Tag: Bible Study

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Is Belief Enough Pt. 1: Are There Requirements To Enter Heaven?

I believe in God, but is that enough? Is believing that God exists enough, or is there another step? Can you enter Eternal Life simply by saying you believe, or are there some kind of requirements? Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” So what does that means? Join ArieRashelle as she uses Scripture to explain what Jesus meant in Matthew 7:21, in her video series Is Belief Enough?

Ephesians 2:8-9
James 2:14-26
Matthew 7:21-23
John 14:15
Matthew 6:14-15
Matthew 18:32-35
Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 10:22
Matthew 5:43-48
1 John 4:19-21
Luke 10:25-29
John 4:9
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 Corinthians 13:4-10
1 John 4:19-21
Luke 6:27-31
Philippians 2:5-8
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 11:2
Romans 12:3-8
Matthew 7:13-14
Jeremiah 29:11
Malachi 3:10-12
John 10:10
John 14:12-14

Is Belief Enough?

The verse many people have as a defense for the way they live their lives is:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

But is this really what Paul meant by this statement? Was he saying that works are unnecessary and pointless? Was he saying that it didn’t matter the way we lived our lives because we can’t save ourselves? Or was he saying that we can’t save ourselves, but once we are saved, we have to change, for there can be no unrighteousness with God?

Let’s take a look at what Jesus said during His earthly ministry.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-15

According to Jesus, belief isn’t enough. You have to forgive if you want to be forgiven.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

1 John 4:7-9

According to John, you have to have love in order to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. In order to keep your salvation, you must love.

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The Beasts of the Field

In Genesis 3, God compares Satan’s intelligence to that of the Beasts of the Field. Why? Throughout history, we’re told of mythological creatures such as centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, etc. Many people hear about these mythological creatures and think that they’re just all make-believe. But what if they’re not? What if there is more to these mythological creatures? What if there are mythological creatures in the Bible? What if Satan being called a dragon is more than what it seems? Crazy? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to find the Truth in her video, The Beasts of The Field.

Genesis 3:1
Hebrews 2:6-8
Deuteronomy 28:26
Isaiah 18:6
Genesis 2:18-20
Revelation 12:9
Matthew 18:10
John 3:14-15
Numbers 21:8
Isaiah 6:2
Job 1:6-7
Revelation 12:7-8
Genesis 6:1-2
Jude 1:6
Luke 3:38
1 Peter 5:8
Revelation 12:10
Genesis 2:18-19
Isaiah 34:14
Genesis 1:26
Isaiah 13:21
Revelation 13:2-4
Revelation 18:2
Deuteronomy 32:17
Genesis 1:1
Psalms 82:1-7
Matthew 25:46
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
Matthew 19:17
Luke 23:39-43

The Beasts of the Field

Satan Compared to a Beast of the Field

If Satan is an angel and the beasts of the field are just animals, why did God compare his intelligence to an animal?

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

Genesis 3:1a

Mythological Creatures in the Bible

Satan Called a Dragon

If Satan is an angel, why is he never referred to as such? Why is he referred to as a dragon or a serpent (which are beasts of the field)?

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 12:7-9

The beasts of the field aren’t animals, they are supernatural beings created on earth. That’s why they were brought to the man when God saw he was lonely.

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

Genesis 2:18-19

Satan isn’t an angel. He is a beast of the field.

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Identity Thief

Do you know who you are in Christ? That’s a question I feel we no longer know the answer to in today’s society. We are too busy classifying ourselves according to what the world says instead of what the Word of God says. The case of missing identity has become very prevalent in our society. There is definitely an Identity Thief on the loose out there. So once again I ask, do you know who you are in Christ?

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Colossians 3:5-10
John 15:19
Romans 12:1-2
1 John 2:4-6
Ephesians 5:1
Galatians 3:26-29
Psalms 103:8-13
Isaiah 43:25
Matthew 11:28-30
2 Corinthians 5:17
John 3:3
Ephesians 4:21-24

Identity Thief in Our World Today

In our culture today, we have no idea who we are anymore. Every day we push more and more to take away our identities. We pushed to remove God from our schools. We’re currently pushing to remove gender altogether. But why? The enemy knows that if we don’t have an identity, we are lost. He also knows that if we will believe that we are our sin, then we will reject the Truth.

See, the Truth sets us free, but if we believe that the Truth is trying to destroy our identity then we will never accept it. The enemy didn’t sneak and take our identity and our children’s identities one night while we were sleeping. No, in fact, he walked in through the front door and slowly began to change the way we think through movements of ’empowerment’. From the very beginning the Devil has been good at getting us to willingly accept poison as he convinces us that we like it.

The Devil, in the Garden of Eden, convinced Eve that the forbidden fruit wouldn’t cause death, but instead, it would make you wise like God. He convinced the people of Israel that God was their Baal. The Devil attacks the mind before anything else. Why? Because you are what you think. If you want your identity back, change the way you think. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Study your Bible so you know who you are in Christ Jesus, then put it into action by casting down any thought contrary to your identity in Christ Jesus.

Always remember, you are not your sin. You are not your past. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

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From Lucifer to Satan

As Christians, we have been taught from a young age that Lucifer and Satan are one being. Lucifer was the choir director in Heaven. Throughout his body were musical pipes, but then pride was found in him, due to miraculous beauty. Lucifer was then thrown down to the Earth before the Earth was even formed, which resulted in the Earth being left in Chaos.

Once thrown down, he became known as the Devil and Satan, vowing to destroy all of mankind. But is this the true origin of Satan? Did he really fall before the Earth was even formed? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to find the truth.

Ezekiel 28:12-14
Isaiah 14:12
Revelation 12:9
Ezekiel 10:14
Ezekiel 10:20-22
Genesis 1:16
Revelation 9:1
Ezekiel 28:15
John 8:44
Isaiah 14:13-14
Revelation 12:4-6
Ephesians 5:22-27
Revelation 19:13-16
John 1:14
Matthew 2:13-15
Ezekiel 28:18-19
1 Peter 5:8
Isaiah 14:15
Revelation 20:3

Verses on Lucifer and Satan

Lucifer

His Sin

12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

Isaiah 14:12-14
His Punishment

15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

Isaiah 14:15

Lucifer’s sin was that he desired to be like God, whereas Satan’s sin was that he tried to kill God.

Satan

His Sin

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.

5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. 7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,

Revelation 12:1-7
His Punishment

8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 12:8-9

The Anointed Guardian Cherub

The Sin

14 You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. 16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.

Ezekiel 28:14-17
The Punishment

18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you.

Ezekiel 28:18

Lucifer, Satan, and the Anointed Guardian Cherub Table

Lucifer, Satan, and the Anointed Guardian Cherub are three different beings for several reasons, but specifically, because their sins and their punishments were very different. One was thrown to earth, another to the pit, and the last was destroyed (turned to ash).

Picture describing difference between Lucifer, Satan, and Anointed Guardian Cherub

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Sheol

We’ve often heard that the dead go to a special place, but what exactly is that place? When Jesus died and went into the belly of the Earth, was that place Hell? What is the difference between Hell and this Old Testament term, Sheol? Is there even a difference? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through both Old Testament and New Testament to find the answers, in her video Sheol.

Acts 17:11
Matthew 5:22
Genesis 37:35
2 Corinthians 5:8
Luke 16:22-23
Luke 16:25-28
Mark 9:43-48
Revelation 19:20
Revelation 20:14
Matthew 12:40
Revelation 20:11-15
Ephesians 4:8
Revelation 6:9-11
2 Corinthians 5:8
Matthew 16:25
John 14:1-4

Sheol

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalms 139:8

39 But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

Matthew 12:39-41

22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s [bosom]. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’

Luke 16:22-24

13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:13-15

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Thou Shall Not Judge

“Judge not, that you be not judged. ” Matthew 7:1. This is one of the most quoted scriptures in our time. It’s usually quoted when someone is being corrected for doing something that they believe they should be able to do. “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7b is the other verse we love to quote after being corrected. Which leaves us all asking the question, can Christians judge? Or is it ‘Thou Shall Not Judge’?

Are Christians allowed to judge? Is that morally, right? Many believe that it is, while others believe that it is morally wrong and sinful. We love to say Jesus never judged. Jesus only showed love. So where does that leave us? Watch the video below, check the evidence presented, and you decide what the Bible deems is morally right.

Jonah 1:4-6
Matthew 26:40
1 Samuel 26:12
John 15:4
John 15:6
John 15:10
Matthew 10:28
Matthew 7:1
Galatians 5:24
1 Corinthians 9:25-27
Proverbs 12:1
Matthew 7:5
Matthew 7:15-16
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Galatians 5:19-21
Matthew 7:17-20

Thou Shall Not Judge

We often quote Matthew 7 but never read the verse in its entirety.

1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

6 Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Matthew 7:1-6

Jesus isn’t saying ‘do not judge’. He’s saying judge righteously. Look at God’s warning to Elijah.

18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Ezekiel 3:18-19

We are to judge righteously by calling sin sin, and living a righteous life by following Christ.

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