Explain "I could wish you were cold or hot" in Revelation 3:15

Re 3:15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

First of all, some background. Laodecia was known for lukewarm water that was unacceptable to many who drank it. People there were known to spit their water out. On the northeast, they sourced hot water, while on the southeast, warm water.

The city of Laodecia built aqueducts to obtain these waters. But as they got to Laodecia, these waters became lukewarm from the combination of both the hot and cold.

Now, when the Lord Jesus said here: "I could wish you were cold or hot" He was saying that an extreme, clear and unmistakable spiritual condition would be better than what there state was, which was lukewarm.

You see, their lukewarm spiritual condition was deceptive. A lot of them thought that they were blazing, sizzling and passionate enough for God, that they were okay with God. But they were actually unacceptable --- lukewarm.

 Re 3:17 "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' --and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--
18 "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

Why did the Lord Jesus prefer that they were either hot or cold?

Because, if hot, they can be truly encouraged to go on. If cold, they could easily detect what's wrong with themselves and be more open to a much needed rebuke.

Explain "The Sting Of Death Is Sin"

1 Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin...

By "death" here is meant the death of the unsaved, those whose sins are unforgiven.
By "sting" here is the power to harm.

The death of the unsaved has a sting. It is harmful. Because unforgiven sins will always be met with divine judgment after death. On the other hand, the death of the saved sinner is gain.

Php 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

The death of the saved has no sting in it. Death for the saved sinner is described as being asleep in Jesus. It carries a blessed prospect of being awakened in a glorious resurrection at the Rapture.

1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

How Do I Discover The Will Of God?

The will of God is discovered primarily through God's Word --- its precepts and principles.

In addition, many Christians who want to discover the will of God focus on the areas of what they should be doing. Actually, what they should be focusing primarily is not on their doing but their being --- character.

Christlike character first then the discovery of God's will second. Once you have the character it is easy to choose the course as to which you will take. In most cases, our struggle is not really about what to do --- many a time it's plain and clear. The real struggle is really with ourselves. We (because of our characters) want to do something else.

Ro 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove (or know by experience) what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Explain Total Depravity

Total depravity refers to the extent of the corruption of man. The corruption is total. It has affected his spirit, soul and body. Moreover, it has also affected his mind, desires, feelings, emotions and will. No part of man has escaped the corruption of sin.

Total depravity does not mean that depraved man has and is going to express his depravity to absolute  and consummate level of wickedness all the time, anywhere. No, there are factors that restrain the full expression of his depravity. A totally depraved man is capable of committing every kind of sin but it does not necessarily mean that he has actually committed all of it outwardly. We are all capable of murdering our own parents but not every single depraved person has done so. Depraved man is way worse than all the things he has ever done so far.

A depraved person however, if given enough time, apart from the grace of God, will express his corruption to the utter degree, by and by. Many will have probably raped their own mothers at age 150, who knows.

Are Ghosts Real?

By ghosts, I assume you mean disembodied spirits of human beings. If that's what you mean then NO there are no ghosts roaming around in our world today. The Bible clearly teaches that there is no intermediate state that one could be in after death. After one dies, he or she could either be in Paradise or in Hades. The spirit of the dead person will not roam around here to haunt people.

Lu 16:22 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

The ghosts that people see could be made up stories, hallucinations or the apparitions of demons masquerading as the spirits of dead humans.

Think and consider the utter fraud that it involves --- A man seeing the spirit of his dead uncle in his house with his usual clothes on! Are we to think that clothes have spirits too? That they go on clinging to the spirit of the deceased person?

Ghost cars, ghost trains, ghost ships, ghost carriages? Are we to think that cars, trains and carriages have spirits too? Come on!

There are only three possibilities --- they could be made up stories, hallucinations or demons masquerading as spirits of dead humans.

If they are demons the agenda is clear. It is done to deceive people that there is no judgment, that the Bible is wrong, that the need for personal salvation is false.

Are "Giants" in Genesis 6 really giants of great physical stature?

Ge 6:4 There were giants (Nephilim in Hebrew) on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

The word "giants" here in Hebrew is Nephilim. There are some who say that Nephilim here does not really refer to men of gigantic physical statures but giant in terms of ferocity and wickedness. I believe that this refers to giants in a physical sense. Elsewhere Moses used the word Nephilim and you can read it for yourself. I am quoting from the ESV:

Gen 6:4  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Num 13:32  So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.

Num 13:33  And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them."

What's the nature of the conflict among Christians in James 4:1-10?

James 4:1-10 can be divided into two:

Verses 1 to 5 --- we have the diagnosis of the cause of conflict among Christians
Verses 6 to 10 --- we have the prescription of the cure of conflict among Christians

The diagnosis of the cause of conflict among Christians is the desire for pleasure in themselves. They seek pleasure, they pursue their desires at any cost even if other Christians will be hurt and affected by it. They want to do what they want and want to get it that they don't even think of the consequences of their actions. They even fight for it if possible.

The cause is that they are really at war with themselves and at war with God. There is conflict without because there is first of all a conflict within.

The prescription of the cure of conflict among Christians is humility before God. "...submit to God" (verse 7). "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord" (verse 10). Humble submission to God's Word; its precepts and principles.

Is the Bible against slavery?

There are two kinds of slavery a) The relatively modern cruel and inhumane slavery of the past centuries and b) The voluntary slavery in the Bible which was allowed for economic purposes.

A lot of people confuse the two. The indentured slavery allowed in the Bible was not forced and cruel. It was not due to skin color. It was not on the basis that one group of people was superior than the other as far as being a human being is concerned. In the Bible, one man could voluntarily offer himself as a servant to pay up his debts or to provide for his family. He was recognized as a person created in the image of God.

The modern slavery we read about in the past centuries was something that was truly ungodly and evil. We, Christians, denounce it to the heavens.

1Ti 1:9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
1Ti 1:10 for adulterers and perverts, for SLAVE TRADERS and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine (NIV)

The slavery of the relatively recent past was a slavery that could do cruel, unjust and evil things against one's fellow human beings. And the Bible condemns it.

Is the Church an organism or an organization?

We hear so much from some saying: "The Church is not an organization but an organism!" as if system, structure, order and method are not inherent in the Church.

The truth of the matter is that the Church is an organized organism. A disorganized organism will die. The Church is a body. As a body it has organization inherent in it. Examine your body. It has order, system, structure and method. It is not in anarchy at all.

Eyewitness testimony is not always reliable. What's your view on that in connection to the resurrection?

Yes, it is true that eyewitness testimony is not always reliable. This has been demonstrated time and time again. We should never be naive and gullible in believing that what everybody says or claims is automatically true.

We have to consider their character, their credibility, their competency, their confirmability etcetera.

There are people who often question the competency of the resurrection eyewitnesses based on the fact that there are many cases of people who witnessed a robbery for example who could not be relied upon as to their testimonies of what really happened. It happened so fast that they are not competent as witnesses to what happened.

But the eyewitnesses we have for the resurrection were not witnesses that witnessed an event that occurred in flash as in a drive-by shooting or witnessed an event that happened in minutes. No, what they witnessed happened for more than a month with many infallible proofs. They had ample and sufficient time to evaluate, assess, examine, confirm or even disprove the resurrected Christ before them. Some of them did not even believe even though the evidence was right in front of them; eating, speaking, walking with them.

Mt 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

What overcame their doubtful disposition? The stubborn fact.

* One of them, a doubter, Thomas by name, even handled Him. He was practically told to "examine Me yourself Thomas!"

Joh 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."

* In fact, all of them were invited to examine Him!

Lu 24:39 "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. HANDLE ME and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."

* They had a wide window of opportunity to examine Him!

Ac 1:3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during FORTY DAYS and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

To compare the quality of witnesses in a drive-by shooting or a robbery that  happened within minutes to the quality of the witnesses we have for the resurrection is to compare apples and oranges.

What Was The Sin Of David In Ordering A Census In 1st Chronicles 21?

1Ch 21:2 So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it."

1Ch 21:7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.
 8 So David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly."

It was about the old sin of the devil --- pride. David got proud with his military might. Also, he found his safety and security in numbers. Apparently, Israel was punished too because they and their leader became proud of their might and number. Notice that before chapter 21, before this proud census, we read in chapters 18,19 and 20 the sterling military victorious of Israel. Apparently, it got into their heads! 

David himself wrote (in the Septuagint this Psalm is attributed to David):

Ps 33:16 No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17 A horse is a vain hope for safety; Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.

In addition, David, in his pride, might have also bypassed the prescribed ransom in Exodus 30:12:

 Ex 30:12 "When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.

Why Did God Allow A Man Who Accidentally Killed Someone To Be Avenged Fatally?

De 19:3 "You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.
 4 "And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past-
 5 "as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies-he shall flee to one of these cities and live;
 6 "lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past.
 7 "Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall separate three cities for yourself.'

God's lesson here is that accidents can be avoided if we are extra careful with the lives of others, if we would but go the extra mile in making them safe. Make sure that the axe head is secure. Get people to be safely distant from you. Focus on your driving. Learn how to drive defensively etcetera. 

A lot of times, unbeknownst to us, we have this deadly unconcern for the safety of others. If we learn to study ourselves, we will notice this in us in the little things in our day to day activities. 

As the killer flees from the avenger of blood, he would be extra careful with his own life. He would make sure that every move he makes would be safe from him. And God says to him at that point: "Object lesson! That's what you should have done with the life of your brother."

What Is Courage?

What Is Courage?

Courage is the the moral firmness to do what is right. It is the determination and the boldness to do the right thing at all cost and against all odds. That is why the "cowardly" in the Bible is someone who is viewed negatively. Because he is someone who is flexible in doing righteousness. The lack of courage or cowardice has caused many to compromise with the world and to miscarry what should have been done.

Re 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

For example, when you compromise God's standards because you fear the opinions of men, when you can't say "No!" for righteousness sake, when you would rather disobey God for fear about what others might think about you, you are being a coward.

Courage in the Bible is a moral virtue. It's not primarily about readily getting into a physical combat with someone. A man who jumps into a physical fight no matter what kind of a fight it is is a fool. He is a violent man not a courageous man. Courage concerns itself about what is right and what is wrong. Firmly upholding the former while stubbornly opposing the latter.

In some cases, a man of courage will have to get into a fight for righteousness sake. Other times, he will back down for the same reason.

The courageous man leaps into the battlefield when God says: "Go! Possess the land." He will boldly march forward because he knows it is the right thing to do...even if he is nothing but a grasshopper among giants in Canaan...even if it will cost him his life. He is a man who will face Goliath for the glory of the God of Israel.

But courage is also a Man who will give Himself to be beaten and scourged, black and blue, silent and meek as a lamb, and then crucified on the cross without a fight because it is the right thing to do...it is the will of God.

What Is It For The Lord Jesus To Be Begotten By God?

 Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

To beget is different from being made or created. When you make or create something you don't necessarily see your nature in the thing that you have made or created. For the Lord Jesus to be begotten of the Father means that the Lord Jesus has the same nature as the Father.

Since the Lord Jesus is also God, He therefore has no beginning point of existence. Begotten in His case is a figure of speech describing His likeness of nature with the Father. The Lord Jesus is like God. The nature of the Father is seen in the Son. He is begotten of the Father. They have the same nature.

Was The Lord Too Harsh On Uzzah?

2Sa 6:6 And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
7 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.
8 And David became angry because of the LORD'S outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.

The Lord was not being too harsh on Uzzah. His reaction was expressive of his heart attitude towards the ark of God. Judging by his action, one might say that it was too severe on God's part. But God sees the hearts of man. Apparently, Uzzah did not have that much reverence towards the ark of God. Behind Uzzah's touch was an irreverent heart.

We get a hint of this in the next verse: 2 Sa 6:9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"

You see, apparently, even David himself did not have that much reverence towards the Lord at this point in time. It was only in this day that he feared the Lord this way with regards the ark. The difference was that David did not touch the ark while Uzzah did.