2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 4:8,9.) When Satan offered the Lord Jesus all the kingdoms of this world if He would worship him, Christ did not deny Satan’s power to give possession of “ the world.” These and other Scrip tures seem to imply that the earth was Satan’s domain before he fell through pride. He sinned by seeking worship as God. He caused man to fall by the same appeal to pride— “ Ye shall be as gods.” He sought in vain to obtain worship from the sin less Son of God. He is even yet, in a sense, “ the god of this world.” By this expression Paul means the God dishonoring, Christ-rejecting, Spirit- resisting world. Thank God, it will not always be so. One day our God will come and claim that which is His by right of creation, and which He has purchased from its fallen state by right of His atoning work on the cross. Suicide Is it possible for a real Christian to commit suicide? A Christian might be mentally un balanced and take his life when he is not in his right mind; but I can not believe that a Christian could deliberately, in his right senses, com mit suicide. Mental derangement is a disease of the mind, and God will surely in His infinite wisdom and justice, not hold a person responsible who is mentally sick to the extent that he has lost his reason. On the other hand, many who do not know Christ do deliberately plan suicide. Of course they will be held responsi ble for rejecting Christ as their Saviour, as well as for taking their own lives. Therefore, if a man be a born- again soul, loses his reason and takes his life, then he goes to heaven; he belongs to Christ. If, however, a man rejects Christ, he is a lost soul, whether he plans deliberately to commit suicide, or whether in a mo ment of insanity, he takes his life. Always one’s eternal salvation or his eternal condemnation is determined by his answer to the question: “What then will ye do with Jesus, which is called Christ?”
B.C. and A.D. Since all secular history centers around the birth of Christ — B.C. and A.D., why do men not realize that He is God, and the only Saviour? Satan has blinded their eyes to this silent testimony to the deity of our Lord. Every unsaved man, even the infidel, must unconsciously bear wit ness to the recognition given Christ every time he dates a letter, a check, or a legal instrument. The Age of Man and the Earth How do you account for all the millions of years scientists with numy degrees from various institutions of learning claim as the age of this earth? I note that a large number of the clergy claim that Adam was created about 6,000 years ago. Between the first two verses of Genesis there could have elapsed all the time of all the geologic ages. “ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Possibly that was millions of years ago. Then some thing happened to mar God’s per fect, original creation, for verse 2 reads: “ And the earth . . . [became] without form, and void.” (Cf. Jer. 4:23-26; Isa. 24:1; 45:18.) Note the real meaning of the word became. How long the earth remained in this chaotic condition, God has not seen fit to tell us; but certainly there is room here for all the time of all the ages. Then out of this chaos, God brought a renovated earth about 6,000 years ago. He made man in His own image after He had created all vegetation and all life even as the inspired Word of God records. Just what happened to ruin God’s original creation, He has not seen fit to reveal to us, yet there is Scriptural ground for believing that the fall of Satan and the wicked angels may have been associated with the judg- ,ment that fell upon the earth. This we do know that Satan fell through pride. (Read Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:12-19.) That he seems to have been given dominion over the earth before he fell, while he was still a beautiful angel, seems to be beyond all doubt. (Read John 12:31; 14:30;
Sinless Perfection Does Matthew 5:48 teach sinless perfection in this life for the Chris tian? The word perfect here and in other similar New Testament passages means a mature and complete Chris tian experience. It means that “ the babe in Christ” should “ grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” thus giving an ever-increasing evidence to the world about us of His saving and keeping power. Nowhere in the Bible are we taught that we can become sinless in this life. Yet we are con stantly exhorted to grow more and more like Him who is “ altogether lovely.” Only when we get to heaven shall we be freed from the very pres ence of sin. Mary: Other Children Is it true that Jesus had half- brothers, sons of Mary and Joseph? I have heard this denied, but would like your statement. Yes, after Jesus was bom in Bethle hem, Joseph and Mary had sons and daughters, as you may read in Matthew 13:55,56: “ Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?” (Cf. Matt. 12:46; Mark 6:3; John 2:12; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19.) The denial that Mary had other children originated with Roman Catholic teaching that she was sin less; this is called the doctrine of the immaculate conception. This teaching claims that Mary never did marry Joseph, and that she was always the Virgin Mary. But it has already been shown above that this is unscriptural; that Mary acknowledged herself to be a sinner needing a Saviour, and that she recognized that the Lord Jesus was the only Saviour from sin. Read Psalm 69:7-9; this is a definite prophecy of the coming of Jesus into the world to suffer for sinners, and is irrefutable proof that Mary had other children. Note especially verse 8: “ I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.”
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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