SEPTEMBER 2007                                                                                                                                                                                   


          A NEWSLETTER FOR CHRISTIANS

 

                   “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” John 3:17     

 

EDITOR’S NOTE – 

  Thank you to all those who have helped this newsletter with your prayers and finances. We have now exceeded 800 families who receive it each month. From now on those who receive Bits by e-mail will just receive a notice that the latest edition is available with an attachment and at bitspieces.eponym.com. Those who receive the mailed copy will continue to receive it by mail. Please, consider helping us financially as our postage, printing and web site cost has to be met each month. Thanks, Fred

 

FRED’S VIEW -    DID THE JEWS KILL JESUS?

  I’m sure all of you have heard, read, or seen all the uproar over the movie from last year called “The Passion” which depicts the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life on earth.

  Many people asked me about this movie and one question was more prevalent then the others. Did I believe that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.

  Some feel that since the Romans were in charge at the time and that crucifixion was not used by the Jews but was an instrument of a slow terrible death practiced by the Romans that it was the Romans who should be blamed. As a matter of fact a Rabbi wrote an article after the movie’s release stating that it was the Roman leadership who sent Jesus to the cross.

  Until “Vatican Two” was held back in the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church had said that Jews were “Christ Killers.” (Pope Paul IV in the 1500s issued a Bull directive stating this) It was rescinded at this council in the 1960s by Pope John 23rd.

   This is all nonsense! The Romans, Jews, or any other group of people can not be blamed for hanging Christ on that Cross! Read your Bible and stop listening to man’s opinions. Jesus came for one reason, to DIE! He came through God’s chosen people, the Jews. They were chosen to bring mankind the Bible and chosen to bring the Savior to mankind. He went willingly out of love for us as sinners! He could have stopped it all at anytime! He is God! Fred  

 

 

  Fair Use NoticeBits & Pieces contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Bits & Pieces is making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. Bits & Pieces believes this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

THE CARE CENTER, 91 MAPLE AVENUE, SMITHTOWN, N.Y.11787

 

SAVE A LIFE! SEND A CHECK TODAY!

 

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139

Women are counseled and helped to raise their child with beginning supplies free of cost. Abortions are avoided! Please help!

 

 

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
Frederick Douglass

The Jehovah's Witness Concept of God

1) The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is considered to be a false doctrine. Further, its origin is demonic.        2) Jesus Christ is not Jehovah God                                                                                                                           3) Jesus Christ is the archangel Michael.                                                                                                               4) The Holy Spirit is not Jehovah God.                                                                                                                          5) The Holy Spirit is not a Person but an "active force."

 The above five statements outline some of the key factors in the position the Watchtower organization takes against the orthodox view of God, Christ, and His Spirit. Historical information dictates that this position is tantamount to claims of Arianism.

ARIANISM’S BELIEFS

Because most contemporary written material on Arianism was written by its opponents, the nature of Arius' teachings is difficult to define precisely today. The letter of Auxentius, a 4th century Arian bishop of Milan, regarding the missionary Ulfilas, gives the clearest picture of Arian beliefs on the nature of the Trinity: God the Father ("unbegotten"), always existing, was separate from the lesser Jesus Christ ("only-begotten"), born before time began and creator of the world. The Father, working through the Son, created the Holy Spirit, who was subservient to the Son as the Son was to the Father. The Father was seen as "the only true God." 1Corinthians 8:5-6 was cited as proof text:

"Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as in fact there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God (theos), the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord (kyrios), Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." (NRSV)

A letter from Arius to Eusebius of Nicomedia succinctly states the core beliefs of the Arians:

"Some of them say that the Son is an eructation, others that he is a production, others that he is also unbegotten. These are impieties to which we cannot listen, even though the heretics threaten us with a thousand deaths. But we say and believe and have taught, and do teach, that the Son is not unbegotten, nor in any way part of the unbegotten; and that he does not derive his subsistence from any matter; but that by his own will and counsel he has subsisted before time and before ages as perfect God, only begotten and unchangeable, and that before he was begotten, or created, or purposed, or established, he was not. For he was not unbegotten. We are persecuted, because we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without beginning." (Peters, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, p. 41)

The Sermon

A little girl became restless as the preacher's sermon dragged on and on. Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, "Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?"

The Creation of Wives

At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying down as though he were ill, and said, "Johnny, what is the matter?"                                                                                                                                                                      Little Johnny responded, "I have pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife."

WHAT ABOUT REMARRIAGE?      

Yes, divorce is a sin. We can plainly see the damage it does to the lives of all involved. It is straight from the pit of hell. Yet, there is hope and forgiveness for the divorcee. Satan often lies and tells people that God is doing the separating, but it is not God. God is not the author of divorce. However, His Word does give instructions to those whose unbelieving mates desire a divorce.

"And the women who hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace" (I Corinthians 7:13-15).

If this happens, the mate that is left is not under any bondage to this marriage. He is free to remarry should the Lord lead him or her to do so. (by Betty Miller  - Bible.com)

HAVE YOU EVER PRAYED THIS PRAYER?

  “Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn from my past sinful life toward You. Please, forgive me, and help me to avoid sinning again. I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ, died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and to reign in my heart from this day forward. Please, send your Holy Spirit to help me to obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life.”

 Now find a good Bible believing church. If you need help finding one or have a question please contact me at fredlim@optonline.net or call me at 631-368-8903

NUMEROLOGY

Because the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are also numbers, each word is also a sum. Rabbis and Christian Bible scholars of a mystical orientation interpret the meanings of Bible verses by using the numerical values of the Hebrew words. This type of interpretation is called gematria. In gematria, connections are made between different words that have the same numerical value.

Rabbis believe these numerical values show the infallibility of the Bible text, something which Jesus also referred to in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17). It is not permissible to take away even the smallest letter from the Law (the Torah) and the Prophets, which together make up the Tanach (Old Testament), because otherwise the numerical values would no longer be correct.

Nowadays, in the age of the computer, this is becoming more and more clear. In spite of all the playing around with numbers in the name of the Bible Code, the precision of computers has brought one thing to light: the text of the Torah has remained completely authentic, like a sealed numerical combination.

Babel

The Hebrew name for Babylon, one of the cities founded by Nimrod in Gen. 11:1-9, it is the location where the entire world spoke a single language and worked together to build a tower into the heavens.  It was representative of the great pride of man.  God confused their languages.  The building of the tower ceased and they dispersed.

  Archaeological Evidence for the Tower of Babel                        

   The tower constructed by the builders at Babel became a symbol of their defiance against God, (Gen. 11:1-6).  It was probably modeled after a ziggurat which is a mound of sun-dried bricks and was probably constructed before 4,000 BC.                                                                                                                               

   In the Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what is now Iraq, is a mound of broken brick buildings and debris. This is all that remains of the ancient city of Babylon.What we know about the Tower of Babel today comes only from the little archaeological evidence found of ancient Sumerian culture and from ancient scrolls. Nebuchadnezzar described how "gold, silver, and precious stones from the mountain and from the sea were liberally set into the foundations” and how he used innumerable multitudes of workmen to help with the re-construction of the remains. Archaeologists discovered a core consisting of the ruins of previous ziggurats or towers which had been leveled and enlarged several times, before Nebuchadnezzar added a casing of mud bricks 15 meters thick. Of this structure only the ground plan and traces of the three stairs leading up to it have been preserved. In 458 B.C., after the tower had been crumbling for many years, the Greek historian Herodotus visited the tower, or at least the later version of it. Today we have a tablet giving measurements and the eye-witness account of Herodotus: “It has a solid central tower, one furlong square, with a second erected on top of it and then a third, and so on up to eight. All eight towers can be climbed by a spiral way running around the outside, and about halfway up there are seats for those who make the journey to rest on.” He describes the squares or stages of the tower in different colors with a temple at its top.

                            Can God Make a Rock So Big He Can't Lift It?  Gregory Koukl

This is known as a pseudo-question.  It’s like asking, “Can God win an arm wrestling match against Himself?” or, “If God beat Himself   up, who would win?” or, “Can God’s power defeat His own power?” The question is nonsense because it treats God as if He were two instead of one.  The phrase “stronger than” can only be used when two subjects are in view, for example, Bill is stronger than Bob, my left arm is stronger than my right arm, etc.  Since God is only one, and since He has no parts, it makes no sense to ask if He is stronger than Himself.  That’s why this is a pseudo-question.  It proves nothing about any deficiency in God because the question itself is incoherent. 

   This pits one aspect of God’s ability against another--in this case, His creative ability against His ability to lift.  The goal is to show that there are some things God can’t do, thus undermining the Christian concept of an omnipotent Creator.  This illustration, however, miscasts the biblical notion of omnipotence, and is therefore guilty of the straw man fallacy. 

   Omnipotence doesn’t mean that God can do anything.  The concept of omnipotence has to do with power, not ability per se.  In fact, there are many things God can’t do.  He can’t make square circles.  He can’t create a morally free creature who couldn’t choose evil.  He can’t instantly create a sixty-year-old man (not one that looks sixty, but one that is sixty).  None of these, though, have to do with power.  Instead, they are logically contradictory, and therefore contrary to God’s rational nature.  The “Can God make a rock so big He can’t lift it?” challenge is no threat to Christian theism www.str.org

Robert Schuller – False Teaching!

Personal Sin?: "What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of his children of their right to divine dignity. I could offer another complementing answer: Sin is that deep lack of trust that separates me from God and leaves me with a sense of shame and unworthiness. I can offer still another answer: Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem" (Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, p. 14). In a 10/5/84 letter to Christianity Today, Schuller wrote, "I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition" (cf. Romans 1:18-3:20).