Building on the Foundation

In Bible days, the Israelites harvested 3 harvests each year, refraining from harvesting only every 7th and 50th year. The 3 harvests are the barley harvest, wheat harvest, and fruit harvest (grapes, olives, figs, etc.). These 3 harvests paint a picture of God’s plan for humanity, as we’ll soon see! They broadcast His plan to “bring many children to glory” (Heb. 2:10). The first harvest, the barley harvest, commenced with the first sickle swing each spring at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We can deduce this from the fact that the plague of hail pulverized Egypt’s barley crop “in the bud” before Passover (Ex. 9:31) combined with God’s instructions to bring the firstfruits of the harvest before Him as an offering at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:10-11). On Pentecost (also called Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks), God commanded the Israelites to bring another offering of firstfruits (Lev. 23:17) — the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, as we are told in Ex. 34:22. Jer. 8:20 shows u

Seven centuries before Christ, a famous people vanished from the earth. The world’s mightiest empire invaded their land, burned their cities, and carried them away as captives. To most researchers, the captives’ fate remains unknown. In perhaps the biggest missing persons case of all time, millions of people disappeared from the historical record, never to be heard of again! The conquerors were the Assyrians, a proud, warlike people whose power and cruelty terrorized the rest of the known world. The vanished people belonged to the northern kingdom of Israel. As we saw in three previous posts (links below), they are now called the “lost ten tribes of Israel.” What happened to the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel? Were they obliterated in an ancient genocide, or are their descendants still wandering this terrestrial globe? Did they assimilate into surrounding peoples and disappear altogether, or have they secretly played a role in world history? Have you been looking at them your whole life wit

  Intro Music Time This is to be the first in a series of articles on dating. This particular article touches on both, as you cannot discuss dating without turning to marriage. As an unmarried young man, I have no experience with marriage and little with dating, so how could I possibly be qualified to write such a series? Well, experience-wise, I have zero qualifications, but there are a couple of things to offset experience. First, I have God’s Holy Spirit, and that covers a multitude of inexperience. Secondly, I have no experience, and that in itself is a qualifier. What do I mean by this? Experience can sometimes be a hindrance when writing about emotional topics, blinding us to what the Bible actually says, and there are few more emotional topics than dating. I have no stakes in the game, so in theory, I should be able to write a less biased article using only what the Bible says as my guide. With prayer and the Holy Spirit, of course. 1Co 12:8 for to one is given the word of wisdo

This is a question that has been asked by many people, usually someone who is suffering from the loss of a loved one, or someone seeking an excuse to reject God and His ways, or perhaps someone who doesn’t understand the reason for the hardships and trials in this life.  I have been there. Allow me to share what I have found. Before we can delve into this question, we first have to ask some more of life’s greatest questions: why are we here, why do we exist, and where are we going? If you believe that in the beginning nothing exploded, and reverse entropy has been the law of the land for billions of years, thus bringing you to this exact point in time as an intelligent being, then you are well on your way to being introduced to the cause for this reverse entropy.  If you believe that we exist in this dimension as the result of intelligent design by The Creator, and that we humans are in training to learn proper conduct and morality so that we can be trusted to be given immortal spirit