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

In this third and final part of the study of the Minor Prophets, the writings of the Prophets Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are examined. With Zephaniah, one can examine the prophecies against and the warnings to Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, Assyria, and Judah. With Haggai, one can read about the people who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon being caught up in their own interests and priorities rather than in the things of the Lord. For one thing, they had built themselves nice homes. But they had not rebuilt the temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 ...

In his gospel, the Apostle John had recorded eight occasions when Jesus had made metaphorical statements about Himself. In chapter one of this text however, the evidence to show that he had actually written the gospel by his name will first be presented. One should note from that discussion that this gospel has not always had his name associated with it. So there had initially been some room for doubt. One should also understand that not everyone agrees about when this gospel was written. So that will also be a matter for discussion. Finally, chapter one will also consider some of the very ...

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...

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 ...

The fourth edition of this book has been written to clean up some of the poorly worded text in the first three editions and to show important Bible verses rather than just refer to them. An effort has also been made to convert previously used first person speech with more formal third person speech. In looking at the second chapter of the epistle of James, this standalone book considers authorship, the date that the whole epistle was written, and the basis for its acceptance into the biblical canon. With a strong focus on the Greek language, the goal has also been to perform good exegesis ...

People sometimes have difficulty understanding the Trinity. But if that is the case with someone reading this Introduction, then he or she should not feel too bad. It took the scholars and theologians of the early Church about five hundred years after the Incarnation of Jesus to even begin to figure it out. The whole idea of one God is not too difficult to understand. But when the same scholars and theologians start talking about one God in three persons, then the whole matter becomes much more complicated. Is it biblically correct to say or think of three different persons of deity, daily ...

In the first part of the fourth chapter of the epistle of James, the author wrote about the unanswered selfish prayers of those who primarily pray for what they want. The obvious conclusion is that truly godly people should always pray for what the Lord wants of them rather than for what they might hope to get for themselves from Him. In the second part of the fourth chapter, he wrote about the importance of putting the Lord first in all things. The reasons for doing that are many. It is important to live a holy life. It is important for the saints of God to hold up each other. It is ...

The five individual chapter commentaries on the Epistle of James that I have written have been incorporated into one text of the entire epistle. The first two chapter commentaries were written in 1998 and have been greatly modified for this text. An effort has also been made to convert previously used first person language with more formal third person language. That having been said and in looking at the first chapter of the Epistle of James, it considers authorship, the date that the epistle was written, and the basis for its acceptance into the biblical canon. With a strong focus on the ...

In the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had made four points. First, He had been telling them to be poor in spirit, which meant that they should have a heart and 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 people who would be persecuted for His name's sake. He had spoken to those who have a responsibility to be salt and light. Third, He had ...

This detailed outline for the end-time prophecies has been divided into thirteen chapters. It should probably be suitable for a diligent student of the Bible who wants to look through the prophecies in an outline format. It will also be good for anyone who wants an easier way to study the prophecies. Each chapter will begin with a focus for the entire chapter. Then a list of usually five questions will follow which are intended to guide the reader through the most important parts of the chapter. The structure of each chapter is in a somewhat loose outline format. That should make it easier ...

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 ...

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 ...

This book begins by examining the two occasions when Satan and the "sons of God" presented themselves in heaven before the Lord. A brief explanation will be offered at that time concerning the use of the term "sons of God" and what it has meant in other places in the Bible, especially in Genesis 6:2 and Genesis 6:4. From there, the discussion will show how people can know that Job actually lived and when he had probably lived. The point will even be made that some theologians believe that Moses might have been the author of the book of Job. Next, the visit to Job by his three friends will ...

This short book has been written to share a couple of very important spiritual truths. The first, called the Eternality of Bible Truth, maintains that every word of the Bible has always been true even before it was spoken or written. The second truth is that the Old Testament saints probably did not hear God's audible, out loud voice. That simple statement is not meant to sound heretical. Those words are also not meant to deny anything that Christians have traditionally believed about God. The real message is that what we have many times just accepted as truth in the Bible may in fact not ...

This book has been written to clear up some confusion about John 3:16. In the pages that follow, the actual originator of those words will be identified. The verse is in red in Bibles that identify the words of Jesus with red letters. But did He really say those words in His conversation with Nicodemus? In reaching the most logical conclusion, careful consideration will be given to the verb "gave" in that verse and to the Apostle John's use of the aorist active indicative case for that verb. Verses from other parts of his writings and the New Testament will also be considered to arrive at ...

The Bible teaches that there are seven separate judgments. This book was written about the first one, which was the judgment of Satan and sin by the cross of Jesus. It starts with Satan sinning in heaven and being cast to the earth. It carefully analyzes the Garden of Eden environment and the whole theology around what happened when Adam ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It considers several logistical questions concerning his sin, the consequences of his sin, and the resulting physical and spiritual separations from God. Once those topics have been addressed, some ...

One cannot study the opening chapters of the book of Genesis without getting into some very weighty issues. There is, of course, the first chapter that talks about Creation. But there are also other issues as well. For example, who wrote the book of Genesis? Not everyone will agree that it was Moses. Plus, when, if he did write it, did he actually write it? As will be seen in that part of this text, the higher critics have argued against Moses for a reason that will be shared at that time. But other critics have also argued against Moses, as being the author of the first five books of the ...

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...

Earlier this year in 2022, I completed a daily devotion book on the book of Proverbs. That book was intentionally meant to be very non-technical. By design, the devotions were meant to be easy to read and understand but without involving the reader with a lot of Hebrew words and scripture references. So that book was completed earlier this year in one very large volume. But now, this book, which is being prepared as six separate parts in six volumes, is meant to be everything that the devotion book was not meant to be. For example, each of the devotions that are in the devotion book are ...