself was very bigoted or still seeking to please Adolf Hitler.  He wrote in 1934 on page 5 in a booklet Favored People: “The current men called Jews are tradesmen among whom are some of the richest men and most miserly that the world knew. Certain generals of the Great merchants are named Jews. Many are arrogant, proud and very selfish.” In 1937 Judge Rutherford wrote in Enemies (p. 281): (p. 281): “There are extremely egotistical men called ‘Jews’ that have interest only for the lure of gain.” However, Hitler did not stop seizing Watchtower’s property in Germany etc, so  Rutherford on October 7, 1934, had all Congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany to assemble again. This time they heard a letter by Rutherford written to be read to Nazi government officials, especial Hitler, stating “There is a direct conflict between your law and God’s law . . . Therefore this is to advise you that at any cost we will obey God’s commandments, will meet together for the study of His Word, and will worship and serve Him as He has commanded.”  This infuriated Hitler. To add more fuel to the flames, that very same day Jehovah's Witnesses in forty-nine other nations met and backed Rutherford by sending Hitler telegrams saying "Your ill-treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses shocks all good people of earth and dishonors God’s name. Refrain from further persecuting Jehovah’s Witnesses; otherwise God will destroy you and your national party.”  It was reprinted in the Awake! magazine dated 8/22/95. Hitler ordered all Jehovah’s Witnesses forced into Nazi concentration camps.  Meanwhile Rutherford lived in Brooklyn and sometimes in Beth Sarim, a mansion which he had on a 100 acre estate in San Diego.  Few regular Jehovah’s Witnesses knew of the mansion or his luxurious sixteen-cylinder Cadillacs.  Although he died in 1942 his anti-Semitic “Replacement Theology” continues to be one of the mainstays of the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it is opposed by the rival Bible Students movement. (Dawn Bible Students, Associated Bible Students, Chicago Bible Students, etc) The Bible Students, from whom Joseph F. Rutherford of central Missouri rose to tear away the Watchtower organization, preach universal resurrection is for all humans (Read Acts 24:15, John 3:16), Jehovah God has blessings in store for Christians, Jews, and indeed all humanity.  Meanwhile the Watchtower Society’s heads teach Jehovah’s Witnesses to call Bible Students and others who disagree with them on anything “evil slaves,” “apostates” etc.  In contrast Christ gave his very life for all not just some, and he also taught love even your enemies. (Read Luke 6:35)   Feel free to make and distribute copies of this. (John 8:32)

ARBOR (TREE) DAY After becoming an elected official, journalist J Sterling Morgan began Arbor Day to encourage tree planting in the USA state of Nebraska which had relatively few trees.  Arbor is from Latin, and means Tree.  The first unofficial Arbor (Tree) day was April 10, 1872 when some 1 million trees were planted. It was made an official holiday in Nebraska and observed April 8, 1874.   Other states began observing the day usually the last Friday in April.   Some USA presidents have proclaimed national Arbor Days, and many other nations now also observe it, often calling it Arbor Day or Tree Day.  There never were any pagan origins to the date and there is absolutely no reason why Christians cannot observe the day in good conscience although if they do or don't, as Paul has noted, is up to each to freely decide.  Nor are we to be highly judgmental about how other Christians decide such things, even as the apostle John has also noted. Interested readers can get numerous other free publications at www.christianwitnesses.com in the Freed Witnesses movement (Re 18:4)

ARCHAEOLOGY, HOW IT IS ANSWERING CRITICS BIBLE DETRACTORS ANSWERED: In Biblical Archaeology Review Hershel Shanks has defended the Bible as opposed to Herzog who attacked it.  This summarizes some points made by Shanks over Herzog and other critics.  For example, to start, critics claim no proof shows Israelites were in Egypt or that 2 million wandered the desert before entering Canaan despite Exodus 12:37, but they do admit many Egyptians note the custom of nomadic shepherds to enter Egypt during periods of drought and hunger, camping at the edges of the Nile Delta.  Also the Egyptians say these shepherds settled in exact area the Bible says the Israelites settled. An Austrian archaeologist found a 4-room house commonly associated with Israelites in Goshen in the Nile Delta where the Bible says Israelites settled. An English Egyptologist noted the price Joseph's brothers sold him at was the price at the time when the sale is believed to have occurred.  It was not the much higher price for a slave critics allege was used at the time the story was written.  Critics admit in the mid-second millennium Hyksos foreigners ruled Egypt.  In telling of ancestors most people say they were of royalty or gods so the Bible saying Joseph’s descendants were slaves rings true. Israelite settlement of Canaan is accepted as in Iron Age I, (1200-1000 BC) when "hundreds of small settlements were established in the area of the central hill region of the Land of Israel" but critics say settlements in Ancient Israel developed from many groups. The Bible itself says not only 12 tribes exited Egypt with Moses but a vast mixed throng of peoples with them. Some tribes like Asher and Dan were associated with ships (Judges 5:17), Ezekiel 16:3 says "By origin and birth you are from the land of the Canaanites—your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite."  Shechemites were circumcised then accepted into Israel. (Ge 34) Gideonites were also of the Canaanites.  Uriah was a Hittite of high rank in Israel. Critics say archaeology does not show a sudden conquest of Canaan by Israelites. Although Joshua says some cities were attacked and taken suddenly, Judges shows the conquest was in general continual, which is supportive of the archaeology. Excavations at Jericho and Ai do not show cities there when it is believed the Bible indicates Joshua conquered them, but on the other hand Hebrew University archaeologist Amnon Ben-Tor notes that Hazor was likely destroyed and burnt by Israelites just as Joshua 11:1-11 says. Archaeology supports the Bible as to the time of year when the walls fell although the date has so far not agreed with when Israelites are supposed to have appeared. Critics deny the United Kingdom under David and Solomon existed or that those kings existed.  A huge stele excavated by Avraham Biran at Tel Dan mentions the House (Dynasty) of David. Critics say ancient Israel more than one god till late in its history. The Bible says though some Israelites reverted to worshipping other gods the one Almighty God was Yahweh. Critics say thousands of clay figurines found, especially in Jerusalem, prove Israelite were polytheists but as said some reverted to worshipping many gods, and such figurines were sometimes not used for worship but as items of tangible proof their possessors were rightful heirs of family properties. For More Free Bible Tracts See christianwitnesses.com

ARE YOU AFRAID OF DEATH? To be truthful about it, every second that we live we are dying.  The process begins right after birth and for most people it seems to accelerate around age 52 or so.  Memory starts to become more difficult, eye-sight starts to fade more, and so forth. So, we are all already dying.  Anyone who tells you “many now living will never die” is sadly and definitely preaching a message contrary to that of the Good News preached by the apostle Paul in the Bible.  Read 1Corinthians 15:22 and Romans 6:23.  Paul wrote there that we all sin so we will all die.  In the Garden of Eden the serpent lied to Adam and Eve that they would live forever. No, the real, genuine Good News is that because of what Christ did, namely, give up his life as a perfect human for a ransoming sacrifice, he bought us all the opportunity to be resurrected then enjoy many blessings in God’s coming kingdom on earth. (John 3:16) We need to become born again into Christ, that is become sincere Christians, then try hard to go through the rest of our lives doing as much like Christ as possible.  (John 1:12,13; 3:1-7)  No, we won’t do so perfectly, but whenever knocked down by various weaknesses we need to pick ourselves up and run on ahead, keeping our eyes on the prize. (Phillipians 3:14) Why not start now?  Go to God in prayer.  Admit that you are an imperfect person in need of forgiveness for sins.  Ask for Holy Spirit to help you.  Get baptized and begin the race for the upwards calling or seek to become a worthy brother or sister here upon God's earth. For More Free Bible Tracts See christianwitnesses.com

BABYLON THE GREAT AND HER DAUGHTERS! Some see the Bible book of Revelation as literal in meaning but others think of it as symbolic.  Some think it applied to only the ancient Roman Empire, others see it as speaking solely or additionally of present or future world events or agencies.   Many to most of us seem to agree that the general theme or message that it has for us is that true Christians at times find themselves threatened by persecutors.   This helps to keep us alert and informed.  We are also aware that persecutors, especially those clearly identified as religious or with elements of religion, sometimes even imagine they are actually doing “God’s will,” making them all the more ruthless and dangerous.  Proof of this comes at Revelation 18:23 which clearly states that “Babylon the Great” is into magic spells or spiritistic.  So it is clear that Babylon the Great is deadly false, dangerous religion or if, say, a government such as was true of the Roman Empire, then it is a government with elements of religion.  Revelation 17:5 says Babylon the Great is a “mother of harlots.” By its saying she is a mother of “harlots,” we know that according to the Bible, then, she is or she has female offspring or children, that is organizations or cults that are like daughters.  The evil daughters resemble their evil mother, so by examining the old mother organization towering over her offspring we can see what her younger daughters are like.  For example Revelation 17:6 notes ”I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.”  At times some vicious governments such as Nero's have literally chopped off the heads of those who follow only Christ instead of a human organization such as a cult or other dictatorship, causing much blood to fall.  Similarly there are religious group that have talked their believers into thinking God wants them to bleed to death in senseless wars, from lack of proper medical treatments or diet, etc.  For example the Governing Body men of the Watchtower Society organization over Jehovah's Witnesses began forbidding emergency use of blood transfusions to Jehovah's Witnesses and their children in the 1940s and today an estimated number of up to possibly 200,000-250,000 are dead even though 1 Samuel 14:31-35 clearly shows God (Yahweh/Jehovah) forgave all Saul's men after they ate unBLED meat despite Mosaic Law against eating blood since their doing so was an emegency life-or-death situation.  Revelation 18:24 adds “In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth."  In an extended way a vicious dictatorial government or deadly religious cult can also be said to have helped to slay all who were ever murdered.  For example if a government or religious group  doesn’t speak and act against the wrongful taking of lives then it thus makes itself blood guilty regarding all such victims. Happily, however, we find Revelation 18:2 says that although evil and powerful, the mother organization collapses suddenly like an old tower.  Further, Revelation 18:4 warns readers to quit Babylon the Great and by extension any group or organization resembling her.  So each of us needs to be asking, “Do I know an organization like Babylon the Great, and have I quit it?”  If so, that's good, but if not, then our conscience now needs to move us to action to do so as quickly as possibly although for some of us that might be immediately while for others it might entail a period of some years.  True, doing so can be extremely difficult, causing us and others much hardship since it may lead to family crises or the like.  However in the long run, our leaving Babylon the Great also sets a fine example for others such as other family members.  Following what the Bible counsels about this will not only improve our own lives but also the lives of the others who will hopefully also follow in escaping her deadly clutches.   Yes, other views on this and other things are possible, but in general the comments here appear valid.  Although originally the warnings about “Babylon the Great” may have applied to the Roman Empire, they still serve us today.  Not only did ancient Rome have harlot daughters but those would have had offspring and the offspring also had offspring and so forth down to this very day.  So Revelation and what it says still have a mountain of weight for all alert Christians. Go to christianwitnesses.com, a name so easy to remember, for numerous other free leaflets.  Feel free to copy and distribute this one.

BAPTISM(S) OPENING: This is a discussion of baptism or baptisms since the Bible speaks of different kinds of baptism.   To begin, those who want to become Christians tell God in prayer that although imperfect we want to do His will.  He then baptizes us by His Holy Spirit, which is Baptism by Spirit.  We become baptized as Christians via use of water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which is important symbolic Water Baptism.  Some for short may as apostles did say "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5) with the understanding that there are also the Father and Holy Spirit.  Some say water baptism is only to be done by total immersion in the water; others say it is to be only by sprinkling; and still others say it can be either way.  This will be discussed more farther along.    BAPTISM BY HOLY SPIRIT: As to which is greater, baptism by water or baptism by Holy Spirit, John the baptizer said of Christ "I baptize you with water, but he who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  (Mark 1:8) Christ and his apostles used water too, but even more importantly, as explained by John, was the baptism by Holy Spirit.  Baptism by water is symbolic of what baptism by Holy Spirit has already done, but it is important and to be done. WATER BAPTISM: There are to be at least two witnesses to water baptism.  One witness can be the first person being baptized and the second witness can be the person doing the water baptism.  But let us note that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are described in the Bible as “secret” believers in Jesus Christ.  (Jn 3:12; Mt 27:57, Jn 19:38)  So this raises the question of who baptized such secret Christians?  WATER BAPTISM DURING PERSECUTION: If at all possible they would have baptized one another.  Another possibility is that when a secret Christian did not know who another secret believer was, he or she may have baptized himself or herself as witnessed to by God for the second witness, in addition to which God’s on-looking, faithful angels were also witnesses. This is an important consideration in view of the fact that for over 2,000 years now Christians have experienced fierce persecution in first on nation and then another.  For example today there is grave danger for those Christians who seek to convert others to Christianity in many Arabic lands such as the Sudan in Africa.  It is comforting to know that some persons even in such lands have privately, even secretly repented of their sins, dedicated themselves to Christ, and been able to have water baptism with safety to themselves and others.  IMPORTANCE OF VISIBLE WATER BAPTISM: This does not mean, though, that Christians at times and places of normalcy should be getting baptized witnessed only by themselves and God or the angels.  The normal process is that a person is baptized with other humans present, for example loving Christian friends and family.  Each one of us knows what his or her own situation is.  Another factor to bear strongly in mind is that water baptism is not only important symbolically, but when seen by other Christians it is also a powerful source of comfort and a motivator as Christians are also told to make new followers of Christ.  (Mt 28:19) BAPTISM OF JOHN: Another interesting point about baptism or baptisms is that the Bible says some early Christians at first had received only  the Baptism of John.  (Ac 18:25, 19:3)  However, those who received baptism from John the Baptizer, such as Apollo and twelve men of Ephesus, also went on to receive the Baptism of Christ, that is a Christian Baptism involving Holy Spirit and the accompanying gifts.  John’s Baptism had been one of repentance.   Baptism into Christ and the Body of Christ, the one faith of overall Christianity, surpassed this, bringing forgiveness, clean conscience, new birth, resurrection hope, and gifts.. (Ac 19:4, 5) BAPTISM OF THE DEAD: Then, there is the Baptism of the Dead. (1Cor15:29)  The Bible does not clearly define what this was so there are various, even many guesses as to what the expression Baptism of the Dead means.  Among the various guesses, is that it refers to the fact that when people receive baptism by water their old bad conscience dies there, (Romans 6:4) that it is symbolically washed away, after which they are lifted up to their new lives as Christians made eligible for the Christian hope of resurrection.  GIFTS AT BAPTISM: Each newly baptized Christian also receives gifts from the Holy Spirit.  Besides hope of the resurrection, and the super happy feeling of having a cleansed conscience and closer relationship with God, the greatest gift is love, (1Cor 3:1-3) not a self love of oneself but a love for doing the will of God which is the showing active love for God and suffering humanity. (Mt 22:36-40)   Another gift can be the ability to speak other languages that other humans use and understand or else the ability to speak in a non-human tongue understood by angels although not by most if any humans. (Acts 19:1-6)  BORN AGAIN: Each Christian thus experiences symbolic death followed by being born again spiritually.  In fact Christ says we must be born again or we cannot inherit the kingdom of the heavens. (Jn 3:3)  John 3:5 says “Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” IMMERSION OR SPRINKLING: At this point we can discuss if water baptism is done only by total immersion in water, by sprinkling, by either method, or perhaps even by both methods.  Those believing immersion is necessary note that John 3:23 points out that John baptized people near Salim because much or “plenty of water” was located there.  Acts 8:38, 39 says Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch or official went down into water for baptism after which the eunuch was lifted up out of it.  Those believing that sprinkling is okay or required note that both Phillip and the Ethiopian went into the water; the scripture says they both came out of the water, but it is not clear if this means one or both came up out of water after immersion or it simply means they both came up out of the river water.  Similarly John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, (Mark 1:9) but still it is not clear if Jesus was totally immersed. Those saying to sprinkle only note that the Ethiopian asked Phillip to baptize him because he had been reading what Isaiah the prophet said. (Act 8:32, 33)  Isaiah 52:15 says of Christ “13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; 15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. Ezekiel 36 says: 24 "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.  25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.  26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.  28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.  29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.” Hebrews 10:22 says “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Numbers 19:20 notes “But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.” Also some point out that in Greek the word for “to baptize” (βαπτίζω) usually refers to immersion, not sprinkling in both the Septuagint and the New Testament.   The related word βαπτω appears in the New Testament and means "dip" or "dye,"  for example referring to putting a piece of bread partly into wine. Beyond Old Testament scriptures speaking of sprinkling,a major verse referring clearly to sprinkling, again, is Hebrew 10:22.Those for total immersion say the verse is focused on sprinkling for the cleansing of evil conscience, not the fullness of Christian baptism which entails that, yes, but also much more. However, those for sprinkling counter that the preceding verse, Hebrew 10:21 makes clear that the sprinkling must refer to full Christian baptism for it let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.   Luke 11:38 is used by some as an example where the meaning is to perform ablution, that is a washing of the hands not just for cleansing but for ritual. In the passage a Pharisee was amazed to see Christ did not wash his hands before eating. Scribes and Pharisees also complained to Jesus that the disciples did not wash their hands as tradition called for before eating bread. (Mt 15:1,2) In frustration some might even conclude that it is best to both go under water and also be sprinkled. In fact a satisfactory resolution already goes before the water baptism, namely as said the fact is that regardless, the baptism by Holy Spirit is what is most essential. A person might for example receive baptism by Holy Spirit then die in a car wreck before he can get to either a river or even a glass of water. In some lands all bodies of water may be polluted with disease.  A person may be in an iron-lung and unable to be immersed in water due to health reasons. Some may feel that going under water is more comprehensive and therefore more remindful of death of the old personality or bad conscience, so that it is better. MIKVOT (Singular variously spelled: Mikva, Mikve, Mikvah, Mikveh): In any event if you go to the Temple Mount, the remains of the great temple in Jerusalem, you will still find before its entrance "mikvot" which are ritual baths for personal purification and conversions.  Before and during the time of Jesus Christ, Jews and for that matter the earliest Jewish Christians, walked down steps into the mikvot, became fully immersed, and then walked up out of the mikvot.  This was a way of cleansing him- or herself from defilements, and to this day highly Orthodox conservative Jews still use immersions.  The practice which derived from scriptures in Leviticus chapters 13 through 17 and Number 19, was done without another person having to dunk then raise the person, although another person or persons could watch and advise the bathing person as to if all his or her body had gone into and under the water. The Bible records that at Pentecost the first 3,000 Christians underwent baptism at Jerusalem.  They could quickly and simply bathe in the small mikva pools before entering the Temple, doing so without drawing undue attention from the Jewish priests.  However, within they were doing so now in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and in recognition that the Messiah was Jesus Christ of Nazareth who had already come.  For some one thousand years early Christianity, for the most part dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, also used immersion. THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR: Regardless of history etc, etc,  if water is used, then the essential point is that water baptism has been performed.  The particular method, immersion or sprinkling, is not the crucial factor, but rather the essential, crucial fact is that new Christians undergo baptism by God’s Holy Spirit, doing so in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.   They thus become members of the one Christian faith rather than of just one branch of it, some division, sect or organization.  If your baptism was to an organization, for example, then it is recommended that you receive a proper Christian baptism.   For example, those baptized as Jehovah's Witnesses after 1985 have had baptisms conducted in the name of Jehovah, His Christ and "the spirit-directed organization." For More Free Bible Tracts See christianwitnesses.com

THE BIBLE AND PAUL DO SHOW GREAT RESPECT FOR WOMEN Occasionally we run across an article with the clear objective of trying to make it seem the Bible and the apostle Paul are against women.  So, following are several such verses with corrective comments.   Revelation 14:3, 4 says 144,000, possibly of or part of the “great crowd” that Revelation 19:1 says is in heaven hadn’t “defiled” themselves with women, thus seeming anti-women, but Revelation is a very symbolic book so the “women” that the men didn’t defile themselves with are likely also symbolic.  So, who are they?  Revelation 18:4, which tells Christians to get out of Babylon the Great, and Revelation 17 5 says Babylon the Great is a “mother of harlots,” in other words has daughters.  Revelation 17:6 says the woman was drunk with blood of the saints bearing witness to Jesus, and dealing with any woman-like groups harming such persons grieves God's Holy Spirit, are defiling to all good persons.  So Revelation 14:3, 4 appears to mean to not deal with such non-literal women.   1 Corinthians 11:2-10 is where Paul advises women to wear a hair covering which sounds odd today although it was culturally the right thing to for the time in which he wrote it.  In his day a woman convicted of some crime might have her hair cut off, so wearing short hair would mean differently than what it does today which generally is just that a woman finds shorter hair more convenient or in style.  This can be supported too by the fact that Paul also often wrote to congregations saying near the start of many of his letters to give a kiss to all the “holy ones” there.  That too was appropriate for his time but today in many lands kissing a person’s marriage mate could be considered scandalous and so Christians generally at most just offer a handshake.   At Ephesians 5:21-24, Colossians 3:18-22 etc, the apostle Paul says for women to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord” which sounds if you don’t think about it as if he is telling women to be trampled on no matter what; but in fact if you will notice he also says in such verses that Christian women are to be subject in things “as the church is subject to Christ.”  Therefore if a man does not act in the sort of loving way that the Lord (Jesus Christ) treated people but instead evilly, then she definitely does not have to “submit” to such abuse.   At 1 Timothy 11:15 and 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35 Paul says for women to learn in silence, not teach or have authority over men, something that obviously applies to any men who might also be too noisy, talkative or pushy, at a meeting, not just women.  In Paul’s time Christianity was pioneering in having men and women come together socially and the excited women were naturally wanting to talk, so he was out of necessity then having to say for them to instead stay quiet so that they and the men with them could learn while at such church meetings. In further proof, Paul clearly also says he wanted older women to be "teachers of what is good," (Titus 2:3) and he notes that Prisca/Priscilla and her husband both taught Apollos more correctly about God. (Ac 18:26)  That God approves of women who have taken the lead at times is shown for example with what is said of Phoebe at Romans 16:1, what the whole Book of Esther shows, the example of Deborah who successfully led Israel in combat against the Canaanites. (Judges, chapters 4-5) As can be seen, it is good to view the scriptures in view of their original time and then existing social conventions.  It is also good to not be too easily misled either by the writings of people who clearly don't care for the Bible or don't really know much about it. For More Free Bible Tracts And Literature See christianwitnesses.com

BIBLICAL “TONGUES” AND “LAYING ON OF THE HANDS,” STILL ACTIVE? The Bible clearly states that Jesus Christ of Nazereth spoke at least some of the Aramaic language as seen at Matthew 27:46 where, just before his death as a human, this is recorded of him “Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying "Eli Eli lama sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34 similarly states “And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some Aramaic place names in the New Testament are: Golgotha (Jn 19:16-18), Bethesda (Jn 5:1-2), Babbatha (Jn 19:134-15).  Might there actually be modern day gifts of the tongue and healing by the laying on of the hands?  We do know that Paul says at 1 Corinthians 13:8 the spiritual gifts such as healing with the hands and the speaking of other languages (tongues) would end, and it is commonly assumed those ended totally or essentially totally with the death of the last apostle.  (Also see 1 Cor 14:5, 19-27) Although Acts 2:4-11 explains that the speaking of “tongues” was clearly understood language, Paul does not say that ecstatic or emotional expressions were not also used. In fact he wrote that when people spoke tongues, if the tongues were not understandable, then they were to wait and not disruptively speak those tongues unless there was a translator present for orderly translating. Indeed, as said Jesus was from youth a human with great physical and mental ability.  Coming to earth as a human begotten of Holy Spirit and Mary, he would have been able to learn and know any number of different languages, both of humans and of the angels, beings from the heavens and before the throne of God. All Christians did not have the ability of different tongues, whether of the understandable type or of the emotional expressions type, for one of their Christian gifts.  In fact 1 Corinthians 12 explains that there are many different kinds of gifts including gifts other than tongues or healings. Most Bible readers will recall that for healing, Christ, Paul and other apostles sometimes used their hands or put oil upon the heads of sick people.  This gave the sick comfort, relief or total healing.  For example read Mark 6:13 and James 5:14.   Sometimes, as with Jesus Christ’s friend Lazarus, people were not only healed but resurrected to life after hands were laid upon them.  It is assumed by most that healing and tongues have passed away, but it is also logical that, since God can do anything anytime He Himself pleases, no one can honestly say that God never causes amazing healings or language gifts anymore.  At times people, including non-Christians, may revive an unconscious same as dead person by holding his/her head while breathing life back into them.  Olive and other special oils can have a penetrating relieving effect, etc. Christians believe that God Almighty the Father is definitely alive.  Jesus Christ is also alive.  Holy Spirit is also alive.  Since they are alive, why should any thoughtful person say that their gifts cannot be alive.  So, although such gifts have passed away or faded insofar as being widely practiced or seen among modern Christians, no thoughtful person can say they do not still exist at least some.   Certainly there are still those with the greatest of gifts which is love.  Love will definitely exist all the way up to when what is perfect comes, that is the Kingdom of God during which there is to be no more sickness. This being the case, Christians should, as Paul said, not forbid, mock or pressure other Christians who wish to speak “orderly” in tongues, whether such are regular language or ecstatic expressions. Nor would it be right  to denounce another Christian who wishes to use prayer, healing oils, massage and other laying on of the hands although bear in mind that Christ also says the sick do need doctors and the apostle Luke was also known as the “Beloved Physician.”  Freely copy and distribute this Bible tract originally written and posted at christianwitnesses.com where you'll find many more such free publications

BIRTHDAYS, WHY MOST CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THEM Luke 2:6 says that angels celebrated Christ's day of birth, many who read first Job 1:3 and then Job 3:1, 3 believe it is clear the banquet days Job's children celebrated were birthdays, and Jude 12 says the earliest Christians enjoyed balanced merriment at "love feasts." Those against birthdays ignore the preceding positive verses and say that in the Bible the only birthdays that are mentioned are in negative contexts, namely at the birthday of King Herod when he had John the Baptizer's head chopped off, and when an ancient Egyptian was slain. Some also say, although wrongly, that "mature" Christians don't celebrate birthdays. In fact most Christians view a birthday as a time for honoring the One who caused such happiness, the Creator of Life Himself, and it is also a way of showing the person who receives a birthday that they are loved, not "worshipped" as those against birthdays have sometimes said.   Few to no Christians think of celebrating the birth of someone as a way of worshipping the person; rather it is a way to show love and respect for the person, and it also brings praise for God since God via Adam and Eve makes all people. Detractors have also claimed that cakes, candles and making a wish are ungodly. Although non-Christian groups do also use cakes, candles and make wishes, the majority of Christians, being for birthdays, note that the parallel use of those do not make the usages wrong any more than it is wrong for a Christian to use a hammer since non-Christians also use hammers or a pagan may have made the first hammer. How something is used is more important than that it is used. For example, if a person used a hammer as an idol, say, with the head of a god and with praying to it, then how it was being used would not be Christian, but if a person uses a hammer to simply build a house for a homeless family, then how it is used is Christian. Consider too that Galatians 5:22 says that one of the fruits of God's Holy Spirit is "joy," and so there is every reason to ignore misinformation about birthdays and continue in joyful celebration.  Unless there is some other possibly unusual reason for it, most Christian parents feel free to keep the eyes of their children lit up with happiness whenever their days of birth come, but still, it is a matter for each Christian to decide about. LEARN MORE http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Birthdays http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Happy_Birthday_ to_You http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Birthday_ cake christianwitnesses.com

BLOOD, ITS USE APPROVED AT  1 SAMUEL 14:31-35 Under Mosaic Law then existing in ancient Israel at the time of King Saul, the normal penalty if a person ate blood or animal fat was death.  However 1 Samuel 14:32-35 shows that even under Mosaic Law, Saul's entire army of men ate unbled men to stay alive due to being exhausted and famished; yet they were forgiven by God.  Saul had his men make an altar which likely was not a small wooden altar but a large pile of heaped up large rocks or boulders to show remorse that they had had to break Mosaic Law to stay alive, and no scripture shows God punishing or slaying any of the men, so they were clearly forgiven.    If the men had not eaten the unbled meat of the livestock then they would have died, in other words committed suicide, and such self-taking of life was also forbidden under Mosaic Law; so their acting in the more logical and to God, more merciful way, was okay. Very, very few Christians wantonly eat blood puddings etc, but most do take blood transfusions as it is merciful and Biblically permitted as seen here.  Instead of noting this section of scriptures, Watchtower's heads ignore it; and meanwhile JWs, at times including children, bleed to death. Why not mail or email a copy of this to active JWs so they can find out about this grievous sin against Jehovah's Holy Spirit. 31 That day, after the Israelites had struck down the Philistines from Micmash to Aijalon, they were exhausted. 32 They pounced on the plunder and, taking sheep, cattle and calves, they butchered them on the ground and ate them, together with the blood. 33 Then someone said to Saul, "Look, the men are sinning against the LORD by eating meat that has blood in it."        "You have broken faith," he said. "Roll a large stone over here at once." 34 Then he said, "Go out among the men and tell them, 'Each of you bring me your cattle and sheep, and slaughter them here and eat them. Do not sin against the LORD by eating meat with blood still in it.' "       So everyone brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there. 35 Then Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first time he had done this. christianwitnesses.com

BRENDAN’S CHRISTIAN MISSION TO NORTH AMERICA As Ireland became Christianized, those native Irish who sailed out to minister and convert still others included Brendan of Ardfert and Clonfert.  He was born in 484 near what is now Tralee, baptized by Erc, educated and ordained in 512 by Ita.   History says in 512-530 Brendan built monastic cells by Brandon Hill from which he had gone 7 years together with 18-150 other monks on a voyage to the west or southwestwards which may mean the southeastern USA.  The Latin Navigatio Sancti Brendani  (St. Brendan’s Navigations) of the 10th or 11th century details his travels.  Heading west or southwest Brendan found other monks on an island then sailed on perhaps with some of them via Greenland and icebergs.  St Aengus the Culdee near the end of the 8th century mentioned 60 men who went with Brendan to find “the Land of Promise."  Brendan returned, founded the See of Ardfert, a monastery at Coney Island, Clare County in 550, went on to Wales and then Iona.  After 3 years in Britain, he returned to Dysart or Kilkenny County, Killiney (Tubberboe), and Brandon Hill. He founded the Sees of Ardfert and  Annaghdown, set up churches in the counties of Galway and Mayo.  In 557 he founded Clonfert and after dying at Annaghdown in 577 was buried at Clonfert.   Later the Vikings found an area south of Vinland and Chesapeake Bay called "Hvitramamaland" “Land of the White Men” or Greater Ireland, and Shawnee noted Florida had been inhabited by whites with iron implements.  The story of Brendan’s trip details animals and plants of North America.  In 1976 Tim Severin used 6th Century sailing and technology to duplicate the trip in a small leather boat, and in 1982 experts translated ancient Irish rock writings at two separate sites in the 1960s in West Virginia.  Written in the Ogham alphabet of 6th Century Ireland  they tell of Christmas, one writing including the expressing “Glad tidings” in Algonquian, a Native American language family.  So it appears that at least 1000 years before missionary John Elliot, the Irish Christian Brendan and other Irish missionaries witnessed to Algonquian-speaking Native Americans about the Good News of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God that will bring blessings on earth for all men. (Matthew 28:19) christianwitnesses.com

BROTHER DAVID ZEISBERGER David Zeisberger was born in Moravia, now the eastern part of the Czech Republic, in 1721 and joined the Church of the Unity of the Brethren or Moravian Church.  Inspired by Christ and the apostles, he bravely left Europe for North America in the 1740s and by the 1760s had gone to live among Native Americans of the Delaware nation in Pennsylvania.  By stressing the practicality of Christianity he won many converts. In 1772 he moved with Delaware into Ohio after Whites greedy for land pushed them west.  There he helped to successfully establish a village called Schoenbrunn where Delaware who became Christians received Christians names used by Whites and lived as the Whites.  He later helped them build Gnadenhutten and Lichtenau, much supported by chief Netawatwees who however died in 1776.  The Christian Delawares, had to worry about attacks from non-Christian Delaware and the warring Whites, and in 1776 Hurons removed them from Schoenbrunn.  In 1781 the British arrested David Zeisberger and an assistant until convinced they actually were pacifist neutrals.  When about 140 Christian Delaware returned for corn around Schoenbrunn they were massacred by Whites who also burnt their villages.  David Zeisberger led them north to Canada where they built Fairfield.  After invading American Whites burnt them out during the War of 1812, they moved to near Oxford in Ontario province.  Today 11,000 live in Oklahoma. David went on to spearhead more villages for Christian Native Americans in northern Ohio and Michigan before dying in 1808.  His efforts not only brought many Delaware to Christianity but also many of the Munsee and Mahican peoples.  Other Moravian missionaries converted many of the Cherokee nation to Christianity.  In 1808 Brother David Zeisberger gave up his fleshly body which was buried at Goshen, Ohio, far, far away from his land of birth in Europe, but many Native Americans will tell you that his spirit went on to be near and dear to our Father in heaven. christianwitnesses.com

BUDDHISM CONTRASTED Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on teachings of Siddhartha Gautama.  Born about 480 years before Christ, he was called the Buddha, meaning the Enlightened or Awakened One.  His teachings spread from India and are now most followed in Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast and East Asian nations, and nations such as China, Korea, and Japan.  There are said to be only about 360 million followers worldwide, but for example many Chinese and Japanese mix at least some of Buddhism with Confucianism, so in that sense there are many more.  Buddhism tries to end the suffering of cyclic existence or samsara by guiding followers to liberation from this material universe.  Followers must  purify and train their minds then obey laws of karma which say for example that if we act badly then we will have a negative consequence if not now then after death when transformed into another being such as an insect.  Buddhism says to not harm others and to do things in life in a moderate or well-balanced way.  It does not deny supernatural beings exist and many are noted in Buddhist scriptures, but it also does not teach that they were sources of creation, can save us from death, or judge us.   Buddhists do believe they can affect world events, and some Buddhists use rituals to associate with the supernatural.  Buddhism has helped to develop many persons of good character but as Christians we respectfully maintain that Christianity and the Good News of Christ do so even better.  For example, in contrast to karma etc in the Christian book of Acts 24:15 it is taught that "there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous." John 3:16 notes that Christ died so that all might live.   We as Christians believe there will be a resurrection humans into perfect bodies on paradise earth or as spirit beings serving with Christ from in heaven.  Wrong-doers will be judged perfectly by God, disciplined perfectly fairly and with full justice by God, resurrected and taught the ways of righteousness from which they must not wander.  In the end all will be set right, reconciled in God.  Surely, this is Good News!   Freely make and share copies of this.  For additional free leaflets or Bible tracts etc go to: christianwitnesses.com

CHARITABLE ELIZABETH   Commendable Christians since the apostles have included persons from across the spectrum of religion.  One, Elizabeth Ann Bayley, began her life in 1774 in a devout Episcopalian family in Baltimore, Maryland (USA).  In 1794 she married businessman William Seton, and they had five children. She and her sister-in-law Rebecca Seton founded the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children with so many missions of mercy for poor people in New York that people called it the “Protestant Sisters of Charity.”  When Elizabeth's husband William became ill they went to Italy where she was taught Catholicism and on returning she became Catholic in 1805 despite her family's opposition.   After William died she began a boys boarding school and three years later a school for wealthy girls in order to support and educate her daughters.  She and Rebecca, who had also become Catholic, began the first community of apostolic women in the USA called The Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s.  Indeed, Seton Hall University in New Jersey is named for Rebecca Seton.  Elizabeth went on to translate many French spiritual works into English, wrote many hymns and religious talks, kept diaries and journals about her spiritual struggles and growth.  The Sisters of Charity had become 20 total free schools, orphanages and hospitals when she died in 1821 and they still thrive.  In 1975 Elizabeth Ann Bayley was declared the first Catholic saint to be recognized as such who was born in the United States.  christianwitnesses.com

A CHILD’S PRAYER OF CONCERN "Dear Father in heaven.  Forgive my sins, please.  I'm just a little kid but I try to forgive others, and I love you so so much.  I want to talk to you about a problem in my family tonight.  I suppose you know Aunt Mabel won’t speak to us because Daddy and Mommy don’t want to go back to her Watchtower church.  I know You know everything but I just want to talk about it.  This happened when my cousin Minnie died last year.  It's bothering me. Daddy and Mommy say Auntie’s church told her to have Minnie bleed to death instead of get the help she needed.  They didn't tell her men ate meat with some blood in Saul's time to live and God forgave them.  That Christ wants mercy not sacrifice. So I understand why my mommy and daddy don’t want to go back to that church.  I'm told they'd even have let me bleed to death too!  But Aunt Mabel is so sweet.  I pray she will understand she did something wrong because of that Watchtower not teaching her right.  I sure wouldn’t want to bleed to death like cousin Minnie did.  I really loved Minnie.  She was so so little, my dolly is bigger than she was.  I miss her but I know she’ll be resurrected.  If I die now or someday while I sleep then I want to be resurrected to play with her again.  Maybe once Aunt Mabel understands you can resurrect her to be with us too.   That way all our family could get back together again.  I know you'll resurrect us, Father, and before we all do we have to be taught so we don't hurt other people again.  Forgive me things I've done wrong just like how I'm really trying to forgive too.  God, I know you can do anything You want.  I just need to pray and pray.  So I do!  I want to do Your will, heavenly Father.  Show love for everybody that will let me. Now through Jesus Christ Your Son I pray.  Remember me, please.  Now good night, God, my Father in heaven..... Amen” christianwitnesses.com

CHRISTMAS, THE DATE   Since Luke 2:8 says shepherds were in fields at Christ's birth some assume Christ wasn't born in December not knowing the Jewish Mishnah Seqal. 7:4 confirms flocks were kept in fields near Bethlehem even in winter.  Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem in winter not unlikely via the Jordan Valley as its roads were less rugged and at 689 to 1,306 feet below sea level protected them from colder December weather, though even then Israel is not terribly cold and snow unlikely due to the warm Mediterranean current.  The tax census was also likely in winter because then people's work had slowed, being largely agricultural with a winter lull.   Sheep wear natural wool keeping them so warm they can walk about even in Israel's rare snowfalls. Most sheep were also likely not taken indoors in winter as there were no large barns then due to no hay-making machines to make and store hay.  In winter shepherds brought flocks from cold mountains down to where snow had not killed as much grass closer to fields by homes where they could give better care.  Jacob had complained to Laban of suffering from cold frost as a shepherd at night (Gen. 31:40), proving night-time shepherding.  Some poor homeless shepherds stay outdoors even in the cold.  Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) wrote Marcus Aurelius that Jesus was born at Bethlehem ''as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing" (Apologia I, 34). Tertullian (160-250) noted "the census of Augustus-that most faithful witness of the Lord's nativity, kept in the archives of Rome" (Against Marcion, Bk. 4, 7).  Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to assign Christ's birthdate "from census documents brought by Titus to Rome," after which Julius assigned December 25th.  John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) wrote that Christ's December 25 date of birth was supported by the tax or census records still existing even in his day but not now known to exist which showed their registration at Bethlehem.  christianwitnesses.com christianwitnesses.com

CHRISTMAS, WHY MOST CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE IT Colossians 2:16 says "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."  So the Bible says Christians are not to be judged over holidays as to if they are or are not Christians.  This is not to insist that you or anyone must or must not celebrate Christ's birthday, but it does bring out useful facts. For example Luke 2 says angels and shepherds celebrated Christ's birthday.  Christmas has always been used to honor Christ, not some ancient sun god such as for the Saturnalia etc.  So for most Christians it is definitely Christian not pagan, although some may still decide to see it as such and have the right to do so. Further, although Christmas may have come from the non-Christian Saturnalia as many encyclopedias suggest, others say it may also have come from the Jewish celebration of Hannukah.  The date of the first Jewish festival of Hannukah was December 25 but the date varies yearly now because based on the moon.   In fact John 10:22 says in the winter Christ, himself a Jewish rabbi, was at the Feast of Dedication, another term for Hannukah (also spelled Channukah).   It's also called the Festival of Lights because it has Menorah lights, also special foods, gifts etc.     However, even if some aspects of Christmas come from or remind some of the pagan Saturnalia festival, it is also a fact that God made unclean foods clean for Christians.  Too, there are many things of pagan origin that even those few who oppose Christ's birthday celebration also use.  For example there are the names of days and those came from ancient gods' names such as Thursday  which is from name of the Scandinavian god name Thor, so that Thursday means Thor's Day, and June which is from the name of the god Juno.  For that matter wedding rings and money came from pagans but are used.  Now look on the internet and you will find out more such as that the Christmas tree is not from the pagan Yule tree but began among Christians in church plays of the Middle Ages as a prop for the Tree of Life in Eden, and that Santa Claus is not from Wodin/Odin etc but from the Christian gift-giver Saint Nicolaus....  All the same, some who read this will feel they themselves can not permit Christmas for theemselvers or their families, and that is not to be judged against them.  We have Christian freedom. christianwitnesses.com

CHRISTMAS STAR, WHO SENT IT Jehovah’s Witnesses are told by the Watchtower Society that the star of Bethlehem was not from Jehovah God Almighty the Father but from Satan the Devil; that it was sent in order to have Christ slain.  (Watchtower magazine of July 1, 1985: 16, 17) Matthew 2:1 and 2 says the wise-men saw Christ from where they had been in the east.  Directly east of Israel were the cultures and lands of the Arabs and Persians (Iranians).  Being relatively closer to Israel than people in India and China, they knew about Judaism. One indication that the wise-men came from more likely a relatively close Arabic or Iranian area to the east is the fact that the Bible says that they knew the star was tied to the birth of a king that the Jews had waited for a long time.  They went first to Jerusalem which was the capital of Israel.  The reason they went there was that a capital is the logical place to go in order to look for a new born king.  No scripture says the star led them to Jerusalem, but common sense or logic led them there. Matthew 2:9 says the star that they had seen back in the east advanced ahead of them then stopped over where the young child was.  Verse 12 says that in a dream from God, not Satan, they were warned to not return to King Herod as Herod had said they must do but instead to return to their home country by a different route. If the star of Bethlehem had been from Satan he would have sent the star to direct Herod to go at once and slay Jesus.  Also the obedience of the wise-men to what God told them to do proves that the wise-men obeyed God, not Satan. God could have stopped the wise-men from finding Jesus but Matthew 2:18 quotes a prophecy saying God knew Herod would be slaying young children.  To keep Jesus safe, God also gave Jesus' step-father Joseph a dream that warned him and Mary to flee with Jesus to Egypt.  Logically for this life-saving trip, money was needed. The wise-men had been aroused to go to Israel to find the new-born Jesus.  They had also been motivated to bring along gifts.  The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were very valuable items, providing enough money to make the life-saving trip. So, who aroused the wise-men to go to Israel with valuable gifts to keep Jesus and his family safe?  Do you really think it was Satan the Devil as the Watchtower Society tells Jehovah’s Witnesses to teach themselves and others, or was it God Almighty the Father who loves Jesus Christ?   Should men who fail at such Bible basics be allowed to with impunity tell you, your loved ones and others how to run, ruin, wreck or actually destroy their lives?  Christ warns that we need to be alert that the blind not mislead the blind into stumbling into a pit.  If others wish to disagree or take a contrary position due to their conscience, then that is their right; and in fact neither side is to be judging the others over this or other differences. christianwitnesses.com

CHRISTMAS TREES ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITTANNICA STATES THEY BEGAN AS PROPS  IN CHURCH PLAYS  The Christmas tree is not a descendent of the pagan Yule tree according to Encyclopedia Brittannica but began in the popular 11th century Paradise Play in German churches. The drama told of Adam and Eve, featured the Tree Of Life in the Garden of Eden paradise, and it ended with the promise of Christ’s return.  The paradise tree with some apples was pretty, so Christians began putting up their own trees in their homes for Christmas.  Scholars have actual references to the tree’s origin from centuries old manuscripts.  Lesser encyclopedias are still tending to link the tree's origin to pagan usage of trees or various legends, but that will change with time. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/442528/paradise-tree and or click on: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Christmas+tree+origin+paradise+play+church+prop+up-to-date+information&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= christianwitnesses.com

THE COAL-MINER'S WIFE One hot summer night in 1905 a coal-miner's wife suddenly had to get help for her husband whom she had just put to bed in great pain.  He had been injured near their house when a wagon slid off a steep hillside killing the horses pulling it. The woman, Grace,  ran as fast as possible through a steady drenching rain for a doctor's home five miles away though the land still had wolves and cut-throats roamed about. Once she stumbled and lay praying, feeling exhausted and all alone. Suddenly a friendly bark sounded and her pet dog, Yeller, was there licking her face.  She hadn't been alone after all. Within a couple minutes she made it to the bright light of the home where the doctor was and he came at once to save her husband's life. Bad situations occur, making us feel alone or indeed totally isolated.  But this reminds us that even if we find ourselves in similar situations, there is still hope and sometimes friends, even unseen ones, who can show up to offer comfort.  Maybe we just need to call out or wait a little longer.  Minutes can help.  See?   Please think about it.  Light always overcomes darkness though it may take a while.  And a good shepherd does look for the lost sheep.  (Lu 15:4)    christianwitnesses.com

CHRISTIAN WAR ON CRIME James says that to be approved by God we must not have "friendship with the world" by which he means not the world in the sense of suffering humanity in general, including victims of crime, but rather that we must not be friends of the world in the sense of wicked violent people, that is the world of crime and darkness. And as to crime, complaining and preaching about it can only do limited good compared to carefully but surely fighting against it as Christians. That being the case, why not consider some practical methods for doing so. You might try and do some things like these: get yourself, family or friends to meet and do some of the following regularly: after an in-the-home Bible reading go pick up area street or roadside trash; erase or paint over grafitti; drive seniors to shop so they can avoid thugs; work with a PTA to get children safely escorted to and from schools, or to get "safe houses" set up for them to go to if bothered; strategically post or distribute the police department's phone number about the neighborhood; report suspicious activities to police; discreetly camcord high crime areas and post that it's being done; support and work with the police. (Ro 13:1) We can also post or leave about leaflets with scriptures teaching honest work, supporting one's family, faithfulness, other virtues working against criminal sexual conduct; read in the papers, call the library reference people or city hall to find out whom to present with a petition that calls for curfew enforcement; surf the net to find other useful ideas. christianwitnesses.com

CONFUCIANISM, CONTRASTED WITH CHRISTIANITY Confucianism began in ancient China.  Some say it is really more a code of moral or behavorial beliefs than a religion, but it is very influential, especially among Chinese including the many now in all nations earthwide.  Followers look forward to practical immediate benefits that come from behaving in harmony with others such as parents, members of government and national rulers.  Leaders who closely follow this belief system are especially supposed to show good conduct, and most of those whom they lead tend to become like the leaders.  Confucianism opposes social classes but supports the ideal of people achieving according to merit, that is how well they can do their jobs instead of who they are related to or their friends. Confucianism teaches people to be humane and wise instead of unduly aggressive, and it puts a very strong positive emphasis on education and learning.  It has a lot of rituals instead of formal worship or meditation.  The founder Confucius, was born about 550 years before Christ.  He sometimes spoke of supernatural beings in ways that sound agnostic, but a Confucianist can, for example, at the same time be a Taoist, Christian, Muslim, Shintoist or Buddhist or even a combination of those. Confucianism may include, but need not include features and beliefs that go back before Confucius.  For example some Confucianists believe in ancestor worship, sacrifice to ancestral spirits and an abstract God in heaven.  Some see ancient kings and Confucius himself as become deities, that is powerful spirits or gods.  Confucianism itself does not teach that there is an afterlife but many followers do believe in it.  Confucianism contrasts with Christianity which centers on Christ and does teach resurrection to heaven or on earth.  The Good News of Christianity says because of Christ's ransom sacrifice ALL will have be resurrected, have a second chance which means those who never even knew Christ existed, those who did not know and did not do what God wants, those born into Buddhism etc who never knew about Christ etc; read for example Acts 24:15 and John 3:16.   Freely make and share copies of this. christianwitnesses.com

CROSS, NOT A STAKE It is said by some, in particular the Watchtower Society men over Jehovah's Witnesses, that Christ died with hands stretched upwards while upon a "stake" rather than with hands stretched outwards upon a "cross" which Christians most commonly view as the "positive symbol of the resurrection hope."  So, let's look at this closer. Archaeologists have examined first century house remains, inscriptions and human remains from the time of Christ for many years now, and they say all such evidence shows that it was a cross.   For example, in 1945 Professor Eliezer Sukenik found some Christian burial boxes (ossuaries) from Bethany.  They were dated at 42-43 or no later than 50 A.D., some engraved and one marked in charcoal with crosses, but none marked with stakes.    Forensic research by Dr. F. Zugibe has proved suffocation would be in minutes if on a stake but within hours if upon an outstretched cross even as Luke 23:44 and Matthew 27:45-46 say it was.  Matthew 27:37 says "They put up above His head the charge against Him, which read, ‘This is Jesus the King of the Jews."  If his hands had been stretched upward and nailed on a stake, Matthew would have said the charge was put above his hands, but instead Matthew clear says the charge was put "above his head."  The Greek word "stauros" in the original Greek New Testament language can mean either cross or stake, but never just mean stake. Some of those who promote the stake idea say that true Christians must regard what Christ died upon as a horrible murder weapon.  Instead, Paul says boast of the cross.   Why?   Although an instrument of death, in Christ's case it became the positive symbol of the victory of Christian resurrection over death. (Ga 6:14, 1 Cor 1:17-18)    In Ezekial 8 God denounces the worship of idols including of false gods such as Tammuz.  Then at Ezekial 9:4 God says to put a protective mark upon the heads of those who are grieving and lamenting hateful things in Jerusalem.  Scholars say that the protective mark was the cross mark letter, that is an X or a T which normally was a symbol for false god Tammuz.  However, its use by God turned that cross mark letter from being a negative symbol into a positive symbol, a fore-gleam of the positive nature of the cross when Christ came.  So for a number of reasons we see that it was actually a cross even as most Christians have believed for some two thousand years.  We also see that the cross is a positive symbol of the resurrection hope through Christ's ransom sacrifice. (Jn 3:16)  It's not a mark of "false" Christians but of true Christians.  So if you have been given misinformation and therefore felt upset whenever seeing someone wearing a cross, or its appearance in a church setting, on TV or in a movie film, then please remember all these other facts.  Also, freely copy and share this with others.  For more http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/cross.htm  http://www.freeminds.org/doctrine/cross.htm christianwitnesses.com

DINOSAURS, WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS The Bible speaks of animals which in Hebrew are called the behemoth, leviathan and tannin.  Some have suggested that these were types of dinosaurs although the word dinosaur itself was not even used until 1841.  Some have written that the idea that the Bible may be speaking of dinosaurs a fairytale, a lie, ignorance etc.  All accepted authorities believe that dinosaurs went extinct prior to humans and that dragons never existed.  They discount and discredit for example that: a 1970 newspaper reports that ancient bushman cave paintings in Zimbabwe include Apatosaurus (brontosaurus); cliff carvings at Hava Supai Canyon, Arizona, show dinosaurs including one like a tyrannosaurus; ancient dinosaurs found at Toro Mountain near Guanajuato, Mexico including one of a human with a dinosaur; a mixture of dinosaur tracks and human footprints found in the Paluxy River bed near Glen Rose, Texas, that was reported in the May 1939 issue of Natural History. Continuing, Job 40:15-24 says "behemoth" ate mountain-like amounts of grass and had a large cedar-like (tapered) tail remindful of brachiosaurus more than a short-tailed hippopotamus which only eats about 200 pound of grass per day.   The Leviathan was armor-plated and, like the bombardier beetle of Central America, it could eject gas.  By speculation this could have been done, also as the bombardier beetle of Central America does, by naturally producing and using a fuel of hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide blown as gas ignited into flames from the skull.  If so, that would have made it what most Bible translations call a dragon and which we moderns might call a dinosaur.  Read Job chapter 41 and Psalm 104:25, 26.  Isaiah 27:1 implies leviathan may have been a member of the tannin a word some translations render as dragons.  Interestingly many dinosaur skulls do have unexplained skull chambers, and suggestions have been that Medieval writers spoke of actual dragons, or rather the kronosaurus or tricerotop.   The Hebrew root tanan for tannym indicates an animal that howled or ejected smoke.  Some translations therefore render the word as dragon but others speculate that it might as well be rendered as dinosaur.  To conclude, this article is a discussion of dinosaurs and creatures mentioned in the Bible, but it is not an argument for (or against) the idea that dinosaurs existed alongside humans during Biblical or Medieval times.   Moreover, it is interesting to note that the internet contains numerous articles on this same topic. http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/dinos.shtml http://www.genesispark.org/genpark/bible/bible.htm http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/dinosaurs_and_the_bible http://www.bibleandscience.com/science/dinosaurs.htm christianwitnesses.com

DRUG ADDICTIONS, KICKING THEM Yes, it’s best to get help from professionals to kick an addiction to drugs.  At times some other people and sources can also be helpful.  For example a friendly jailer once told country singer Johnny Cash this about his talent "if you think it came from God, then you're sure wrecking the body He put it in.”  This reminded Johnny Cash to ask God for help, take responsibility and ask friends including June Carter to help him quit including by praying with him at times.  More recently Eminem has gotten help from his children and Elton John.  Rich person, poor person, famous, everyday, men, women, children,… it can be ruinous for anybody.   More and more science and medicine researchers are also providing help.  For example, a January 2011 Fox News report stated that a study in the online version of Molecular Therapy said researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York had produced a safe vaccine combining parts of cold virus with a particle mimicking cocaine.  Lasting 13 weeks, it prevented cocaine molecules from getting to the brain’s pleasure center in mice.  Researchers hope it will also help treat human addiction including with nicotine and heroin. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/04/vaccine-help-drug-addicts-kick-habit/   Returning to the Bible, while about to die Christ himself accepted myrrh as a kind of drug for alleviating pain.  However, no scriptures say to use things that harm one’s own body or the bodies of other people.  Instead they advise (as the jailer reminded Johnny Cash) that we are to show regard for our bodies and lives as well as those of other people.  Bodies are super great gifts that God have given to us along with some amazing personalities, skills and talents.  Another good point is that Romans 13 says we are to subject ourselves to the superior authorities.  Those are, for example, the police, judges and the courts.    Even with legally prescribed drugs, we must also be careful to not accidentally overdose with them or abusively use them short of full-scale addiction.  All good things come from God, but the misuse of plants or drugs is our own bad choice.  Let’s always try to make right choices, and when an addiction is kicked, do all we can keep it from taking control over us again.  Our own efforts are magnified when we lean upon God and His Son.  christianwitnesses.com

EARTH, WHAT GOD PLANS FOR IT God made and loves our planet, the Earth, and will not allow it to be destroyed.  Indeed, Revelation 11:18 says He will destroy those "who are destroying the earth." He also cares about humans and our planet's fellow creatures large and small.  Leviticus 25:1-12 speaks of Israel caring for the land, Deuteronomy 25:4 and 22:6 discuss the stewardship of domestic animals and wildlife, and at Isaiah 5:8-10, God judges those who are misusers of the land.  Job 38:25-28 and Psalm 104:27-30 speak of God's care for the creation.   Christ said God even cares for tiny sparrows (Mat 6:26, 10:29).  He speaks lovingly of the "lillies of the field," a phrase which may also mean the wild flowers. (Mat 6:28, 29) Although Matthew 24:35, Luke 21:33 and Revelation 21:1 say earth will end (read the verses), there will later be a "new heavens and new earth."  So Ecclesiastes 1:4 saying earth remains forever may mean Earth comes and goes but in the longer frame of time remains forever.   Christ and the apostles resurrected many people right here on Earth, so besides resurrection to heaven there is also solid reason to believe many will be resurrected on Earth too.  Matthew 5:5 says the meek will inherit "the earth" which some take to mean the people of Israel would inherit what is called the Promised Land but others understand to mean our wonderful planet that God made for us. The Good News is that although people die because of inherited sin or imperfections, (1 Cor 15:22) still, because of what Christ did, we all have the hope of resurrection (Acts 24:15, Jn 3:16) on earth or to heaven however God may decide for each of us.   In fact Christ tells us to pray that God’s kingdom will come upon the earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10) christianwitnesses.com

EARTH, HOW CHRISTIANS CAN HELP DEFEND IT Some current concerns over Climate Change include hurricanes, quakes and tsunamis, expansion of the ozone hole over the North and South Poles.  The enlarged ozone has sometimes reached Punta Arenas in Argentina, caused people to tan in just 7 minutes, endangered ocean plankton and threatened tourism.   Some places have worse summer heat, winter snows with blizzards, more hurricanes etc.  In Japan a tsunami killed many people and caused radiation to come from destroyed nuclear power plants.  An estimated 26% percent of earth's coral reefs, vital for many sea creatures, are dead and all are threatened as the oceans warm up. Some 40% of the ice sheets had melted up to 2000 and continue to melt as also had 40% of the polar ice.  Rising salty ocean water can ruin fresh drinking water, ruin soil for crop production thus causing starvation.   Concern about having enough drinking and crop-growing water may also trigger some very large-scale wars in the future. In 1900 rain forests covered 12% of earth but now they cover 5% or less.  Plants that could provide cures for on-rushing diseases are being wiped out! Ice in mountains that long supplied major cities is also vanishing. The rosy periwinkle used for leukemia is being destroyed. And the list continues. James 4:4 says to not be friends of the world of wickedness which would include those deliberately trying to ruin our planet, and whom God Himself will instead bring to ruin.  Our planet deserves much greater respect. (Read 2Pe 3:1-13, Ec 1:4, Re 11:18, 21:1), and we need to battle against the abuses and the abusers. How?  We, our family and friends can beautify our own properties, plant some trees, offer to landscape some for senior neighbors, pick up road litter, paint over graffitti, report polluters and illegal dumpers.  We can also help the equally threatened animals of the Earth.  Making and distributing copies of this leaflet can also help by educating people. We can also surf the internet for others who are also concerned, to find additional methods and information, lobby to peacefully help save the life-giving vanishing rain-forests and coral reefs, do any hunting and harvesting of food in balanced ways instead of wantonly killing for so-called sport.  We can insist on the humane treatment of animals used in any actually necessary medical experiments, and push to preserve more of God's natural temples of beauty. christianwitnesses.com

EARTH, WHY AND HOW TO NOT RUIN IT! (Re 11:18) Besides hurricanes, quakes and tsunamis and hurricanes, another concern has been when the ozone hole over Antartica has expanded to cover cities as distant as Punta Arenas in Argentina, caused people to tan in just 7 minutes, endangered ocean plankton and threaten tourism.   Also alarming is that an estimated 26% percent of earth's coral reefs, vital for many sea creatures, are dead and all are threatened as the oceans warm up. Some 40% of the ice sheets had melted up to 2000 and continue to melt as also had 40% of the polar ice.    In 1900 rain forests covered 12% of earth but  now they cover 5% or less.  Plants that could provide cures for on-rushing diseases are being wiped out! Ice in mountains that long supplied major cities is also vanishing. The rosy periwinkle used for leukemia is being destroyed. And the list continues. James 4:4 says to not be friends of the world of wickedness which would include those deliberately trying to ruin our planet, and whom God Himself will instead bring to ruin.  Our planet deserves much greater respect. (Read 2Pe 3:1-13, Ec 1:4, Re 11:18, 21:1)  and we  need to battle against the abuses and the abusers. How?  We, our family or friends can beautify our own properties, landscape for neighbors or community, pick up road litter, paint over graffitti, report polluters and illegal dumpers.    We can surf the internet for others who are also concerned, methods and information, lobby to peacefully help save the life-giving vanishing rain-forests and coral reefs, do any hunting and harvesting of food in balanced ways instead of wantonly killing for so-called sport.    We can insist on the humane treatment of animals used in any actually necessary medical experiments, push to preserve and maintain more of God's natural temples of beauty. christianwitnesses.com

EASTER, WHY MOST CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE IT Most encyclopedias and dictionaries have said the name of Easter is from an ancient non-Christian pagan goddess named Eastre, this being what an ancient British scholar named Bede once guessed, and yet it has also been noted that the name Eastre may just as easily have come from the Old English or Anglo-Saxon word for East or Eastern.  In fact, as to the name “Easter,” Christianity came to Europe and later America from the direction of the East.  To be exact it came from the Middle East, and besides this, formerly many Christians believed Christ would return from the east to resurrect people, possibly thinking of Matthew 24:27 which says the resurrected Christ will return out of the east. Those opposed to celebrating Easter also claim the eggs and rabbits used during Easter season are the vestiges of ancient pagan fertility rites when the facts are that Christians have used eggs and rabbits to symbolize new life as in the resurrection of Christ which is what the holiday is about.  Further, the apostle Paul wrote that we have Christian freedom about if we want to celebrate or not celebrate different holidays.  He says this at Galatians 4:10 and Colossians 2:16.   Please read and meditate on those scriptures, contrasting with what they say and what those opposing Easter and other holidays teach to be "the truth."  To all true Christians, the Bible itself is the truth and Paul truly says in the Bible that there is freedom about such things. Furthermore, note that all the days and months in the English language are named after pagan gods and goddesses and yet those wrongly attacking Easter as "pagan" commonly use those very same names.  Rings and money also came from pagans, but those attacking Easter also use rings and money.  Some Christians in the Bible even have and kept "pagan" names such as Apollo and Junius. The cross is prominent at Easter.  Opposers have claimed Christ didn't die on a cross but on an upright stake or pole and the cross is a horrible murder weapon.   Frankly, archaeology and forensics say it definitely was a cross, and Paul says to boast of the cross for Christ turned it into a symbol of the resurrection hope. (Ga 6:14, 1 Cor 1:17-18)   Therefore, for these many reasons, most although not all Christians continue to hold fast to their Christian joy about celebrating Easter or for example the pro-Christ holiday of Christ's birthday, Christian, also the sharing of communion wine and bread, etc.   Those who can celebrate such days while keeping a clean conscience provide "joy" not just for themselves but others. (Ga 5:22)  However, we do have freedom of conscience and some will and others will not see the birthdays as joyful and they have the right to celebrate or not celebrate even as Paul said. christianwitnesses.com

EYE OF A NEEDLE At Matthew 19: 23 this is told to us: "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."   25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"   26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Christ makes in it points such as that it is not good to love money too much as it can hinder us spiritually, although thankfully God can save even those no one else can.  Another interesting thing is that the passage shows Christ's familiarity with different classes or groups of people such as the wealthy, his knowledge of camels, and his knowing something of the art of sewing. A question for us all is, do we also try to draw greater wisdom from how people like ourselves interact with everyday things? christianwitnesses.com

FAMILY RADIO’S 2011 FALSE ARMAGEDDON PROPHECY Thousands of followers of Family Radio’s Harold Camping looked forward to his  predicted End of the World which was to start at 6 PM on May 21, 2011.  For example the New York Times told of Ms. Abby Haddad Carson leaving a job as a nurse to go on trips with husband Robert to hand out tracts telling the message to the public.  The couple also stopped working on their house and saving for their son Joseph (14) and two daughters, twins Grace and Faith, to go to college.  Grace Haddad (16) said her mother told her because of non-belief she wouldn’t be getting into heaven.  Ms. Haddad Carson herself said “I have mixed feelings; I’m very excited about the Lord’s return, but I’m fearful that my children might get left behind. But you have to accept God’s will.”  Grace said she and her sister hoped to attend a friend’s birthday party after the prophecy failed but “I don’t know how emotionally able my family will be at that time.”  Kino Douglas (31) said it had been difficult to be around his sister Stacey (33) who didn’t want to talk about anything else.  The Douglas live near each other in Brooklyn, and Kino said he planned to show up at her house right afterward to talk about it with her. Gary Daniels (27)  said his family wouldn’t listen and shouted over the message.  He spent May 20th driving from his home in Newark, Delaware, in a van covered with Judgment Day messages to say a last goodbye to relatives in Brooklyn before he went to heaven.  He also said  he wept knowing The End was about to hit them “like a meteor.”  Former TV producer Jeff Hopkins of Great River, NY, complained of being cursed for driving his car back and forth from Long Island to New York City with an End of the World sign on top.  He had genuinely thought he was doing God's will. Experts say over the centuries Doomsday messages or Armageddon activities like Camping’s have been more common at the start of significant dates, years such as 2000, the start or end of major wars such as World Wars I and II, other major social, political, economic, and natural events. For example in 2011 the United States had notable tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, was in three wars, had a difficult economy with poor job prospects especially for older workers, and the cost of car gas had increased tremendously.  After doomsday prophecies fail leaders can take various approaches.  One is to say that the date was wrong but the End will occur at a later date.  Another is to say the event occurred in a spiritual way and will occur for real in the future.  Sometimes leaders also say they never really made such a prophecy but hint that members just got too excited and believed that it had been preached as fact. Doomsday leaders can make more money when true believers become excited and donate more money.  Even back in 2007 Family Radio, also known as Family Stations Inc, had about $122 million in assets.   Speaking now of Doomsday leaders in general, they often incorporate so that they can say correctly that they don't get paid salaries or else receive nothing more than a pittance, the reality being that instead they do take PERKS that people's donations have purchased.  For example they get to write off to their corporation's accounts apartments or houses, cars, private jets, first-class transportation and hotels, meals services, many weeks of vacation to anywhere they want to go to on the face of the earth, the use of their corporation's barberis, medical and dental services, services from devoted, idolizing followers who act with little or no pay to chauffeur around the top leaders, clean their corporate cars, act as maids who make apartment beds, vacuum etc.  They may have lower rung clergy tell other lower rung members and newcomers that the corporate heads live in hovels when the opposite is true.  The very top leader or the most powerful board member of a Doomsday corporation often demands absolute control from all below him, surrounds himself with yes-men, punishes fellow members who oppose or expose him by using nuisance lawsuits, severe shunning, calling them names such as Apostates and Sons of Perdition, setting them up to look immoral, incomptent, stupid, criminal or insane.  As a "carrot" they puff up members by telling them they are Elect, people specially chosen by God who will bless them with mansions in heaven or life in paradise.  They are almost invariably discourage followers from using the internet for it is an easy way to discover what they are actually doing with money.  Not infrequently they may also be secret abusers of children, women, and any men women they don't like or believe they can bully or harass with impunity.  Followers of such groups tend to be too trusting or naive, prefer getting information from what seems an indisputably knowing person or group.  They want clear-seeming accurate answers that comfort or help in times of world difficulties or personal crises such as when they are in the midst of a divorce, having to survive as a single mother, contending with dying from a disease or slowly going blind etc; instead of having to rely upon their own understandings, ambiguous sources or churches, science and medicine which still does not all the cures. They sometimes sell homes, give away their property; run up credit cards, refinance their homes and otherwise go into debt since they do not expect to have to pay back the money.  After the prophecy has proved false some have become not only more severely depressed but committed suicide.  Their other beliefs may be totally mainstream or include additional beliefs that can lead them or their loved ones into other harm or even death, for example as with medical treatments, diets and fasting.  A major spokesperson and aide to Camping is Kevin Brown.  He has said that followers’ conflicts with other family members is just part of a test for showing if a person is truly a believer in Christ.  (Christ himself said “no one” except the heavenly Father knows when the end will be)  Camping's wife said he was baffled the End had not come May 21, 2011.  Camping who initially hid out in a motel finally came forth not to apologize, but to say that what followers did was not between him and them but between them and God.  Yet what he as a false Doomsday leader said has had major effects as his group broadcasts over nearly seventy radio stations in the United States, also broadcast in Europe etc.  In Vietnam the message caused some 5,000 Hmong people to gather near the border with Laos for the May 21 event. The government there arrested some as extremists.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_apocalypse_saturday http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/05/10/f-judgment-day-family-radio.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/us/20rapture.html http://www.eaec.org/bibleanswers/Harold-Camping-A-Man-With-No-Shame.htm christianwitnesses.com

FATHER'S DAY! Some people have been wrongly told that Father’s Day is of pagan origins.  In fact in 1909 Sonora L Dodd promoted Father’s Day to show love for living and deceased fathers including her own.  U.S. President Wilson endorsed it in 1916, and in 1972 U.S. President Nixon made it a permanent day of observance.  Non-Christian, pagan Romans honored only deceased fathers each February, and when Dodd started Father’s Day in America there was absolutely no connection to the ancient Roman celebration.  In fact the Bible praises the Father of all life and Christ’s prayer in Matthew 6 begins with “Our Father who is in heaven.”  Colossians 2:16 says “Do not let anyone judge you... with regard to a religious festival” besides which Father’s Day in the U.S. and in many other nations is not a religious day but a time when family members can show acts of kindness, love and affection in respect for fathers.   In fact God says "you must honor your mother and father" at Exodus 20:12. That's one of the well-known ten commandments, and therefore those who misteach people to not honor their father or mother are committing a deliberate sin. Father's Day is celebrated February 23 in Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus; on March 14 in Iran; on March 19 in Bolivia, Honduras, Italy, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Spain; on the third Sunday of June in many Latin America,  China and in many other nations; on July 30 in Vietnam; and on August 8 in Taiwan, etc.  It is truly an international celebration and enjoyble as gifts are given and there are special activities for the family.  See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father's_day christianwitnesses.com

HOW FLAG DAYS ARE TREATED IN THE U.S. AND OTHER NATIONS Many nations have what are called Flag Days.  In some lands people get paid vacations while not having to work, there are parades, etc.  In other lands the days pass largely unnoticed as is the case in the United States.   In some lands the days may also commemorate annual remembrances such as when a nation became independent from some other mother nation or occupying power.   In others they may simply exist as a statement that on a certain day the flag became the national emblem. Viewed throughout the centuries and from land to land, how flags are looked at has varied greatly.  They have been seen as emblems of an ultra-nationalistic attitude in many ways worshipped as with the swastika flag of the Nazis under Hitler, but for the most part they have been and are seen as emblems that merit respect but not actual worship like an idol.  In the Bible the twelve tribes of Israel each used distinctive banners or flags, and scriptures always speak well of them.  (Numbers 2:1, 2; Psalm 20:5, Canticles also called Song of Solomon 2:4, 6:4, 10) Concerning Flag Day in the United States, Charles Dudley Warner wrote an article in Hartford, Connecticut on June 14, 1861 two months after Civil War hostilities had begun between the Confederacy and the United States. It led to a U.S. Flag Day which has been celebrated on June 14 each year in commemoration of the flag having been adopted as a result of a resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.  In 1916 during World War I, then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing the June 14 date, but it was not until August 1949 when an Act of Congress formally established Flag Day.  However it is still not an official federal holiday, and only on June 14, 1937 did Pennsylvania become the lone U.S. state to celebrate it. Kansas: a Cyclopedia of State History (1912) credits George Morris of Hartford, Connecticut, as first suggesting the establishing of a U.S. Flag Day.  However, Bernard J. Cigrand is most often called the Father of Flag Day.  He led an observation of it while a grade school teacher at Stony Hill School in Waubeka, Wisconsin, in 1885.  He continued to write about it and noted that he had given 2,188 speeches about it.  In times of war many people see national flags as rallying emblems.  Since Romans 13:1 says “authorities that exist have been established by God,” the view of most in genuinely pro-freedom democracies is that they are also honoring both their nations and God by showing respect for the flag.  Each Christian knows how national flags are viewed in his or her own particular time and place.  The apostle Paul noted that Christians have freedom of conscience and are not to be judged about the observing of days. (Romans 14:1-22, Colossians 2:16) For more free Bible tracts, leaflets etc see christianwitnesses.com, a name easy to remember

FLAGS IN THE BIBLE Ancient Israel had banners or flags as shown in the scriptures.  Speaking of them, Psalm 20:5 says "We will cry out joyfully because of your salvation, and in the name of our God we shall lift our banners." Canticles (Song of Solomon) 2:4 says "He brought me into the house of wine, and his banner over me was love." Canticles (Song of Solomon) 6:4 says "You are beautiful , O girl companion of mine, like Pleasant City, comely like Jerusalem, awesome as companies gathered around banners." And Canticles 6:10 which states "Who is this woman who is looking down like the dawn, beautiful like the full moon, pure like the glowing sun, awesome as companies gathered around banners?" As said, it's a fact that the ten tribes and nation of Israel used banners or flags because God had told them to do so.  How so?  For example pagan nations often carried into battle small idols on elevated poles representative of the gods they worshipped.  God had told the Israelites they must not use idols (Exodus 20:4), so to represent themselves and God they instead used banners or flags. So now you know the rest of the story about what the Bible itself says of flags. Obviously any fanatical, unquestioning and blind allegiance to any human group as with the ultra-nationalism of the Nazis is wrong, but again the Bible itself speaks of flags, ensigns or banners in no negative way but in positive contexts of joy and love.  Most people use or salute them to show "respect," not to worship them, any national  or governmental system.  For more free Bible tracts, leaflets etc see christianwitnesses.com, a name easy to remember

FLAGS OR BANNERS OF THE 12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL Numbers 2 records “1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 “The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.”  The question is what was on the banners? According to rabbinical tradition Judah’s banner had a lion, Reuben’s had a man’s head, Ephraim’s had an ox, and Dan’s had an eagle.  What was on the banners or flags of the other tribes is speculation but determined on the basis of scriptures that describe the tribes.  The vision at Ezekiel 1:10 also described cherubs with the faces of four living creatures.  Jewish traditions as seen in rabbinical tradition and from Jewish writers holds that the banners contained the symbols of the four living creatures of Ezekial 1:10 which says “Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.” Revelation 4:6 onward speaks of four living creatures before God’s throne: “In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.” Some have claimed that the law at Exodus 20:4 against images banned any images on the banners.  However God told the Israelites to decorate His tabernacle and temple with images for example of lions, oxen and cherubim: Ex 26:1; 36:8, 35; 1Ki 6:32; 1Ki 7:29; 2Ki 16:17; 2Chr 4:3-4, 15.  The historian Josephus says Jews opposed images on the army standards of Roman soldiers but the opposition was likely because of the particular images in their ensigns, not to all images. For more free Bible tracts, leaflets etc see christianwitnesses.com, a name easy to remember

FOOD AND BIBLE HEALTH TIPS  From reading the Bible it's clear that we're to treat the body like a marvelous temple, moderately exercise, especially guard the heart, avoid anger, dangerous sex etc but can enjoy events like weddings, birthdays like Job's children had (Job 1 & 3), Christian parties (love feasts), singing at get-togethers etc. We learn wholesome foods help more than rich ones (Da 12:1), but to avoid fat and the over-eating of meat although a little bit of meat was eaten as shown by the fact that Christ himself ate some fish. The first foods that God gave humanity were seed-bearing vegetations (cereals, etc) and fruits (Ge 1:29). In Genesis, Jehovah ordered that blood not be eaten and although Acts 15:19-20 etc re-confirmed what He said. 1 Samuel 14:32-35 clearly says that Jehovah forgave an entire army of men who ate unbled meat in order not to die from starvation. They only had to build an altar to Him to show repentance. Therefore, we do best to not eat blood puddings for example but in an emergency situation such as a modern auto accident, this does not forbid the use of blood as in transfusions. Read Matthew 12 carefully if still in doubt that He puts principles such as love and mercy above rules or laws, even His own, in order to preserve life. The Bible mentions foods such as honey, dates, figs, apples, grapes, leeks, onions, olives, stuffed cucumbers, beans, lentil stew, flourporridge, beef, bread, fish, quail, partridge, pigeons, locusts fried without limbs and heads, eggs, wheat, barley, millet, spelt, dill, cumin, coriander, mint, salt, garlic, rue, mustard leaves, wine vinegar, wheat beer, a little wine, water, milk, cheese, a pomegranate fruit drink, a little wine, sweet cakes, fig cakes, almonds, pistachios. This doesn't mean, of course, that anyone today has to eat just those foods. In fact, the Bible counsels allowing each person his own convictions on matters which it does not directly address. christianwitnesses.com

FREE WITNESSES CONTRASTED TO  JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES As the name “Free” Witnesses implies, Christians in the Free Witnesses movement enjoy far more Christian freedom than do “Jehovah’s” Witnesses who might be better called “Watchtower” Witnesses since Jehovah's Witnesses must do whatever the men on the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society over them orders.  What Watchtower has Jehovah's Witnesses call a “Bible Study” is really just a study of Watchtower’s publications such as the magazine called the Watchtower.  What Free Witnesses call a Bible Study is a reading and discussion of the Bible itself. Both teach God is named Jehovah in English, and God wants many to be resurrected on Earth turned to paradise, but thereafter the differences are enormous.   For example Watchtower teaches that adult Jehovah's Witnesses must never take a blood transfusion or allow one for their children even if it means Jehovah's Witnesses or their child will bleed to death.  In fact an estimated 200,000 or more Jehovah's Witnesses including some children have bled to death since 1945.  In sharp contrast Free Witnesses teach that according to 1 Samuel 14:31-35 and Matthew 12:7, it is okay to use blood transfusions during an emergency.  Jehovah's Witnesses preach against all holidays, but Free Witnesses point out that the apostle Paul said that if to observe moons, Sabbaths and holy days (holidays) is up to each Christian’s conscience that has been trained by the Bible. Watchtower has Jehovah's Witnesses to emphasize Armageddon, the end of the world and when it would come.  Free Witnesses have never done that and never will but instead emphasize that salvation by God is a free gift for ALL both righteous and unrighteous because of what Christ did and yet God definitely also wants us to show active neighborly love for others.  (James 2:14-26; Mat 22:37-39; Act 24:15, John 3:16, 1 John 4:16) )  Both believe in making new disciples (Mat 28:19) but how it gets done is very different.  Watchtower stresses going to formally knock on door-after-door at house-after-house and offer magazines, but Free Witnesses encourage acts of loving-kindness which may include informally offering up-building scriptures to those interested but also doing hands-on acts of neighborly love such as mowing the lawn of someone elderly or physically incapacitated.  Witnessing to God’s goodness by Love beats witnessing by how many doors you knock at or magazines that are left.  Free Witnesses point out Christ spoke against going to house after house in one area (Luke 10:7), instead directing followers to go from a house in one town to a house in another town where their message was likely to be well-received. Watchtower is a corporate organization with a top-town hierarchy of Jehovah’s Witness elders who say they aren’t clergy while in fact they are clergy and must rather blindly do whatever their Governing Body members say or hint.  The movement of Free Witnesses is a Christian movement that arranges for continuing fellowship among Christians, which means that there is no one single “person” over all except for Christ.  Among Free Witnesses the word “elder” denotes an older reputable Christian not a spiritual boss or overlord.  Each elder (caring adult Christian) does not act blindly but joyfully, lovingly as God’s Holy Spirit directs. (Ga 5:22)  Watchtower orders elders to form into formal, secretive Judicial Committees to order the severe shunning of those who disagree with the teachings of its Governing Body men, thereby destroying countless families.  Free Witnesses would rarely suggest limiting association with someone peacefully holding and expressing different views.  Watchtower rigidly controls its elders and groups; Free Witnesses stay free and united for although most have similar beliefs they are free to differ while united though in particular by love. (Colossians 3:14, Ro 14:1-22) Watchtower teaches Jehovah’s Witnesses to emphasize that God saves from death by resurrection those who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, but Free Witnesses emphasize that the Good News is that because of Christ’s ransom sacrifice ALL have a chance to be  resurrected including people who for example lived in distant jungles long ago and never heard the Good News or learned what God wanted them to do.  (Jn 3:16, Acts 15:24)  Jehovah’s Witnesses preach that at death the wicked just sleep forever but Free Witnesses preach they are judged, punished or disciplined fairly in line with what they did so that there is justice for those they wronged, and that eventually all will agree God was fair and be reconciled with Him.  For example please read Acts 24:15; Lu 2:10; 1 Tim 2:1-7; 1 Tim 4:9, 10; John 5:28. Get more free Bible literature at christianwitnesses.com “a name  that, once seen, you can’t easily forget”

GAMBLING OR GAMING,  IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS At Isaiah 65:11 God condemns people who set up a table for the gods of good Luck and Destiny.   So, if for example, you buy a lottery ticket or play cards for money, then you need to make sure you are not idolizing good luck or a god or Gods.  If you do, then those things are an object of undue devotion.   Otherwise, if without idolizing, then those acting in good conscience as granted at Romans 14 may conclude that such is gaming for fun rather than gambling for idolatry. But there are additional reasons for being careful.  For example even if you gamble or game only one time, you may lose enough that it hurts yourself or others such as family members who may have to go hungry because of your losing money.  Another possibility is that although not idolizing any god, you may still develop an addiction and if for example you have children then those may go hungry not just one time but regularly. True, it’s a matter of conscience, but it doesn’t hurt to think about the potential consequences.  Drinks, sparkling lights, exciting sounds etc may be things that have no effect on some people, but for others they may prove deadly even as for some people a little wine may not hurt but for others they are like poison injected from a snake bite.  Think in a balanced way; behave in a balanced way; and we are more likely to also live a happier, longer, and more balanced life. christianwitnesses.com

GOD DOES HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE ALL THINGS RIGHT 1. The truly Good News of God’s Kingdom is that thanks to the ransom sacrifice of Christ there will be a resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous, not just those of one particular church, nation, race, but for literally ALL mankind (Acts 24:15, John 3:16, 1 Cor. 15:22); and 2. Some will go to serve with Christ in heaven (Re 19:1) but others will live happily upon earth restored to Eden-like paradise. (Is 31 & 35, Mt 5:5, 6:10, Re 21:4)  We shall finally be at peace with nature and one another, death and pain brought to an end, great blessings abound, (Is 11:6, Re 11:18, 21:4, 1Cor 2:9) further 3. The Bible grants Christians great freedom to differ and exercise Bible-trained conscience (Ro 14:1-22) for example on personal matters such as higher education (Ac7:22), emergency diet and medical treatments (1Sa14:31-35, Mk 2:17), if to observe or not observe holidays (Col 2:16), freedom to partake of the Last Supper emblems (Jn 6:53) etc; plus right now 4. We enjoy great unity (Col 3:14) by actively showing hands-on love for one another and others including for the poor, blind, widows, orphans, those unjustly treated, and others; (Ga 2:10, Jas 1:27, Lu 4:18-19) and it is actually not an imperfect human or group but rather 5. The Bible itself which rightly stresses its valued principles such as LOVE as our perfect Teacher (2Ti3:16, Ga 5:22), Christ our only overall spirtual Leader who rightly says he is the Way, THE TRUTH and the Life (Mt 23:10, Jn 14:6)   SOME OTHER TOPICS: How many go to heaven (Re 19:1)?, Why is God invisible (Ex 33:20)?, Why Christ says pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Mt 6:10, Ps 83:18)?, Is hell really hot (i.e., Jer 7:31)?, Why Christlike character and kindness are Bible Students emphases (Ga 5:22, Jas 2:17), How to start an independent Bible study groups, Do scriptures blessing Israel apply only to “spiritual Israelites” (Ge 27:29, Is 49:6)? etc.... Get emailed more free Christian Bible topic tracts (leaflets) like this to enjoy or share with others; contact www.christianwitnesses.com

GOD'S LOVE VERSUS ARMAGEDDON FEARS Many people wonder even intensely worry about Armageddon.  At Matthew 24 Christ gave signs to mark when he returned or was present for full Kingdom power on Earth, namely: notable wars, diseases, famines, earthquakes.   Some like the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses, have said 1914,  etc marked his return and within a generation of “70 or 80” years "Armageddon" destruction would follow ending human civilization as we know it or the lives of almost all people on earth.  The 9-11 terror destruction in New York, AIDS; prophecies or predictions by ancient Mayas, Nostradamus, Newton, the Bahai’s and the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses; the H1N1 Swine Flu, tsunamis in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, hurricanes in the Caribbean and the U.S. Gulf have also made people wonder, worry or fear.  Was 1914 a year marking the end of or the soon to come end of human civilization in line with Armageddon?  Consider: WARFARE: 40 million people died during 1850-64 in China, World War I slew 10-12 million, but World War II killed 54 million people, and Communist China 1925-76 had up to 100 million deaths.  DISEASE killed 95 million Amerindians during 1500-1800, 100 million Mediterraneans died during 542-565 A.D.  Spanish influenza killed only 20 million worldwide 1918-19, AIDS has so far killed more than 20 million from 1985 onwards.  DROUGHT: In 1876-79 China had 9-13 million deaths. Thanks to international humanitarian efforts, nothing around 1914 or since has approached that figure.  EARTHQUAKES did not increase in number or intensity during 1900-99 but yearly our ability to detect them has improved.   Probably the worst known was a quake in 1201 which slew 1.1 million around the Mediterranean. So the worst wars, diseases, droughts and earthquakes do not match the date of 1914.  There have been incorrect predictions with many other dates for Christ’s return and Armageddon throughout history.  This includes numerous mispredictions by the  Watchtower Society and JWs, dates including 1874, 1925, 1975. (much published on the internet) etc.   A different view about Armageddon is a date such as 1914 may have brought unusual woes unto earth but that Armageddon, instead of being a quick one time event is a series of events now taking place, perhaps to end soon or perhaps to continue a much longer time period.  Indeed there are many views, not just one. At Matthew 24:21 Christ said his return would also bring great tribulation or persecution such as had not been since the world began. At Matthew 23:34-36 he explained that persons in his own generation would see this start.  From then until now we find a continuous persecution of Christians in land after land, among which the Islamic-dominated nation of Sudan, Africa, is a recent example.  This period of persecution or "Great Tribulation" is great not only because of the deaths of some but also because of its length, having lasted some 2,000 years now.  It did not begin in 1914 or at any other fairly recent date but all the way back to the slaying of Christ, Stephen and other early slain Christians. Note that Christ also said “a wicked generation keeps seeking a sign but it only gets Jonah’s sign”.  Jonah was inside a whale three days and Christ was in death three days before the Father resurrected him; so his resurrection is the only sign needed.  Christ added that “NOBODY” can know the hour or day of the end of the "aion" (a Greek word meaning age or time period) instead of "world" as some have mistranslated it. (Matthew 24:36)  In fact God has said in the Bible that men making false statements like the predictions of dates for the end of earth or civilization as we know it are presumptuous men and we are not to fear them. (Deuteronomy 18:22) So, if Armageddon predictions have ever scared you, it should now be a lot easier to put those worries aside.  Science and the Bible do agree that eventually our planet will not exist but the Bible also adds that there will come to be a new heaven and earth and some scientists also believe that after our planet and universe have ended a new heavens or universe and a new earth will come.     If you want to focus on having picnics with your family, enjoying hiking, having an actual fun vacation, those are fine in the eyes of God.  His Way is love.  Galatians 5:22 speaks of fruits of the Holy Spirit being love, joy, etc, all positive things.   Caution and concern are natural, but too much negativity can only bring an increase in mental depression down upon oneself and others. Too many people for way too many years have wasted too much of their lives and the lives of others in needless fear.  God’s will is that people live normal, balanced, enjoyable lives.  Please don’t let Armageddon fears rule your lives, but rather let God’s Love rule.   Feel free to make and share copies of this. christianwitnesses.com

GOOD TIME FRANCESCO Giovanni Bernardone, also known as Francesco, was born in Italy.  A handsome wealthy young man, he loved to have a good time but was also known for sympathy for the poor.  Once he decided to become a soldier but then decided to fight only for God and stay married to poverty.  His parents Pietro and Pica and other people around town thought he had become insane.  Francesco gave away all his possessions, traveled about rebuilding churches, preaching repentance, doing deeds of kindness and eventually some followers joined him in this.  Inspired by his preaching, women such as two sisters named Clare and Agnes gave up their life of ease and formed into a group today called the Poor Clares.   At age 37 Francesco headed south to a city on the Nile River in Egypt where Christians and Muslims were engaged in bloody warfare, preaching first to the Christians and then trying to preach to the Muslims who, however, captured him.  Their leader refused to convert to Christianity but did promise Francesco that he would treat captured Christians better in the future. Francesco returned to Italy where followers had increased greatly due to innovations made while he had been gone, only some of which he approved.  He himself originated the practice of having Christmas nativity scenes, and he tried to get a law passed for feeding not only poor people but birds and other creatures. After years of enduring the depths of poverty and sometimes being homeless, his body was worn out, and his eyesight had gone.  The blind Christian, "Good Times Francesco" was escorted home to the huge acclaim of those who had once called him insane.  History records that he had been born in in 1182 and died in 1226.  In English he is now known as Saint Francis of Assisi. christianwitnesses.com

*** HEAVEN *** "My Father has many mansions." (John 14:2) Christians teach the resurrection hope but some hope to live forever or to time indefinite upon Earth while others hope for resurrection to Heaven.  For example at Matthew 5:5 Christ says "blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth" and “earth” could mean either the Promised Land or else the planet Earth.  On Earth is definitely where Christ resurrected Lazarus (John 11), the widow's son (Luke 7), Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5) and some others Many people came back to life on Earth when Christ died. (Mt 27)  Paul resurrected Eutychus on Earth after he fell. (Ac 20:9-12)  Peter brought back Tabitha upon Earth.  (Ac 9:36-43)  Elijah (1 Ki 17) and Elisha (2Ki 4) had also performed resurrections upon the Earth.   Christ says at John 5:28 that all will come forth from the tombs.  He himself was also a Jewish rabbit and throughout history and the Bible those among the Jewish people who have looked forward to resurrection have foreseen it to be upon the Earth.  On the other hand, as alluded to, history and the Bible clearly show that for some 2000 years the main hope and emphasis for Christians has been to go to heaven to serve with Christ although we can note that Revelation 21:2, 3 says that Christ and his bride, meaning those with him in heaven at some point return to rule at length upon Earth.  For example please read John 14:2, 3; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2; Galatians 1:8, Philippians 3:20, James 1:17.  Ecclesiastes 1:4 says of planet Earth that it will never end; but Christ and the Bible say that both heaven and Earth will pass away although a new heaven and Earth will come.  Please read Matthew 24:35; Luke 21:33, and Revelation 21:1.    Supportive of the Bible, scientists also teach that the starry universe and planet Earth will pass away and some scientists believe that later a new Big Bang explosion will trigger a new creation of the universe and Earth so that in this way Earth comes and goes thus remaining forever.  The Bible does not say but given the good of God, one speculation is that before God has the Earth and starry heavens pass away He will have humans on Earth go elsewhere for at least a period of time in flesh or in spirit. Scientists have theorized other universes that humans might get to visit. The Good News is that God’s main characteristic is Love, and Christ gave himself as a ransom sacrifice so that God will save us despite the fact that as the apostle Paul noted we all sin and so first must die. (1 Corinthians 15:22)  Resurrection is our one hope but it is reasonable that its location for many will be on Earth and for others in Heaven.  God has many mansions.  We rest assured that our Father in heaven shall do what is best.  He has invited many to strive for Heaven but He will choose who actually go there or dwell upon the Earth.  We die but are resurrected, judged and disciplined in perfect fairness, given another chance, experience the many blessings that He will give to ALL of us (Acts 24:15, John 3:16) during His Kingdom.  God shall bring true peace and joy upon Earth as it is in Heaven.  This is truly amazing, Good News. christianwitnesses.com

HEAVEN: ARE JEWISH BELIEVERS ALSO RESURRECTED THERE? Jesus Christ told a Gentile centurion, that is a non-Jewish soldier, who showed faith: “I tell you many from eastern parts and western parts will come and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens; whereas the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. There is where their weeping and gnashing of their teeth will be.” (Matthew 8:11.12)   This shows he was praising the man for his faith as well as other Gentiles who would be Christians later in contrast to the Jewish religious leaders such as the Pharisees and Sadducees who lacked faith.    Then at another time someone asked Christ, “Lord are only a few people going to be saved?” (Luke 13:23) He repeated that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well all the prophets would be part of the kingdom; furthermore also people from east, west, north and south. (Luke 13:23, 28, 29)  Hebrews 11:1-16 talks about patriarchs such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah.  It says they were looking for "better country--a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."   Since prophets and patriarch lived and died before Christ came and endured the ransoming sacrifice of his life for the saving humankind from death, thus bringing about the heavenly hope, how can some Jewish people who lived before Christ came to Earth go to heaven?  Notice that Revelation 13:8 talks about “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”  How is it that the Lamb was slain at the start of our planet’s existence when the Lamb had not yet been born upon Earth?  At least one plausible answer is that when God made the Earth and created the first humans He loved them so much that He immediately planned to save them, meaning that they were as good as instantly saved even though long before Christ came to Earth.   When God wills that something shall happen, it the same as exists right then and there.

HEAVENLY BODIES AND EARTH, WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY OF THEM Amos 5:26 names Sakkuth and Kaiwan both being Akkadian names for  Saturn.  Hebrews 11:3 says "the worlds were framed by the word of God."   The goddess Ashtoreth or Asherah is often mentioned and might be Venus.  The Greek Septuagint translates Hebrew "shakhar" to Greek Phosphoros (Venus in English) at Isaiah 14:12.  Ianna was a Mesopotamian name for the planet/goddess Venus which was also called Queen of Heaven at Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-25). Amos 5:8 speaks of Kimah and Kesil (the Peiades and Orion). The scriptures say little of stellar objects which were connected with worship of idols, gods and goddesses.  Stars in general are often spoken of.  The word used for star was sometimes employed to mean any bright heavenly object thus incorporating the additional possible meanings of planet, meteor, meteorite, comet, galaxy. Isaiah 40:22 and Job 26:10 speak of earth being of a circular appearance (“circle of the earth”), and the Hebrew word rendered circle, i.e. HHlug, can also mean sphere.  Revelation speaks of the “four corners of the earth” which atheists mistake to mean that earth is a square; but instead note that there are four major land masses: 1. North and South America, 2. Asia-Africa-Europe, 3. Australia, 4. Antarctica. Christ at John 14:2 says “my father has many mansions” which may or may not refer to other planets or worlds; but Hebrews 1:2 in the New King James versions clearly says God spoke via Christ “through whom also He made the worlds.” Note the –s on the end of “worlds.” Many other translations render the word as “universe,” the form which is world or eon.  In the earliest extant Koine Greek manuscripts it is aion/aionas. Many scriptures also speak on non-material spirit beings or what some would called energy beings called angels.

HEBREW The Old Testament makes up most of the Bible, and it is almost entirely written in Ancient Hebrew although a few passages, individual place names or other words are in Ancient Aramaic: Ez 4:8–6:18; 7:12–26; Da 2:4b–7:28; Jer 10:11, Ge 31:47; possibly also at Ge 15:1, Nu 23:10, Job 36:2a. Modern and Ancient Hebrew are very similar; so if you learn Modern Hebrew, it is very easy to go on and learn Ancient/Biblical Hebrew.  Modern Hebrew is mostly spoken among Jewish people in Israel in the Middle East as well as in Jewish communities throughout the world.  In Hebrew words are written from right to left. a=pa, e=bet, i=machine, o=no, u=dude; H resembles hog but is more breathy, kh=ch in German ach or Scotch loch
1.	Hello., Hi.	Shalom.  שלו.
2.	What's your name?	Ma shimkha? (What name+your) ?מה שמ
3.	I don't understand.	Ani loh mevin. (I don’t understand, m.) .אני   אני לא מבין Ani loh mevina. (I don’t understand., f)  אני לא מבינה
4.	Again, please.	Shuv, bevakasha.  שוב, בבקשה.
5.	Thanks.	Toda.   תודה .
6.	What is that?	Ma zeh?  (What that?)  מה זה?
7.	How much?	Kama?  כמה?
8.	I want one.  No, two.	Ani’ rotse aHat.  Lo, shtayim.  אני רוצה אחד. לא ,שתיים.
9.	Yes, good.	Ken, tov.  כן, טוב.
10.	Where is the toilet?	Eifo ha'sheirutim? איפה השרותים?
11.	Here?  There?	Kan?  Poh? כאן.  Sham.שם .
12.	Goodbye.	Lehitraot. להתראות
13.	woman already go speak in house	isha kvar holekh diber b beyt
14.	man see much food and water	adam/ish raha harbe mazon ve mayim
15.	hand up pain medicine money	yad 'al maidora refua mamon
For Modern Hebrew the word order is Subject-Verb-Object, but in ancient Hebrew it was Verb-Subject-Object.  Nouns go before adjectives.  Two common plural endings are -im, -ot.  There is no a/an but "one" can be used.  The word "the" is "ha."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Hebrew http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew http://www.biblescripture.net/Hebrew.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Aramaic http://translate.google.com/#en|iw|%20 Freely copy and distribute this Bible tract originally written and posted at christianwitnesses.com where you'll find many more such free publications

HELL Historically, many early Christian writers regarded hell as literal fire, but Origen and Gregory of Nyssa believed hell a condition of separation from God not physical suffering. Augustine of Hippo believed hell is both spiritual and physical suffering.  Chrysostom saw it as symbolic not at all literal.  By the 400s the most common view was that after death sinners get eternal punishment by fire.  Dante’s Inferno promoted belief in fiery hell but 1500s Protestant reformers Luther and Calvin taught it is symbolic of lasting separation from God.  Fiery hell became common again in the 1600s-1700s. In the 1800s-1900s it was again separation from God.  In modern times the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica said hell is pain of deprivation from God.  In 1999 John Paul II, widely regarded a saint even while alive, said, "hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy." The Episcopal Church has called it "eternal death in our rejection of God."   Scripturally, Jeremiah 17:27 says Jerusalem was destroyed with unquenchable fire, and yet we see Jerusalem is not today on fire.  1 Samuel 1:22, 28 indicates the word translated “forever” as there meaning the length of a man’s life or so long as a man lives.  At Psalm 48:14 the word means until death.  Jude 7 says God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with “everlasting” fire and 2 Peter 2:6 says the cities turned to ashes, yet we do not see smoke rising up from the cities today.  So the fire was eternal only until the cities were destroyed although lasting destruction from the fire continues.  Then too, God’s degree of punishment is balanced by His main trait, love. (1Jn 4:8) Christ was perfect yet spent three days preaching to the dead in “hades” (read Acts 2:31) which like “hell” has also been said to not be a permanent place or condition.  (Revelation 20:11-15)  Historian Josephus tells us that the Pharisees' branch of Judaism taught that sin would bring eternal torment.  The Greek and Roman pagans also believed in eternal instead of fair punishment.  So, as shown, Christians through the ages have had different views about the nature of God’s justice to come during the afterlife, but regardless now we need to keep unity and as Colossians 3:14 says such union or unity is possible when based on love instead of everyone being forced to believe the exact same things about hell or any number of other topics. (Colossians 3:14) Even those viewing hell as symbolic need to be careful not to take the coming of God’s judgment and punishment as trifling or a light matter.  For example Revelation 21:8 says wrongdoers will be consigned to a fiery lake of burning sulfur. Acts 24:25 says Paul told Felix there is a coming scary judgment. Paul also wrote, “keep working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)  So those who believe God may not punished the wicked, whether by literal fire or others, and whether or not do so for all of the existence of time itself, can not get away with truthfully thinking s/he will altogether escape justice.  At death our bodies go unconscious but our spirits will be judged, and justly disciplined until reconciled with God.  The idea that evildoers only have to sleep forever would not be a “punishment” or justice for their victims, would in fact be like a reward for evildoers, an injustice to their victims.  In fact God is loving and his justice is perfect, too. christianwitnesses.com

HELL: HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL OR MIGHT GO THERE? At Romans 5:18, Paul says "Therefore, as through one man’s [Adam's] offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s [Jesus'] righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. At Acts 24:15 he states "I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked."  At John 3:16 Christ himself says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." From the above, then, we see that since Acts 24:15 says both righteous people, namely those knowing and doing God's will, as well as those who are unrighteous people, will both be resurrected, it shows that God does not want most people to go to or at least not remain forever in hell but have reconciliation with Him.  John 3:16 also speaks of God loving not just part of humanity but of all in the world.  Romans 5:18 directly says that salvation is for "all" people.  However, we must also balance this with Christ saying at Matthew 12:31 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."  So even though speaking against Christ is not unforgiveable, for example, yet speaking against Holy Spirit is not forgiven.  There is at least this one sin that is not to be forgiven.  Christ noted while praying to God this about his apostles "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."  (John 17:12)  This meant that only Judas Iscariot had been lost.  And what had he done?  He had betrayed Jesus Christ to men whom he knew intended to do harm or cause death, even though he also knew that Christ was the Messiah not just from words but the many miracles performed. While Revelation 7:4 and 14:3 say 144,000 go to heaven, Revelation 19:1 plainly states that in addition to those a Great Crowd (or Great Multitude in some translations) are also in heaven.  Of those who do not go to heaven but rather to hell, those will as a matter of justice receive what is called punishment, discipline, or training to the extent that they did injustices to other people when alive, but ultimately all or most all will, because of Christ's ransoming sacrifice, live again and in perfect bodies.   Different Christian individuals and groups have held many different views over the years as to what kind of disciplining they receive.  Some of those many views have been literal fire or sensations of fire while under the ground, isolation from God, sleep in non-existence, re-living the lives of victims, having to stand before God without being able to communicate or fellowship, a combination of the preceding or various possibilities from the preceding or something else depending on what you did or did not do while alive. Regardless, after finally resurrected upon Earth if they try to again cause harm then scriptures say that they will receive a Second Death from which there will be no resurrection. (Revelation 2:11, 20:14, 15)  However, let us remember that God in fact does not want anyone to have to die, which is why He sent Jesus Christ to save people from death. 2 Peter 3:9 says He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  So whatever our past conduct may have been and our current wrongful tendencies may be, let us strongly try to correct those in deeds of loving-kindness not merely words, (James 2:14-26) and also remember to be forgiving those who have wronged us so that our own sins can be forgiven. (Matthew 6:12)

HELL: IS IT FIRE OR LIKE FIRE? HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?  In what is called “The Parable of Lazarus And The Rich Man,” (Luke 16:19-31--see farther below) Christ speaks of a rich man who after death had his spirit put into “fire” but at the same time  Christ shows that the fire was not literal or, even if it were, not able to harm the man's spirit as much as it would have if it had been literal fire applied to a literal human body.  We know this because Christ says the man was experiencing torment or agony but he does not say the man was screaming, rather he notes that the man was speaking clearly.  Further, the rich man said that a single drop of water could give him relief, which if he were in literal fire would not have been possible.  One little drop of water wouldn't put out a fire.  At the same time, though, this same parable also makes the point that God does not ignore that some people act unjustly and need discipline.  Even without putting people’s material (or spiritual) bodies into literal fire, He can still see that they receive discipline in a fair way.  Jeremiah 7 notes that unlike cruel humans God has never had it in mind to burn people in fire: 30 “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind." The words “eternal” and “everlasting” definitely are used in talking about fire in some of the Bible's scriptures, and yet this does not mean that even if they apply to literal fire, the time period for disciplining of the wicked is definitely eternal or everlasting.  For example in Hebrew the word "olam," (oh-lahm) although almost always translated as eternal or everlasting, more precisely means of an unknown but possibly long period of time.  Olam (eternal/long-lasting but not eternal) is used to describe the priesthood of Aaron which ended, Mosaic Law which ended when Christ perfectly fulfilled it 2,000 years ago, the doors of Solomon's Temple which were destroyed, how long King David would live and Solomon's throne would last. Thomas B. Thayer under "Everlasting" in The Origin And History Of The Doctrine Of Endless Punishment says "Now, as these words are used in this limited sense in the Scriptures, why should it be supposed that they express endless duration when applied to punishment?"  Hanson supports him and notes "Even if endless duration were the intrinsic meaning of the word, all intelligent readers of the Bible would perceive that the word must be employed to denote limited duration in the passages above cited." The Bible Greek word "aionion" like the related English word "eon" is a long but not eternal period of time.  Some highly reputable older handbooks about Bible Greek words say the basic meaning of "aionios" is that it normally means eternally in the sense of forever into both the past and the future or else just forever into the future.  However, when "endless" in time is clearly meant, Greek actually more commonly uses "aidios," a different word. Further, even those convinced that the fire or fiery condition of punishment is indeed everlasting, must still take into consideration the fact that the word being rendered as everlasting or eternal applies to the fire or fire-like condition itself.  It is what continues.  The person being disciplined by it does not necessarily stay in it forever, and this fact also harmonizes with what we know of God's just but fair and merciful personality. Jude 7 says Sodom and Gomorrah suffer “everlasting fire” but the two cities and their particular fire are not continuing.  For example if you travel about in modern Israel looking for the smoke of such a fire you will not see smoke from it continuously going up into the air, although as an enormous stretch of the imagination someone might theorize that totally or essentially invisible traces or vapors from it perhaps rise out of the Dead Sea.  Too, Colossians 1:19 says "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."  So a time will come when, after disciplining done in justice and in fairness, all people including the unrighteous or unjust people will be brought back into a relationship with God. (Acts 24:15, John 3:16)  In fact Christ said to the Pharisees "tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you" which means that even the Pharisees, who were worse than tax collectors and harlots, after disciplined would also get another chance. (Matthew 21:31) People die, are disciplined as God knows is most fair and just, but ultimately they clearly see and feel that what they did was wrong and that it actually was right that they be disciplined.  At this point they are all "reconciled" to God.  Revelation indicates that they will then get a second chance at life, but if they act against God's will a second time, then they go into second death from which there will be no resurrection. (Revelation 2:11; 20:6)  One can only speculate as to what discipline they get this second time, for example non-existence, isolation from God's fellowship, having to re-live the lives of people whom they victimized or something else.  However there is no need to doubt but that even evildoers themselves, regardless of whatever the type of discipline is that they may get, whether fiery, fire-like or otherwise, will have to admit in the end that it was only what was right and fair for them to have received.  We do know that God acts with justice for 2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7 says "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well." However, He is above all loving and merciful (1 John 4:8, Matthew 12:7), definitely not taking delight in anyone having to die let alone suffer.  At Ezekial 33:11 He says "Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’" So, this topic could encompass volumes, but what is here is enough to have sketched out two main points.  The Bible does indeed speak about God disciplining and often mentions fire in connection with such disciplining.  However, it is equally clear that how God disciplines is both just for the victims and fair for those who are disciplined.  NOTE: FOR QUICK REFERENCE, HERE IS CHRIST'S PARABLE ABOUT LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN: Luke 16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

HELL: PROOF THAT WATCHTOWER HEADS FALSELY TEACH WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE REGARDING HELL The Watchtower Society over Jehovah's Witnesses is false in implying that most all Christians teach hell fire.  Actually, even the Alliance Commission on Unity & Truth among Evangelicals (ACUTE) has stated that although most Protestants have believed hell will be a place of endless conscious physical and spiritual torment, some of the more recent Protestant writers describe it as eternal separation from God.  Some also believe that if punishment in hell will be for all time then it will be equal to the misdeeds of each person, and they have based this for example on Matthew 10:15 and Luke 12:46-48. Another question that is often asked is “Will people who never had an opportunity to learn correctly what God wants us to do, those people who died as infants, and the people who have mental disabilities ever have a second chance or not?  ACUTE has noted that although some say such people will experience hell fire others believe that since God, being fair and loving, He will not do such a thing.  The Watchtower Society however teaches so as to make it seem like all Christians believe God is cruel about this. Further, when we look back to early Christianity we find that Christian writers such as Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tetullian, and Cyprian believed hell is fiery, but still others such as Origen and Gregory of Nyssa believed hell is a place or condition of separation from God causing spiritual instead of physical suffering.  Augustine of Hippo believed hell is both spiritual and a form of physical suffering.  The writer Chrysostom also saw it as symbolic instead of literal.  So, contrary to what Watchtower implies, throughout Christian history there have been different views by Christians; never have all Christians believed that hell is definitely a place or condition of literal fire. Writings that still exist prove that by the 400s the most common view among Christian writers was that after sinners die there is no second chance and they are punished forever by fire.  The Inferno written by Dante (1265-1321) helped cause belief in a fiery hell to become very common.  However in the 1500sm Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin believed and taught that although the Bible speaks of fiery hell it is symbolic of lasting separation from God. During the 1600s and 1700s the belief that hell is fiery returned to being common.  For example in the British colony of Massachusetts, Jonathan Edwards wrote Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.  However in the 1800s and 1900s the most common belief again became that hell is separation from God, not a literal place or condition of fire that lasts and is felt for all of time. In modern times the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica has said it is wrong "to think that God, by means of demons, inflicts fearful torments on the damned like that of fire... Hell exists, not as a place but as a state, a way of being of the person who suffers the pain of the deprivation of God."  In 1999 the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II said, "Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy."   The Episcopal Church has stated that hell is "eternal death in our rejection of God."  Not only many church groups believe similarly, but individuals in the various churches, for example individuals in the Disciples of Christ and a lot who are Baptists, either believe hell is not literal fire or else are not sure although they do believe that whatever it may be is a painful or very undesirable punishment or disciplining. Even among those who believe and teach that hell is fiery there are different views as to how long a wicked person experiences it.  For example it is noted that at Jeremiah 17:27 says Jerusalem was destroyed with unquenchable fire, and yet today we see Jerusalem is not on fire.  1 Samuel 1:22, 28 indicates that the word translated as forever means the length of a man’s life or so long as a man lives.  At Psalm 48:14 the word forever means until death.  Jude 7 says God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with everlasting or eternal fire and 2 Peter 2:6 says the cities turned into ashes.  Yet today one does not see smoke rising up from remains of those cities.  In other words, the fire was eternal or everlasting only until the cities were destroyed although the result of the fire has continued. True, Matthew 25:46 says “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  This speaks of eternal punishment but in which sense?  Does it mean people are punished throughout all of time, or does it mean that punishment is given to people only for a fitting period of time (or time varying per the extent or degree of each person’s sins) although the consequences of it is eternal?  We can speculate but the real truth is that we cannot be for sure although be comforted that whatever God metes out as justice will be totally fair and in line with the fact that His main characteristic is love. Nevertheless, Christians would be unwise to think it unnecessary to be concerned about how God may judge and deal with them.  For example, Revelation 21:8 says “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Thus even among those who believe God may not use literal fire on the wicked and or not do so for all of the existence of time itself, it is pointed out that all the same it is good for anyone who does or thinks about doing grevious sinning to not be overly confident or think that s/he will escape the painful consequences of justice.

HELL: SOME GENERAL POINTS ABOUT GOD'S DISCIPLINE AFTER DEATH NOT BEING UNFAIR OR EXTREME There is every reason to believe that the judgment of our heavenly Father brings a discipline that is not excessive but always just right.  In fact 1 John 4:8 says that God’s main characteristic is “love.”  To also be just, our heavenly Father appropriately punishes heinous misconduct but His punishment or chastisement is never inappropriate, never unduly harsh, unjust, unfair, off-balance, or unloving. The Christian Bible speaks of some people after death receiving discipline in an appropriate way or ways variously viewed as possibly literal or fire, re-living the lives of victims, sleep, isolation etc; finally reconciled and given a second chance by resurrection, some however falling again into wrongdoing and justly receiving a Second Death that is lasting. (Revelation 2:11, 20:14, 15)  We humans when we see someone mercilessly torture an innocent animal or child, for example, also naturally believe that some form of justice definitely needs done.  The need to have justice after death if not in this life for the sake of victims has transcended time and spanned all cultures, for example, among the Greeks, Roman, Chinese, etc.  Although it's true that people don't always agree about everything, we who are Christians are united in being thankful that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came, died and was resurrected, offering us similar hope of resurrection.  (John 3:16)  Our "unity" is based on love, not everyone believing the exact same thing about this or any number of other topics. (Be sure to read Colossians 3:14.) Let us remember that Christ himself who was and is perfect spent three days preaching to the dead.  This was in “hades” (read Acts 2:31) which unlike “hell” or Second Death has also been said to not be a permanent place or condition.  (Revelation 20:11-15) We who are in the flesh on earth today are all imperfect humans and so we must also die (1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 5:12) but we can rest assured that our imperfect conduct and thinking as well as all of our sincerely shown repentance will be perfectly weighed by the only perfect and final Judge, our Father in heaven whose main quality is love.  His justice is fair and appropriate.  He wants all to be saved from death. The apostle Paul previously hated and helped slay Christians such as Stephan (Acts 6:8-8:1), and King Manasseh murdered many innocent people.  (2 Kings 21:16-26) Yet Both repented, God knew their sincerity and so forgave them.  It is said that Paul was himself later crucified and though forgiven Mannaseh's sins were justly dealt with otherwise.  King David wrongly caused the death of his Hittite warrior Uriah in order to get the man's wife Bathsheba, was strongly disciplined for having done so but then also forgiven. So if we have done something similar, we need to not think that we can not ever be forgiven.  God always knows the best way to do things.  Since our Father in heaven forgave Mannaseh, Paul, King David and many many others, we can be sure that He will forgive us to for whom Christ also came and died as well as deal in the most fair and loving way possibly for any number of other people throughout history from Adam and Eve onward, including surely too all the millions of babies, infants and children.

HELL: WHY TEACHING THAT EVILDOERS JUST SLEEP  FOREVER AFTER DEATH IS FALSE AND WRONG TO DO NOTE: Credit for the most insightful thoughts in the following about Hell (Sheol, Hades) and in particular about its location and even its change of location, goes to David A. Reed who was an Elder among Jehovah's Witnesses and who is now a prolific writer of Christian literature. Getting to sleep after death is peaceful, and so is it truly justice for violent, wicked people to get to just sleep forever, their victims thus never having justice done on their behalf?  Should the only punishment for a person who killed and tortured a million people be the same as for others who did fewer things that are wrong?  Yet the men at the top of the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses says they and only they have all the right answers, and that all the dead (=evil persons too) just sleep peacefully.  If that's so then the worst of evildoers never have to feel any consequences any more than the peaceful people whom they hurt, tortured or murdered.  Yet that would make God unjust, unfair to the victims. However, regardless of Watchtower's views, if God judges that some kind of strong punishment does befit some extremely wicked people, well, then whatever God may have decided is right.  His being God, who is totally holy or perfect, means that His judgments are also perfectly right and fair.  Even among humans it's an injustice to not punish murderers. Watchtower teaches that any and all verses that tell of punishment by fire or torment must just all be symbolic, and yet when we read Acts 24:25 (please do so) and discover that Paul told Felix there is a coming scary judgment, are we to just out-of-hand mark it as just being symbolic?  Or doesn't it in fact show that Paul indeed indeed is speaking of a scary judgment and he meant exactly what he said?  When Paul also wrote, “keep working out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), he also clearly meant what he said.  For evildoers to get to just sleep away forever would not be a “punishment” that would lead anyone to be in fear of it or trembling.  If you still are missing the point, go back to re-read these passages and meditate on them.  It's definitely important.  Getting to sleep forever could even be viewed as a reward for evildoers, a comforting thought for them when they get ready to go out to kill or otherwise harm innocent victims.  Yet scriptures do also speak of people sleeping in death.  For example Christ resurrected a little girl whom he had said was asleep.  (John 9:24, 25)  However, there is no indication that she was any kind of an extreme evildoer.  It is reasonable that God is also reasonable in disciplining the dead as well as the living.  So some of the dead may be at rest, others punished by fire or a fire-like condition, perhaps having to experience a feeling of isolation, etc, however God knows best. But above all God is merciful and loving. (Matthew 12:7, 1 John 4:8)  At John 3:16 Christ says he died so that all might live; and Paul at Acts 24:15 says the just and unjust (or in some translations "the righteous and unrighteous") will be resurrected.  All are then perfectly judged by God, some to rightly, justly, perfectly receive eternal life but others to be rightly, justly, perfectly punished. The Bible says that at death the body is no longer conscious (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and of course it turns into dust.  But other scriptures show that the spirit that was with the body, continues to exist and definitely is conscious.  For example, it is well-known that Paul looked forward to leaving behind his body and going to heaven, scriptures speak of 144,000 in heaven (Revelation 7:4, and Revelation 14:3), and Revelation 19:1 adds that there is a Great Crowd or multitude there.  John 5:28, 29 for example speaks of people being resurrected from Memorial Tombs and Christ and the Prophets also resurrected some people here upon the Earth.  Revelation 6:9 says that souls rewarded with new life as spirits after having been slain are in heaven, are still conscious of and concerned about what happens on earth.  Christ says at Luke 12:5  there is also the opposite of a reward for some after death:  "Do not fear those who kill the body and after this are not able to do anything more.  But I will indicate to you whom to fear: Fear him who after killing has authority to throw into Gehenna.” Isaiah 14:9-11 says upon entering Sheol or the afterlife, those already there speak about how those there are reduced in power.  So it too confirms the existence of an afterlife.  John 3:13 says "No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.." Even Jacob expected to go to sheol (Hebrews for grave or afterlife) after dying.  Acts 2:31 says that after dying Christ also went to hades (Greek for grave or afterlife), preached to spirits imprisoned there but that he was not abandoned or left there. (1 Peter 3:19)  Please look up these scriptures to be sure of this. Christ used parables, which by definition are stories that do not consist of nothing but symbols as Watchtower has claimed, but which are illustrative for making a larger point or points.  In one parable he said that a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus both died and went to the afterlife (hades).  The rich man was suffering from the fire there, so he asked Abraham to let the Lazarus give him some water.   Abraham said that was not possible due to the rich man’s former life, and besides, a gulf was located between them.  So in hades, sheol, or the afterlife, the beggar Lazarus was rewarded by getting to later go on to enjoy the afterlife with Abraham.  Sheol or the afterlife is shown to consist of two areas or conditions, one of which is enjoyble, but the other one being something that unrepentant wrongdoers rightly need to fear.  (Luke 16:19-31)  Sheol or Hades is also shown by this parable to be a temporary place of discipline after which one can be rewarded or may pass on to eternal hell. As noted, Watchtower likes to point out that what Christ said was a parable and proclaim that a parable is symbolic.  However, as also noted, it is not wholly just symbolic but illustrative and factual.  Look it up in a decent dictionary and see for yourself.  Also, even if this particular account were not a parable but totally symbolic, it still makes the overall points that in one way or another God does give appropriate justice to those who have done grievous wrong things when alive, while also rewarding those who although imperfect are sincerely sorry for the wrongs they have done. In the Bible when Christ was dying he told a repentant wrongdoer dying nearby him that today that man would be in paradise with him.  So, upon death, they both went to the afterlife and for Christ and the repentant wrongdoer, this was not a Sheol or Hades of torment, but that which was Abrahamic or like "paradise" for sincere, decent persons. (Luke 23:43)  Notice that Christ said that a time would come when many came from east and west to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:   “in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 8:11)   God was not ashamed of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so after Christ had received resurrection, they too were transferred from Hades, on up to “heavenly Jerusalem.”   So, getting to live amidst the stunning glories of the star-packed heaven or what moderns also call outer space is a reward for the spirits of all righteous people as instituted since the ransom sacrifice of Christ. (Hebrews 12:22-23; Eph 4:8-10)   Interestingly although Watchtower heads keep on calling and misteaching JWs to teach that Hades, Sheol or Hell is a purely symbolic place or condition, they do not equally call heaven a purely symbolic place or condition.  Instead they admit that heaven is for real but then claim that the number of those which Revelation says will get to go there, that is 144,000, is only a literal or symbolic number.  (Revelation 7:4, and Revelation 14:3)  To the contrary, Revelation 19:1 says a Great Multitude or Crowd will live on Earth.  Please read it. Our bodies of flesh are dying but if we have not grieved God’s Holy Spirit, then we have the resurrection hope.  When Christ visibly returns, those then alive will have their bodies changed in a twinkling into imperishable spirit bodies. Those already with Christ as spirits in heaven will be resurrected with bodies upon earth.  (2 Cor. 4:14-5:8; 1 Thess 4:15-17; 1 Cor. 15:42-58)  No human knows when such changes of fleshly bodies and spirit bodies will occur, nor do we know all the details. Likewise, we do not know all the other details about God meting out justice to the various wrongdoers who have died.  For example, will the man who robbed a bank to feed his hungry family suffer as long and as much as another man who robbed ten banks out of pure greediness?  It would seem not, but then that is only a guess.  Only God knows for sure.  Also, will God resurrect only good Christians or is the resurrection hope open to non-Christians since Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David were Jews; and Job was an “Oriental” not said to have been Jewish but definitely considered righteous?  We can weigh the different scriptures and say what we think might be the case, but the reality is that in this life we cannot be fully certain but trust that after death if and when God so wills, He will rightly inform us. Watchtower has said it has all the answers even though it backs off and proclaims it has new and different light, having done so many times regardubg different things.  All good, decent persons who truly love and put Christ first among Jehovah’s Witnesses need to come out of the Watchtower Society, draw close to God Almighty.  Being a witnessing Christian is far better than being a Jehovah’s Witness misled by Watchtower instead of the one and only MOST Faithful and Discreet Slave who is Christ himself.

HELL: IF IT IS A PLACE OF LITERAL FIRE, THEN WHERE IS IT ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURES? Although spirits do not have physical bodies, it appears that all the same their spirit bodies can experience feelings such as pain and fear.  Logically, hell might not be located inside the earth, that is under the ground but in another dimension or universe.  However, the question in this particular publication is not actually where all might hell be, but rather it is What Does The Bible Say About The Location of Hell? First, let us consider some scriptures in the New Testament.  At Matthew 12:40 Christ says "for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  At Philippians 2:10 the apostle Paul notes “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”  At Ephesians 4:7 Paul says of Christ “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)” At Deuteronomy 32:22, God Almighty (Yahweh/Jehovah) says “For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.” Psalm 86:13 adds “For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.” Proverbs 15:24 similarly notes “The path of life leads upward for the prudent to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.”  Isaiah 14:9 says that not just dead bodies but spirits which speak are there: The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.  10 They will all respond, they will say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.” So according to these and other scriptures it does appear that the scriptures speak of hell as below the surface of our own planet.  It may or may not be a physical place any more than the spirits there are physical.  It might be another dimension, place or condition of existence for souls, that is spirits without bodies, but regardless scriptures clearly show that we need to be concerned to not experience hell  God does not fiendishly delight in tormenting human spirits as would Satan, but rather the punishment, disciplining or training that occurs there for extreme evildoers shall only be exactly what is most fitting and it needs to be perceived as such. .

HELL: WHY PEOPLE NEED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT Is what happens to us after we die something to not be concerned too much about, for example, if we simply go into eternal sleep or separation from God?  Or might there be major reasons to actually be scared about what is going to happen at that time? To begin, at Matthew 5:22 in the New International Version, Christ says “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ [note: a word then used to show contempt] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Here we notice that being angry with a brother without good reason put us in danger of adverse judgment from human council, but hell fire is even greater than such a danger.  So, it appears to be something to be concerned about. Then we notice that Paul at Acts 24:25 says in the Contemporary English Version, “But Felix was frightened when Paul started talking to them [Felix, Bernice, Agrippa II] about doing right, about self-control, and about the coming judgment. So he said to Paul, ‘That's enough for now. You may go. But when I have time I will send for you.’"   The Good News Translation says “But as Paul went on discussing about goodness, self-control, and the coming Day of Judgment, Felix was afraid and said, ‘You may leave now. I will call you again when I get the chance.’”  What comes through is that whatever Paul said to the powerful man Felix and his sister Bernice as well as the even more power King Agrippa II, it was very scary or terrifying.  It was not on the order of saying “after death God judges your conduct and if it was bad you must sleep forever,” or “if you behave bad while alive then after death you will be isolated from God.”  Rather, it was more like “listen, you had better pay attention because if God finds your conduct was too bad then you are going had better be afraid of what is going to happen to you!”  At Matthew 5:29 Christ says "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."   At Matthew 18:8 he adds “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.”  Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Also compare: Matthew 25:41)  So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, also said to be concerned! Sleep and isolation are also not pleasant, but roasting in literal fire or a condition comparable to it would be even more frightful.  So, since we have not been to hell yet, we might be wrong in thinking it is worse than sleeping in death or not having access to and fellowship with God, but in any case, it would seem extremely unwise to think that it is inconsequential according to the scriptures. .

HERBS IN THE BIBLE Frankincense Matthew 2:11 mentions the baby Jesus receiving not only gold but frankincense and myrrh. Frankincense represents spiritual purity.  Myrrh is aromatic and resinous, coming from thorn trees and may have symbolized Jesus future suffering with the "crown of thorns." It has often been used for tooth paste as it treats infections and cleanses teeth. Mustard was the smallest of all visible seeds in Christ's time in the Holy Land and is also mentioned along with cumin, mint and dill at Matthew 23:3 where Christ says hypocrites tithe for example with such things but neglect more important things like justice and mercy. Mint was a popular condiment and medicine that calmed and deepened breathing. Dill, called anise in some translations, was common to the kitchens.  Cumin went into breads and stews.   Luke 11:42 mentions rue, which was used for medicine and cooking.  It is aromatic and a stimulant. Gall in Hebrew means "bitterness". Matthew 27:34 says at the crucifixion Christ was given it with wine but refused to drink. Aloe (Numbers 24:6) is fragrant.  With myrrh it helped Nicodemus embalm Jesus' body. Coriander, compared to manna at Exodus 16:31, was a medicine and spice. Garlic (Numbers 11:5) was a food the Israelites had enjoyed in Egypt.  Hyssop cleansed places and people (Numbers 19:18)  David asked to be purified with it. (Ps 51:7)  Song of Solomon 4:14 romantically mentions nard, saffron, calamus and cinnamon ... aloes; also deadly wormwood.  The Bible has 188 references to mostly herbal essential oils: frankincense, myrrh, galbanum, rosemary, hyssop, cassia, cinnamon and spikenard for anointing and healing sick persons, protecting against disease, etc. christianwitnesses.com

HINDUISM, COMPARED AND CONTRASTED Hinduism began in India where it still dominates.  With over a billion followers, it is the third largest major religion in the world surpassed only by Christianity and Islam.  However it is much older than those two and Buddhism, which came from it.   Nearly all Hindus are born into the religion as it does not consider it necessary to converts others. Hinduism teaches that when a person dies, due to wrong things that s/he did (bad Karma), the person’s soul has reincarnation (samsara) into the body of some other living being such as an insect or flower. This is repeated until after having finally learned how to live right the person's soul is liberated from his/her activity in this universe (moksa).   At that point s/he fully realizes that s/he is united with God since everything here is believed to ultimately be God, and the idea of a separate existence is only an illusion.   Yoga and meditation are techniques used to empty the mind so as to approach God.   Most Hindus also practice vegetarianism and cremation.  Cows are considered too sacred to kill or eat, but Bali, Indonesia, has a form of Hinduism which teaches such a status is not for cows but for water-buffaloes.    Most Hindus also practice vegetarianism and cremation.  Cows are considered too sacred to kill or eat, but Bali, Indonesia, has a form of Hinduism which teaches such a status is not for cows but for water-buffaloes. Hindus believe there is only one God, Brahman.  However they are also free to focus worship upon any of His different forms such as Shiva the god of light and destruction.  Images are not seen as idols in the sense of being recipients of worship, but rather they are believed to be handy focus points for worshipping any of the various forms of  Brahman, all worship given before such images just being passed onward to Brahman.  Shiva’s wife Kali is the goddess of power, sickness and death.   Hindus seek truth, light and immortality. There are many holy writings in Hinduism.  For example The Rigveda is a collection of religious songs and prayers in the ancient Sanskrit language.  The Ramayana and The Mahabharata have stories about ancient rulers and wars in India mixed with religious or philosophical comments.  Puranas tell about "The Shining Ones," that is, the gods and goddesses, their dealings with human beings and their battles with demons. Hindus believe there is only one God, Brahman.  However they are also free to focus worship upon any of His different forms such as Shiva the god of light and destruction.  Images are not seen as idols in the sense of being recipients of worship, but rather they are believed to be handy focus points for worshipping any of the various forms of  Brahman, all worship given before such images just being passed onward to Brahman.  Shiva’s wife Kali is the goddess of power, sickness and death.   Hindus seek truth, light and immortality. There are many holy writings in Hinduism.  For example The Rigveda is a collection of religious songs and prayers in the ancient Sanskrit language.  The Ramayana and The Mahabharata have stories about ancient rulers and wars in India mixed with religious or philosophical comments.  Puranas tell about "The Shining Ones," that is, the gods and goddesses, their dealings with human beings and their battles with demons. Hinduism is a religion that is highly flexible, which helps explain why it has lasted so long.  A Hindu is free to believe in and worship only the God Brahma (monotheism), many gods (polytheism), no God or gods at all (atheism), God in the sense of being the Universe itself (pantheism), doubt in the existence of God but be unsure (agnosticism).  Hindus tend to be very respectful of other religions, eager to learn about them and possibly incorporate all or some of the other religion into their own belief system.  However, they also tend to be more resistant to wholesale conversion to other belief systems.  Hindus believe that provided you are sincere, "all paths lead to God." There are many types of Hinduism.  Some practice many rituals, others practice little to none.  The religion is in fact so diverse that it is more accurate to say that Hinduism is not one religion so much as a general name for what are many religions that have originated in India.  A Hindu has absolute, complete freedom of belief and worship.  Hindus not only do not believe in trying to convert others to their religious views but also put great emphasis on having the right to not have people trying to convert themselves from Hinduism.  christianwitnesses.com

HOUSES OF LIFE There are two main pathways, the road to life, and the road to death.  Similarly, there are two types of houses about which Christ at Matthew 7 says    24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.   26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."    It is good then to ask ourselves this:  Is our spiritual house built upon the solid rock of Jehovah’s Son, Jesus Christ, or upon the shifting sand?  If it is already strong, then rejoice! christianwitnesses.com

HOW ALL THE EARTH WILL BECOME A PARADISE The private nonprofit Population Reference Bureau has estimated 115 billion people have ever lived on Earth.  Our planet has 148,000,000 square kilometers of land of which only about 31,000,000 square kilometers can be cultivated.  So if 100 billion “unrighteous and unrighteous” people, (Acts 24:15) that is those who rightly knew and did God’s will as well as those who did not rightly know and do it, were to all be resurrected upon our planet Earth, then the result would not be a happy paradise but instead a nightmare of overcrowding with starvation.  However, all 100 billion do not receive a resurrection upon Earth.  In fact scriptures speak of a literal or symbolic 144,000 (Re 7:4, 14:1) extra loving Christ-like humans who are chosen to rule with Christ in heaven for a healing of the nations on Earth, as well as a “great multitude” or “great crowd” of Christians who are also invited to heaven. (Re 19:1)  We are not told how many humans will be in that Great Crowd in heaven or for that matter how many humans will be resurrected upon our planet Earth. Besides which notice that Christ says at Matthew 12:31, 32 that people who blaspheme or grieve Holy Spirit are not going to be forgiven, and therefore they will not be among the “unrighteous” who are resurrected.  Logically they are not people who sinned by doing common vices such as all humans have done at times but more likely are those who haven unrepentantly, knowingly done  horrible, evil things such as torture and murder, molest helpless little ones, etc.    There might be millions to billions of such persons who knew God’s will that we show love for others, but who deliberately and grievously sinned anyway.  Mercifully God forgave King Manasseh who harmed many but may not have understood that he was wrong to do what he did.  Further when Manasseh realized how evilly he had acted, he proved that he was truly repentant.  So it is possible to do serious wrongs and yet be forgiven, but the difference comes when your actions are done with knowledge and God sees that you choose to stay unrepentant. Returning to the question of population, although only 31 million square kilometers of land can be cultivated today, large deserts can be restored for additional living space and arable crop land.   In 2000 about one-fifth of all land on Earth consisted of desert, an amount of land roughly equal to what is already arable.  Even more land on earth is not desert but still too dry, cold, wet, ice-filled or semi-arid so that it cannot currently be much used or decent living conditions.  However, by staying out of wars with one another, humans can battle to successfully reclaim such land, produce plenty of grain and other foods. Vast lands that now mostly consist of high plateaus and mountains could become lower due to powerful climate changes.  Although Earth is warming a lot now, its rate of warming might be slowed by God either acting directly to do so or by God providing insight for humans to slow the rate of heating so as to cause the Earth to not become an inferno but pleasantly tropical.  Imagine if the Sahara Desert, the frozen Siberia, far northern Canada and the entire continent of Antarctica all became like paradise so that more humans could live there happily and produce food. True, there are scriptures which speak of Earth and the heavens being destroyed by fire, as well as scriptures which say there will be a NEW Heavens and a new Earth.  On the other hand, after the Flood of Noah’s time a rainbow appeared and God told Noah that the Earth would not be destroyed again.  Is this a contradiction?  No, because although the Earth of Noah’s time was “destroyed” it was not totally annihilated, that is not so badly destroyed or ruined that it could never be revived.  Not only did Noah’s ark save many land animals but plants also survived and grew again. God - called the Lord, Jehovah or Yahweh in the Bible (see King James, Psalm 83:18) - still deeply cares about the Earth, the humans and other creatures upon it.  His will of intense loving-kindness is for humans and the other creatures to benefit upon it along with perfect health and even an end to death itself.  For example Revelation 11:18 says that God will ruin those who are ruining the Earth. So God cares and His desire is for the Earth to not be destroyed or at least, as with Noah’s Flood, not so badly ruined or destroyed that it cannot be restored for those people who will be resurrected upon it. Various scriptures speak of God using the elements of nature ranging from hailstones to fire to ruin the wicked, but as explained such destruction is not absolute. In pre-Christian times the Jews hoped for resurrection upon earth.  Christ spoke of them being resurrected and coming forth from the memorial tombs. (Jn 5:28, 29) Christ, the apostles, Elijah and others performed resurrections, and those resurrections were also on Earth.  From the time of Christ’s resurrection, the main hope set forth for Christians is heaven, but regardless of where we may be resurrected, we can and do look forward to it.  This is a time, more so than ever, for us to be happily telling others of the Good News of the Kingdom of God coming upon Earth as in heaven. (Mt 6:20; 28:19)  Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the Earth. (Mt 5:5) Some scientists and other Christians say after several more billion years, our Sun will or just might swell up, heat the Earth so much that those who have inherited the Earth would die, then explode and destroy both itself and our planet the Earth.   Although the Bible says the Earth remains forever (Ec 1:4), it is also the truth that the Hebrew and Greek words for the word usually translated "forever" can mean not just for all time but a long indefinite period of time, leaving open the possibility for such a still distant ending.  However, remember that Christ says our Father in heaven has many mansions (Jn 14:2), which could mean humans might also spread to other habitable planets in this universe or other universes and or the Earth may be moved to safety, however our heavenly Father may permit. christianwitnesses.com

HOW CANDY CANES ORIGINATED Candy canes now come in a variety of colors and flavors Amalia Erikson's town Candy canes are very attractive and some people hang them on Christmas trees.  So naturally some students of the Bible have wondered what the candy’s origins are, and, whether it might have some kind of religious origins. We know that Amalia Erikson was an actual 25 year old widow who lived in Gränna, a city by a large lake in southern Sweden during the 1800s.  She needed money to support herself and her daughter, so in 1859 she obtained a license to open a store making sugar canes.  She called them Polkagrisar meaning “Polka pigs,” perhaps because their curly ends resemble pigs’ curly tails and the sugar in them can make people dance the polka more lively. In any case Granna is still famous for production of candy canes.  Amalia may have also have given a peppermint flavoring to the candy. Although best documented Amalia Erikson may not have been the first person to ever make the canes in the whole world.  Legend says that around 1670 the choirmaster of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, gave sugar sticks to young singers to keep them quiet during long services, and he deliberately bent the end parts of the sticks to resemble shepherd’s crooks.  History does show that around this time the candy had become common in Europe, often appearing in homes at Christmas time along with cookies and cakes. At Wooster, Ohio, in 1847 a German-Swedish immigrant named August Imgard made candy canes and decorated a small Christmas tree with them to delight his nieces and nephews, thus beginning their usage in the United States.  Christmas cards from the 1800s show only white canes; those after the early 1900s show red-and-white candy canes.  In the 1920s Bob McCormack of Albany, Georgia, a Roman Catholic priest, made candy canes as Christmas treats for family, friends and shopkeepers.  He had to pull, twist, cut and bend the candy by hand.  In the 1950s his brother-in-law Gregory Keller invented a machine to make and wrap the candy in newly invented cellophane so that it could be mass produced, kept fresh long enough to become widely distributed and sold.  In the 2000’s people sometimes say the colors red and white have taken on a religious significance, for example, that the red represents the blood of Christ while the white represents his purity.  They also note that when held upside down the candy canes have the shape of a J as in the name Jesus.  No one is absolutely sure as to who actually made the first candy canes any more than who made the first pies and cakes, whether animist, Jewish, Christian, atheist, agnostic or whatever else.  Of course the Bible itself says nothing one way or another about candy canes. Nearly 2 billion candy canes are now sold each year.  Researchers have discovered that peppermint fights germs and aids digestion.  People are often advised to eat peppermint or other herbs daily.  The sugar in candy canes is increasingly avoided due to concern that contributes to cancers, but the canes still appear safe when eaten in moderation.  If to eat them or not, how often to eat them etc, are free decisions for each of us to make.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cane  http://www.answers.com/topic/candy-cane http://www.ideafinder.com/features/everwonder/won-candycane.htm  http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/24/candy-canes-germs.html  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granna,_Sweden christianwitnesses.com

HOW PROPHECIES IN ISAIAH ARE BEING FULFILLED Isaiah 26:6 says "In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit."  Similarly, Isaiah 35:1-2 notes "The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy."  Modern Israel does produce and export much fruit etc, and it has reclaimed some of its desert and parched lands as well as put to positive use much of such lands.  Ben Gurion University has noted that Israel’s scientists have been major pioneers in reclaiming desert land to the benefit of not only Israel but around the globe.  This is not only being humanitarian but practical as for example Professor Avigad Vonshak, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, once noted that after a season of severe dust storms in Africa, doctors found a 25% increase in eye infections among babies in Europe and the United States.  Reducing or ending such storms in the Sahara, Gobi and other deserts can therefore help people globally. At a UN held desert reclamation convention in 2006, over 200 participants came from 33 nations including Mali, Jordan and Turkey to the Ben-Gurion University’s Sde Boker campus inside the Negev.  It included not only talks but trips to a kibbutz growing jojoba plants to export to Europe and America, a desert farm producing edible Australian fish in desert salt water, a plantation exporting olives to Spain and Italy, a desalination facility, semi-submerged desert buildings, Kibbutz Ntafim near Beersheva which pioneered drip irrigation 1920s and now the “spoon-feeding”of plants; also a farm at Kadesh Barnea with 2000 acres of screenhouse-greenhouses inside of which each acre produces 20 tons a year of cherry tomatoes exported to Europe.  In fact two Israeli scientists developed the cherry tomato in 1973.   http://www.aabgu.org/media-center/headlines/in-the-desert-why-israel-is-a-model.html  Israel produces over 40 types of fruit and vast quantities of flowers especially roses..  It is a leading producer of citrus fruits such as oranges, lesser known types such as pomelits and loquats.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Israel  Its attainments will increase, as Israel invests heavily in education and research and research and science from other lands add to productivity.  For example American researchers and scientists have written that within 20 years there will be perennial grain crops, that is crops that grow every year, not just every other year.   A scientist in England has proposed developing crops that produce roots more deeply down in the soil which could harvest more carbon from air and make crops more resistant to droughts.  (sciencedaily.com articles) Indeed, as the prophet Isaiah said long ago, Israel’s desert wilderness is rejoicing and blossoming.    The benefits are also going out to help lands and people around the globe.  To see and obtain more free Bible publications like this go to www.christianwitnesses.com, home of the Free Witnesses movement.

IMMORTALITY  In all the different translations it is clearly stated about immortality that only God is immortal: 1 Timothy 6:15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. (NIV) 1 Timothy 6:15: This manifestation the happy and only Potentate will show in its own appointed times, he the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, 16 the one alone having immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom not one of men has seen or can see. To him be honor and might everlasting. Amen. (NWT) 1 Timothy 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (King James) However, also in different translations we find it said that we humans who love Christ must also put on immortality: 1 Corinthians 15:53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. (NAB)  1 Corinthians 15:53 For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. (NWT)   1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (King James) So, how is it that only God is immortal but yet we humans are told in the Bible that we  also can put on immortality?  An answer to this is because God alone can never be destroyed, that is, He alone is immortal, yet at some point after the resurrection saintly, faithful Christians get immortality in heaven provided that they continue to obey God.  God’s immortality is irrevocable; human spirits get immortality but unlike with God it potentially could be revoked.  So, from our birth to our death, we do not have immortality, but if we died proven faithful as Christians even when tempted and threatened with horrendous torture and death, then God will grant immortality at our resurrection.  Thus, although some may be resurrected upon earth, the Bible clearly says others will be resurrected to be with Christ in heaven, a goal to strive for in order to receive immortality. christianwitnesses.com

INVITATION TO ALL WHO LOVE JEHOVAH ALL WHO LOVE JEHOVAH can go to ChristianWitnesses.com. Enjoy Bible Study as individuals and help to now quickly form your own in-the-home Bible Study groups.  We offer news, much encouragement, free Bible literature, plenty of ideas for more hands-on acts of loving-kindness, witnessing of all kinds including informally to make new disciples (Mt 28:19) etc. Friends, anytime you may feel burnt out or in fact be rejected there is no need to go without God or the Bible.  Now with the internet, free phone conferencing etc, being a Christian can be an enjoyable wonderful way of life for those of all ages. Christians in the “Free Witnesses” movement are freer to do much more to help other people such as those who are elderly, physically challenged, poor, (Ga 2:10) hungry, from distant lands and languages.   Christ is Jehovah’s MOST faithful, discreet slave.  Like a big tree, the one Christian faith has good, average and bad branches. Colossians 3:14 says Unity is by Love. Absolute uniformity for seeming unity can only exist when imposed.  The Good News is that because of Christ, “ALL” will be resurrected on paradise earth or to heaven. All includes the “righteous and unrighteous” (Acts 24:15), even agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, etc, not just people in only one group.  All will be perfectly judged, disciplined, reconciled with God, taught and given a second chance.  That really is Good News, isn’t it!  To be helpful for even more in our community the ChristianWitnesses.com website also includes handy descriptions of other churches, ministries, publishing-houses, social networks etc, for example Associated Bible Students in Ohio and elsewhere, Chicago Bible Students, Dawn Bible Students; Adventists, Baptists, Presbyterians; Methodists, Facebook.com etc.    If after exploring ChristianWitnesses.com you still aren’t interested, then please consider recommending it to those you believe may be interested now or later.  For example simply be e/mailing people a copy of this.  Again, all they really need to see to be able to learn more is: ChristianWitnesses.com, a name easy to remember.   Best Wishes To All Of Good Will, (Ps 83:18)     Joe Emerson And Other Friends (Contact information on website)   P.S. Here are upbuilding and thoughtful scriptures to meditate upon: Matthew 12:7, 1 Samuel 14:31-35; Luke 10:7; Romans 1:20, Matthew 28:19, 1 Timothy 2:5; Galatians 3:28, Acts 10:34, 35 christianwitnesses.com

ISLAM, COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS Followers of Islam known as Muslims, believe that  Allah or God  revealed how He wants humans to behave to Muhammad who lived in Arabic about 570–632 but also to other prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muslims believe their Koran holy book is flawless, unchangeable and the container of Allah’s will while parts of Christian and Jewish holy books have been forgotten, misinterpreted, or misunderstood. Islam’s two main branches, the Sunnis and Shiites, differ largely over who the proper successor was of Muhammad.   About 90% of Muslims are Sunnis.  All Muslims believe there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.  They also believe in angels, a Day of Judgment, resurrection, and a destiny or fate which is not fixed but where God gives free will to make decisions. The smaller Alevi branch has up to 20 million members most of whom are centered in Turkey.  Alevis meet in assembly houses instead of mosques, teach equality of the sexes with men and women getting to pray and dance together in ceremony; monogamy; tolerance, love and respect for all people regardless of religion etc, great respect for work.  Alevis shun those who murder, commit adultery, divorce a wife, steal, do backbiting. Alevis donate money to help the poor and are very supportive of education and cultural activities. Sufism, another small branch of Islam, is a systematic way for repenting and replacing bad human characteristics with beautiful personality characteristics to gain better understanding and get to go into the presence of God in Paradise after death and the Final Judgment.  Many people describe Sufism as mystical Islam.  Some opponents have called it "superstitious" or against proper Islam.  It is very popular in Morocco and Senegal.  Sufism in India has incorporated some practice of magic. Islam respects that Christians and Jews are also "People of the Book," that is have some common heritage and background as with Adam, Eve, Abraham etc.  Some major differences are that Christ is seen as a prophet but not God's Son, and nor is there a belief that the Father (God), Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are three different persons in one God (Godship/Trinity), the teaching to which most Christian churches agree.  Also during past centuries Muslims fought armies of Christians from Europe over access to and occupation of "The Holy Land" in the Middle East.  Today many Muslims are concerned that the Jewish nation of Israel occupies land and sites there.  Al Qaeda, an organization of militant Muslims was founded by Osama Bin Laden of Saudi Arabia (died 2011), used suicide pilots to have passenger jets kill some 3,000 Americans to try to force the U.S. to remove military bases from Arab lands because they view U.S. soldiers there as infidels occupying holy land.   However most Muslims, including millions in the U.S., are peaceful. Although Christians differ in beliefs we can also be respectful of the beliefs of all peaceful Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Animists and others, and we pray for when true peace from greater understanding will enable all to live at peace with one another, the kingdom and glory of God being upon earth too even as it is in heaven. christianwitnesses.com

JESUS HEALING A LAME MAN At a pool in Jerusalem were a lot of sick, blind and lame people including a man on a cot who had been sick 38 years and could not walk.  Jesus said “pick up your cot and walk” and he did.  Since he did this on the Sabbath, other Jews jumped onto the man because the Law of Moses banned working on Sabbaths, and carrying a cot was work.  The man told them the person who had healed him had said to carry the cot, and they asked who that was, but he didn’t know as Jesus had gone on. Later Jesus found the man and said to sin no more.  The man then told the Jews who Jesus was so that from then on they tried to kill him for breaking the Sabbath and calling God his Father, which they thought was sacrilegiously putting him on a even level with God Almighty.  Jesus replied for example that the Son of God cannot act on his own and the Father doesn’t judge but has the Son “so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father.”  He also said they didn’t really believe Moses either for Moses had written about the Son. This Bible account raises some important questions for us.  For example, do we try to help infirm people?  Are we like Jesus in being flexible enough to adapt on big issues for the sake of being kind and merciful to others as God wills, or are we rigid and immovable?  Do we show honor for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and his Father whose personal is Yahweh, often rendered in English as Jehovah?  If so, then how? christianwitnesses.com

THE KINGDOM God has always had His kingdom organization in heaven, but has it, as some would claim, come down upon earth in the form of some favored society, church, religion or any other human organization? John 18:36 (New International Version): Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." That's clear, isn't it. No human organization has ever faithfully represented God on earth, but His kingdom in heaven is still there and still faithfully representing Him.  Moth and rust cannot touch it.  It stays safely there. On earth there is, as Paul wrote, "one faith" (Eph 4:5).  That one faith existed when he said it did up to and including right now.  It's the Christian faith with good, average and bad branches. The kingdom of God in heaven is, as Christ said, in our midst here on earth too, though located in heaven.  (Lu 17:21)  It comes straight from heaven into our hearts and minds, so for Christians who allow it to do so, it already reigns. In time it is to come fully upon earth as in heaven.  Some visualize that as literally, others as symbolically, still others as in both ways.  It is real and exerts real power.  (1Cor 2:4) Earthly kings and emperors have been jealous of its power, the greatest power there is over the human heart and mind, true love.  Love never fails.  (1Cor 13:8) Many scriptures have spoken of angels going back and forth from heaven to earth then heaven again.  In speaking of the future, Revelation 21:2-3 speaks of Christ, who is compared to a groom, coming from the Kingdom of God that is in heaven onto earth: 2  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. No, the honest fact is that we don't have details of all future events, but we do know that God cares about the earth with its humans and other creatures.  All things will be made right.  It is sad that you sometimes hear someone say they or someone they know of anticipates going to heaven but their marriage mate anticipates resurrection on earth which would mean separation.  However, since the bride of Christ, meaning those faithfully, spiritually wed to always following him, will come onto earth with Christ, those who think such a depressing thought are wrong.   In ancient times there was movement with visits from heaven onto earth, and the indication is in the future there will also be.  If anyone knows this and remains sad, it is not because of scriptures but a physcial condition such as depression from lack of the right body chemistry.  There will be no separation of loved ones.  Our heavenly Father is kind and loving, and He will make all things right. christianwitnesses.com

LAMP LIGHT The eye is the lamp of the body.   If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Mat 6:22-23) It is said that our eyes are a reflection of our soul or the mind.  So, then, how are your inner eyes doing? christianwitnesses.com

LANGUAGES, WHICH DID JESUS CHRIST KNOW AND SPEAK? The Bible clearly states that Jesus Christ of Nazereth spoke at least some of the Aramaic language as seen at Matthew 27:46 where, just before his death as a human, this is recorded of him “Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying "Eli Eli lama sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34 similarly states “And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some Aramaic place names in the New Testament are: Golgotha (Jn 19:16-18), Bethesda (Jn 5:1-2), Babbatha (Jn 19:134-15).  Might there actually be modern day gifts of the tongue and healing by the laying on of the hands?  We do know that Paul says at 1 Corinthians 13:8 the spiritual gifts such as healing with the hands and the speaking of other languages (tongues) would end, and it is commonly assumed those ended totally or essentially totally with the death of the last apostle.  (Also see 1 Cor 14:5, 19-27) Although Acts 2:4-11 explains that the speaking of “tongues” was clearly understood language, Paul does not say that ecstatic or emotional expressions were not also used. In fact he wrote that when people spoke tongues, if the tongues were not understandable, then they were to wait and not disruptively speak those tongues unless there was a translator present for orderly translating.  This tends to show that although some "tongues" then being used at Christian gatherings were understandable, others weren't. All of the earliest Christians did not have the ability of different tongues, whether of the understandable type or of the emotional expressions type.  In fact 1 Corinthians 12 explains that there are many gifts besides tongues or healings.  Some for example had the gift of teaching.  Most Bible readers will recall that for healing, Christ, Paul and other apostles sometimes used their hands or put oil upon the heads of sick people.  This gave the sick comfort, relief or total healing.  For example read Mark 6:13 and James 5:14. Sometimes, as with Jesus Christ’s friend Lazarus, people were not only healed but resurrected to life after hands were laid upon them.  It is assumed by most that healing and tongues have passed away, but it is also logical that, since God can do anything anytime He Himself pleases, no one can honestly say that God never causes amazing healings or language gifts anymore.  At times people, including non-Christians, may revive an unconscious same as dead person by holding his/her head while breathing life back into them.  Olive and other special oils can have a penetrating relieving effect, etc. Christians believe that God Almighty the Father is definitely alive.  Jesus Christ is also alive.  Holy Spirit is also alive.  Since they are alive, why should any thoughtful person say that their gifts cannot be alive.  So, although such gifts have passed away or faded insofar as being widely practiced or seen among modern Christians, no thoughtful person can say they do not still exist at least some.   Certainly there are still those with the greatest of gifts which is love.  Love will definitely exist all the way up to when what is perfect comes, that is the Kingdom of God during which there is to be no more sickness. This being the case, Christians should, as Paul said, not forbid, mock or pressure other Christians who wish to speak “orderly” in tongues, whether such are regular language or ecstatic expressions. Nor would it be right to denounce another Christian who wishes to use prayer, healing oils, massage and other laying on of the hands although we need to also bear in mind that Christ also says that the sick do need doctors and the apostle Luke was also known as the “Beloved Physician.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayings_of_Jesus_on_the_cross#Mark_15:34 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapolis http://www.keyway.ca/htm2003/20031108.htm Freely copy and distribute this Bible tract originally written and posted at christianwitnesses.com where you'll find many more such free publications

LORD'S LAST SUPPER  Jesus tells Christians at John 6: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." So, unless as a Christian you feel unworthy somehow, then according to Christ, you should definitely partake of the wine and bread spiritual symbols.  Although most Christians do so on Christian Easter, some do so on or about the Jewish Passover, still others do so anytime that they and another or even more Christians gather on the Lord's day (Sunday), some both anytime a group of Christians gather plus on a more solemn once-a-year occasion etc.  There is Christian freedom to decide about such things.  In situations of persecution against Christians, if you cannot partake openly, then you can at least partake spiritually within as witnessed from heaven alone.  In any case, Christians need to remember and try to do what Jesus Christ has told us at John 6:53, 54.  christianwitnesses.com

THE LITTLE CHILDREN Matthew 19: 13 "Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.   But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.   14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."   15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there." So, Christ made time for everyone including the little children.  Do we also? christianwitnesses.com

THE LOST LITTLE GIRL A little girl was lost from her parents deep inside a vast forest.  Night came and the winter wind was biting. She asked God what to do and in her mind's eye came the picture of a squirrel which had lost its leafy tree house.  What would a squirrel do if there were no other tree homes to enter?   She made a pile of leafs, burrowed beneath them, prayed more to her heavenly Father, and soon fell asleep. Yes, she survived to rejoice along with her human parents who found her the next morning. Those who are adults also sometimes feel as if lost in the deep forest of life.  When that happens we can ask questions such as, in this situation, what would not just a squirrel but the very best role model ever do for me?  Yes, what would Jesus Christ advise that I do? And then, yes, an answer will come, at least provided we have thoughtfully read the Bible about Christ’s life and sayings.  Of course, we may not like the answer, but indeed there is an answer, and often more than one.  christianwitnesses.com

THE MAGI (WISE-MEN)  In Biblical Greek the word "magoi" means wise men.  Depending upon the translator's bend, the  term can also be translated less positively as astrologer or magician.  The magi came from "anatolon" meaning the East, a term identified with nations spanning from Arabia to Persia (Iran).  The Persians and in particular the Medes established the priestly caste of the magoi.  The magoi or Magi specialized in astronomy, medicine and religion although other such magi were also much involved with astrology and magic.  Words such as Magi, magician, magistrate, magnificient share a common root denoting for example that which is wondrous, of or from powerful knowledge. As said, the Magi were given especially set into power by the Medes who worked with the Persians.  The Magi were from the ethnic group that we now call the Kurds, a people who today reside largely in Mesopotami (Iraq) but also in Persia (Iran), and Turkey.  In general, the Magi of Persia were greatly admired for their intellect and religious attainments.  Those from Babylon (Mesopotamia/Iraq) were regarded in a negative manner, sometimes equated for example to astrologers and charlatans. The term magi itself comes from the Medo-Persians (early Iranians).  Early traditions for Syria give the Magi names that are Persian.   Second century Christian art in Roman catacombs shows them in Persian garments.  Most of the early church writers interpreted them as having been Persian (Iranian).  For such reasons,  experts believe the three wise-men or Magi came from Persia, although some believe that they were from different lands.  Some speculations for other lands have been what are now Yemen, India or even China.  At the time of Christ's birth, those Magi who were in what is now Iran still held great religious influence as part of the empire of Parthia, the old empire of the Medes and Persians having long before turned over.  They knew that among Jews scattered in their region too, it was being said that the Messiah was to be born.  Spotting the movement of a heavenly object confirmed what they were hearing.  The word usually translated as star from Koine or Biblical Greek can also refer, for example, to a comet.  Given earth's rotation they "followed it" east to satisfy their curiosity about the foretold new King. As can be seen, all the sources from over the many centuries have agreed upon the number of the Magi or Wise Men.  They all say there were three.  This has nothing to do with the "three" of the trinity doctrine, an off-the-mark speculation.  One reason why they are said to have been three in number is that they bore three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  However, there are many other reasons why "three" is said to be the number.  Christians in Syria to this day call the Magi by the three names Larvandad, Gushnasaph, and Hormisdas.  Unlike names given for them in the West and Ethiopia, these names do resemble actual names in the language of the Persians.  However, from what may be a sixth-century Syrian source, cited by the Zoroastrian scholar Dariush Jahanian, come the Persian names of: “Hormizdah king of Persia, Yazdegerd King of Saba, and Perozadh King of Sheba." The explorer Marco Polo reported that he was shown the three tombs of the Magi during the 1270s.  This was at what is now called Saveh, which he transcribed as Saba, located south of Tehran, the capital of modern Iran.  Polo said that at the time there were three “very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is a square building, beautifully kept. The bodies are still entire, with hair and beard remaining.”  Germany has the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral.  Saint Helena lived from about 248 to 330 A.D.  She was the mother of Constantine I, and she is said to have had the remains of the three Magi transported from Persia to Constantinople, from which they later went to Milan, Italy, before finally going to Germany. christianwitnesses.com

MANNA Mushroom experts have noted that Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms have characteristics remindful of the food manna which Exodus says God sent to feed the Israelites from heaven.  Such mushrooms breed insects which decompose rapidly, produce molecules resembling human neurochemicals, and at first appear look like small fibres or mycelia.  The mycelia resembles hoarfrost. Exodus 16:15 says “When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, What is it? For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.”  The question “man hu” in Aramaic likely means “What is it?"  Also the word “man” may be related to the Arabic word “man” which means “plant lice.”   In deserts some scale insects produce crystallized honeydew that dries rapidly, turning into a sticky solid and then later becomes a shade of white, yellow or brown.  It is still considered a delicacy in the Middle East as well as a good source of carbohydrates.  There are some 8,000 species of scale insects, which are small and in the order hemiptera (true bugs).  It was highly nutricious.  Exodus 16:35 says "The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan."  In contrast Joshua 5:10-12 says “10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.   11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.   12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.”  It may be that the manna stopped appearing in abundance for them to gather after they reached the border of Canaan but they still had some which they ate it until they stopped the day after the Passover. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna#cite_note-14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_insect http://www.biblegateway.com Go to christianwitnesses.com, a name so easy to remember, for numerous other free leaflets.  Feel free to copy and distribute this one.

"MARRY ONLY IN THE LORD" EXAMINED CLOSELY Paul said a widow could marry someone "only in the Lord" (1Cor 7:39) which some think means you MUST not marry a person of different beliefs while others say it means usually we SHOULD but there are exceptions. God did not oppose Joseph's marrying Asenath (Ge 41:45), daughter of Potphera the priest of On or Beth Shemesh (House of the Sun), Egypt, (Jer. 43:13) so-called because of sun worship.  Asenath bore Mannaseh and Ephraim (Ge 41:50-52, 46:20) who founded Israelite tribes. Moses married Zipporah who bore Gershom and Eliezer (Ex 2:16-12, 18:2-4). Her father was Jethro also called Reul, an Arabic priest in Midian. Jehtro was not originally a worshipper of the true God because after Moses returned over the Red Sea only then did he say Moses' God was greater than all other gods. (Ex 18:10) Esther's marriage to King Ahasuerus of Persia was approved of by God who guided her to save the Jews from genocide. Some may say Moses and Joseph's wives likely converted to being worshippers of their husbands' God, but this cannot be argued with Esther. In ancient Israel God said to not marry members of seven idol-worshipping nations, at least on their entering the Promised Land, so as not to be turned to worshipping false gods. (Deu 7:1-3) Those nations no longer exist and besides at Deuteronomy 21:19-14 God says an Israelite could marry a captured foreigner after letting her mourn a month for her lost parents. Isaac and Rebecca's being bothered by Esau's Hittite wives is assumed to mean it was due to their being Hittite non-worshippers but we can as easily assume it was simply because they were annoying. Paul said there is only "one faith," meaning the general Christian faith, not some branch such as at Jerusalem or Corinth. Today its branches still form but one faith. In fact at 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Paul calls it anti-God to tell persons they MUST not be marrying, and this would apply with inter-church marriages today. Though usually best for a Christian to marry another Christian, Solomon said there is a time and a place for everything. The Bible allows reasonable exceptions. Christians naturally consider much about potential mates, but the choice stays theirs, not pressuring busybodies standing between them and God. christianwitnesses.com

MEN AND WOMEN, UNDERSTANDING ONE ANOTHER Galatians 3:28 notes that spiritually in Christ men and women are as one; but in many other ways they differ as shown by everyday observation and now also by science.  Knowing the differences can help us to understand and get along better in marriage and otherwise.  For example studies show when a woman asks a man to do something for her as with saying "the garbage needs taken out," she also means “do it for me right now” even though she doesn’t say do it “right now.”  In contrast a man will usually include clarifying adverbs or phrases such as right now, later or tomorrow.  Women like a lot of eye-to-eye contact; men do not.  Men have passionate thoughts often during the day but women can go days without them.  A woman feels she and her guy must make up verbally before expressions of physical love, but he puts expressing physical love before making up with words as he sees it is an expression of true caring, that is a way in itself of “showing” that he’s making up.  Women order food slowly; men quickly.  A woman feels a relationship needs repaired before physical expressions of love. A man feels the opposite. Women can express emotions anytime; men often need physical exercise as at a gym before they relax and open up.  In the scriptures men like the patriarchs and prophets are often depicted as doing physical activities. Continuing, most women do not tend to give precise directions while men do.  For women touching without going farther is soothing and comforting. For many men it is misunderstood, felt to be frustrating or threatening.   Men tend to touch roughly as when punching or slapping each other on the back because tender touching has undertones of passion for men, makes them feel vulnerable, dependent or un-masculine.  Women dream of romance; men dream of passion. Women want closeness, but it makes men feel vulnerable.  Women easily express their emotions; men have emotions and can express them too but not nearly as easily.  Men heat up quickly in passion; women do so more slowly but then more powerfully. Women speak to give information and connect, men speak to give information and to compete.  Men when extremely angry tend to resort to physical hitting, women tend to use the tongue like a sword.  James compares the power of the tongue to that of a small spark able to set a great forest on fire. (James 3:5) Women type a lot faster than men.  Men tend to be very geographically aware, able to give to-the-point directions; women tend to be the opposite. Women tend to have red hair more than men.  Blond hair is also much more common in females. Females also tend to have lighter skin and green eyes.  However there are more men with the combination of red-blond hair, blue eyes and lighter skin.  Males are more susceptible to mental illnesses; tend more to be alcoholics and anti-social.  Women tend to have more of certain type of mental illnesses or disorders such as for depression, anxiety, eating disorders and stress.  More women are inclined to follow or comply than to complain or lead though are always exceptions as with Deborah and Hulda in the Bible. Women have a better sense of smell and ability to tell differences in colors.  Males seem more able to detect movements.  Females have more pain receptors in their skin and can tolerate as much everyday pain.  Women’s hearts beat faster; their blood pressure is lower. Women produce more antibodies faster than men so develop fewer diseases and recover more quickly.  Women outlive men; are twice as likely to go blind as men but that may be because they live longer..... However, remember that there are always also many exceptions to all of the preceding; and as a reminder too, the purpose for this is to show how we differ in order for us to better understand, communicate and draw closer together with one another, especially so in marriage.  “He who does not love has not become acquainted with God, does not and never did know Him, for God is love.” (1 John 4: 8) christianwitnesses.com

THE MIGHTY WIDOW'S MITE Once Christ sat in the Temple at Jerusalem.  He saw a poor widow drop two coins not worth a lot of money, that is only a mite, into a donations box.  He called his disciples to him and said “this poor widow dropped in more than all the other people because she gave all she had while they just gave what they had left.” (Mark 12:47-44)  Are we also whole-hearted in our efforts of time, energy or donations to help?  If unemployed and with little money, perhaps we could all the same donate  some of our time by working at a food pantry, homeless shelter or aiding refugees.  Helping others is an excellent to help others.  God not only loves a cheerful giver but givers in the long run always receive back far more than they gave.    How for instance?  Number one, helping others makes you feel and know that what you're doing counts for something important.  Seeing a child with a stomach swollen from lack of food in it clutching a bag of rice at a food pantry is an example.  Another is when you hear people say for example: I met the most wonderful man at a food pantry where we worked and we've been married thirty years now..... I was so depressed after my heart attack and I had to give up my career as a foreign language teacher, that is, until I started teaching refugees that a local church was sponsoring.....  I felt totally lost, confused and betrayed because the group I had been in convinced me no religion but itself had The Truth and then one day I discovered that it too was false, but fortunately then I remembered that Christ had been about not just helping others with words and parables but actually helping them with real food like fish and bread.  Now I not only have my faith back but it's like a bed of flowers that keeps growing and growing prettier than ever.   As you can see, then, in ever so many ways, a Widow's Mite can also be mighty.  Even a single word when spoken at the right time can save lives including our own.  We are saved from eternal death because of the ransom sacrifice our heavenly Father made of His Son, Jesus Christ, not because of how many works we may do; however James 2:26 notes “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” christianwitnesses.com

MISPLACED INDIGNATION Matthew 20:12 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"    14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.    16 "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him.       "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"  17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. In the year 2011 a Pharisaical group of three elders (clergymen) met in a secretive Judicial Committee to judge a "fellow slave of Jehovah."  Just before they pronounced their disfellowshipping (cruel shunning) of the person, a young woman, she pointed out some of the many wrong things they were doing and the grave injustices of the entire situation.  The Judges became indignant. So where do we picture ourselves in these illustrations?  christianwitnesses.com

THE MODEL PRAYER FOR ALL CHRISTIANS Yes, our Lord and Savior, Jehovah's son Jesus Christ of Nazareth, taught us a "model prayer."  Often called the Our Father Prayer by Catholics and The Lord’s Prayer by Protestants, it says this: Matthew 6:9 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” So, are we upholding our Father’s good, holy name, looking forward to His kingdom, trying to do His will, forgiving others, and trying to avoid temptations that hurt ourselves or others?  No one is perfect at doing these things, but each time we fall (and that’s daily), we can pick ourselves up and keep on trying.  The main thing is to try extra hard to show Love. For additional free Bible tracts get them at christianwitnesses.com, a name easy to remember

MOTHER'S DAY! Countering Watchtower's Misteachings About It Independent from any prior celebration anytime in the past, Julia Ward Howe called for the celebration of a Mother’s Day in 1870 in Boston to be observed yearly for peace and women's suffrage.  She was also well-known as an American writer. In 1905 Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia reinvented Mother’s Day as a time to show appreciation for good mothers given by God after the death of her own mother.  Some churches and later the U.S. Congress backed it so that by 1914 it was a national holiday. The similar British celebration of Mothering Sunday originated from the 1700s although the details are not clearly known.  Today many eastern Asian nations have adopted the American version while many African nations have adopted the British version... Mother’s Day (as with Father’s Day) had no prior non-Christian origins, including nothing to do with any of the ancient Greek or Roman goddesses such as Rhea or Ceberus.  Besides which Colossians 2:16 says do not let anyone judge you about the observing of holidays. In fact God says "you must honor your mother and father."  Therefore those who misteach people to not honor their mother and father are breaking one of the ten commandments at Exodus 20:12.  christianwitnesses.com

NOAH'S FLOOD Geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman have a theory about 7,500 (5600 B.C.) years ago when the Ice Age ended and glaciers melted.  They believe a wall of salty seawater suddenly thundered through what is now the Bosphorus Strait at 200 times the force of Niagara Falls from the Mediterranean into what is now the Black Sea but was then a freshwater lake.  Daily it lifted the water about six inches (15 centimeters) and flooded coastal farms.  Possibly this event also helped form the basis for the story of Noah's Flood. The Bible itself says the Flood covered the entire "earth" or, in Hebrew "erets," and the word erets can mean either the whole planet or a very large land area.  But in any case it was not just another large yearly, regional flood.  Besides the deluge at the Black Sea, flooding from melting glaciers was going on world wide. In 1999 and 2000, Robert Ballard who had previous discovered the ship Titanic found clear evidence that the Black Sea had been a freshwater lake.  They also found the remains at its bottom of a home site and a ship, supportive of the geologists' theory. An November 19, 2007 article on sciencedaily.com has theorized that the deluge may have forced many of the farming people around the Black Sea to move and take farming with them westwards across Europe.  Read more here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071118213213.htm This is not to say one way or another that the catastrophic Black Sea flood was or wasn't Noah's Flood.  It is to say, though, that this information is interesting and worth keeping an eye on into the future.  There are sure to be attacks made on it as it appears supportive of the scriptures.  christianwitnesses.com

OUR FELLOW CREATURES ON EARTH REMEMBER WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT ANIMALS, PLANTS AND OUR EARTH: To begin, most people, especially All People Of The Book, that is Jews, Christians and Muslims have heard that God wants us to treat animals right.  The Koran says "There is a reward for kindness to every living animal or human.” The Talmud says kindness is as important as all of God’s commandments.  Jesus Christ began Christianity, and his life is an outstanding example of kindness. It is true that Christ helped his disciples to catch and eat some fish, (John 21:6-13) but he and they also taught people to not be needlessly un-cruel.  His Father, God in heaven, thousands of years ago said to not yoke a mule with an ox. (Deuteronomy 22:10) They would be unevenly matched in strength.  That would be cruel, cause injury and suffering.  Even non-believers understand that animals kept healthy can live longer, produce better meat and other products.  Also they can give birth to more animals for more food. Some people think they need to kill all animals that look ugly or sometimes cause problems.  For example many spiders have poison which can hurt or kill people, and naturally people kill spiders to keep them from causing danger to themselves or others.  However, if no spiders existed at all, then there would be many more flies, ants and mosquitoes; and those would cause humans even more problems.  Similarly, elephants sometimes destroy some crops.  However, they can do difficult work for humans, and they also attract tourists who pay money which can help the economies of nations.  Therefore, we must remember that elephants, spiders and other creatures are also useful.  Read what Job 38:25-28 and Psalm 104:27-30 tell about God and His creation including the stars, mountains, wind, fire, oceans, goats and lions.  Christ said our Father in heaven even cares for very small birds and wildflowers. (Matthew 6:26-29, 10:29)  God gives all humans many gifts.  These include the many healing fruits and herbs.  God often repays those who care about and study nature.  For example humans have discovered many plants that help to cure painful and deadly diseases.  God cares about the future of our Earth, all the people, animals and plants on it.  In fact Revelation 11:18 says God will ruin those who ruin the earth.  We live and we die but because of Christ, God will resurrect all of us (John 3:16, Acts 24:15) for a second chance upon Earth restored to paradise; and also some will serve with Christ in heaven.  That is very Good News!  christianwitnesses.com

PAGANISM CONTRASTED WITH CHRISTIANITY Often former Jehovah’s Witnesses do not want to join any religion after they exit the Watchtower Society, or at least not for a long time.  When some do finally attend another church, different church or religious community, probably most attend the main religions that other people tend to attend, and statistically, those are Roman Catholicism and the Baptists.   Possibly almost ten percent become atheists or agnostics, as true for the national average, and a smaller number become pagans. But when someone says s/he is now a pagan, exactly what does that mean?  The meaning of “pagan” can vary for there are many pagan groups.  However, it generally means that the person now worships “The Goddess” and “The God,” or else many gods and or goddesses.  In any case, there is a focus of worship on nature and especially the earth.  In short, then, pagans believe in the worship of Mother Earth and or nature in general: plants such as trees, various animals, sacred rocks or mountains, the rain, etc.  Some believe there are specific gods and goddesses or spirits inside, near or in control of elements such as thunder and lightning, fire, the earth, the seas and oceans. Christians are very different because the focus of Christianity is only one God Almighty.  Also Christians believe it is better to worship the one Creator of Nature, all the starry heavens and earth, instead of the things which He created. Before Christianity went from the Middle East to the West, most of Europe’s different lands and people had different forms of paganism based largely upon the cycles of agriculture and the seasons.  However, Christianity became more popular and eventually, pagans were afraid to practice their beliefs openly.  For example during the Middle Ages pagans were sometimes tortured or burnt to death. This is true but truly devoted Christians know that Christ did not torture or burn anyone.  He spoke to and fed fish and bread to large crowds of people.  The people whom he helped included not only Jews but also Samaritans, men, women and children, pagan Greeks and Romans.  Also, although some who called themselves Christians were cruel and murderous toward Pagans, it is also true that Pagans such as the Roman Emperor Nero had fiercely tortured and slain numerous Christians.  What has conquered people around the globe including the ancient pagans of western Europe has not been fire and the sword.  Rather it has been the power of Love. Native Americans had belief systems similar to the European pagans.   However, the term “animism” is more often applied to the traditional or native belief systems of Native populations in the Americas.  As alluded to, paganism usually refers to Indo-European gods and goddesses who were popular in Europe, for example Zeus or Thor, Apollo, Venus and Astarte. The European gods and goddesses  were and are modeled after humans.  Native Americans who follow traditional beliefs are more apt to worship non-humans such as the spirits of animals, trees and rocks although they too have some spirits like humans, for example Nanabojo (Nah-nah-boh-zhoh) of the Ojibwa whose doings are remindful of Thor or the powerful Hercules.  The large Algonquian language family divides all nouns into animate or inanimate groups, and verbs must reflect this. Pagans are neither Satanists who tend to be violent and dangerous, nor Luciferians who think of God as less a single God of love than a God of some love but also darkness.  Instead most pagans are very peaceful.  Their beliefs and practices vary.  Different individuals or groups usually use magic, prayer or meditation as seen in acts of worship, rituals or celebrations.  They may believe such doings will bring them prosperity, romance, more fertile crops, better rainfall and more harmony with nature.  The focus of Christians is on one God whose main characteristic is love, and Christian worship generally uses prayer. Many pagans observe eight major seasonal holidays called the Sabbats. These are usually on or almost on the first days of February, May, August and November.  Most pagans meet privately as determined by the phases of the moon.  They often perform rituals inside of a circle drawn upon the ground.  Participants are usually nude or almost nude.  The rituals may include consensual sex for raising their level of energy, for pleasure, to celebrate and please the gods, etc.  The views of Christians about sexual intimacies in and outside of marriage have varied according to times, places and events.  Some have seen sex as positive and point to expressions about it in the Book of Solomon, but some groups such as the Puritans have been very opposed to sexual intimacies, considering much about sex as sinful, unholy or evil.  One reason may be that before modern medicine, diseases such as syphillis in particular were more common and many people died horrible deaths from the diseases. Most pagan groups do not seek new converts, but they do welcome people to become new pagans.  Most pagans also welcome participation from other pagans whose beliefs and practices are not the same as their own.  In general many groups are headed by and promoted by females.  Pagans often refer to Mother Earth or Gaia.  They believe humans are part of her and need to live in harmony with her.  They believe it is unethical to harm other creatures or Mother Earth. Often their politics reflect such beliefs, and they support efforts to protect the environment.  They do not believe in a lot of rules.  They tend to be skeptical and do not accept new beliefs easily without careful, personal investigation. Of course views among Christians vary some too.  Most see God Almighty as essentially a masculine or masculine like spirit person.  Christ as a human was definitely male.  Others think of God as of neither sex but called Father as a matter of convention.  Still others say regardless, the important thing is God’s nature which is loving, and He has created and loves both males and females.  Some Christian groups have many female preachers and ministers, others don’t.  Some pagan groups do have leaders or people “taking the lead,” who may be called priests/priestesses, but on the other hand many try to avoid having the equivalent of one main priest, messiah, guru, or elder who is between them and the gods and goddesses.  They try to develop power inside of themselves instead of having the power of some other human over them.   Since pagans believe that Nature is divine or godly, and they are also part of Nature, they may also believe they are also divine in the sense of being or becoming goddesses and gods.  Of course, most Christians also enjoy nature but, again, believe it improper and or illogical to worship nature or aspects of it instead of one God Almighty, our Father in heaven the Creator of all the universe.  Pagan groups often have different levels of initiation.  In other words, beginners are given a certain amount of information.  Later, if enough time and training have passed, some of them are given more information for going to the next level, and so forth.  Except for cults such as Mormons and the Watchtower Society, Christian groups are quite open and do not have levels knowledge. Of course pagans can be anywhere.  However, they worship Nature and therefore it is not unusual for pagans to prefer to live in remote areas away from large cities or, if in a city, next to or not far from a large park. Pagans and the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses both often claim that early Christian churches compromised and accepted pagan practices.  For example they point to elements of Christmas and Easter.  When counter-balancing views are presented about this, some become quite angry. For example, they say trees came from pagans who worshipped trees.  Actually research in old manuscripts has proved that the use of Christmas trees began when churches had Christmas plays with the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.  They decorated the Tree Of Life to look pretty.  Santa Claus did not start with the pagan god Odin or Wodin, but the famous Christian giver of gifts called Saint Nicholas. They also say Easter eggs and bunny rabbits are vestiges of pagan sex rites which early Christians adapted.  Those in fact began as symbols of new life in accord with the theme of new life from the resurrection of Christ.  Another claim is that the word “Easter” comes from the name of an ancient goddess named Eastre and may derive from possibly the goddess Astarte.  This was a view proposed centuries ago by the British scholar named Bede.   However, other scholars believe it simply came from the word for east or eastern, Christianity coming to West Europe from the East or the region called the Middle East. When it comes to Halloween pagans can make a stronger case that it includes some non-Christian aspects that if not pagan are more likely Satanic or Luciferian.  For example children play pranks and sometimes do dangerous, malicious acts.  Many Christians also do not care for those costumes that are not of angels but of devils.  However, Halloween too has Christian roots.  It began as a time when Christians dressed their children in costumes to resemble Saints who had been tortured or slain for sticking to the Christian faith, so as to encourage the children to also stand fast in Christianity.  The name comes from All Hallows' (Holy Ones or Saints) Evening.  Many believe early Christians also began it as a way to encourage pagans to switch from the pagan Samhain holy day to a day honoring Christian saints. The Watchtower says it was a compromise and reminds of a glass of water with some poison mixed in with it, or that it is the mixing of darkness with light.  Christians say it is more like a pill that was put into water to purify it, a case of light overcoming darkness.  In any event the apostle Paul wrote that Christians have freedom to celebrate or not celebrate holidays. In the past pagans often sacrificed animals ranging from sheep to cats.  Probably few modern pagans do so, although of course the percentage rises for example in groups that are not pagans per se but Satanists.  Of course in ancient times in Judaism animal sacrifices were done. For pagans in general the main rule is do whatever you want so long as no one is harmed.  For Satanists in general the main rule is do whatever you want to regardless of if other people are harmed.  In general for Christians the main rule is treat other people as you want to be treated. Many modern pagans support animal rights, are vegetarians or vegans.  Few Christians and modern Jews would consider it right to sacrifice an animal unless in the context of a laboratory experiment or to euthanize it. Now to sum up and conclude, the best way to treat modern pagans is the same as how Christ and the apostles treated them.  Try to be as respectful, peaceful, patient and loving toward them as possible.  Genuine Christian Love often wins over the hearts of people although it also often takes time.  To conclude, as Christians trained by the Bible, each of us must stand or fall before our Father in heaven, that is God Almighty, The Lord, Yahweh or Jehovah God (Ps 83:18, KJ) in line with how we exercise our consciences.  What is right for one Christian is not always right for another Christian, and vice versa. See christianwitnesses.com for more publications

PARADISE EARTH A. God has told us in the Bible at Isaiah 66:1 "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool."  So the planet Earth itself is important to Him, comfortable like a footstool that goes with His throne in heaven.  Revelation 11:18 adds that “The nations were angry, and your wrath has come.  The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”  Clearly if God didn't care about the earth He would have no reason to care enough to destroy those trying to ruin our planet.  B. We know that God also cares about our fellow creatures, both large and small, upon the earth.  For example Leviticus 25:1-12 speaks of Israel caring for the land, Deuteronomy 25:4 and 22:6 discuss the stewardship of domestic animals and wildlife, and at Isaiah 5:8-10, God judges those who are misusers of the land.  Job 38:25-28 and Psalm 104:27-30 speak of God's care for the creation.   Christ said God even cares for tiny sparrows (Mat 6:26, 10:29).  The "lillies of the field," a phrase which may also mean the wild flowers, are also commended. (Mat 6:28, 29) C. Although Matthew 24:35, Luke 21:33 and Revelation 21:1 say the Earth will end (read the verses), they and other verses also say there will later be a "new heavens and new earth."  Ecclesiastes 1:4 says the Earth remains forever so it appears that Earth comes and goes but in the longer frame of time it remains forever.   Christ and the apostles such as Paul and Peter resurrected many people right here on Earth, so besides resurrection to heaven there is also solid reason to believe many will be resurrected on Earth too.  Christ at Matthew 5:5 said the meek will inherit "the earth" which some take to mean that he was saying the people of Israel were to again inherit what is called the Promised Land but he may also be speaking of the meek in general who will inherit our wonderful planet that God made for us. D. At Isaiah 65:17-25 God tells us, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind."   He also notes that no one will die as a child, people will have their own houses and vineyards, and that people who had personalities like those of wolves and lambs will feed together, neither harm nor destroy.  At Isaiah 11:9  God says the earth will be filled with His knowledge even as the waters cover the sea.   Indeed Christ tells us to pray for God’s kingdom to come upon the Earth as it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:10) E. The Good News is that although people die because of inherited sin or imperfections, (1 Cor 15:22) still, because of what Christ did, we also have the hope of resurrection, (Acts 24:15, Jn 3:16) and it is upon earth or to heaven.  As Christ says, many are invited to follow closely in his footsteps although relatively few are chosen to similarly give up their very lives to save others. (Mt 22:14)  It is no surprise that so many would like to live forever upon our beautiful planet earth, and as part of our heavenly Father's blessings, they definitely shall!

PARABLE OF THE LITTLE ONES AND LOST SHEEP At Matthew 18:10-14 Christ says "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.   In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." So, do we look down on Little Ones, whether in the sense of infants, vulnerable handicapped adults or infirm senior citizens?  If we wish to truly be like Christ then we must instead be fully respectful and helpful toward everyone.  Besides, as someone else once said, no man is so tall as he who bends to help the littlest child. And we all know lost sheep.  Perhaps we ourselves have been among the lost sheep, for example at some point becoming depressed or feel lost and away from God.  This is all the more reason to lovingly help rescue others. christianwitnesses.com

PAUL, LEARNING FROM HIM Paul wrote more Bible letters or books than anyone.  He was born at Tarsus in Cilicia in a very religious family, (2 Timothy 1:3) and at first was a Jew in the Pharisee branch. (Phil.2:5-6)   Named "Paul" as a Roman, his Jewish name was "Saul." (Phil 3:5)   Although taught how to make tents, (Acts 28:3) at Jerusalem he was educated at the school of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Acts 9 etc tell of his conversion to Christianity.  Enroute to persecute Christians he saw a bright light that caused him to go blind which was followed by his hearing Christ tell him to go help instead of harm and kill Christians.  For the rest of his life he suffered from some kind of physical impediment which may have better related to his eyesight, possibly in turn due to the bright light.  Yet he proved to be determined and brave. Considering the foregoing, can we make some personal applications?  For example, might some of us also in a similar situation of having persecuted others wrongly, only to discover years later that we were totally in the wrong about what we did?  After discovering this, have we tried to correct the situation?  If so, how?  When the words of Christ speak to us, do we do as Paul did by listening and doing them?   Are we also determined and brave enough to help advance God’s kingdom will upon earth as in heaven? christianwitnesses.com

PETER Peter, also called Simon or Cephas, was born in Bethsaida on Lake Geneseret, had his own boat for the fishing business at Caperneum on the Sea of Galilee.  (Jn 1:42, 44, Mt 8:14; Lu 4:38), and owned a house where his mother-in-law also stayed. (Mt 8:14; Luke 4:38)  There his twin, the apostle Andrew, led him to Christ.  When Christ was led away to be tried, Peter followed but, as Christ predicted, although eager to be safe Peter at first denied to others that he was a disciple of Christ on three different times.  Tradition says after the resurrection he preached in Syria, possibly Asia Minor (now Turkey), and Rome where Origen says he was crucified upside down. Catholicism teaches that its Popes are Peter’s successors because  Christ said of Peter whose name means Rock, "Upon this rock I will build my Church..." and Christ also added that Peter had the keys to the Kingdom.  Most Protestants believe Peter was a great apostle whose preaching acted as the keys Christ had mentioned, and those keys were for converting three groups to Christianity, namely Jews, Samaritans with beliefs similar to Judaism, and thirdly the Gentiles or groups of non-Jews such as the Romans, Greeks and now people from around the planet. christianwitnesses.com

PHARISEES, ANCIENT AND MODERN The Jewish branch, association or brotherhood called the Pharisees in ancient times numbered only about four to six thousand.  Although relatively small and too strict for most of the Jewish people, for example in their ritualistic practices of purification, still the Pharisees had a lot more influence than their numbers would seem to indicate among the regular Jewish people.    This was because the regular people also mostly greatly resented Roman occupation, while the Sadducees largely embraced it.  The Pharisees looked on the regular people as “cursed,” but yet they were eager to travel as necessary to seek new converts to their strict way of life.  Before becoming a Christian the apostle Paul had been a zealous Pharisee.   Pharisee is from the Hebrew for separate from or “specifiers.”  They believed that even a child born out of wedlock was better than an ignorant High Priest.   Pharisees claimed that not only had God given the written law to Moses but also oral laws or interpretations which they were providing.  This is why Matthew 23:1-2 speaks of them as sitting in the “chair of Moses.”  So they believed, unlike the Sadducees, in not only the written Law of Moses but an oral interpretation of those laws, in resurrection, spirits or angels and immortality of the soul, that fate determines many events although humans have free will, that God gives rewards and punishments based on works.  (Mattew 9:11-14; 12:1-8; 16:1-12; 23; Luke 11:37-44; Acts 15:5; 23:6-8.  Christ himself taught such things but of course was very different in that, for example, he emphasized showing Love and Mercy as weightier than strict, harsh and rigid observances of Mosaic Law.   After the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Pharisees regrouped but eventually with time and dislocation they came to blend in with the rest of Judaism.  Although they no longer exist as a branch of Judaism there are, however, still strict, harsh and rigid branches of both Judaism and Christianity that remind one of them, and therefore people sometimes say that such-and-such groups are modern day Pharisees.  Although some people may feel they benefit and others benefit from being part of such groups, most don't, and often such groups as called "cults" for example in the United States or "sects" for example in France. christianwitnesses.com

POTATOES THAT HELP US BOND (Colossian 3:14) Having some friends over for a Bible reading/study?  Want something other than the usual cookies with lemonade or bean soup or finger sandwiches??  Well, try this: Simply put the following into a shallow baking dish then bake until the potatoes are tender:  A half dozen average-sized potatoes; 1/4 cup of olive oil with spices to flavor such as curry, pepper and/or oregano; 2 teaspoons of  tomato paste, a dash of lemon juice, 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth.  You may also add a pat or two of butter.  Obviously this is an inexpensive, easy and fast recipe, making it all the more of a joy for those special, special get-togethers, moments of happiness that build and maintain the only kind of true unity that there is: love. (Colossians 3:14) christianwitnesses.com

PRAYER Christ at Matthew 7 says "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." So, is it okay or not to ask God for help yours or to help others?  Indeed, it is and if we ask a good thing of God, such as something spiritual, then He will give it.  If we ask for food we will also get food – perhaps not a steak dinner such as we would prefer, but something that all the same is sustaining such as a hotdog or sandwich.  If not directly, the fulfillment of the request can come indirectly.  It might also come at a different time that we thought it might.  If it doesn’t come at all it could be that it was a protection for us that it didn’t get fulfilled and therefore the request we made was not a good one.     But if we never ever ask anything of God, then what can we be sure to get from Him?  The same as we get when we don’t ask for anything from a human father.  Absolutely nothing.  Remember too that too much pride often goes before a fall, and so be feeling free to ask for that which is good.  The process of asking something of God is prayer. christianwitnesses.com

PSALM 23 Surely one of the most comforting selections of Bible verses often used for meditation and prayer has to be Psalm 23.  It believed to have been written by King David who when young was himself a shepherd.  It says: Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.   2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.    6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” So David’s relationship with Yahweh God Almighty (Jehovah in English) was like that of a sheep to a shepherd who provides everything the sheep may want or need.  Even when facing death, he was comforted to know that he could do so without fear.  This was because he knew very well that the Shepherd was present and guarding him.  Enemies could look on all they wanted, but it didn’t matter.  They could do nothing lasting for God was keeping him going.  He knew that so long as he, like a faithful sheep, stayed in the dwelling of the Shepherd, then that Good Shepherd, Yahweh God Almighty, would stay with himself. Do we feel the same?  If not, why not start working to develop a solid personal relationship with God today.  We never know when our last breath may come and go.  It will be a comfort if we are conscious that we are within a few seconds of death but that we have hope in our strong, caring Father in heaven, the truly fine Shepherd who also comforted David. christianwitnesses.com

PUMPKIN PIE FOR CHRISTIAN JOY Christian gatherings should always include Joy, the second mentioned of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit listed at Galatians 2:10 just after Love.  And one great way to include joy is a healthy piece of pie or other goodies before or after your group does a Bible reading or study etc.  For tasty pumpkin pie try the following:   1 envelope unflavored gelatin, 2 teaspoon molasses, 3 eggs, 1 cup of sugar,  1/4 cup of cold water, 1 1/4 cup of pureed  pumpkin (garvick.com), 1/2 cup of condensed milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, separated 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon  of nutmeg, ½ teaspoon of vanilla flavoring   Put the gelatin and molasses in some water then set the mixture aside.   Lightly beat egg yolks with half the sugar then put this other mixture into the pan. Stir in the pumpkin, condensed milk, salt and spices.  Cook until it’s good and thick then add the vanilla with the gelatin-molasses mixture and stir. Let it cool and after it starts to get thick, add in the rest of the sugar and beaten egg whites. Pour into a baked graham crackers pie crust, and chill about three hours.    It’s now ready to take to your get-together, helping to bring a smile to some hungry souls there.  Perhaps another of the friends could bring a bucket full of ice-cream or whipped cream and some chocolate bits or other goodies to sprinkle the accompanying ice-cream with.    Why should anyone ever have to endure boring meetings that no one really wants to go to?  Instead we can easily enough build positive, happy memories for us all, both the adults and the kids. christianwitnesses.com

RADIO PREACHER'S FALSE "END OF THE WORLD" PREDICTION The civil engineer-radio clergyman Harold Camping predicted the End of the World as we know it, that true Christians will definitely be raptured up to heaven on May 21, 2011, and God would also destroy Earth and the universe on October 21, 2011.  Obviously he mispredicted or lied both times. He had boasted that God had let him and his followers translate his message into 48 languages and transmit it into China on an AM station without being jammed even one time.  He did not seem to have considered that the Chinese government allowed it so that Chinese would laugh about the Western notion later.  Camping not only made the 2011 prediction but had previously predicted Armageddon would definitely be on September 6, 1994. In the 1800s similar predictions were made by the Millerites and Seventh Day Adventists.  The Watchtower Society had Jehovah’s Witness members take such a prediction door-to-door throughout the 1900s, especially for 1975.  After 1975 failed they said members and the public could depend on it that before the last person in the generation of 1914 died, Armageddon followed by God’s kingdom on earth would be here.  Starting in 2010 they switched to saying, “well, actually we meant a generation overlapping the 1914 generation will see the End…..”  On May 25, 1981 some 50 Assembly of Yahweh members awaited rapture at Coney Island, New York. Over the centuries countless other groups and individuals around the globe have tried to excite membership growth, attendance, book sales, donations etc, always without success as to correct date, though often profitable in terms of money and the like.  Although claiming to love God they seem to prefer money and excitement to Christ’s own clear-cut statement.  Over the centuries countless other groups and individuals around the globe have tried to excite membership growth, attendance, book sales, donations etc, always without success as to correct date, though often profitable in terms of money and the like.  Although claiming to love God they seem to prefer money and excitement to Christ’s own clear-cut statement.  Over the centuries countless other groups and individuals around the globe have tried to excite membership growth, attendance, book sales, donations etc, always without success as to correct date, though often profitable in terms of money and the like.  Although claiming to love God they seem to prefer money and excitement to Christ’s own clear-cut statement.  At Matthew 24:36 Christ says “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  Also at verses 23-25 he noted “At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  25 See, I have told you ahead of time.” christianwitnesses.com

THE RAPTURE (Dedicated to Christine of Texas who suggested that this be written) In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul wrote: "13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words." In Verse 13 Paul says some people then alive in the life-time of Paul were confused about what would be happening with their dead loved ones.  He then explains in Verse 14 that God will send Jesus down from heaven along with others who had died in him, that is Early-Resurrection Christians--speculatively meaning anointed early saints including the apostles.  Verse 15 says that Christians still on Earth at that time will “not precede” those who died; and then Paul explains what that means.  Namely in Verse 16 Paul says that when Christ returns at that time dead Christians buried on Earth are resurrected “first,” that is in contrast with those Christians still alive on Earth.  Verse 17 says that after the resurrection of dead Christians buried on Earth, the Christians still alive on Earth at that same time will go up with the resurrected Christians to meet Christ in the air and be with him forever.  This particular selection of scriptures do not say if the resurrection is done visibly or invisibly, just that it is done.   The scriptures show that there is a resurrection to heaven of Christians before and also after the return of Christ.   They do not say one way or another if Christians may also be resurrected upon the Earth, but they do help to indicate that at least the main resurrection hope for most Christians is heaven.  They do not speak of Jewish patriarchs such as Abraham, Moses and David also going to heaven but do not rule it out and other scriptures have indicated the opposite may be true.  Modern ideas or doctrines collectively known as the Rapture have become popular especially among some churches from around 1970s.   In general the Rapture teaches that Christians will be visibly raptured just before the great tribulation and or judgment on Earth and the return of Jesus Christ; or else Christians will be visibly raptured while or after Christ is returning.   Also popular now is the idea that Christ will first come only into Earth's atmosphere to snatch believers away to heaven for several years, but later after those several years have passed he will return a second time to set up the kingdom on Earth.  Such extra teachings were not clearly and directly expressed in any of the early church writings but later some Roman Catholics did express similar ideas, and the Rapture was taught by American Protestant evangelists like Increase Mather and Cotton Mather from the 1600s onwards.  It began to become well-known after William Eugene Blackstone’s Jesus Is Coming (1878) and the Scofield Reference Bible (1909, 1919, 1967).  The Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Anglicans and many Protestant Calvinist churches reject it for various reasons such as some of the ideas expressed by its proponents not being adequately supported in scriptures or history.  However some proponents theorize that regardless some early Christians did go by the idea.  A 7th-century Bible tract known as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem the Syrian says "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the Tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." The Rapture became especially popular in the 1970s after Hal Lindsey's book The Late Great Planet Earth which sold 15-35 million copies and the movie A Thief in the Night, with a title based on 1 Thessalonians 5:2.  Lindsey said the Rapture was imminent at that time, and he tied the Cold War to impending Armageddon.  He also suggested the seven-headed beast with ten horns of Revelation was the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union which in 1981-1986 had ten member states but now has 27 member states.  Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind book series in 1995 began popularizing the idea that the Rapture would happen before the Great Tribulation, as a way to rescue some saintly modern Christians from having to suffer so much, and it sold tens of millions of copies and spun off several movies. The various theories, ideas and speculations about the End, the Rapture, the Wild Beast of Revelation, etc have led to some very interesting books and movies.  Christians who believe in unity by love (Colossians 3:14) instead of everyone being forced to claim they believe the same, both enjoy and give others the Christian freedom to differ in views.  (Romans 14:1-22)  We fellowship regardless, knowing Paul says Love is the highest of all the gifts (1Cor 12:31); and it is mentioned first among the fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Ga 5:22)  Jehovah's Son, Jesus Christ, has ordered us to love one another, (John 13:34, 35), love never fails, (1Cor 13:8) and the main characteristic of our Father in heaven is Love. (1 John 4:8)

RESURRECTION,  POSSIBLE OR NOT Every single day, even every hour, television, big screen movies and internet videos resurrect stars such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, and such “resurrections” will become even more realistic as time passes, being more commonly done 3-dimensionally.   Technology promises to add not only more physical details including sensations of scent and touch but to allow viewers to fully interact with recreations of what are now long dead people.  Holographic humans are featured on Star Trek and most viewers accept that such can be possible in the future.  So why would it be impossible that the Son of God could resurrect and be resurrected?  We find the following at Luke 7:11-16: Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.  As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out--the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.  And a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."   Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!"  The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.   They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." Yes, that sounds great, you say, but it's also true that there are still many people who laugh at the idea of resurrection.  Sure, but those haven’t really thought so carefully as they generally imagine.  Even the most die-hard skeptics admit that we humans do exist as the descendants of previously created intelligent living creatures; and that logically means that some “Thing,” “Being” or “Entity” made our original ancestors.  Further, many of us are not bothered all that much by whether we also call the Thing, Being or Entity that did the creating not just those names but also God.  If the Thing or God that made intelligent living beings like ourselves did so once, then why is it illogical, myth or a fairytale to think that It or He could recreate us?  So, we who do believe in the possibility of resurrection deserve respect for stating that there is not just an emotional but also a logical basis for doing so. christianwitnesses.com

THE RETURN, PRESENCE OR PAROUSIA OF CHRIST Although a scripture says every eye will see Christ at his return, others say he returns like a thief in the night meaning not easily seen if at all.  It is not a matter of scriptures contradicting but of complementing one another because a possible resolution is that at first his return is difficult to perceive but later becomes increasingly easier to see until it is clear to all.  For example Matthew 24:42 says “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come,” showing that Christians must stay alert to see that Christ has returned.  However in the same chapter of Matthew but at verse 30, Christ says “all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”   The weight of the scriptures is made clear though by considering other verses.  For example 2 Peter 3:10 says “the day of the Lord will come like a thief;” 1 Thessalonians 5:1 similarly says “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”  Acts 1: 9 says of Christ “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, a cloud hid him from sight, and two angels told them Christ would be returning the same way as he went up to heaven.  He had gone up visible then became invisible due to the cloud.  Reversing the order, he would return invisible but become visible.  During World War I, World War II, and the smaller wars in the Cold War period of the 1900s, many people said they perceived Christ’s return.  In the wake of the 9-11 tragedy and increasingly deadly natural disasters, people have said the same thing.  As a spirit being Christ is normally not visible but able to manifest himself as invisible anytime he may wish to do so. Way back in the late 1800s the Bible Students movement said they believed Christ had in fact returned a bit earlier invisibly in 1874.  They also said that 1914 was significant in that it began a times of woes brought upon people on the earth, which it in fact did since that was when World War I began. On what did the Bible Student base the belief that Christ had come back invisibly in 1874?   For example, they felt that the book of Daniel had foretold a speeding up of communications and transportation such as happened in the latter part of the 1800s.    The year 1799 also seemed significant in that it was when Napoleon Bonaparte had captured the Pope, thus showing an end to the kind of papal power that had begun long before with Pope Leo I.  They recalled for example that the book of Daniel had spoken prophetically of 1,260 day periods and 1335 day periods. From 1799 they subtracted 1260 and got 539.  Next they looked up historical events in the year 539 A.D.  It was in the same time period as when the Roman Catholic Pope Leo I had strengthened the power of the Roman Catholic Church.  Leo I had been able to intercede with both Attila the Hun and the Ostrogoths (also known as the Vandals), thus enhancing the Church’s hand in political affairs until 1799. While the Bible Students stood firm about 1874, the Jehovah’s Witnesses who broke away headed by the Watchtower Society corporation made other mispredictions as to when the end would be although holding to the year 1914 as marked.  For decades until 2010 they taught that people in the Generation alive in 1914 would never die but live to see Armageddon followed by paradise on earth. As said, though, the Bible Students hold fast to 1874 as the date Christ returned invisibly and to 1914 as the time when major woes broke out on earth.  They believe too that many Bible prophecies about the Jewish people have been fulfilled and others will be.  For example, God had promised the Israel for Abraham’s descendants but for almost 2,000 years the Jewish nation of Israel had not existed.   However in the late 1800s the British Empire gave the Jews permission to start returning to their ancestral homeland and own property there.  Finally in 1949 Israel was restored as a modern nation.  It defended itself in the Six Days War, and Bible Students believe that it will continue to exist and bring about many blessings for all humanity.  Many of the Jewish people have returned to Israel and far more still will. Bible Students believe earth will continue to experience difficulties as mankind has to learn the ways of peace before all of God’s kingdom blessings are enacted.  Not all but some feel the collective series of events (WWI, WWII, H-bombs, Cold War, Al Qaeda, etc) form a kind Armageddon to be followed by the coming of true peace, harmony between humans and nature, our planet earth being restored to beauty such as the Garden of Eden had, general resurrection with people enjoying lasting good health and eternal life.

RETURN OF CHRIST WITH DETAILS OF RESURRECTION There are numerous views among Christians about the details for Christ’s return.  Most today appear to believe that ongoing events (wars, disease, climate change etc) show the return is about to occur although, knowing Christ says no one other than the Father knows when, they wisely do not mispredict specific dates for it.  On the other hand a minority hold that Christ has already returned as clearly shown by the ongoing events.  Which view, then, is correct, or might it be possible that Christ returned invisibly but his return is also becoming more visible as we move forward in time?   To begin, in the New Testament part of the Bible, in the original manuscripts written in Koine Greek, the word used for the return of Christ” is the word parousia (παρουσία).  Although the most basic meaning of parousia is advent, arrival, visit, coming or presence, whenever speaking of an important person, it can also have the extended meaning of the arrival, coming, presence or visit of a dignitary such as a high official or king whose arrival also puts on display his glory and magnificence and may even inaugurate a new era of sweeping changes. This latter meaning is shown for example in the book Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World which was published in 1908 by Adolf Deissmann.  The words on ancient Roman coins found at the cities of Corinth and Patras for announcing Nero's visits have shown the relationships between parousia, Latin “adventus” and also the Greek word “epiphaneia” or in English, “epiphany” which has the meaning of appearing. The view of most Christians including Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestants is that the return of Christ will be instantaneous as based on Matthew 24:27 saying "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."  Others notice that at Matthew 24:37-39 and Luke 17:26-30, Christ compares "the presence of the Son of man" with "the days of Noah," and this would that his return or presence is more a matter of duration than a moment of arrival.  Thus, Christ’s grand return is instantaneous over earth but the resurrection during the return lasts longer than just an instant.    1 Thessalonians 4:17 says "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."  Therefore most Christians believe that Christians living when Christ return will literally go upward into the clouds to meet Christ in the air, without having to die but going up in their fleshly bodies.  This view of bodily resurrection (or rapture) of "all en masse" must be considered in light of Paul’s teaching that we all sin and so we must all die.  During Christ’s return period of time as Christians live then die faithful even if martyred for it, Christ resurrects them after they die one after another.

SABBATHS, ARE THEY FOR CHRISTIANS At Acts 20:7 Paul writes that “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”  The first day of the week is Sunday.  Didache, Barnabus and Pliny of and about 100 B.C. say Christians met to read scriptures and break bread (Last Supper memorial or communion meal) on Sundays or the Lord’s day.  Judaism used Saturdays for days of Sabbath, that is for rest and worship.     At Mt. Sinai, God had given what some call the Old Covenant (or Testament) via Moses.  (Cor 3:6-14) including the commandment to keep Sabbath.  The entire Mosaic covenant was only perfectly fulfilled by Christ after which Christians were to go by the new covenant of Christ, sometimes also called the law of Christ, (Cor 3:6-14) which is based on the principle of showing love for others and cultivating fruits of the spirit such as love, joy, and peace. (Ga 5:22)   The Mosaic covenant was not just ten commandments (Deu 4:13, 2) but also thousands of side rules, ordinances or regulations including the ritualistic sacrificing of animals etc.   Notably, the Pharisees were the branch of Judaism which most sought to harshly enforce it upon other Jews.    The Christian author Augustine wrote that the New Testament also teaches to not murder, not steal, not commit adultery etc, but he adds that Christians do not have to go by a required Sabbath and also are not required to pay one-tenth (a tithe) of their money to any organization or church etc.   They may do so but do not have to, which also agrees with Paul who wrote of not having to celebrate or judge the Christianity of others in relation to if they observe Jewish holy days (holidays) and Sabbaths.   No scriptures say any of the earliest Christian groups went by Mosaic Law, although Eusebius in 300 AD wrote of a Jewish Christian sect or cult called the Ebionites who did.  They worshipped on a Saturday, required circumcision, denied Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, denied Jesus was part of the holy Godship or Godhead (Ro 1:20) of three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit; and they likely also tithed.   After the Roman emperor Constantine I became a Christian, in 321 he ordered for the benefit of sun-worshippers that on Sundays all people in the Roman Empire must cease doing any work on Sundays except for necessary farm work.   Christians had already been meeting and worshipping on Sundays, but they also ceased working on Sundays so as to obey the decree.  Later rulers restricted working on Sundays even more.  In 390 the Emperor Theodosius I abolished paganism but the imperial law about not working continued….. Thus from the Bible and history we find that if to observe a Sabbath or not is a matter of Christian conscience.     christianwitnesses.com

"SAINT" WILLIAM BEDELL The poet Coleridge and many others have called William Bedell "the most faultless character in all ecclesiastical history," some saying he was in fact a Protestant saint.  He was born at Black Notley about fifty miles north of London, England in 1571 and eventually served as Protestant Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh in Longford County, Ireland.  There William won the hearts of the Irish people including Catholics by staying honest and fair even when threatened with imprisonment by British and Scottish plantation owners upset that he had not only taught himself Irish, but that he was teaching that he was teaching the Bible to the Irish in their own language as well as teaching other clergy to do the same. When Irish rebel forces rose up and slew many British and Scottish planters, they spared his life.  However, William Bedell later sheltered hundreds of their foes in Christian kindness at his church so that the rebels forced them out and then imprisoned him at Cloghouter Castle.   He and his family were well-treated there but he died in 1642.  The rebels respectfully forced Kilmore’s Catholic bishop to let William Bedell be buried beside his wife Leah and provided an honor guard.  The pall bearers included fierce Myles the Slasher.  Another Catholic priest cried out "O that my spirit might be with his!"  An Old Testament in Irish, which William Bedell had supervised, was published after his death.  The man had perished in the flesh but spirit of treating all sides fairly even in the face of death has all has remained as an honored example of true Christianity down to this day. christianwitnesses.com

SANTA CLAUS, FACTS VERSUS MYTH It is history not fiction although it may sound like it, that about 200 AD Christians who had prayed in a little church at seaside Myra, Turkey for their next bishop, selected a newcomer off a ship who was named Nicholas, then gave him a long red robe and cane or miter indicating that he was their choice.   Nicholas was concerned that poor girls at Myra did not have enough money to pay as a dowry to marry, so were often sold into slavery or prostitution.    Since his wealthy family sometimes sent gold to him, he began to quietly at night go to their homes.  He dropped bags of gold through windows to by the chimneys where the girls dried clothing so in the mornings they found it for their dowries.  People did not know who the gift-giver was until Nicholas was dying.  Then somebody told people they had seen him.   More Christians in France and elsewhere in Europe felt  inspired to give gifts.   "St. Nicholas" became Sinter Klass in Dutch and that became Santa Claus in English.  One reason Christmas is in December may be that Nicholas was born then, plus some believe Christ was actually born about October 1, which would mean Mary conceived 9 months previously about or on December 25. So when someone, such as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, claims Santa came from legends of wizards, goblins or an Oriental god who came down chimneys, either tell them the real Truth of the matter or you can give to them a copy of this leaflet (tract).   christianwitnesses.com christianwitnesses.com

SATAN, IS HE REAL? The Bible mentions the words devil and Satan numerous times.  It records that he spoke to God about testing Job, and that he also tried to tempt Christ in the desert (Matthew 4).  Thus, according to those accounts in the Bible itself, the devil is an actual being.  Ephesians 6:11-12 says the devil has schemes and Christians must put on spiritual armor to battle not only against Satan the devil but also evil authorities on earth as well as evil spirit forces up in the heavens. Different opinion surveys have yielded different results as to how many Christians in the United States believe that Satan is definitely an actual being.  A Barna poll has claimed only about 40% do; another poll has claimed 70% do.  Still, even if 30% do not believe that Satan is an actual being, that’s a significant number, and it begs the question as to why so many Americans don’t think Satan the devil exists as an actual being.  One is that they believe the idea is not in the Bible because they do very little reading in the Bible.  A second reason is that they do read the Bible but they think its references to Satan are irrational, superstitious, folklore, legend or myth.  A third reason is that, as 2 Corinthians 11:14 warns, Satan keeps transforming himself into “an angel of light.”   Being an intelligent spirit being Satan the Devil has helped those who do what he wants to infiltrate into the very top level of various organizations, including religious groups.  There they sit the same as his puppets, whether realizing it or not. Such groups may have their members dress in suits, be clean-shaven, talk smoothly, race to act loving toward newcomers whom they hope to join their groups.  In short they may appear as angels of light, but eventually those joining such groups find out after possibly decades in them that behind the image of love and purity some definitely nice people are also some overly powered men given to fits of anger, hiding sexual abuses, misleading people to not get medical treatments etc to keep them alive, healthy and happy, etc. For example, Satanic pedophiles have embedded themselves among the clergy whether called priests, bishops, elders, ministers.  They do this in order to get into a position of power over children and the parents of the targeted children.  Not wanting to be told on and reported to police, besides molesting the children, they may also wiretapped homes to see if parents find out and intend to go to the police.  They are the tools of Satan and do not want to go to prison. They may institute gang stalking or harassment, for example, having rocks hurled upon the parents’ house top, doors rattled, obscene midnight phone calls, give quick verbal warnings like “come back to God” over thee phone, put a dead bird at the doorstep, etc.  They may also make forced or by-key entry into a residence for positioning wiretaps or leaving behind noisemaking “spooky” sound or “wake-up” devices, etc, electronically activated from a distance, etc. A major, dangerous sign of a Satanic cult is the death of innocents.  Jim Jones in 1978 had over 909 American followers (276 being children) in his People’s Temple group murdered along with himself at Jonestown in Guyana, South America.  Some other killer groups have been the Branch Davidians offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Catholic offshoot called the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was in Uganda, Africa, the UFO religious group called Heaven’s Gate, the secret Solar Temple society based on Knights Templars, etc. It is sometimes heard that some branches of Mormonism practice or have practiced secret, ritualistic “blood atonement” killings.  From 1945 on the Watchtower Society heads over Jehovah’s Witnesses have had parents deny emergency whole blood transfusions to children who then died.  One estimation is if all such deaths for the kids and also adult Jehovah’s Witnesses were totaled, the figure would be up to 200,000.  Privacy laws do not permit a precise tally but the estimates are based in other statistics from reputable health organizations. Wars in and of themselves are clearly cruel and Satanic.  As the Bible also says “the whole world lies in the hands of the wicked One,” (1 Jn 5:19) so Satan has been behind many to most of those too, although there are also Satanic humans who have pushed wars and needed no help or encouragement from a spirit being to do so.   Fortunately our heavenly Father’s power is greater, and by putting on spiritual armor then fighting back then we too, with God's help, shall be victorious whether in this life or the next. christianwitnesses.com

SAVED BY THE TRUTH AND BORN AGAIN We cannot see gravity or wind but we can know they exist by what they do.  God is also invisible but seen by what He has done. Since God exists and gives good things and gifts like life, a wonderful planet, food, etc, we can rightly call God our Father. (Mt 6:9)  To communicate with our Father, we pray for His kingdom to come on earth.  We can also ask for God’s Son, Jesus Christ to become our Savior from death: "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Ro 10:10)  “The Truth” about life and God comes not from other things or people but Jesus Christ himself.  At John 14:6 he says "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) True Christians do many good deeds and the Bible says to definitely do them or else our faith is dead. (Jas 2:24) So we are saved by Christ, not by works, or as Ephesians 2:8-9 explains: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” To be “saved” we must each humbly admit that we are all imperfect people who need Christ.  Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  1 John 1:10 adds If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”  We have to admit that no person or organization can save us from death, only God, and despite any false claims to the contrary both common sense observation of funerals and the scriptures definitely prove that we will die.  No one lives forever on either paradise earth or in heaven without dying first.  Romans 5:12 says: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”  So we must fight against our sinful nature, meaning stop hurting ourselves and others whether by drugs, dangerous sex practices, stealing, murdering or otherwise.  We must also encourage others to instead to also seek happier, safer lives: At Luke 13:5 Christ says: "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:5) Acts 17:30 notes, "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30) We must believe in the Good News that because Christ died and was resurrected for all humans, God will bring back to life in perfect health both those people who have known and tried to do God’s will as well as those who never or never rightly knew God or His will.  John 3:16 states "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  Acts 24:15 clearly says “there will be a resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous.”  We must trust "If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Ro 10:9)  Humans “resurrect” long dead stars on TV and in movies; so our loving Father, God, who made humans can and will also resurrect people. Yes, we must be spiritually born again as little children beloved by the greatest Father: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" (Jn 1:12)  " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17)  The Bible says “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.  (2 Tim 2:15; 3:16)  We need to pray, be baptized, enjoy fellowship with other Christians, help the needy, and teach this Good News of the kingdom to others. (Mat 21:22, 28:19, Heb 10:25,Philippians 4:6, Ga 2:10, Mark 16:15, 1Cor 9:16, Ro 1:16, Mat 28:19) Get more free Bible tracts like this one at christianwitnesses.com

SEX CRIMES CONDEMNED IN THE BIBLE If you’re not an adult or an easily offended adult, then don’t read this as it discusses sexual and some violence in the Bible although respectfully so, and as in the Bible also weighs on the side of caution and good balance.  To begin, then, God’s main trait is love and God does not speak against sex when it is for good purposes but only when it has the potential of gravely harming you or others.  In fact Genesis speaks of sex as a positive way for continuing the living generations of humans and animals.  The Bible book called either the Book of Solomon or the book of Canticles speaks symbolically about the joys of intimate, passionate love. One needs to remember that when the Bible was written there were no medical treatments to combat sexual diseases that could disfigure, cause long-lasting severe pain and death.  Even today there are valid concerns about the spread of syphilis, gonorrhea, clamydia, genital worts, herpes, AIDS, etc.  Romans 8 in the time of Paul unto this day is right in saying it is good to be able to control one’s fleshly desires although Paul elsewhere notes that we all fall or stumble at times and yet need to keep trying.  Common sense also says that what feels "good" to humans can also sometimes cause suffering and death including nowadays when we have strong medicines etc.  Too, there are always other diseases for which there are no known treatments. In Genesis 38 Onan was not condemned for masturbation but rather for deliberately not completing sexual intercourse for the bad purpose of not continuing a family line.  Masturbation has rarely ever caused harm to anyone but it can cause much embarrassment especially if you are trying to do as Paul said about mastering your own fleshly desires.  A good example of a person who had done so was Joseph who ran away from the advances of the wife of his Egyptian master Potiphar.  Exodus 20:14 condemns adultery and even today when a man has intercourse with another man’s wife, it can lead to an outraged husband committing murder. Rahab was an ancestress of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5) who at Jericho sided with the Israelites and helped their spies escape. (Joshua 2:1 and following)  James 2:25 says she was a harlot or prostitute but it is assumed that she gave the profession up since it could spread diseases and break up marriages.  (Also see Hebrews 11:31)  Deuteronomy 23 speaks against prostitutes not for prostitution but for prostitution inside temples.  Leviticus 18 speaks for example against incest, homosexuality, sacrificing children to the god Molek, and bestiality, but not against prostitution.  Jacob’s son Judah thinks that his daughter-in-law whose face is veiled is a prostitute, and he is not condemned for it. The Bible also tells about rape and incest.  For example David’s son Absalom killed his brother Amnon for having raped his half-sister Tamar.  David himself conspired and succeeded in causing the death of Uriah in order to obtain his wife Bathsheba, and as a result Jehovah God then took the life of their first child. (II Samuel 11)   Lot’s two daughter’s got him drunk in order to seduce him and become pregnant.  (Genesis 19)  Jacob’s son Reuben slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah. (Ge 35:22)   Ham apparently did something sexually wrong against his father Noah, whether against him personally or perhaps against Noah wife, Ham’s own mother, is not known. (Genesis 9:20-27) Cain evidently married a relative such as a sister of the daughter of one of his brothers.  In the early days of humans all people were much closer to genetic perfection which went awry after Adam and Eve sinned.  In some cases having multiple wives was not condemned as when Jacob married his cousins Leah then Rachel.  However when David and Solomon had multiple wives, it was considered wrong.   As Solomon once noted there is a time for all things; there are at times some highly extenuating circumstances.  Noah’s sons and their daughters had children and those children married the children of other sons and daughters of Noah.  As during Adam and Eve's time if they hadn't then humanity would have died out.....   Although the Bible tells of these and many other sexually sensitive doings, it does so factually and for the good purpose of reminding us about what can happen to ourselves and others if we act recklessly.  If it's something that can hurt ourselves or others, it's wrong; if not then normally it should be okay. christianwitnesses.com

SOLDIER FOR CHRIST Cornelius baptized by Peter Cornelius was a Roman army officer stationed at Caesarea in the Holy Land, and he was a god-fearing man who did many acts of kindness.  One day an angel told him in a vision to send men to the city of Joppa to get the apostle Peter, so he sent two servants and a soldier to do so. The next day as they were coming, Peter was praying up on the roof of his house while hungry.  By vision he saw some four-footed animals, crawlers and birds.  The Lord told him to slaughter and eat them, but Peter said NO because by the law of Moses those kinds of animals were unclean.  He was then told “Stop calling defiled the things God has cleaned!” The men including the soldier took Peter away to Cornelius, and suddenly he understood the puzzling vision.  He said it meant that although Jews were not previously to have anything to do with non-Jews like Cornelius, he was to now stop calling them “unclean” people since God is not partial but accepts all who do good deeds. Holy Spirit next caused Cornelius and those with him to speak in tongues to the glory of God.  Peter at once baptized them as the first Christians who had not been born as Jews. christianwitnesses.com

STRUGGLE AGAINST AMBITION AND SCANDAL In 354 A.D. a child was born in Tagaste, a Roman city in North Africa.  The child’s father was a pagan with a violent temper and interest in women other than the child’s mother, Monica, whom he beat until at last her humble nature converted him to Christianity. However, the boy, Augustine, grew up to also love women and in a scandalous way.  For example he even chose to live with a woman whom he didn't marry and by whom he had a child who later died.   Augustine did have a lot of ambition and eventually he taught at the royal court in Milan, Italy, although this sometimes bored him.  His conscience kept bothering him because of his desires for women, the achieving of his ambitions and the partying.  So finally one day he listened to his heart (or was it Holy Spirit), gave it all up, became a devout Christian in 387 A.D., founded a monastery in Tagaste, preached, wrote and spoke against religious teachings considered false and destructive.  Eventually Augustine was made the main elder or bishop at the city of Hippo in North Africa where he died in 430 A.D.  His final success in giving up so many different temptations has inspired many others to do so.   Today many call him St. Augustine. christianwitnesses.com

THE TETRAGRAMMATON (GOD'S NAME) Tetragrammaton on 1868 Episcopal Church in Iowa The Tetragrammaton, the name of God, is written in Biblical Hebrew some 6,800 times although without any indication of its vowel sounds.  Usually it is rendered in English as YHWH (or YHVH) and some scholars believe that possibly the missing vowels with the consonants together formed the name Yahweh.  Others believe it more likely had three not two syllables and may have been pronounced more like Yehuwah.  Although much less accurate a number of modern Bibles in English give the name as Jehovah in at least some verses of the Old Testament such as at Psalm 83:18 in the King James.  At Deuteronomy 12:3 God said when Israel's tribes entered Canaan that they must destroy all things related to idol worship including even the names of false gods.  God also commanded that the ten tribes of Israel with Moses not take the name of God in vain, and another way for the Israelites to obey God was to work against that possibility by instead using "Adonai" which is Hebrew for LORD.   Most Christians and Christian Bibles reflect this same desire to also show respect for God's person and name, and so they generally use the English word title LORD.  A few persons view the matter differently, saying "Christians shouldn't follow any Jewish customs at all," or, as with the Watchtower Society heads over Jehovah's Witnesses, have claimed that Christians and Christian Bibles not using YHWH (Yahweh/Jehovah) do so in order to follow a "Jewish superstition." Jesus Christ was both a Jewish Rabbi and the founder of Christianity, and he did as other Jewish rabbis did, namely he used the expression LORD to show respect (not superstition) although he also told his followers to tenderly address God in prayers as "Our Father" in heaven. (Read Matthew 6)  These reasons explain why although some 5,000 early manuscripts of books of the New Testament, some complete and others partial, dating to within the first 100 years of Christianity's start have been found. As alluded to, against all this evidence and scholarship stand the heads of the Watchtower Society organization of Jehovah's Witnesses who publish a "New World" translation of the Bible into which their translation committee has added the name Jehovah throughout the New Testament.  Although that committee wished to stay anonymous it is known that it was headed by now deceased former Watchtower President Frederick Franz who had no formal training in Hebrew and was biased.  This adding of the name "Jehovah" in place of "Lord," which definitely is in the early manuscripts, concerns all Christians including good, caring Jehovah's Witnesses.  They know that at Revelation 22:18 the writer apostle John says "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book."  In the New Testament a part of the tetragrammaton does appear in various names.  For example in Hebrew in the Old and New Testaments one finds the name Elijah, which in Hebrew is Eliyahu where El means God -i- means "my," and "yahu" is a shortened form of YHWH.   Thus Elijah means My God Is Jah.  The name "Jesus" is from the Hebrew words "Yeh" or "Yah" (short for YHWH) and "sus" (or "-shua") meaning "(is) salvation, so that a possible full translation of Jesus in English is "Yah(weh) is salvation." However, not only did Christ say when in prayer to simply call God "our Father," but Paul also says use "Abba" which can be translated "papa" or "dad." (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6)  Since in the Bible, Christians are to regard and speak of God as our heavenly "father" or "dad," most always have and still do.  Doing so draws a believer in Christ to feel much closer to God than if he or she kept using a formal name such as Jehovah or Yahweh.  Among humans, children do not normally call their human father by his first or last name as this reflects formality and alienation.  Thus, Johnny and Mary Doe call their human father "dad" or "father."  They do not call him "John," "Doe," "Mr. Doe," or "John Doe." Yes, the Bible speaks of those who call on the name of the Lord being saved at Romans 10:13. There the New World translation by Frederick Franz, Nathan Knorr and others over Watchtower when they were alive has dropped "Lord" and inserted "Jehovah." Another point is that saying all who called on the "name" of the Lord will be saved does not refer to those who sound or voice a certain pronunciation, but to those who are truly following God with confidence and are naturally calling out to him on that basis and in love.   So it is not wrong to use a formal name such as Jehovah, Yahweh, Yehuwah, a respectful title such as LORD, or terms of affection such as Father, etc.   However, most Christians, for the reasons noted above, simply use a respectful title or call God our "Father."  Now you know the real truth about this important matter. christianwitnesses.com

THANKSGIVING FACTS Thanksgiving is reflective of the Bible's yearly autumn harvest called Festival of Booths or Festival of Ingathering (Lev 23:33, Deu 16:13), and also in the Bible we find that the apostle Paul thanked God for having saved his life.  A day to thank God has been celebrated various days in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Liberia, Guam, South Korea, some lands in the Caribbean region etc, many German and Slavic nations.    It is also the case that Christians called Pilgrims had a day to thank God that they had survived in America and had plenty to eat.   Some colonies had Thanksgiving days.  Washington made it a national holiday.  Lincoln began regular celebration and wrote that the day was to thank God for food and other blessings, help "widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers."  He never said it was only for people hurt in the North.    People also use the day to enjoy nature’s beauty, spend time with family, joyfully eat and visit. (Ga 5:22 lists joy)  So "The Truth" is that Thanksgiving is not a celebration of nationalism but is international, positive and has a basis in the Bible.  If someone tells you differently, send him/her a copy of this in a letter.  christianwitnesses.com

THE TRINITY,  SOME VIEWS ABOUT IT This deals with the main modern views about the Trinity.  One we can call “The Godship” view.  It is that many people can and do easily believe in God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit with the three being different and yet uniquely one in total holiness.  Romans 1:20, depending upon different translations, uses the word "Godship" or “Godhead.”   A second view is that there are three persons not “within” God but “with,” that is truly “part of” God.  There is one great Spirit Being, God, who is named Yahweh in Hebrew and called that or sometimes Jehovah in English.  We can picture God’s body as having a head, namely the Father who is also Yahweh or Jehovah, a right arm who is Jesus Christ or in Hebrew Yeshua, and for a left arm the Holy Spirit.  Sharing existence with God means that in this way the three are also equal in  time, power and knowledge. There are many other views about the nature of God.  For example some view the Holy Spirit as less a person than the comforting spirit of Christ or the creative power of God.  A view that is actually “modalism” not “trinitarianism” is that God is the Father but can also morph back and forth between also being the Son and the Holy Spirit. Colossians 3:14 says unity or unison is not from everyone having the same beliefs about everything, but rather unity or unison comes from Love.  Therefore let us study and if possible to do so peacefully, discuss this and other topics.  In time everyone’s views tend to change, and if after death we still don’t have perfect knowledge, then God Himself can give us fuller, correct understanding.  Meanwhile the main thing to remember is that God’s own main nature is that of Love. christianwitnesses.com

UNIVERSE OR MULTIVERSE Scientists including Stephen Hawking in 2001 noted that laws thought to govern the universe, including the theory of relativity may only work for our universe, but not in other universes now also thought to possibly exist.  For example Einstein believed light always went 186,000 miles a second but now some say it may have moved much faster even in our own early universe. Notable also, is that our universe only exists because of a fine balance between several crucial factors. The rate at which nuclear fusion releases energy in stars such as the sun by squashing hydrogen atoms into helium and then other elements is exactly 0.7%, and, if this figure had been just a fraction different, carbon and other elements essential to life could never have formed.  Too, the distribution of matter and radiation is just right for life in our universe. At least in theory, the big bang could have produced a universe where all matter clumped into a few black holes, or another universe where it spread out evenly into nothing but a thin vapor. Hawking, Sir Martin Rees, Neil Turok and others have examined the idea that our universe is just one of an infinite number of universes, that is a multiverse, with different laws of nature operating in each of the universes.  Some universes would be matter clumped into a few huge black holes while others would be only a thin uniform freezing gas. Hawking and the others increasingly disagree about how this "multiverse" could work.  Hawking has dismissed the idea of an eternal series of big bangs because if extended into the infinite past it could never have had a beginning any more than a completely final end. http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ (London Sunday Times Sep 9, 2001)  Many verses also speak of a new heaven and new earth although also Ecclesiastes 1:4 says earth remains forever.  Some Christians and other people may view this as supportive of an eternal series of big bang explosions followed by the creations of starry heavens and earth or earth-like planets.  In any case it is interesting to think about all this.   As Genesis 1:1 says there was a beginning when God created the heavens and the Earth, and it is natural that we ponder upon such awesome matters since God Himself put such curiousity into us, creating us in His image.  christianwitnesses.com

VALENTINE'S DAY By scripture and history this answers why almost all Christians find Valentine’s Day acceptable.  Scripturally , Galatians 5:22 says that two fruits of God’s Holy Spirit are “love” and “joy” or happiness such as received in celebrations such as Valentine’s Day besides which Colossians 2:16 says” let none judge you about a holiday,” Romans 14 notes there is great Christian freedom in such things, and 1 John 4:8 says God above all is love, and Colossians 3:14 does not say the perfect bond of unity is forced uniformity of beliefs but love. Though beginning among Romans in the 3rd Century as the February feast Lupercalia, Valentine’s Day quickly developed for Christians.  Roman pagans had randomly drawn boys’ and girls’ names from a box to match as friends to take to festivities beginning in March, but  Christians  changed the feast name to St. Valentine's Day and had their children draw names of saints whose lives were to be copied the next year.  In the 1300s they returned to simply drawing girls' names for loving Christian friendships, and Chaucer and John Donne wrote that Europeans believed February 14 is when birds begin to mate. Also, seven Christians named Valentine were honored with feasts on February 14th. A priest marrying men about to go to war to despite the Emperor Claudius's ban was imprisoned until death.  A Valentine who cured a jailer's daughter of blindness wrote cards signed "From Your Valentine" until Claudius beheaded him February 14, 269 A.D.   These legends merged and in 496 Pope Gelasius made the day official.  The oldest existing Valentine’s card is from the 1400s and in the  British Royal Museum.  In the United States, Esther Howland produced them commercially in the 1840’s, and they became popular in Michigan in the 1880s.  Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with worshipping any ancient gods or goddesses but is a time for celebrating love, the greatest bond for friendships whether by cards, chocolates or fun parties.

WALKING ON WATER For eons a type of bug known as water striders have walked on water, so why do some call it “impossible” that the Son of God the creator of water striders, indeed all creatures and the entire universe was able to do the same; especially too when we find that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) scientists have developed a robostrider that does so?  http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/robostrider.html  The Bible’s account of Christ walking on water follows: John 6:16 says “When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." 21 Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.”  Mark 6:45-52 and Matthew 14:22-33 add extra information. Critics would note that John 6 verses 19 and 21 say that “immediately” after the frightened disciples took Christ into their boat it reached the shore.  Therefore they may ask if he had somehow gone to the other shore ahead of them in a different boat and then appeared to be walking on walking when actually he was walking toward them slightly in water but upon land slightly covered by the water.  However, that would be shallow reasoning without considering the Lake more closely and without having examined what Mark and Matthew add about the event. The Lake of Galilee’s dimensions are 14 miles by 7 miles and verse 18 says they had only rowed 3 or 3.5 miles.   That would mean that when the disciples saw Christ walking on the water, that if they had been rowing the width of it, then they were still from 4 to 3.5 miles off the nearest shore.  On the other hand it’s possible they had just been rowing neither the length nor the width of the Lake but along its shoreline where fish were more abundant and easier to catch.  Mark 6:47, though, says "the boat was in the middle of the lake."  Matthew 14:22 just says that the boat was heading to "the other side" without noting if it was going lengthwise or widthwise.   Verse 24 says the boat was "already a considerable distance from land."  Mark 6:47 and 48 say that from the land Christ had seen his disciples out in the middle of the lake straining at the oars against the wind, and therefore he walked out to them "shortly before dawn."  Since he could see them before the sun had come up it appears most likely that they were about 3.5 miles out heading toward the width end.  Besides, Christ was not the only one to walk on the water for Peter got out of the boat and walked to meet him until sinking and having to be rescued by Christ not out of concern about the water but because of the wind. (Matthew 14:30)   It is also interested that the disciples were so shaken at seeing what Christ was able to do, that at first they thought they might have seen a ghost.  They had never before known of another living man able to do such as thing as walk upon water.  Christ himself noted of Peter that he was lacking in faith.  Previously he had multipled bread in order to feed a crowd, and yet the disciples had not figured out who he really was.  Perhaps we too tend to be like that, sometimes not able to clearly saw what should be obvious.  It’s necessary to keep our minds truly open, still able to learn just as when we were children.

VINCENT THE INVINCIBLE Vincent de Paul was born in 1580 to a poor family on a farm in southeastern France.   A painting of Vincent shows a man with large ears, a long floppy nose, a white beard and a kindly, radiant smile.  Later he left the farm in order to study and he obtained a theological education. Near Marsailles, France, in 1605 some Turkish pirates captured him, took him on a ship and sold him as a slave in Tunis, North Africa.  However he converted his owner to Christianity, they both escaped and he was set free in 1607.  He returned to France where he began and organized charitable organizations to help the poor such as the Vincentians and the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. He also remembered how he himself had once been a slave, and he worked to help the many slaves being kept in Africa by the Turks.  Many were kept in the holds of galley ships where they had only moldy black bread to eat and were covered with lice and ulcers.   The priests whom he sent on missions brought money to pay the captors to release many of them.  Vincent de Paul died in 1660, and in 1885 was officially declared a saint by the Catholic Church although the rival Anglican Church also honors him as such.  His life, spent in good deeds from Turkey to France,  is a testimony of credit to us all. christianwitnesses.com

WAMPANOAG CHRISTIAN AMONG THE PILGRIMS About 1608 English traders sailed to what we now call Plymouth, Massachusetts. When Wampanoag Indians came to trade, the English captured and took some of them to Spain to sell as slaves.   The one named Squanto was bought by a kind monk who taught him Christianity.  Squanto went on to England to do stable work for John Slaney who returned him to America in 1619.   There Squanto found his village wiped out by disease. A year later English families of the Pilgrim church arrived on a ship, he greeted the startled newcomers in English and taught them how to survive. When he finally lay dying of fever, the colony's Governor wrote that Squanto had had him to pray for him and given the Pilgrims his possessions "as remembrances of his love."     Squanto was a great man, but sadly the Pilgrims, although holding the first Thanksgiving celebration in North America and wanting religious tolerance given for their ownselves, acted  know-it-all, judgmental, rigid and harsh.  They cruelly shunned and discriminated against later arrivals or those moved away to found new colonies so that the Pilgrim church eventually died.   Although today some Native Americans call for worship of nature and spirits as was once traditional, even most are Christians.  This is largely because of the examples of Squanto and others who became Christians from early on. christianwitnesses.com

WHAT AGNES DID THAT ALL CHRISTIANS CAN ADMIRE Short and frail, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born n 1910 in Europe.  By 1928 she had joined the Sisters of Loreto, a Catholic order of nuns.  Before that date she had never thought of becoming a nun even though she admired missionary work.    She was sent to India where she taught history and geography for 15 years to wealthy girls.  Then one day in 1948 before a Calcutta hospital, she helped a poor woman until the woman died.  It seemed a shame to her that the poorest of the poor should have to die in the street as if trash or garbage. Now inspired to action, Agnes began helping the poorest people of India by founding the Missionaries of Charity and helping it grow earthwide to over 517 missions.  In 1952 she began the Nirmal Hriday Home for the Dying.  She felt called by Christ to help poor and unwanted people in the slums to die in peace with dignity regardless of if from old age, TB, AIDS, leprosy or starvation.  Seeing Christ in all persons, she wrote "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun.  As to my calling, I belong to the world.  As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." In 1979 she won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Agnes herself suffered from heart problems and malaria.  In 1997 Agnes finally died in India at age 87, loved  by many many people of all nations, races, castes and religions and also known by many no longer as Agnes but “Mother Teresa.” She once wrote “People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.  Love them anyway.   If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives.  Do good anyway.  If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies.  Succeed anyway.  The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.  "Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable.  Be honest and transparent anyway.  What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.  Build anyway.  People who really want help may attack you if you help them.   Help them anyway.   Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt.  Give the world your best anyway.” christianwitnesses.com

WHAT WOULD CHRIST SAY TO YOU? Many years have passed since I last saw my mother alive, and yet I often hear her and my dad who had died a decade before her.  Well, you ask, how can that be so? You see, often when I am perplexed about something I think of them and within my mind I can still hear them speaking.  Moma’s voice was soft and sweet as honey, daddy’s was deep and well-measured.  I was with them so long and I heard them so often that I just know what they would tell me if they were both still here alive.  In a way they might as well still be here, see. And that’s also how it is with Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  If we read the Bible often then what he said for our benefit also grows to be a part of us.  He’s family; his words become part of us.  We come to know what Christ would say to us personally about doing this thing or that. So, as true of good parents, Christ not only spoke but he keeps speaking to people even after some 2,000 years via the Bible.  The Bible is said to be a lot like Holy Spirit made tangible.  When you read and study the Bible, you gain more Holy Spirit.  The Bible is our perfect Teacher. (2 Timothy 3:16) So the purpose for this tract or leaflet that you are reading is to encourage you to also make Christ part of your own lives.  In this way you will have the best of all examples to help guide you through life.  We all really need that, regardless of if we had the best of human parents.  Yes, we need a Perfect Friend (Proverbs 18:24), for the world about us has so much imperfection, so much crime, violence, disease, dangers in general.  We who are Christians can and do trust Christ.  John 10 says Christ knows his sheep and they in turn know the voice of their master, the great shepherd.  Read what he said regularly in the Bible and you will also have the greatest of friends. christianwitnesses.com

WHY MOST BUT NOT ALL CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN Given some of the costumes and a lot of "paganisms and darkness" articles about it, it's not at all surprising some Christians choose not to celebrate Halloween.   Originally Christian parents in the Middle Ages had their kids dress up as saints who, of course, had been tortured and slain for loyalty to the Christian faith, so that, of course, the costumes often were and still are sometimes quite scary-looking. The idea though was to encourage the kids to be faithful as the saints were, which sounds positive and pro-Christian. The word Halloween comes from Hallow which means Holy) and e'ven, which means evening or eve.  Although most Christians let their kids have fun on the day, some who otherwise don't care for Halloween now substitute some other party with or without costumes etc.  Such parties are sometimes called Fun Night, Hallelujah Night, Costume Party Evening or go by some other name.  In any event Christian parents have arranged them as a safe, fun substitute for the kids, the chief rationale being that Joy is also a fruitage of God's Spirit, second mentioned in the list at Galatians 5:22 only after Love, and the two fruits are closely linked. Going back to the costumes, those opposed to Halloween over the wearing of costumes point out they are no longer tied to saintly living but sometimes include masks etc mimicking the devil, demons etc.   They are also naturally concerned that kids may get hurt from needles etc put into trick-or-treat candies, or even tempted to do un-Christian pranks that hurt other people such as put boards with nails on them on roads.   Those for Halloween accompany or watch over and see that their kids do not engage in such misdoings or get harmed, for example, by checking candies and fruits to see that there are no needles in those. Although Paul said to let none be judging us over holidays or Sabbaths one way or another, (Colossians 2:16), others in good conscience note that light has no fellowship with the dark. (2 Cor 6:14)  The majority who do favor Halloween counter that they understand this but that the day replaced the pagan Samhain, so that this is actually a matter of light having replaced darkness, even as where many other holidays have attacked and replaced paganisms. They also note for example that those not celebrating Halloween may otherwise have no problem with things of non-Christian origin that Christians commonly use such as wedding rings, names of days and months, and Christian names in the Bible such Apollos and Jason, which also all came from pagans.   Romans 14:1-22 says allow freedom of conscience, and many scriptures say to not be highly judgmental. So all in all, it's important to keep good balance and to remember that overall the Bible says that the strongest bond for Christians is not by absolute sameness of beliefs on every imaginable thing or doctrine but rather it is by the "greatest" bond, which is the unsurpassed gift of LOVE. (Colossians 3:14; 1 Cor 13:13)   Knowing this information can definitely help each of us to better understand the other's position about Halloween,  help us continue with greater respect of one another, and enjoy more Christian love and unity in a world where Satan tries to rule unchallenged until he shall be totally defeated by our Father in heaven who above all is filled with loving-kindness. christianwitnesses.com

WILLIAM CAREY, FOUNDER OF MODERN MISSIONARY WORK William Carey was born into poverty in England,  became a Baptist preacher who believed in sending missionaries to India although others didn’t.  It  cost a lot but he published a book on the topic in 1792 and gave a talk including Isaiah 54:2-3 to his peers on this. His persistence worked and  he and John Thomas were sent.   His wife Dorothy refused to go with their children but he persisted so she did. They lived in Malda seven years where he worked in an indigo factory and persisted in learning native languages although unable to convert any natives.  Dorothy’s mental and physical health fell after their son Peter died in 1794, but they persisted.   Carey moved them to Serampore near Calcutta to help newly arrived missionaries, persisting the next 34 years.  There 10 missionaries and 9 children happily kept things in common largely due to Carey’s kind demeanor and ability to see good more than imperfections. The group set up schools, printed and Carey persisted in translating Bible books into Bengali, Sanskrit and other languages.   Self-educated, his spelling was bad so he often re-wrote entire works and was even made Professor of Oriental Languages at Ft William College in Calcutta.  He used the income to help his peers who in a year had a first convert.  He urged training  natives to preach to others so by 1818 there were 600 converts and thousands attending. In 1807 Dorothy died and despite objections from peers, he married bright Lady Charlotte Rumohr of Danish royalty who brought him great happiness.  In 1812 much material he had translated burnt in a fire, but he persisted and re-did it.  In 1819 Carey founded Serampore College for native church planters and evangelists.   After Charlotte died he married younger Grace Hughes who cared for him during his frequent sicknesses.  Missionaries came who opposed communal living so in 1826 Carey’s group seceded till the Baptist Committee in England refused to  finance Carey’s group, so they swallow their pride and re-affiliated.  At death in 1834 his ministerial and educational efforts had decreased the natives’ burning of widows alive and killing infants, also inspired similar missions to many other lands.  Carey said his secret to success was not wealth, power or money but what anyone can have if they just will....  yes, it was..... plain old persistence! christianwitnesses.com

WOMEN MINISTERS, WHAT THE REST OF THE  SCRIPTURES SAY! Photo Source: The Wonder Book Of Bible Stories, 1925 Paul says at Romans 16:1, 2 "I recommend to you our sister Phoebe a servant of the church in Cenchrea." Instead of servant, some translations use deaconness or, as the Watchtower Society men over Jehovah's Witnesses has chosen to use, “minister.” Paul also asks that Phoebe be assisted because she helped many including himself.  Paul also notes that the Christian woman Prisca, also known as Priscilla, along with her husband Aquilla had risked their lives for him, that is for Paul. Also, they had kept a congregation in their home (Ro 16:3), taken in and instructed Apollos even more correctly about God (Acts 18:26). To instruct someone is to teach that person. They, meaning the two of them, not just Aquilla, instructed Apollos.  So scripturally a woman can teach a man, a fact that Watchtower and groups like it would prefer you did not notice or were programmed to ignore. Another fact is that not all but most experts have always believed that Junia, noted at Romans 16:7, was a woman. This is partly for grammatical reasons but especially so because all the earliest Christian writers wrote of Junia as being a woman. Paul says that Andronicus and Junia were "highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did." Junia and Andronicus are also both called “apostles” although, as with the apostle Paul, they were not of the original twelve apostles. How many early Christians in addition to the main twelve were apostles, that is those “sent forth” to spread the Good News like modern missionaries, is not known. There may have been only a few, perhaps hundreds, maybe thousands, evidently both males and females, husbands relocating or traveling forth with their wives. Paul said he wanted older women who honored God, did not drink too much or slander others to be "teachers of what is good." (Titus 2:3) So he is on record here as saying point-blank that women can teach. He doesn’t say they couldn’t stand at a certain place such as before a Kingdom Hall podium or that they were not to preach there in a kingdom hall or any other building. He simply says that reputable women can indeed teach. He also called for such reputable “older” women (=elders) to train the younger women to love their husbands and children.   If a capable woman were not allowed to teach a male child or husband needing information about something, whether spiritual or otherwise, that would neither make sense nor be loving and in character with the other scriptures.  True, as Watchtower and its elders, and clergy in some other groups, love to point out, Paul notes at 1 Corinthians 14:33-34 that haughty or noisy women must not teach or disrupt meetings, something that’s obviously true also for haughty or noisy men. Note that at the time when Paul wrote, men and women were coming together for Christian meetings the first time ever in history. Women naturally wanted to talk to one another at such an exciting time, so he had to point out that for orderly learning they too must be silent while the scriptures were heard. They could always talk in fellowship later. Not only Paul but Abraham and other Old Testament men also greatly esteemed women. So did and so does God Almighty the father of both men and women. Our Father in heaven made the first woman and He keeps on gladly making women. Any man who looks down upon his mother, sister or any other good women is looking down on if not outright despising grand and noble blessings right from God.  Proverbs 8 even personifies “Wisdom” as a woman, and to be wise is not to just be intelligent but to know how to apply intelligence effectively. In fact, although men and women are different, they are not only complementary for one another, but the Bible also makes it a point to say that males and females are all "one in Christ" Read Galatians 3:28 and Acts 10:34 to convince yourselves of this.   The point is made clearly; to deny it is to deny the scriptures and God who caused the many scriptures that are written on this topic. Watchtower indoctrinates by taking people to cherry-picked scriptures; the best way to un-study its propaganda is to fight fire with fire, which is to say, to go back and look closer at other scriptures that counterbalance those that Watchtower cherry-picked! Indeed scriptures clearly say that many women ministered to Christ and the original 12 male apostles; women were among the 120 getting Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:14) and women also prophesied (Acts 2:17-18). Unlike the 12 male disciples who could normally be traveling about from a house in one city to a house in another city with Christ, due to dangers such as strong bandits and fierce wild beasts most of the earliest Christian women traveled far less often and virtually always with a male escort. Further, since someone had to care for the children, they did so rather than the men. Still, it is, as said, a fact that they taught, ministered, and were highly esteemed and recognized. Notable New Testament women included Lydia, Dorcas, and Martha. Old Testament notables included Miriam, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Martha, Sarah, Deborah and Hulda.  (Concerning Hulda see 2 Kings 22:14-20 and 2Chronicles 34:22-28) Judges says Deborah was a female Judge over Israel even as was super-strong Samson. After Christ's resurrection their active role as servants or ministers continued, and we know that’s a fact because in 111 A.D., not long after the apostle John's death, the Roman called “Pliny the Younger” wrote that he had had two women tortured for being Christian “deaconesses.” Among Jehovah's Witnesses the term for deaconesses is “ministerial servants.” Among Jehovah's Witness, ministerial servants are those moving along to be called elders, which tells you that Pliny the Younger’s writing about the two tortured women deaconnesses meant that there were also female elders. Many modern churches have also had great women properly taking the lead. Women have Holy Spirit every bit as much as men, and their right to provide leadership is also fully scriptural as already proved here a number of times. For both men and woman being “a minister” is not properly a position of power and control over others, but an untitled condition of humble, helpful service, a description or an acknowledgement of what one is by his (or her) deeds and attitude. Each Christian group can freely decide how feasible it is to officially recognize that a respectable Christian woman or a certain man is in fact "officially" (=by their approval) ministering for them and others (Ro 4:15, 14:1-5, 1 Cor 10:23).  As the apostle Paul also once noted, all kinds of things are allowable but not all things are advantageous. (1 Cor 6:12)  Groups know that women who minister are de facto by what they do to help others "ministers" and yet may rightly need to consider factors such as cultural context or what is actually happening.  For example even today in some lands where Christians are in great tribulation such as the Sudan in Africa, in Afghanistan, etc, groups of two or more Christians may decide that to be loving, although a highly respectful older Christian woman among them is truly serving or ministering, and therefore she is in fact a minister among and for them, it could lead to major problems such as her being beheaded if they decided to openly, on a document state that she is a Christian minister or elder.  Each group of two or more Christians knows its own local circumstances best, its given time, place, cultural, social and safety factors, and each group can make its own decisions.  However, note that in many lands such as the United States, there is in fact nothing scriptural or otherwise that keeps women from being recognized by certification etc as ministers.  Indeed in many Protestant branches or churches women recognized in documents as ministers are numerous. Let us note that, that being "reputable older Christian ministers," especially those who have successfully raised children, may mean that if in a congregation of fifty, half are women and the other half men, then there are twenty-five female servants, ministers or elders, and the same number of men serving as ministers. Still, for emphasis sake, as said, there at times will be dangerous or explosive situations where it could actually be unwise, unsafe or un-Christian to officially declare that the women are such. Such decisions, then, are best left to the involved groups who can put earnest prayerful thought into it as they know best given their own situations, experiences, what the scriptures themselves say, etc. To all Christian Brothers who are former Jehovah's Witnesses I say, once you and I bought into the so-called “proofs” touted by Watchtower and some other groups against women as ministers, but now that we know it’s not real proof, let’s show our Sisters, even greater respect and honor. They indeed are a “great army” for God. It's shameful that Watchtower, Roman Catholicism and other organizations like them do not show women the full respect that is due.  If it did, I bet the pedophiles embedded in such organizations who are attacking members' and the public's kids would be more than kept in check. I bet too that the number of arrogant elders and priests would be more in check and in general have a lot more “Wisdom.” Well, guess what, since Watchtower and so far Roman Catholicism doesn’t want what the Bible allows and extols, namely Women Ministers, then that means women are however welcome to flood in as Christian ministers such as we see with the Sisters coming in here into our Fellowship of Free Witnesses. Women power is great power welcome any day and every day at christianwitnesses.com just as should be the case everywhere. Spread the word including around the globe via forums, with emails, via craigslist.com, etc, etc. And before I close this article, the most saintly dearest person I ever knew in person was my own mother.  I bet you think a lot of your mother, too.  Let none of us buy any longer into Watchtower's trickery designed to get people to not fully, truly honor both of their own parents, that is, both our fathers and definitely also our mothers!  Yours as a fellow servant in Christ, Joe

YOUR WILL BE DONE Christ taught the model prayer which says "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven."  (Matthew 6:9)  So where is the kingdom?  It's in heaven, according to Christ, but it is to come upon earth.  When is it to come?  We don't know the hour.  Christ said we couldn't, and any speculation is only speculation. (Matthew 24:36)  There is one and only sure way to know when it has come.  When we see that it already has come, then we know it has come. It's like that with the weather, too.  People can make various predictions for the next day.   However, the best way to know if, say, it's going to rain, is to wake up the next day, look out the window and see.  Then your prediction is so good, it's not a prediction but a fact. When the kingdom has come upon earth, we will see it has clearly.  It will have set all things right.  Meanwhile should we be sitting around making predictions on when it will come?  Or should we be fulfilling what Christ said God wants done more than anything else? Obviously, Christians need to do what Christ said we need to do.  He said above all to be 1.) showing love for God; 2.) showing love for God by showing neighborly love for others, especially the most needy like the blind, lame, orphans, widows, the poor. (Matthew 19:19)  Or look at it another way.  Two men died and their souls went before God.  Both men had gone to Christian churches.  Roy Christian said, "I've done what You wanted me to, Father." "And what was that?" said God Almighty. "I put thousands of hours into trying to figure when Armageddon would end the World, ushering in paradise." God turned next to Donald Christian.  "What did you do that I wanted you to do?" "I put thousands of hours into comforting the dying, feeding the hungry, getting clothing for those in need." God was going to reward one of the two men.  Which one do you say that He rewarded?  Which one is more like yourself? christianwitnesses.com

BIBLE TRACTS BY OTHERS: This website (christianwitnesses.com) and the Free Witnesses movement are not part of any of the following and do not necessarily agree with all their doctrinal teachings; however, their tracts are of interesting construction and may offer ideas for those readers who wish to produce their own Bible tracts. Chick Comic Style Tracts Fellowship Tract League

II. CHRISTIAN SONG BOOK Paul says "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20)  So here are: A. enjoyable hymns or spiritual songs, B. some singing tips, and C. an explanation of how to chant-sing Bible psalms. (Galatians 5:22)  Here are a quick sampling of just some of the songs you may select after clicking the following link: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/ttl/ttl-a.htm A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. All Through The Night. And Did My Savior Bleed?Angels We Have Heard On High. Amazing Grace. Away In A Manger. Awake, Jerusalem, Awake! Be Thou My Vision. Blessed Bible, Book Of God. Brethern, We Have Met To Worship. Bringing In The Sheaves. Christ The Lord To Us Is Born. Crown Him With Many Crowns. Deck The Halls. Give Me That Old Time Religion. Go Tell It On The Mountain. God Of our Fathers. Great God Whose Universe Sway. Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah! Hail, All Hail! Hallelujah. Hark The Herald Angels Sing. He Leadeth Me!..... Kum Ba Yah (Come By Here).  Leaning On The Everlasting Arms. Let Us Break Bread Together. Lilly Of The Valley. Little Church In The Wildwood.  Lord, I Want To Be A Christian. Nearer My God To Thee. Come All Ye Faithful.  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  O Little Town Of Bethlehem...... Parting Hymn We Sing. Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow..... Shall We Gather At The River.  Silent Night. Softly And Tenderly Jesus Is Calling. Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus.  Steal Away To Jesus. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot!  Tell Me The Old, Old Story.  The First Noel..... We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder.  What Child Is This? What A Friend We Have In Jesus.  When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks. TIPS ABOUT SINGING:  When Christians gather there are different ways in which singing may be done:  1. whole group sings a song for which the lyrics are in a book or flashed upon a screen with or without music such as from a piano player or concert.  2. whole group does as for 1. above but there is an accompanying professional recording with music.  3. an individual with probably a very good voice sings as indicated for 1. and 2. while everyone else listens.  4. a small group, that is a choir, sings the song while the rest stay quiet but enjoy listening  5.a. all females who are present sing a stanza (paragraph) of the song which is alternated by all the males who are present singing the refrain part of it with their deeper voices.  Or, 5.b. as an alternative to 5.a.,only a select group of females (female choir) sings, alternated by a select group of males (male choir) doing only the refrain. HOW TO USE THE PSALMS AS SONG CHANTS. The psalms were originally written as songs, and the word "psalm" in Biblical Koine Greek means "song."  Even now you can do as follows:  (1.) One person chants a line in a melodic lilting voice; then one or more other people either (2.a) repeat what the first person chanted in similar manner, or else (2.b) the second person(s) chant the very next line.  If the psalm is short method 2.a. will work fine; if the psalm is longer, then you may wish to use method 2.b since that will shorten the amount of time needed to cover the entire psalm. Another method is that either one person or a group reads/chants the line of a psalm, then a different person or persons chant not the next line of psalm but some other agreed upon word(s).  For example group A. chant a line of psalm following which group B. chants. "Praise God On High!"  Group A. chants the second line of psalm followed by which group B. again chants "Praise God On High!" and so forth..... Have fun!

III. BIBLE STORY BOOK Jesus Christ explaining about birds, flowers and God