Question-Comment: Dear Brother Don and B'Ann Love,

Hi, my name is John DeCalb and I came across your Online Christian Resource page today after my wife e-mailed me your link.  I'm not sure why I started on your Mark Them lesson but I'm enjoying it immensely and I now understand what you mean when you say that you write with a common sense approach.  I make my living selling Bibles and I often get criticized left and right by those who believe a certain translation is right and that another interpretation is wrong and have always believed that the lessons in the Bible mean different things to us as we get older and learn more from Life and our relationship with God.  I never thought to use the example you mention where Peter is so bent on preserving his doctrine that he backtalks to God!  What irony and what a great example for me to use in the future.  I'm sure to enjoy the other pages and lessons that your pages will offer!

Also Don and B'Ann, I have a Christian site, bibleco, and I would be more than happy to write a review of your site from my Supporter's Page along with links going to some of my favorite pages on your site.  And if it's possible, I would be grateful if you would place a small text banner on your site for me.  I'm not one for gaudy flashing banners but just a simple box with a sentence about how much I liked your site and how people should think of me if they need a Bible. 

Well, if you've made it this far in the e-mail you might as well write me back! =)
Your Brother in Christ,
John


B'ANN WROTE:

Hello to you and your wife:

We do not use this website for fundraising of any kind.  At this point in time, we are still able to support ourselves with our chosen occupations.  Until this changes, and for this reason we decline to put up any icons on our website where monetary funds exchange hands.  We have been involved with Christian Education and I browsed your website. It seems you would be better served to link to a commercial type website. 

Perhaps you might help these people.

Question-Comment: MOHAMMED  NKANSA
BOX  TA  389
TAIFA  ACCRA
GHANA
Dear  In  Christ,
I  will  be  very  much  happy  and  worship  God better  if  you  could  send  me  a  Bible, something  for  a  very  longtime  I  have  not  been  able  to  afford. I am  always  sad  and  feel  uncomfortable  at  church  because I  don't  have  a  bible  and  I  can't  afford  one  now  since  I  am  a  student  and  do  not  have  a  job.
Please  help  me  get  one  for  in  it, I  can  find  true    happiness, life  and  peace. I  really  thank  you  for  all  that  you  can  do  to  help  me.
Yours  in  Christ,
Mohammed.


PS, I will very much happy if you could send me either THE DAKE ANNOTATED STUDY BIBLE or THE THOMPSON CHAIN REFERENCE STUDY BIBLE or LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE . I am also grateful for any study materials such as books that you can send my family and friends

 www.alphaorphansacademy.org

God called us not to sit down and watch but to go out and work in His field, Here we lack books and articles to give out and we luck even bibles to read and give the new convert.  We need the tools to do the work before the return of the master.   

 Let me know if you can come over here to preach and if we can join hands in thi noble tursk God has laid on us.Can you send me books.
May God bless you and hope to read from you soon.
Yours in His service.
Pr. Isaya Owak

Question-Comment:

Hello:

Do you remember me? I need a book for a christian therapy.
Can you help me?


Susana
Portugal


P.S.: I wait for your answer.
 

B'ANN WROTE:

Hello Susana:

I typed in Christian counseling and up came a list of sites.  It does seem that they involve money, and since we do not use our website for fund raising, ours or others, I would not recommend any of these.  Let me relate to you the greatest counseling tool.   It is Bible study.  Liken your Spiritual life to the physical one.  If you do not eat nutritious foods, your body will not grow.  If you do not read the Word of God, you Spiritual body will not grow.  I have told this to many people and they say they feel guilty because they fall asleep while reading it.  I explain that this is good.  If one can fall asleep reading God's Word, then, they will not need a sleeping pill. Evidently they were in a calm state or they would not have fallen asleep.  The Bible says:

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

I John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

I Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

I Corinthians 3:2
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.

God is our Heavenly Father.  After we become a born again Christian, we must have the process of being fed the Word.  We would not give a baby food that it could not swallow or it would choke to death.  God is a wise Father and He will not strangle us with the Bible.  Start with the birth of Jesus, proceed to the birth of the church, and then the Holy Spirit will lead you into the next Scripture you will need. 

When I was going through this process, I had to maintain a job to support myself.  I would sleep until about 1:30 in the morning, wake up and spend some time in the Bible and fall back asleep until the alarm rang.  If I tried to do my Bible study when I got home from work, I would be too exhausted plus there were the demands of cooking supper, doing the laundry, playing the piano for church, etc.  These early morning studies were invaluable as I grew older.

Do not become wiser in the books and writings of other counselors but become wise in the Word of God.

B'Ann

Hello:

Sounds like you have an outreach that is involving the saved Christians as well as the unsaved.  We did something similar to this with a church softball team.  If they did not attend one church service a week, they could not stay on the team. 

I was speaking to the ladies group at a local church about spreading the Gospel of Christ.  There are thousands of ways that one can share the Good News. One of our favorites was at restaurants.  When we would leave the waitress/waiter a tip, we would place it inside a John 3:16 tract. Another way is to put a tract under the windshield wipers of car in parking lots.  Leave them in bathrooms, laundry mats, bus, train, airport terminals, etc.  Most tracts are inexpensive. Some might be dumped in the trash but if one person is saved it is worth it all. You are fulfilling these Scriptures:

Mark 16:15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Luke 14:23
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them] to come in, that my house may be filled.

Note that we are to compel them to come in...this means that we are to be very bold about sharing the Love of God.

I teach my children that people can only say, "Yes, No, or I don't like you" when approached about being/becoming a Christian.  We are not responsible for how they receive the Word.  We are just responsible for sharing the Good News. 

I did notice that the YCL was helping you with security.  This is probably because they like to play sports but they will not be able to stand before Christ and say that they never knew about Him.

Hello:

You have a long list of needs.  If I were to answer you about baptism, it would be from a Bible standpoint. 

Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

A person is supposed to believe in their heart the Scripture of John 3:16 and then confess with their mouth that they believe He was/is the Only Begotten Son of God. After this, then comes the baptism.  Evidently a person needs to be able to make an informed decision about Christ.  Can a baby do this???  In our culture, infant baptism often means that the parents pledge to bring their child up in the church, have Bible readings and prayer in the home, and set a good example for their child. Most mainline denominations do not teach that baptism is needed to save a child. Clearly a person needs to be old enough to understand the teachings of the Bible and be able to choose Christ as their Savior.

Don Wrote:

I agree with B'Ann.  In fact, I went to one of the on-line study Bibles included in our site and copied the following Scriptures that they had collected from the Scriptures.

Baptism According to the Bible

(Matthew 28:19 KJV)
(19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

(Mark 16:16-17 KJV)
(16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

(John 3:5 KJV)
(5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

(Acts 2:38-41 KJV)
(38) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (39) For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. (41) Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

(Acts 8:14-17 KJV)
(14) Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: (15) Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (16) (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) (17) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

(Acts 10:44-48 KJV)
(44) While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. (45) And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. (46) For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, (47) Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? (48) And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

(Acts 19:1-6 KJV)
(1) And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, (2) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (3) And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. (4) Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

(Acts 22:16 KJV)
(16) And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

(Romans 6:3-4 KJV)
(3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

(1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV)
(13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

(Galatians 3:27 KJV)
(27) For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

(Colossians 2:12 KJV)
(12) Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

(1 Peter 3:21 KJV)
(21) The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

If we are to understand the Scriptures, and be able to teach them correctly to others, then we must not only understand "baptism" (with its various meanings in the Scriptures) and "new testament prophets"--but also many other New Testament words/terms that are crucial to the understanding and walk of the child of God.  Terms like "being born again," "...Christ in you, the hope of glory," "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh," etc.  True, if we are to gain this understanding, we must be taught; but the Scriptures are emphatic as to who is to do the teaching--and it is not man.  Consider the following verses.

I John 2:27
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

I Corinthians 2:
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

II Corinthians 3:6
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

And Consider this, even when someone is answering the call to teach or preach, it is not that person who is giving understanding, but the same anointing that called he or she to teach is also giving understanding to the one being taught.  True, I could try to give you my understanding of the terms you've mentioned, and the Holy Spirit could make them real to you; but I'd rather leave you in the hands of the Holy Spirit, the Real Teacher, and let you know the joy of having Him make the Scriptures real to you.

To help you in your endeavors, let me suggest that you learn to use the on-line Bibles that we have up on our site.  They are truly a blessing to the Church community.  Also, I will share a couple of things with you that helped everything in my study of "baptism" fall into place.  First, there are more than one baptism in the Bible: i.e., the baptism of the Spirit and the baptism of water.  Second, the water baptism for the descendants of Abraham that Peter addressed in the Second chapter of Acts differs from the water baptism for the Gentiles in that the Jews who steadfastly rejected Christ as their Messiah when He walked among them were required to humble themselves, repent,  and be baptized in Jesus' name for all to see before they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  (Read the second chapter of Acts, especially verse 38.)   However, in the following passage we see that God dealt differently with the Gentiles.

Acts 10:

44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

May the Lord make the study of His Word sweeter than honey!

Don

Click Here to go to Home Page

MORE WRAP AROUNDS