What is the worst the opposition can do? Kill you – though doubtless that will occur, at least for now, in this country. But even if that were case, the Scripture strips away that excuse citing that death for the Christian is the greatest event possible because only death has the ability to break the seal and usher you into inexpressible glory. Could the problem be that we simply have a too great a fascination with the things going on here and not enough desire to spend eternity with Christ? If we really “prefer” to be “home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8), intimate, personal, visible communion with Christ that far exceeds our communion with Christ here (Heb. 11:10, 13), then we must be “absent from the body” (2 Cor. 5:8). In other words, we must die. Therefore death from that perspective doesn’t sound so bad. Only death can release me from “absent from the Lord” to be “home with the Lord.” So the worst the enemy can do is send me to paradise!
Randy Smith

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Read more about the article CONVERSION OF SAUL

CONVERSION OF SAUL

(Acts 9: 1-22; chaps. 22 and 26) THE first mention of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 7:58). His life as a Pharisee and persecutor of the Chris- tians (Acts 8:3; 26:9-11).…

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Read more about the article BAPTISM
040415-N-6419K-011 Iraq (Apr. 15, 2004) - U.S. Navy Chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. Lulrick Balzora, assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Fourteen (NMCB-14), prepares to baptize Construction Mechanic Kyle Ellis. Balzora baptized several members assigned to NMCB-14 and NMCB-74 using a 2.5 cubic yard front-end loader bucket as an improvised baptismal. NMCB-14 and NMCB-74 are currently deployed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). U.S. Navy photo by Builder 2nd Class Jerome Kirkland (RELEASED)

BAPTISM

(Acts 8: 36-39) WE are discussing a question at this time that has caused much controversy in the religious world. We are not discussing it for the purpose of perpetu-…

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Read more about the article THE GOOD CONFESSION

THE GOOD CONFESSION

(Acts 8:37) THIS passage is regarded by some as an interpola, tion. But there is no conclusive evidence to that effect. It has been known to all Bible writers since…

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Read more about the article THE DEACONSHIP

THE DEACONSHIP

(Acts 6:1-7) IN a similar discourse, relating to the eldership, we have set down a few facts concerning the two dis- tinct classes of congregational officers — elders and deacons.…

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