Showing results by author "James Thomas" in All Categories

The purpose of this book is to celebrate the victory that the saints of God can have through the power and might of a personal relationship with Christ. It has been divided into four parts. Part one is, "The devil could not overthrow God." In that part, the reader will learn when the devil became the devil. A key point will be that he is not in control of the events of this life. In fact, he is quite limited in what he can and cannot do. Part two is entitled, "The devil cannot overthrow or stop the saints." In that part, key times and events in the lives of Job, David, Abraham, and Joseph ...

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This book discusses most of the key events in Abraham's life as they have been recorded in the Bible. Part I will begin by discussing his life in Ur of the Chaldees when he was first told by God to go to the land where he would be led. Analysis of that instruction, along with some other Bible passages, will show that God had probably told him twice to go to a new land. It will also be pointed out that those multiple calls were not because of his disobedience. Following that discussion, when and how he probably got saved will be presented. He was not just automatically saved. He had to ...

This study looks at the Genesis account of Creation in Genesis chapter one. Key Hebrew words are analyzed. Discussion is presented about some of the more popular views about Creation, such as the Big Bang theory, the Theory of Evolution, the Gap Theory, the Age-Day Theory, and Pantheism. Key creation terms, such as Fiat Creationism, Progressive Creationism, and Theistic Evolution are defined. The role of the Second Law of Thermodynamics as it pertains to Creation is discussed. At the end of the commentary on the first chapter in Genesis, the creation and impact of angels is briefly examined...

The idea with this text is that the Proverbs life is a much better life. The reason for saying that is because it leads to either no unpleasant consequences or to very few unpleasant consequences. So this text is about improving a person's decision-making skills, about reducing the unpleasant consequences that result from bad decisions, and about showing that the Proverbs life produces a much better life. There is one main theme that is presented throughout. If people want to live a good life and experience very few unpleasant consequences, then they need to study the scriptures, ...

This book has been written about Joseph, the son of Jacob. He had had two dreams about his family members bowing to him, and those dreams had made them very angry with him. In fact, they hated him so much that they actually tried to get rid of him. They sold him to some merchants going to Egypt. Then, an Egyptian captain bought him out of the local slave market and brought him into his household. Because the Lord was with him, Joseph excelled everywhere he went and in everything that he did. But that did not keep him from getting into a lot of trouble. He ended up in prison when the ...

The main purpose of this text is to explain how this world has become an apostate world during the past one hundred years and how the local church is now becoming the apostate church. There are four parts to show how all of this has been happening. Part I starts with Satan's rebellion against the Lord in heaven. It follows his path to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. It shows his demonic activity with Cain, the wicked generation that led to the Great Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the cross at Calvary. After that, it shows how he tried to destroy the local church from without by ...

This book is a fictional account of what it might be like to live through the Great Tribulation. In the first part of the book, eighteen different characters are introduced and then followed through the events of the Tribulation. This book accepts a basically literal interpretation of the various events. So it tries to give realistic scenarios for each situation. When reading the book of Revelation, one will read about seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, and seven vial judgments. One will also read many seemingly unrelated events that are also happening. The way to understand the...

When most people think about a true love story, they naturally envision a couple jumping into a bed and making mad passionate love to each other. If the scene is from a movie or from a television show, then they would probably see the two going into a bedroom together and then waking up the next day lying next to each other. However, while that in many cases might be an example of true love, it pales in comparison to the true love that God the Father had showed to human beings when He had offered His only begotten Son on the cross of Calvary. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, ...

In the following pages of this text, many ideas will be presented that can help a person better know what the Lord wants him or her to do. Most of those ideas for effectively serving Him will be based upon verses like Jeremiah 29:12-13, John 3:16, II Peter 3:9, Luke 19:10, and Romans 5:6-8. So when a person can build his or her understanding around those kinds of teachings, then he or she will be well on the way to knowing what the Lord wants him or her to do. In chapter one of this text, it will be expressed that true biblical salvation should be better based on words like seek, commit, ...

Incredibly this is the fourth book that I have written about how a person should live his or her life. None of the books are exactly alike even though all of them are similar. Also it was never planned to write four different books that are basically talking about similar things. But that is just how things have happened. The first book was written to tell people how they can live a blessed life. The inspiration for that topic comes from John 10:10, which says "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have ...

This book contains a series of short essays that discuss twenty-five of the important promises from the Lord that have been stated in the scriptures. Each of the essays is basically independent of the others. But at the same time, they have also been ordered somewhat loosely from most important to least important based upon logical order. The Lord promises to love every person. He promises to be found but not indefinitely. He promises grace for salvation and living. He promises goodness and mercy. He promises salvation that cannot be lost. He promises to not be bought. He promises to resist...

Último e mais longo conto da coletânea Dublinenses, Os mortos, de James Joyce, narra a ida de Gabriel Conroy e de sua esposa Gretta a uma tradicional festa de Natal na casa das tias de Gabriel. A partir das interações entre os convidados, com descrição de detalhes surpreendentes, Joyce retrata a vida da classe média da capital irlandesa no começo do século passado. Ao fim da festa, o casal retorna ao hotel onde pernoitará, e uma descoberta de Gabriel sobre o passado de Gretta o faz repensar a sua própria vida.

This book has taken three fairly short books that are very similar to each other and combined them into one book. The three books are God Was in Control of Abraham's Circumstances, God Was in Control of Job's Circumstances, and God Was in Control of Joseph's Circumstances. One can learn different lessons from each saint. So it just makes sense to combine the three short books into one still fairly short book. There is one note, however, to be made with respect to the organization of this text before concluding this Introduction. Something that the reader might find useful is boxes ...

The main reason that I wrote this book was to remember and celebrate becoming a Christian fifty years ago. I got saved on December 14th, 1967. That means that this year, 2017, will mark my fiftieth anniversary of having walked with the Lord. It has been a quick, but rewarding, journey for me. So in grateful appreciation for all that He has meant and continues to mean to me, this book has been written as my Christmas present to the Lord. I am truly grateful that Jesus died on the cross to pay my sin debt. I am truly grateful that He has made His great salvation free to anyone who will come ...

This is a text that I originally started work on in 2016. But I set it aside because I did not know exactly how I wanted to present the seven roles of a pastor. Those roles are elder, bishop, shepherd, preacher, teacher, servant, and messenger. An elder is a man of spiritual maturity who teaches and leads the flock of God. A bishop involves overseeing the needs of the flock. The shepherd cares for the flock. The preacher proclaims the gospel message to those in the assembly. The teacher explains the whole Bible. The servant ministers to the needs of others. The messenger delivers the ...

Chapter one of this text provides a general introduction to the five points of Calvinism and for the acrostic, TULIP. The intent, whenever possible, has been to share direct quotes from Pastor John Calvin on each of the points as a way to let him speak for himself. When that was not possible, the intent was to find and present consensus on the given point by other professing Calvinists. Their comments were provided along with the Bible verses that they had used to defend their position. The main premise of Calvinism is that God chooses those who will be saved and those who will be lost. So ...

The title of this text is "The Life and Ministry of Jesus." But it is not just a story about Jesus' life. It is first of all a harmony of the gospels so that the reader can get a complete picture of His life. It is also a commentary on the gospel of John. What that means is that the twenty-one chapters of John's gospel are discussed. But in between those chapters are mixed in the different accounts by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So with all of that, one gets a good chronological sequence of events of the life of Jesus. Also because John focused on showing the deity of Christ, one gets his ...

The first part of this book talks about the very grim subject of what it will be like to die lost. Nothing in this existence is as bad as or any worse than leaving this existence and entering into eternal condemnation. Jesus talked about two places of punishment. The first, called hades, is condemnation of the soul. The souls of people who have already died and were lost are there right now. The souls of people who will die lost will soon go there. Hades is not a nice place. In fact, it is a horrible place to be at even for a little while. But as bad as hades may be, gehenna will be much ...

What I am about to say might sound confusing. But it is not meant to be. First, this book is about me. But second, this book is not about me. In the pages that follow, I will share thirteen times from my life when the Lord spoken directly to me, non-audibly, in my heart. For the first three, I did not know exactly what was happening. For the last ten occasions plus one, I was fully aware of what was happening. So in that sense, this book is about me. It will share fourteen personal experiences from my life. But this book is not really about me because the purpose is to show how anyone can ...