Showing results by author "James Thomas Lee Jr" in All Categories

In the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had made four points. First, He had been telling them to be poor in spirit, which meant that they should have a heart and mind that would be open to His instructions. Second, He had made some specific promises to those who are poor in spirit, mourning over their spiritual condition, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and makers of peace. He had spoken to those people who would be persecuted for His name's sake. He had spoken to those who have a responsibility to be salt and light. Third, He had ...

This book will attempt to discuss and defend perhaps the most difficult and most challenging parts of the scriptures by looking at the Rapture of the Church, at the Great Tribulation, and at the Second Coming of Jesus. Those are items of interest to almost every person alive. But there are also probably just as many viewpoints about those events as there are people. So this book will begin at the beginning by suggesting that the literal approach for interpreting those future events is probably superior to trying to interpret them figuratively or in some other non-literal fashion. The ...

Two of the books of the scriptures that should be studied daily are the book of Proverbs and the book of Psalms. The book of Proverbs will show one how to be biblically wise in the things of the Lord. That book is primarily for spiritual guidance in this existence. But even an ungodly person will prosper by studying and applying its principles. In the same sense, the book of Psalms will also benefit anyone who studies it on a regular basis. The reason that the psalms are so valuable is because they are experiential. One can read exactly how David had felt while he was running from a king ...

In this third and final part of the study of the Minor Prophets, the writings of the Prophets Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are examined. With Zephaniah, one can examine the prophecies against and the warnings to Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, Assyria, and Judah. With Haggai, one can read about the people who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon being caught up in their own interests and priorities rather than in the things of the Lord. For one thing, they had built themselves nice homes. But they had not rebuilt the temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 ...

This first part of this series about the minor prophets covers the book of Hosea through the book of Amos. The Prophet Hosea lived during the middle Eighth Century BC and prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the prophet when the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 BC. He was probably even killed during that time or taken into exile. The historical record is not clear about that point. But he had prophesied gloom and doom to the northern kingdom over its idol worship, while the false prophets at that time had been painting a rosy picture for the kingdom because of its ...

The Bible is an honest Book. So it does not try to protect the guilty or sugarcoat their story. The Bible also does not try to distort or exaggerate the truth to advance the Lord's agenda. Therefore, a person can critically examine Bible characters, trust what he or she is reading, and then learn very much about the Lord, His Word, and His principles for living. For convenience and ease of use, the titles of all of the devotions in this book begin with the Bible character's name. That means that a reader can look up his or her favorite Bible character by name under Message Titles in the ...

For anyone who is currently going through some kind of difficulty, the chances are very high that at least one of Solomon's principles in the book of Proverbs has been violated. Solomon was the wisest person of his times. As will be seen in the first chapter of this text, he had asked the Lord for wisdom right after having become the king of Israel. Also as will be seen, the Lord answered his prayer. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The book of Proverbs is that answer. It is a ...

Two of the books of the scriptures that should be studied daily are the book of Proverbs and the book of Psalms. The book of Proverbs will show one how to be biblically wise in the things of the Lord. That book is primarily for spiritual guidance in this existence. But even an ungodly person will prosper by studying and applying its principles. In the same sense, the book of Psalms will also benefit anyone who studies it on a regular basis. The reason that the psalms are so valuable is because they are experiential. One can read exactly how David had felt while he was running from a king ...

In Paul's fourth letter to the Corinthian church, which was actually the book of Second Corinthians, Paul started the letter by telling the Corinthian Christians that he had not visited them after his third letter because he did not want to strain their already strained relationship. As will be discussed in that opening chapter, he had had a difficult second visit to the church during the early days of his third Bible-recorded missionary trip. He had then followed that up with a probable stern third letter to them. So because of that, he had not visited them after his third letter because ...

The book of Revelation is a very interesting book. With its various symbols, characters, and colorful language, it is also a very complicated book. But it is well worth studying to try to understand the future events of this world. In the pages that follow, the four main approaches that scholars have used for understanding the book of Revelation will be identified. They are the Preterist view, the Historical view, the Allegorical view, and the Futurist view. This text uses the Futurist view, which attempts to apply a literal interpretation whenever possible. This text will also identify ...

This text was not written to show how much better the godly kings were than the ungodly kings. It was not written to try to show that God had loved the children of Israel more than the people of all of the other nations. To the contrary, this text was written to show that, in some instances, the godly kings did some things that were just as bad as any of the ungodly kings of Israel. It was written to show that the Lord loved the people who opposed the children of Israel just like He loved the children of Israel. The notion that He had showed special favor to one type of people over another ...

This book is a fictional account of what it might be like to live through the Great Tribulation. In the first part of the book, eighteen different characters are introduced and then followed through the events of the Tribulation. This book accepts a basically literal interpretation of the various events. So it tries to give realistic scenarios for each situation. When reading the book of Revelation, one will read about seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, and seven vial judgments. One will also read many seemingly unrelated events that are also happening. The way to understand the...

In his gospel, the Apostle John had recorded eight occasions when Jesus had made metaphorical statements about Himself. In chapter one of this text however, the evidence to show that he had actually written the gospel by his name will first be presented. One should note from that discussion that this gospel has not always had his name associated with it. So there had initially been some room for doubt. One should also understand that not everyone agrees about when this gospel was written. So that will also be a matter for discussion. Finally, chapter one will also consider some of the very ...

Chapter one of this text provides a general introduction to the five points of Calvinism and for the acrostic, TULIP. The intent, whenever possible, has been to share direct quotes from Pastor John Calvin on each of the points as a way to let him speak for himself. When that was not possible, the intent was to find and present consensus on the given point by other professing Calvinists. Their comments were provided along with the Bible verses that they had used to defend their position. The main premise of Calvinism is that God chooses those who will be saved and those who will be lost. So ...

The Hebrew word, 'elohiym, for "God" was used at least two thousand six hundred and six times in the Old Testament. Its first use in the scriptures was in Genesis 1:1. The Hebrew word, yhwh, for "LORD" was used six thousand five hundred and nineteen times in the Old Testament. Its first use in the scriptures was in Genesis 2:4-5. Those two Hebrew words when put together become yhwh 'elohiym and form the expression "LORD God." That combination appears five hundred and nineteen times in the Old Testament. But each of those words was also used separately throughout the scriptures with other ...

Two of the books of the scriptures that should be studied daily are the book of Proverbs and the book of Psalms. The book of Proverbs will show one how to be biblically wise in the things of the Lord. That book is primarily for spiritual guidance in this existence. But even an ungodly person will prosper by studying and applying its principles. In the same sense, the book of Psalms will also benefit anyone who studies it on a regular basis. The reason that the psalms are so valuable is because they are experiential. One can read exactly how David had felt while he was running from a king ...

One cannot study the opening chapters of the book of Genesis without getting into some very weighty issues. There is, of course, the first chapter that talks about Creation. But there are also other issues as well. For example, who wrote the book of Genesis? Not everyone will agree that it was Moses. Plus, when, if he did write it, did he actually write it? As will be seen in that part of this text, the higher critics have argued against Moses for a reason that will be shared at that time. But other critics have also argued against Moses, as being the author of the first five books of the ...

This book discusses one of the most important set of verses in one of the most important chapters in one of the most important books of the Bible. The whole doctrine about being born again is based upon a conversation that Jesus had had with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. From that conversation, one can easily see the analogy between the brass serpent on a pole in the Old Testament and Jesus on the cross at Calvary. That analogy makes it clear that Jesus is the only way of salvation. People may try whatever they like. But John 14:6 says that no one comes to the Father except by the Son. All of...

The seven churches to whom the seven letters of Revelation chapters two and three were written are shown in the below diagram. They are from top to bottom Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Ephesus, and Laodicea. The Apostle John was exiled to the isle of Patmos because of his stand for Christ. So on the Lord's Day, Jesus came to him and told him to write the words that appear in the book of Revelation. Revelation 1:10-11 says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice…Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest...

Not surprisingly, the scriptures share many important doctrinal truths about Jesus and the principles of Christianity. It is for that reason that this book has been written. The whole goal has been to share Bible truth and doctrinal truth by presenting one hundred stories about Jesus during His incarnated life and also stories about His apostles. Those truths will be shared as short two-or-three-page essays. They range from Jesus feeding five thousand men to Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding supper in Cana. They range from Jesus and John the Baptist warning the people to repent to ...