If Cain had Married his Sister, Is it not an Incest?

Q: An atheist commented that the God DOESN'T exist and I asked why they believe that, they responded that God only made Adam and created Eve who had 2 children. Cain and Abel and Cain killed Abel so where did other people come from to continue the generation. The other comment was even if there were other children from Adam and Eve then it was incest. Please help me with your response cos I never questioned it before and now I feel I have to respond in a way that will change the heart of an atheist back to their Creator. God bless.

A: First of all you cannot change an atheist only God can. But we can answer some of their question based on the word of God. First of all after Cain and Abel were born, Adam had sons and daughters (Gen 5:3-4). Sure enough Cain married his sister and the same thing must have happened to other siblings of Adam (Gen 4:17). But when people say it as incest, it is now. Who sets the guide lines? God. After creation God said multiply and replenish and created just one family, so there is no way for them to import a woman from anywhere. God sets the rules and he has the rights and reasons to allow something that we cannot understand with out human mind. When God created the DNA of people it was not so corrupted with various infirmities as like now, but then it was pure and the result would be their offspring would not be born with physical infirmities as of now. But as of now as in the time of the Patriarch's and Moses, an inline or close cousin marriage may result in magnifying a disease which will result in disabled children's born to them (Lev 18:11). Then it was right in God's wisdom, now it is not so.

I hope that will do for our natural reasoning. Pray for the atheist so that his spiritual eyes may get opened, as a result of it he might see that JESUS Christ is the only begotten Son of God who can save him from sin, death and eternal judgment ahead. Blessings.....

Does God need our Tithe to fulfill His Great Commission?

Q: Should every believer tithe for the Church to have enough money to carry out the Lord's work? Must all believers learn the way to earn riches for the purpose of tithing?

A:  I believe that God's work done in God's time will not lack funds for the propagation of the gospel to the whole world. God is more concerned to reach the souls of men with the gospel than some of us can even imagine. He has promised to fulfill it through the Church of the end time before all hell breaks loose during the reign of Antichrist (Matt 24:14). God is not a beggar in order to depend on the money of His people to fulfill His promise. In other words, the eternal destiny of souls are not dependant on whether we give our tithe to the Church faithfully or not. God says in His Word, "The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." (Psa 24:1) and also "'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts." (Haggai 2:8). Do you think that the Lord who owns the earth and who owns all the silver and gold in the entire earth need money through His people to fulfill HIS PROMISE? Woe to the man/woman who thinks like that. May we truly believe that giving to the kingdom of God, no matter how much we give is a privilege and a opportunity given to the people of God to be thankful for His daily care, salvation from sin and His blessings in all the realm of our existence. Jesus and His Apostles never taught any 10 points technique to "earn riches for the purpose of tithing". When Jesus wanted to pay taxes he sent Apostle Peter the fisher man who is a seasoned professional to "...go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matt 17:27). To think in the natural Apostle Peter as a seasoned fisherman could have reasoned within himself and said that it is a foolish thing to do, but because of learning obedience from Jesus, without any word he went and must have indeed found just as Jesus said. What does it show to us? It shows that God knows how to fund HIS PROGRAMME and bring it to rich fulfillment. If only we obey the word of the Lord to proclaim the gospel by faith with all supernatural signs, we will soon reach out to all corners of the globe with the good news of Jesus Christ in our generation itself. Money is not a constraint with God, but our obedience to His word is. Praise the Lord!

Instead of encouraging the believers to pursue riches, the Apostles warned the believer's again and again to be careful regarding going in pursuit of riches rather than God. Apostle Paul instructed his apostolic son Timothy to warn believers saying, " 17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." (1 Tim 6:17-19). 'Command' is a strong word which also means 'to forcibly tell someone, to make people obey, persuade people to follow by commanding authoritatively'. The reason he said particularly the rich believers in the present age not to be haughty and trust in uncertain riches is because riches are very much temporary (Matt 6:19). The reason God gives riches to certain people is to make them share it with the saints and to be ready to give for the kingdom extension and the preaching of the Gospel to the ends of the world (Acts 4:34-37). To the rich believers in the present age their riches is a test God gives to them in order to qualify them for true eternal riches ahead (Matt 6:19-21; Luke 16:9-13). Others who do not have such riches in the present age should not desire to be be rich, but seek the kingdom of God [i.e. godliness] with contentment so that they can gain great eternal riches in heaven (Matt 6:19-20, 33; 1 Tim 6:6). Those who are not rich in the present age and are not at all content with enough food and clothing that God has given them abundantly, to them Apostle Paul warns saying, "9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Tim 6:9-10). In other words, the greedy believers lose to enjoy the abundant life of God that has been given to them already, instead become miserable in the present time due to falling in to soulish curses that destroys them (John 10:10; 1 Peter 2:11). Tithing is not a command to any believers in the New Testament, but a voluntary oppurtunity God has given them to be thankful for what God has already given them spiritually in this earthly life to enjoy through His Son (Eph 1:3).

When we start to offer our everything first, then automatically we will be giving to God more than the tithe we pay [i.e. the very ownership of all that we own]. God deserves our everything because He is the real Creator and the owner of all cosmos and universe. Tithing done to gain acceptance with God or blessing of God is not right because it becomes a law and a ritual rather than a loving relationship with a God who blesses us irrespective of our behavior in the New Covenant (Eph 1:3). May God help us all to understand His intention in telling us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice rather than just give our tithe as a means to justify ourselves of our so called spirituality (Rom 12:1). God Bless You!                      

More on 'Should We Tithe on a Loan We Take?'

Opinion : I would take a slightly different approach. I believe that if the structure of something is presented in the Old Testament, it does not need to be completely restated in the New Testament. If it is mentioned as continuing, then it continues, albeit with the "eyes" of redemption. Such it is with tithing. Let's remember that Abraham, the father of faith to both the Jews and the Church, tithed by the principle of honour, not law. Tithing was commanded in the law to those who were of the line of Abraham but did not have Abraham's faith; therefore their structure of living unto God had to be commanded on the basis of law. Then Jesus spoke of the present existence of tithing; it is again mentioned in Hebrews that the One who ministers after the order of Melchizidek receives tithes.

Reply : Greetings! You cannot say that we can adhere to New Covenant in what it says and also continue in the structure of Old Testament not expecting it to be restated. You should not follow something that is "Faulty" and "Obsolete" (Heb 8:7-8, 13). New Covenant does not adhere to the old anymore because it is a totally a better covenant with better promises (Heb 8:6). Jesus is the Mediator of it and so nothing that Jesus and His apostles have not commanded shall be ever made in to a rule. Abraham tithed out of His love for God and thankfulness for the victory that God gave him in defeating the enemies of his allies. Abraham tithed the booties that were recovered from the war and it was not from his purse, this shows that he dedicated this victory as something that has not come by his own strength but by the help of the Lord (Genesis 14:12-24). This does not seem to me as a principle of honor but thankfulness out of his heart.

Tithing was commanded in the Old Testament to support the priests and the Temple, and also in order to keep the nation of Israel's religious and political structure intact. But in the New Testament we are not commanded but told by Apostle Paul to support financially the teacher's of the Word out of the blessing that we receive out of the WORD OF GOD taught by them (Gal 6:6-10; 1 Cor 9:9-18). Then clearing the point "the one who received tithes from Abraham" is God who is Melchizedek who had no genealogy (Heb 7:1-6), this was not based on law but on the basis of promises He has already given to Abraham as a sign of friendship with him. For a complete details on Melchizedek pls read the following post : http://apostolicrevelation.blogspot.com/2008/07/who-is-melchizedek.html. The bottom line is, Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek not because of compulsion, or else Melchizedek would not have blessed Abraham before he had given his tithe. But we see in Gen 14:18-20, Melchizedek having communion with Abraham and blessing him even before Abraham took the booty of the war to give tithes to Melchizedek. This shows that it was not out of compulsion but it was based on gratefulness, thankfulness and cheerfulness on the part of Abraham for having been blessed by God Almighty. This is the way all New Covenant believers can tithe if they really are thankful for God's blessing. Abraham is indeed an example of all New Testament Believers.

We cannot follow some commands from the Old and some from the New Covenant because Jesus said, "...No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”" (Luke 5:36-39). Christians who have not tasted the New Covenant will always feel according to the preceding verses 'The Old Covenant is better and easy to keep'. The New Covenant should be walked completely by the commandment of the New and if we try to add the Old to the New, we will have a completely choatic life of wearing the rags inspite of having a new cloth which Jesus has already given to us unconditional of our behaviour. May God help us all to realise the spirit of the New Testament and walk in liberty, and not in fear or with any other motive other than our love for God to propel us to live as a living sacrifice to God. Blessings...... 

More on 'Should we celebrate Christmas or not?'

Did Jesus Christ And His Apostles Keep The Holy Days And All The Biblical Festivals?

Question: I'd rather celebrate the Holy Days Jesus Christ and the apostles observed.

God in His Word sets out many choices for us. Will we do things His way or our own? Will we worship Him as He tells us to, or expect Him to honor whatever religious practices we choose regardless of what His Word says? 

It's always good to ask the question, What would Jesus do? The answer, from the Scriptures, is quite clear as to what Jesus did. Jesus didn't allow His followers the option of adopting pagan practices in their worship. He and the apostles plainly kept God's Holy Days and festivals that we find recorded in Leviticus 23. 

As noted above, they kept the Passover (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Scripture shows they also observed the Days of Unleavened Bread (Acts 20:6; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The New Testament Church itself was founded on the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), another biblical festival they clearly observed (Acts 20:16). They likewise kept the Day of Atonement (called "the Fast" in Acts 27:9) and the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2, 10). 

Christmas, meanwhile, is totally missing from the biblical record. 

Most people don't know that the Bible includes a whole list of festivals that God commanded, that Jesus Himself observed and that the apostles and early Church were still keeping decades after Christ's death and resurrection. And unlike Christmas, these reveal a great deal about Jesus Christ's role and mission. 

Each one teaches us a vital lesson in what Jesus has done, is doing and will yet do in carrying out God's great plan for humankind. The differences between these and the tired old paganism and crass commercialism of Christmas is truly like the difference between day and night. Why not look into them for yourself?

ELOHIM YAHWEH YAHUSHUA BLESS US,THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT. Let us stay in unity and love. Yahweh bless his children. 

A: See the apostles were born in Jewish culture and they were used to celebrating all the Feasts of the Old Testament as a part of the cultural background they lived. But not even once they expected the Gentiles [i.e. all people other than Jews] to follow them in religious observance. Even Apostle Paul once seeing the hypocrisy of Apostle Peter rebuked him face to face saying, "But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?" (Gal 2:14). Problems like these were faced by the Gentiles of the first century because the Church was born in a complete Jewish culture which the Gentiles never understood.  

Nearly two thousand years ago all the apostles came together and decided to proclaim the whole world of what they expected the Gentiles to do regarding all these Questions about keeping the Jewish Old Testament Law [i.e. which includes keeping Jewish festivals], hear what they said, "22 Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.  23 They wrote this, letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law” —to whom we gave no such commandment— 25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:22-29, NKJV). 

These preceding Scriptures clearly shows that the Apostles and God the Holy Spirit expected all the Non-Jewish saints of the Church to "abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." These are the only requirements to keep. Even these things they said to the Gentiles because mostly many came from totally idolatrous background and proselytized Jewish background. Their conscience were weak in regard to the food offered to idols along with the immoral life they once lived [i.e. before knowing Christ] during pagan festivities and some who were proselytized to follow Jewish law were also weak in their conscience in regard to blood and things strangled (1 Cor 10:27-29; Lev 17:14-16; Rom 14:20-22). Even this is not a rule but a principle they suggested to keep the Gentile saints from falling back in to the idolatrous and religious evil, rotten and wicked lifestyle of their past. So I would like to say again, "16 ... let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." (Col 2:16). In other words when Christ has come in to your heart, all these things of traditions of the Old Testament has been fulfilled in Christ for you and you have become the temple of God in order to glorify God with all the things you do in sevice to Him (Matt 5:17-18; 1 Cor 6:18-20; 10:31). All the shadows of the Old Testament traditions and commands has become a substance of reality in the heart of all believers. Now we do not keep the law to please God, but by faith we directly serve God in proclaiming His Gospel in all the world as the redeemed kingly-priest's of God (Rev 1:5-6; 5:9-10; Matt 28:19-20). Praise the Lord!    

Again I respect your opinion, but it is not the absolute apostolic truth of the New Testament. If you do not want to celebrate Christmas according to what you believe, well and good go ahead Brother. But do not try to make it as a law and try to implement it on all the Body of Christ. As you said, May the Holy Spirit guide us all and let us stay united in LOVE as God's children. God Bless You!           

           

Should we celebrate Christmas or not?

Q: Should we celebrate Christmas or stay away from it because it has a Pagan Romanian origin to it?

A: The simple and a clear apostolic message regarding which days we should celebrate is clearly defined by Paul in Rom 14:5-6, " 5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks." Therefore celebrating Christmas is neither right nor wrong. So each one should be convinced in His/Her own mind whether he likes to celebrate it or not, according to the direction and conviction of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-14). A faction should never be created because of these things inside the Body of Christ.

Going one step further we see Apostle Paul saying in the book of Colossians, "15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.  16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.  20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh." (Col 2:15-23). Because Jesus has completely defeated all religious demons which made people to be too concerned about keeping the Holy days like the Pharisees rather than rejoicing in the Lord all the time (Phil 4:4), Apostle Paul in the above verses have clearly instructed the believers not to be again entangled in religiosity by keeping the religious obsevance of days, festivals, food that are acceptable or rejected based on religious traditions and thus lose the reward of living joyfully in the earth for the Lord and also be rewarded for it in the future. The worldly people are too concerned about which day to celebrate a particular festival in a fleshly way, but we as Christians should rejoice in the Lord and always not to be too concerned about whether to celebrate a festival or not. It is good "to rejoice with those who rejoice" (Rom 12:15) and not be regulated by any system which wants to formulate and regulate our behaviour [which are commandments and doctrines of men], as we are controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament when we walk by faith in the promise of God's word (Gal 5:16). Let us not be deceived by the so called appearance of the wisdom of self-imposed religion which promotes false humility, neglect of body and are completely powerless against the indulgence of the flesh which is the real enemy every human is fighting which includes Christians. 

So should we celebrate Christmas or not? Whether a person celebrates or not as a Christians is based on how much liberty in the Spirit that person has experienced in living the Christian life (2 Cor 3:17; Rom 14:22). If a Christian is too religious and is not convinced to celebrate it, it is better to stay without celebrating it. If a person is not convinced about a particular thing and he/she does it because of what some other person has said to him/her, to him/her it becomes a sin because of unbelief (Rom 14:23). The unbelief will affect their conscience. The bottom line is, "Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." (Rom 14:22c).

Also whether we celebrate Christmas to show and remember our love for the Lord and His love towards us in humbling Himself to come to earth and die for our sins or not, let us do all thing "heartily to the Lord and not to men" because it is the Lord who will reward us if we have served the Lord by celebrating Christmas to share the Love of God with others who do not know the gospel of Christ or have spent the Christmas day in fellowshipping with the Lord alone in our Home because of believing that Christmas day has a Romanian pagan root to it (Col 3:23-24). God Bless You!                      

Where would the souls of the departed believers go?

Q: Where would the souls of the departed believers go? To Hades or Heaven? With what body did Moses and Elijah meet Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? Where did they come from?

A: The souls of the departed believers will be in heaven until the day of rapture takes place and then they are resurrected back in to their supernatural glorious bodies (1 Thess 4:14-18). The key word "God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus" (4:14) is very important. Those coming with Jesus will be the souls of the departed believers who will then "rise first" (v 16) in their glorious incorruptible spiritual resurrected bodies (1 Cor 15:42:49, 51-54). The souls of martyrs from Abel to Zechariah (Matt 23:35), even up to the last martyr of the Tribulation of the End Time during the 31/2 years reign of Antichrist will rise up during the Second coming of Jesus, they too as souls are present in heaven under the altar of God until then (Rev 6:9-10; 7:13-17; 20:4-6; 13:5-8, 15). Apostle Paul said, "For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." (Phil 1:23). In this verse Apostle Paul plainly says that he is in dilemma to decide whether to live and continue in the ministry that God has given him or else die and depart to be with Christ which is so glorious to think about. This clearly reveals that Apostle Paul was very much confident that His soul will be with Christ the moment he dies in this earth. This should be the confidence of all the believers too (2 Cor 5:6, 8; Rom 15:14).

When Elijah and Moses visited Jesus in the mount of transfiguration, they came from the righteous section of Hades which was there at that time (Matt 17:3). Only when Jesus got resurrected from the dead, once and for all time this section of Hades was emptied and all of them were taken to heaven in to the very presence of God (Eph 4:8-9). Now that the righteous section of Hades which was called in Jesus' parable as "Abraham's Bosom" (Luke 16:22) has been emptied by Jesus when he took all its inhabitants along with Him to Zion the dwelling place of God (Eph 4:8-9; Heb 12:22-23), only the unrighteous section of Hades where the rich man was in torment is left untouched. And it will continue to be a lodging place for all the souls of unbelievers till the White Throne Judgement takes place some where in the outer space after this present earth and heaven gets destroyed by the fire of God (Luke 16:22c-26; Rev 20:11-15; 2 Peter 3:10-13). The reason people were kept in Hades till that time was because they were not born again in their spirit man, without which no man can see God or enter His eternal dwelling place (Heb 11:39-40; 12:14; John 3:3). All the Old Testament saints got resurrected with Jesus except Elijah and Enoch along with all the martyrs of the Old Testament times who went in to heaven in their soul-body like all of us New Testament saints and will wait till the end times to get resurrected in their glorious bodies (Matt 27:52-53; Isa 26:19). Elijah and Enoch are the two olive trees and the one and only prophets who have not legally died, and so their physical body must have been preserved by the Lord somewhere in the outer space all these days so that they will first appear in Jerusalem in their physical body and will live for 3 1/2 years to prophesy just as the Lord has promised (Rev 11:3-6). Once the three and half years are over, the Antichrist will kill these prophets in the streets of Jerusalem which will be telecast live to the whole world. The world will rejoice and will celebrate as like a festival the death of both these prophets who tormented them, until they see these two prophets suddenly get resurrected in their glorious supernatural bodies after three and half days, who will then stand on their feet and ascend to heaven in a cloud majestically. All their enemies who saw it live in their video screen live all over the world will suddenly experience a great fear fall on them all (Rev 11:7-12). This is the reason the prophet Zechariah prophetically foresaw these two prophets in their soul-body standing before the throne of God in heaven waiting to fulfill these end time glorious plan of God (Zech 4:11-14). They will die and will legally inherit their glorious body prepared for them according to the word (Heb 9:27; Matt 24:35). Because of inheriting a supernatural body we see them ascend in to heaven just like Jesus did when He ascended in to heaven at the end of His first coming (Rev 11:12; Acts 1:9-10). Praise the Lord and God Bless You!

Should We Tithe on a Loan We Take?

Q: Should we tithe on a loan we take? Just got doubt. Pls shr your thoughts and scripture you know on this.

A: The spirit of the New Testament is totally different from that of the old. You see there is no command given to any New Testament believer to tithe, but it was command to all the Old Testament saints (Lev 27:30). God challenged the Israelites through the prophet Malachi to test Him and see how He will bless them if only they will keep the command of the Lord to tithe. Many of the people at the time of the prophet Malachi totally ignored to obey the commandments of the law and prophets, and God wanted them to repent which is to fear God and humbly keep the law before the New Covenant came in to force (Micah 6:8; Malachi 3:8-11). It is doing the law and commands that brought blessing to the saints of the Old Testament (Joshua 1:8). But in the New Testament being in Christ and living life filled with the love of God is more than doing the commandments without fail. Only one time in the New Testament Jesus said to the Pharisees who were lovers of money and boasted of keeping all the Commandments of God without fail, being deceived and also deceiving other (Luke 16:14), to give their tithe along with the real important ingredient of the mandatory thing that is needed by God [i.e. justice, mercy and faith] (Matt 23:23). This too was not spoken by Jesus in a positive way but in a negative way to make these hypocrites understand that they cannot please God just by giving tithes, but only by believing Jesus the Son of God which can only make the Father in heaven to get pleased (John 6:28-29, 39-40). But remember this was before the New Covenant ever came in to existence at Calvary. This too is not a command to the saints of the New Testament but to the Pharisees who followed the Old Testament of Moses hypocritically.

The bottom line in the New Testament is to give ourselves as a living sacrifice to God and then give whatever we give to God with a cheerful heart and not grudgingly (Rom 12:1,2 Cor 9:7). God loves such givers. First the right motive and then the offering we give. When you take a loan it is good to use it for whatever purpose for which it is taken and ask God to bless it so that the produce that comes out of it can be given cheerfully to the Lord. In the New Testament the Lord has forgiven all our sins once and for all time and has blessed us already with all the spriitual blessings in the heavenly places (Eph 4:32; 1:3). So the next time you think of giving to God, give as much as you desire with a heart full of thankful gratitude for all the Lord has done for you and not out of compulsion or by coercion of covetous preachers who love money and want to manipulate you to also be filled with a covetous spirit, so that they can whet their appetite for the love of money. It can be 10 percent or more, but with a cheerful heart which is more imporant in the New Testament than how much we give to God. God will bless us more and more with all the spiritual blessings of heaven on earth as we continue to be faithful in giving to God's work out of love for Him with cheerfulness (Luke 16:11-13). God Bless You!

Is Hell Forever?

Q:  Is hell forever? Is there everlasting fire, everlasting punishment?


A : The departed unbelieving souls are right now kept after their death in a place called Hades. Hades is like a prison in which a convict is kept until the judgment is rightly pronounced by the judge, after which he will be executed or given life term as a punishment for his crime. Hades is a temporary prison where the departed unbelieving souls are kept and it is described by Paul as the "lower parts fo the earth" (Eph 4:9). So the physical location is clearly described where it is situated. Here their souls will be in torment just as the rich man said in the parable which Jesus spoke (Luke 16:23), this will continue until the Final White Throne Judgment in Rev 20:11-3, after which they will be forever condemned in to everlasting fire, punishment and hell (Rev 20:14; Matt 25:46).

There is indeed a everlasting fire of hell which Jesus spoke as a real place, where worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-44). This real permanent hell is the everlasting fire which is called in Greek as 'Gehenna'. This is described by Jesus as the place where God is able to "destroy both soul and body" (Matt 10:28). After the unbelievers get resurrected in their natural bodies before the White Throne Judgment takes place, they will be judged for their evil works and will be dispatched forever in to eternal torment (Rev 20:11-13; John 5:26-30). This is the second death that all unbelievers will face in the days to come (Rev 20:14).