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What Is The Great Commandment?

There are three parts to the great commandment. The first part is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.” The real you, the deepest part of your being, should love God. The next part of the commandment is, “with all your soul, with all your mind.” This includes your ego–the mental processes that focus toward mankind, yet are in touch with your spirit. And then, the third part is to love God “with all your strength.” That has to do with your body. Your physical being must reflect your love of God too (Mark 12:30).

In summary, a person must dedicate the totality of his being to a self-giving love for God. Every aspect of his nature must focus on loving God. To illustrate, a person would break the great commandment if his spirit was partially centered on making money to the exclusion of God; or his mind was centered on high fashion, pride, or revenue; or his body was centered on gluttony, alcohol, or nicotine. God demands every bit of all of us!

This is why no human being can satisfy the demands of God merely by going to church or observing external religious ceremonies. No one can say, “I am a good person.” In fact, keeping God’s commandments is impossible unless you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ fulfilled the great commandment perfectly, and He is the only human being ever to do so. Through His blood and His Spirit within us, we can live in a way that pleases God. On our own it is impossible.

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Does The Bible Allow Sex For Pleasure?

There are some religious people who feel that the only reason for sex is reproduction. Others believe that there are higher reasons for sex: The ultimate joining together of a man and woman–the joining together of two spirits; the joining together of two minds; and the joining together of two bodies. In the Old Testament the term for sexual intercourse was “to know” (a husband or wife). The most intimate knowledge of marriage partners comes about through these three joining in a Christian marriage. This is why Christians can have a much more stimulating sex life than non-Christians. Non-Christians cannot join together in the spirit. They lack that extra dimension.

The Bible says that marriage partners should offer their bodies to each other in marriage and should not deny each other except for a short season for fasting (see I Corinthians 7:5). God made men and women sexual beings. He made our nervous systems capable of receiving pleasure from the sex act. Sex in marriage is good and holy and ordained of God.

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Do People Have To Be Poor In Order To Be Holy?

It has been taught for many years that holiness and poverty go hand in hand. The apostle Paul said, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.” Then he added, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12-13).

You can be just as holy when you are financially comfortable as you can be when you are poor. Perhaps it is easier to cry out to God for help when you are in need. But if Christians sanctify God in their hearts ahead of material concern, they should be able to live above their circumstances whether that includes prosperity or poverty.

Poverty is a curse, not a blessing. It is certainly not equated with righteousness. It comes sometimes because of the horrors of war, sometimes because of unjust or unwise government, sometimes because of oppression by the greedy and the ruthless, sometimes because of disobedience to God’s commandments, and sometimes because of lack of knowledge of God’s principles of blessing. Sometimes a transition from one of God’s destinations to another brings temporary poverty. Sometimes temporary poverty follows a satanic attack or a serious and unexplainable calamity. Whatever its cause, poverty is not equated with holiness.

Some voluntarily take a vow of poverty so that they can give themselves totally to God. In that situation, poverty becomes a blessing for those people, because they have given up material riches for God. However, simply being poor is not a sign of holiness. Of course, neither is being wealthy. Godly people are those who are content wherever God has placed them and are serving Him to the best of their abilities, irrespective of material circumstances.

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Is Cruelty Grounds For Divorce?

It depends. I do not think mental cruelty is grounds for divorce if mental cruelty concerns the way a mate twists the toothpaste tube or hangs stockings in the bathroom. That type of mental cruelty has been defined in so many different contexts it has no meaning.

However, I do think physical brutality and abuse, and mental abuse of a nature that endangers the person’s mind or body, are clearly grounds for divorce. The Pauline privilege (see I Corinthians 7:15), which I mentioned earlier, permits divorce on the grounds of desertion by an unbelieving spouse. For mental cruelty to be grounds for divorce, it must involve conduct which makes it impossible to live with the spouse without endangering oneself.

The sort of cruelty I have in mind would not spring from a criticism of a souffle’ or a brother-in-law. Minor irritations need loving attention, but should not be allowed to rupture a holy relationship. Obviously, a couple composed of two born-again Christians does not fall under the Pauline privilege. Divorce and remarriage for any reason are truly unthinkable for two people who sincerely love God and are trying to serve Him.

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Is There Life After Death?

Yes! Emphatically, there is life after death for all people. How you will spend your life after death depends upon your relationship with God now. Jesus Christ said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

The whole message of Jesus Christ was that He broke the power of sin and death, because death was the consequence of sin. Jesus said, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). That is hope of the world–the resurrection. The apostle Paul said: “I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ … That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection … If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).

Not only is there life after death, but God is going to give us new bodies, better than the ones we have now. We are not going to be disembodied spirits. Those who believe in Jesus are going to have bodies just like the resurrection body of Jesus (see I Corinthians 15:35-49).

The Bible says that there will be a resurrection of the good and the resurrection of the evil. Some will arise to honor and some to shame (see Daniel 12:2-3, Matthew 25:46, Revelation 20:11-15).

Those who have lived for God are going to have a body such as Jesus has–a glorious, wonderful body–and they will be with Him forever in glory. Those who have not lived for Him will be in a place of torment and punishment. Yes, there is life after death, but the quality of that life depends upon how we spend our days in this “life before life.”

Often, the question arises whether a loving God could really send anyone to hell. Remember that God is always calling people to Himself. He sends signs such as the sun, the moon, the seasons, and harvest to show us that His love is there. He also sends out preachers, teachers, and evangelists to warn those who are living contrary to God’s will and to encourage such people to come to Him. Remember, too, that for heaven to be heaven, those in heaven should not be forced to live with the fear of a second satanic rebellion and another cycle of pain, suffering, and death. The only way to eliminate that fear is to see that those who absolutely refuse God and who want no part of His kingdom are given their wishes. Such people do not want to be apart of God’s kingdom, and so God says, “your will is to be apart from Me and I am going to let you have it the way you want it.

Apart from God there is everlasting darkness. It is a horrible thing to contemplate, but it is not God’s choice to send anyone out into that darkness. Instead, He reluctantly allows people to have what they have shown Him they want. The Bible talks about everlasting fire and eternal darkness when it describes hell (see Matthew 8:12, 25:41). Whether these are literal descriptions, or figures of speech describing the remorse and emotional pain the lost will suffer when they realize that they are separated from God forever, we don’t know. We do know that hell is real and forever!

Over the last few years we have had many cases of people returning to life after being “clinically dead” for short periods. Many of them have seen heaven and some have been allowed to see hell. They have seen a living being whom they presume to be God. They have communicated with Jesus. Some have asked to come back to this life, and He has let them; others have asked to stay, and He has told them that they still have a work to do here in this life. For all of them, the experience has been a life-changing one, and this is a uniform testimony to the existence of life after death. Such experiences, of course, are not proof that there is life after death, but they stand as support to the Bible’s statement that life continues beyond the grave.

The Bible is also clear in its teaching that we should not attempt to communicate with the dead. Leviticus 19:31 says: “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.” Isaiah 8:19 adds this: “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?”

When his baby son died, King David said, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (II Samuel 12:23). When we die we either go to heaven or hell. We will join those loved ones who have gone to heaven or hell. We will join those loved ones who have gone to the same place as we have. Until then, the living are forbidden to attempt contact with the dead. So-called ghosts, or spirits that speak through mediums, are really demons masquerading as the spirits of dead human beings.

If you let them, they will deceive you. They will try to lead you away from God, and–if they can gain a foothold in your life–they will do their very best to take control of you.