Thought for the Day

Luk.9:29-31 (29) And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. (30) And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: (31) Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. We are taken here to the Mount of Transfiguration where Peter, James and John beheld Jesus in His state of glory in His kingdom, being "eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pe.1:16). The glorious appearance of Chris...

1Jo.1:1-3 (1) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (2) (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (3) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his S...

Mar.1:22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. Two teaching styles are here contrasted. There was the authoritative approach by which Jesus Christ's ministry was characterized. Then there was the approach of the scribes which, by inference, was obviously not authoritative. It stands to reason that the Holy Spirit by these words was denouncing the Scribes' type of ministry. A gospel minister will ultimately have to decide if h...

Deu 23:12-14 (12) Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: (13) And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: (14) For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. ...

It is commonly taught that Jesus Christ gave His life for all mankind without exception. It is said that due to this, it is now POSSIBLE for every sinner to have eternal life. But the possession of this eternal life is conditioned upon the sinner deciding for Christ or accepting Christ of his own free will. According to this system of teaching, Jesus did not actually save any one when He died and rose again. He merely made salvation POSSIBLE. Let us, however, examine this teaching. According to this...

The Lord Jesus Christ made an interesting statement in Joh.10:37, "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." Everything that Jesus Christ ever did was a work of His Father. He said in Joh.5:19, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." From this we know that ANYTHING that Jesus Christ does is a work of the Father. And if He does not actually do the works of the Fath...

Gen.6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. The God Who had made the earth and its elements was about to destroy the earth by its elements. It had become corrupt beyond the limits of His longsuffering, a frightful status to be avoided at all costs. When the patience of God with sinners comes to an end, His wrath arises to a sudden destruction and there is no remedy (2 Ch.36:16 c/w Pro.29:1). As touching the elect, God is "longsuffering to us-wa...

Ecc.5:4-6 "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. (5) Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. (6) Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?" In a previous meditation we saw that the word "angel" can refer to ministering spirits, God Hi...

Acts 2:26-27 "Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: (27) Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." The Easter season has come upon us. The annual spring festival in honor of the fertility goddess Astarte again gave public school children a vacation from their indoctrination and most Christians a vacation from good sense. For a Bible believer, this time of year is a trip throug...

(Note: The following is a faithful copy of a tract authored by Pastor Ben J. Mott, Jr.) One need not investigate much to discover that Freemasonry is a religion. A most superficial knowledge of this institution will establish this fact. It is commonly known that the leader of the lodge is titled "WORSHIPFUL Master." What does that descriptive word "worshipful" convey if not religion? Masons take their oaths on the holy book of their religion. Masonic ceremonies incorporate prayers to a deity whom t...

Gen.13:11 "Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other." In a previous meditation we had taken notice of the fact that Lot was a just, righteous man (2 Pe.2:7-9) but he too often walked according to the flesh, not the Spirit. When Lot made his ill-fated decision to choose Sodom, like Eve, he let the sight of his eyes outweigh better knowledge (Gen.13:10 c/w Gen.3:6) and was in principle not walking to God nor with God but from...

2 Ki.2:23-24 "And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. (24) And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." Today's meditation will be somewhat different (longer, too). It is intended to be more of an editorial, a...

Rev.2:9 "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and [I know] the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but [are] the synagogue of Satan." The Lord Jesus Christ authored seven letters to seven churches in Asia as the Apostle John's days were winding down (Rev.2:1-29; Rev.3:1-22). There were rebukes and censures to all but two of those churches, the church at Smyrna (Rev.2:8-11) and the church at Philadelphia (Rev.3:7-13) which had been tormented in similar ...

Heb.9:10 "Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation." The church of God in this world had a reformation but it was not in or about 1550 A.D. That there was a great spiritual awakening that was largely excited by the dedicated efforts of the Protestant Reformers is not to be denied. That there was a great return to the value and authority of the Holy Scriptures generated by the Protestant Reformers is not to be denied...

James 5:1-6 (1) Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. (2) Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. (3) Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. (4) Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped a...

Pro.14:4 "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox." Wisdom here speaks of one of the axioms of an imperfect world: if we are to make advantage of life, there will be certain unpleasantries to deal with but they are worth it. We must consider the trouble/benefit ratio of virtually every venture. Few are the "win/win" issues of life; almost all things are compromises. There may be less hassle in renting an apartment than owning and maintaining a home, but the...

Gen.29:32-35 "And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. (33) And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I [was] hated, he hath therefore given me this [son] also: and she called his name Simeon. (34) And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefor...

Dan.6:23-24 "Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. (24) And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast [them] into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den...

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" (Eph 2:2) Satan is here called the "prince of the power of the air." The Lord Jesus referred to him as the "prince of this world" (Joh.12:31; Joh.14:30; Joh.16:11). Though evil, yet has he a royal dignity to not be taken lightly. For this reason, "...Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the ...

Num 17:1-13 "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of [their] fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. (3) And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod [shall be] for the head of the house of their fathers. (4) And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I ...

"We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:" (Pro 1:13-14) In the context of these words, Solomon is warning against being enticed to join hands with the wicked in their plundering enterprise. It is revealing that these wicked conspirators (conspiracy being a combining together privily to do something immoral, illegal, or reprehensible) espouse a basic Marxist/Socialist/Communist doctrine: "Cast in thy lot among us; let ...

Hebrews 7:15-18 (15) And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, (16) Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (17) For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (18) For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. In v.18 of this text, the apostle declares the disannulling of a com...

"And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." (Gen.8:20) The face of the world had just been wiped clean by the Flood. Noah and his family here set foot in a world that was, in virtually every sense, completely unlike the one that had been overthrown. The topography, geography, biology and climate of earth had all been changed. Uncertainties abounded. How would they survive? What should they do first? But Noah...

"And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues" (MAR 3:9-10). Jesus was very popular as long as he was healing the flesh of its troubles. Satan had once observed, "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life" (JOB 2:4). For the sake of health, men will part with most anything (except their sins, usually...