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Understanding John

Understanding John 6:37-40

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

“All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:37-40)

Some interpret this passage to mean the Father gave us to the Son as a gift. People who say this are usually trying to support the idea that it is God who chooses which of us will be saved and then He gives those He’s chosen to His Son. But is that really what Jesus was saying? Let’s find out.

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heavenlybody

Our Heavenly Body

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you (John 14:2).

Recently I had someone object to my belief that Jesus was referring to our eternal home in the New Jerusalem when He said this. This person’s opinion is that Jesus was talking about our post resurrection body and he cited 2 Cor. 5:1-2 in support of it.

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Popular Posts from the Past
Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

Commentary by Jack Kelley

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? (Ezekiel 14:3)

The dictionary defines cognitive dissonance as an anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or otherwise incompatible attitudes or beliefs. To relieve this anxiety the human mind will strive to diminish the relative importance of one of those beliefs in favor of the other.

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Previous Feature Articles

God’s Argument Against Evolution

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

(Note:  Following up on the recent evolution/ creation debate, here’s something you might not have considered.)

My wife has a teacup poodle.  We bought her as a puppy almost 13 years ago.  She wasn’t just a pound puppy but a pure bred, papers and all. Expensive, too.  Breeders make a big issue about how they control the process to emphasize the desirable traits of the breed.

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What Does the Bible Say? Introduction, It’s About Sin.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

I’ve been asked to write an introduction to this series of studies on “What Does The Bible Say” to explain why people need to be saved in the first place. I’ve been told this would be a good evangelism tool for use with those who may not understand this critical requirement, such as curious unbelievers or children who have become intellectually mature enough to comprehend it and are now accountable for their lives.

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What Does The Bible Say? Part 4, How Shall We Live?

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Everything is permissible – but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible – but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others (1 Cor. 10:23-24)

Having shown the Lord’s clear promise that once we became a believer all the sins of our life were forgiven, we now turn to the logical follow up question.  How should we respond to such an incredible gift? How shall we live?

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What Does The Bible Say? Part 3, Our Security In Christ

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

In this series we’re taking a look at the most important issues relating to our relationship with our Creator.  In each case we begin from the perspective that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and as such cannot be self-contradictory.  So if we think we see a contradiction, the problem is with our understanding, not God’s Word.  Our topic in this study is the durability of our salvation.  What does the Bible say about our security in Christ?  Is it conditional based on our post salvation behavior, or is it guaranteed from the beginning.  And could we give it back even if we wanted to?

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What Does The Bible Say? Part 2, Salvation

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

I appeal to you brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and in thought (1 Cor. 1:10).

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Tim 4:3).

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Seven Major Prophetic Signs Of The Second Coming

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

13th Annual Update January 2014

There are seven major prophetic signs of the Second Coming, and currently all of them are in some stage of fulfillment.  As in years past, I’ll list the seven with their primary biblical references and offer commentary from current events.

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A Covenant With Death

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it. (Isaiah 28:14-18)

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Ask A Bible Teacher

Is God Cruel And Unjust?

Q.  Someone brought my attention to the following Scriptures as “evidence” that God is a cruel and unjust God.  They claim Exodus 21: 7-10 says you can sell your daughter into slavery and allow her master to rape her, Exodus 22:  16-17  says you can rape a virgin but you must marry her and pay her father a dowry of virgins, and Leviticus 19: 20-22  says you can rape your female slave and be forgiven, but the slave must be punished.
Can you help me with these verses?

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The Mystery Of 1 Cor. 15:51

Q.  I have a question concerning the rapture. In 1 Cor 15:51 Paul tells us a mystery that we shall be changed and the last trump will sound. Do you believe that last trump has nothing to do with feast, but is to Israel and the Law comes back into existence since the church will be leaving and the grace period will end? Also I read your blood moons study and you don’t see evidence that it has any part of the rapture can this also be part of the mystery?

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Sin Or Not Sin?

Q.  God is clear in Romans 1 and of course elsewhere, that sodomy (what the world refers to as homosexuality today) is a sin.  But it’s a sin like any other — fornication, adultery, murder, etc.  However, what the media and the gay rights organizations do is to negate the fact that God calls it sin.  Can you scripturally bridge the dichotomy between God’s obvious mandate on this sin and yet gay people insisting they were born with this predisposition, with children as young as four or five already exhibiting homosexual tendencies, and therefore it’s not sin?

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Changing Set Times And Laws

Q.  I have a question regarding Daniel 7:25, where it speaks of the Antichrist seeking to ‘change times and laws’.  I can understand the meaning of ‘changing the laws’, but what does the ‘changing of times’ mean?  Could this be a reference to a Muslim Antichrist, since their religion imposes Islamic laws onto others?

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Leading Up To Daniel’s 70th Week

Q.  I was wondering when you see the first half of Dan. 9:27 (3 1/2 years of peace) coming into play. This must be the time period when the Jews will be allowed to build the Temple, which the Antichrist will immediately occupy at the end of that period, in the middle of the 7 years of Daniel. There must be some significant period of peace if the Temple is to be built, and the Jews  are living in complete safety (Ezek. 38:8,10,14; 1 Thes. 5:2,3). Something significant must have happened to the Muslims if the Jews are allowed to rebuild their Temple.

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The Disciples, The Thief, And The Baptism

Q. When did the disciples get baptized and invested with the Holy Spirit? And if I am right I believe that the robber who confessed on the cross to the Lord was neither baptized nor invested with the Holy Spirit and yet he was saved.  Is that correct?

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Does The Tribulation Begin The Same Day As The Rapture?

Q. Referencing Luke 17: 28-29.  “Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;  but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all”.  Do you believe Jesus was saying that the Tribulation will start on the same 24-hour day that the Rapture takes place?

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Creator And Destroyer?

Q.  I can’t figure out where people get the idea that God could be both the Creator and the destroyer.  It seems they are saying He has a split personality, or character.  Satan is the destroyer, God is the Creator. Is my understanding correct?

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Can We Get Expelled From Heaven?

Q. If Adam and Eve and Satan were created perfect but still rebelled and disobeyed God what is to say Christians in heaven won’t eventually rebel or think an evil thought and get kicked out? Thanks for all you do I really enjoy your site!

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