BiblicalQuestions.net

According to a 2015 report by the Barna Group, commissioned by the American Bible Society, 88% of American households own a Bible.  For those households owning a Bible, 39% enjoy a King James Version, 13% possess a New International Version Bible, and 10% of those owners are reading from the New King James Version as well as the English Standard Version.  Also appearing in that study was that 13% of American adults purchased a new Bible in 2015.  Out of those new Bible sales, the NIV led the sales charts in both dollar sales and units sold.  With over one hundred versions of scripture in print, what has drawn 70% of Bible readers to four translations?  Why has one version of the Bible dominated the market for decades?  For Christians living in the 21 st century there are so many options to choose from when it comes to translations of the Bible, what attributes are Bible reading Christians looking for when selecting a Bible?  There are three main co...

After I finished preaching one Sunday, I had two young men approach me and said the Lord had called them into the ministry, and they asked if I had any advice for them. I said, “Yes, I can give you my advice in one word: OBEY!” I think this is perhaps the single greatest word of advice anyone could have for discovering and remaining in God’s will. Unfortunately it is also one of the areas of greatest difficulties for so many of God’s people. We are like sheep—prone to wander and amazingly stupid. We are like donkeys—stubborn and willful. We are like peacocks—proud and vain. We are quick to analyze and rationalize but slow to obey. We are masters of procrastination and experts at justification. Making excuses comes naturally to us, but simple obedience seems so difficult. Delayed obedience is disobedience! I have found this to be one of the most common reasons people fall short of the will of God in their lives. So many people are continuously waiting for the “right time” before t...

The doctrine of the trinity (tri-unity) of God is a Christian doctrine that describes the triune nature of God. It states the following: There is One God which is comprised of three separate, equally divine, wholly unified person's called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three are One in essence, nature, and union, but are separate person's who perform different functions in total unity with one another. Saint Patrick described the trinity as comparable to the three separate leaves on the One unified Irish clover. Scriptures describing the divinity and person-hood of the Holy Spirit: Matt. 28:19 , "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," 2 Cor. 13:14 , "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all." Eph. 4:4-6 , "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called ...

The term “spirit of Jezebel” is referring to an evil spirit that Satan uses to cause defilement and division among God’s people. Believer’s can be either enslaved, oppressed or influenced by this spirit, or all three. Ephesians 6:12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” In order to stop tolerating this evil spirit in our lives we have to learn the spiritual truths necessary from God’s word that empower us to defeat it! In this article we will discuss identifying this spirit, submitting to God, and overcoming it. We will also learn what it means to have and operate in our spiritual authority as believers. Revelation 2:20- “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sa...

Ephesians 4:30 says, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." The question of how God feels about us when Christians sin has tugged at and sometimes plagued people's heart for centuries. Does God feel angry at us? Does he feel disappointed? What does it mean for Him to be grieved? The way in which we answer this question can play a direct role in our spiritual health and maturity as believers. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God..." If it impossible to please God without faith then it logically follows that it is impossible to displease God when we have it. For example, as a father when one of my three sons does something wrong does it cause me to be disappointed in them, or their actions? That is, should I change the way I love them as my son just because they had bad behavior? No! What does happen is this: I am grieved by their behavior because it is harmful and s...

Jesus Christ is arguably the most famous historical figure in all of the world. We use a reference to him (B.C.- before Christ) in order to track the years of history itself! There are many opinions among different religions and groups of people as to who Jesus was. The Muslims believe he was one of many prophets, the Orthodox Jews believe that he was a good teacher, and most people in the secular world believe that he was simply an important religious leader like any other person who is credited with founding a major world religion. But who did Jesus say He was? Throughout the New Testament we find multiple places where Jesus testified about Himself. One of the clearest examples of Jesus claiming to be God is found in John 10:30-33 where Jesus says, "I and the Father are one." And the the passage goes on to elaborate specifically on the meaning of Jesus statement saying, "The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "I showed you many go...

I’ll cut straight to the chase. In that book by your bedside or on your coffee table – you know the one book that most folks in our culture think is archaic, outdated and not very relevant? There is a verse that has rung out its truthfulness over generations. And that verse is this: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun”  (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The years 1095 – 1230 AD have rightly been attributed as the darkest chapters in the history of Christianity. And skeptics today still cite them as their most frequent objections to the Christian faith. And looking at them historically, I would say they have a point to some degree. From 200 to 900 AD, Christians primarily inhabited the lands of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. However, when Islam came upon the scene around 500 AD, it spread, through violence, to the point that they invaded these lands and brutally oppressed, enslaved...