Category Archives: Articles

Various Topics

Hermeneutics

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by Mike James

To better understand the Bible, it’s important we understand the term hermeneutics. A basic definition for this term is the science and art of biblical interpretation. We can further break hermeneutics into two types: General and Special.

General hermeneutics is the study of rules that govern the interpretation of the entire biblical text. Special hermeneutics is the study of rules that govern the interpretation of specific literary forms like parables, types, and prophecy.

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Christian Goals

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by James Fire

Christian goals are mentioned throughout the Bible. Hebrews 11:13-16 describes those who embraced such goals that led them in faith. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims of the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared them a city.”

There are two methods or types of goals discussed.

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Patience is a Virtue

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by Mike James

The Bible has a lot of positive things to say about patience. So does the world, as the title of this article mentions. A virtue is right or moral behavior, so I think it is important for us to develop our patience. One definition of patience is the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed. Wow! Sounds like a tough assignment, but let’s get a little deeper with patience.

Romans 12:12 reads, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (NIV). Sometimes, being patient will include dealing with afflictions or being upset. In those types of troubled times, we will need to pray. The longer you are in those situations, the more hope will be developed. Troubling times in my life have prepared me for troubling times in the future. Knowing you have moved through trouble once makes your hope to overcome future trouble easier to handle.

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Halloween

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by Mike James

One of our primary concerns for having issues with worldly holidays like Halloween is the belief that these days are used to obfuscate and hide the true holy days of God. Halloween is a great example of this with its timing right after the time of the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day.

Many argue about what is the harm in letting kids go out and gather candy from neighbors. On its face this does not seem like a problem since we are not worshipping God on this day and obviously most of those who celebrate are not worshipping any false gods consciously. But by putting so much money and energy into days like Halloween our culture makes it easy for people to miss God’s plan and holy days.

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Sunset on United States Power?

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by Mike James

In the history of the world, one thing that is inevitable is that all great powers will decline. Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, and, most recently, the Soviet Union. Is the United States next?

A new study by Rand (RAND Corporation is an American nonprofit global policy think tank), commissioned by the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment and published in May 2024, makes some startling admissions. The Rand study, titled “The Sources of Renewed National Dynamism,” looks at what has led to “the relative decline in U.S. standing.”

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Setting Goals

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by Mike James

For a Christian, the most important goal that can be attained is entering the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). But with any goal you need to set up a plan with specific practices to achieve the goal.

An old saying states, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.” In other words, to accomplish your goals you must complete several smaller tasks in order to achieve the ultimate goal. Let’s look at achieving the goal of getting into the Kingdom. As we look at this goal, we will see the major points we will need for achieving any goal.

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Problems With Mormonism

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by Mike James

One of the many issues I have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) (Mormons) is their use of extrabiblical books they consider equal to the Bible. Mormons consider the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price to be equal to the Bible. Now, they do accept the Bible, too, but they believe parts of the Bible may have been lost or removed, so that is how they can resolve some contradictions between what the Bible says versus their other books of scripture. But I’m not going to get into that in this short blog. What I want to focus on here is the Mormon idea that their spirits existed prior to them being born on earth.

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Mercy that Never Fails

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Atonement is nearly upon us. The first thing that probably pops into our heads is the fact that it is a day of fasting. Last year, I wrote about how fasting allows us to focus more on God and our Messiah rather than food and drink, thus having a day where we are “at-one” with God. This is the only day in ancient Israel that the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. We now have the ultimate High Priest always in the Holy of Holies, and He allows us to have access to our Father through Him.

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