Showing results by author "James Thomas Lee Jr." in All Categories

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 ...

Many people may find this text offensive. But my desire for many years has been to understand why so many people who regularly attend church do not get more involved in the church's ministries. While not everyone will agree with my general conclusion, it is that most of those individuals are probably not really saved. I do not want to be a judge or sound judgmental. But the simple fact is that the Bible teaches throughout that the Christian is a life of ministry and service for the Lord by the true followers of Christ. So as will be discussed in the following pages, one of my conclusions is...

In summary, what was Jesus saying to those people in this first part of His sermon? First, He was telling them to be poor in spirit, which meant that they should have a heart and a mind that would be open to His instructions. Second, He had made some specific promises to those who are poor in spirit, mourning over their spiritual condition, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and makers of peace. He had spoken to those who would be persecuted for His name's sake. He spoke to those who have a responsibility to be salt and light. Third, He shared His ...

When this book was begun in late November 2013, the intent was to write a commentary on chapter five of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus. But about fifty pages into that endeavor, it became clear that the book was not going in that direction. For one thing, his letter to that church had not even been mentioned in those pages. For another, the focus up to that point had been on Paul's missionary journeys. The reason for those problems was that the original intent had been to put his letter to the church into the context of his journeys. But there was so much to say about the journeys ...

This book discusses one of the most important set of verses in one of the most important chapters in one of the most important books of the Bible. The whole doctrine about being born again is based upon a conversation that Jesus had had with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. From that conversation, one can easily see the analogy between the brass serpent on a pole in the Old Testament and Jesus on the cross at Calvary. That analogy makes it clear that Jesus is the only way of salvation. People may try whatever they like. But John 14:6 says that no one comes to the Father except by the Son. All of...

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...

This text was not written to show how much better the godly kings were than the ungodly kings. It was not written to try to show that God had loved the children of Israel more than the people of all of the other nations. To the contrary, this text was written to show that, in some instances, the godly kings did some things that were just as bad as any of the ungodly kings of Israel. It was written to show that the Lord loved the people who opposed the children of Israel just like He loved the children of Israel. The notion that He had showed special favor to one type of people over another ...

This text was written in response to a question that I was asked at a Wednesday night Bible study at Wallers Baptist Church in Partlow, Virginia. The question, which was asked by the church's pastor, was in regard to the obvious enthusiasm that some of the saints of God seem to have for the Lord's work. The study that evening was in Acts 13:13, which talks about the Apostle Paul's first Bible-recorded missionary journey. It says, "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem." So when the company ...

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 has been written to share what I discovered during a unique experience in late 1989 and early 1990. While that experience was not very pleasant, the discoveries that I made have more than made up for any of those anxieties which I felt. After having been a Christian for a little over twenty-two years, I suddenly and without warning lost my job. Since at that time I had been faithful in the Lord's work for over fifteen years, plus had also done very well within my profession, being released from my employment did not seem logical. Therefore, from the very beginning, I acknowledged ...

This third edition of my heaven book explains the reasons for Satan, Adam, Eve, and the rest of human existence as it has been known for the past six thousand-plus years. It presents logical certainties about heaven and what people will do once they are there. In fact, one gets a good understanding of what the saints of God can expect on the other side of the grave just from looking at things like the seven days of Creation. This book does not do an exhaustive study of that. But it does use instances where the Lord had said that He was pleased for determining what heaven will be like. So if...

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 ...

Ten places in the Bible, mention is made about events and decisions that were made from, before, or since the foundation of the world. Four of those occasions were spoken by Jesus during His public ministry. One was written by the Apostle Paul. One was written by the Apostle Peter. Two occurrences were included in the book of Hebrews. Two occurrences were mentioned in the book of Revelation. In chapters one through three of this text, two of the writings about events and decisions from the foundation of the world will be shared. First, Jesus taught secrets about the Word of God and secrets ...

In the pages that follow, a high-level study of two general views for interpreting the scriptures will be conducted. Those two views are Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism. But the study of those views will only be done at an introductory level since the intent will be to see whether or not the Church will go through the Tribulation. Of the two, Dispensationalism seems to present the stronger case. That is because it uses a literal approach for understanding the end-time events while Covenant Theology uses a non-literal approach. Another view, called Replacement Theology, will also be ...

In his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul shared nine important truths. First, he spoke about the necessity for every saint to be called by the Holy Spirit into his or her specific ministry. Second, he indicated that salvation is by the Lord alone and that He is longsuffering with people because His desire is for them to be saved. Third, he told Timothy that the Lord wants everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth of the gospel so that they can be saved. Fourth, he told Timothy that Jesus performs the role of mediator in reconciling lost and saved sinners to God the Father. When...

In my adult Sunday school class on December 12, 1982, I spoke to the class about the Theory of Evolution and expressed my beliefs about how that theory will lead to the Tribulation. Remarkable as such a statement may sound, I believe it to be the truth. So I have written this book to retrace the steps that led to that lecture. I hope to relate, in this summary, not just a review of that Sunday morning class, but also to provide a trail of my research. Perhaps, after reading these pages, my reader will be led to conclude, as I already have, that the end may be much nearer than we think. ...

Twenty-seven times in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible the phrase "be not afraid" appears. Therefore, each of those cases will be discussed in this text. To better analyze them, they have been broken into eight categories. The first category, which is to "be not afraid" of the Lord, will be examined in chapters one, two, and three of this text. Those chapters will look closely at the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter had just died and also at the disciples when they had seen Jesus walking to them on the water. The second category, which is to "be not afraid" of the unexpected, ...

This text has been entitled "Nine Different Ways to Praise the Lord" because nine different Hebrew words in the Old Testament have been translated as "praise" in the scriptures. They are yadah, hilluwl, tehillah, barak, halal, zamar, towdah, shabach, and mahalal. Among those nine, five are verbs and four are nouns. Each of those words will be discussed in this text. In addition, though, because verbs in Hebrew can have different meanings based upon the use of stems, a separate chapter has been devoted to the discussion of Hebrew stem types. Single chapters have also been written to discuss ...

In December 1967, my life was in more trouble than I could realistically handle. While in the midst of those struggles, I asked the Lord to forgive me for all the wrong that I had done and to put my life on a path that would lead me out of my difficulties. More than fifty years later, I can now say that He was faithful to do exactly that. He changed me from the inside out. Then He changed the dreadful circumstances of my entire life. Since that night in 1967, I have experienced the joy of knowing the God of the universe and the one and only Creator of everything. Through the years, I have ...

First Thessalonians is the first letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to any of the local churches. In the opening chapter of this book, one will see how and when he had gotten to the place where he wrote this letter. It is interesting to see and retrace his travels throughout the region along with the travels of Silas and Timothy. Bible scholars have done an excellent job of examining the scriptures and the movements of key people to put everything into the right context and the right timeframe. That having been said, Paul was in his second Bible-recorded missionary journey. This letter to ...