CHRISTIANITY.

Read the two following passages: "So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.   For we walk by faith, not by sight.   We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."   (2 Corinthians 5:6‑8) and "I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; (Philippians 1:23) Compare those passages with the following:   But man dies and is laid away; Indeed, he breathes his last And where is he?   As water disappears from the seas And a river becomes parched and dries up, So man lies down and does not rise.   Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.   "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he li...

  1Thessalonians 1:9 says that “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might”.   What is Paul’s message here? The Bible records, see Acts 16 and 17, that Paul did not have a good experience when he visited Thessalonica.   Paul was beaten illegally and then put into prison.   They then forced him to leave the city by night because unbelieving Jews brought false charges against Paul.   Paul did not give up, he made several attempt to return but he was hindered by Satan. “But when we were separated from you, brothers and sisters, for a short time (in presence, not in affection) we became all the more fervent in our great desire to see you in person. For we wanted to come to you (I, Paul, in fact tried again and again) but Satan thwarted us” (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18). In this first letter to the Thessalonian Church Paul was concerned about the progress of the church ...

The early disciples were not naturally equipped with the courage or the strength of the mind that would be needed to go up against someone with great power.  This was given to them through the power of the Holy Spirit when it was needed, but normally the early disciples were just common ordinary men and women. This is what makes what Peter and John did so incredible.  These were just ordinary commoners going up against the most rich and powerful in the land in that day. There were a number of priests who, in serving their allotted week's Temple service (Luke 1:8, 23), were not far from Salomon's Colonnade.  They were able to hear Peter's declarations about Jesus as the Messiah. This alarmed them at what they considered dangerous teaching against Jewish authority.  Think about it.  There are a lot of countries in the world today that do not have freedom of speech as found in the United States of America.  The news is full of horrow stories of what ha...