INTERESTING INFORMATION
CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 9/2/2026 Every Wednesday
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The following material is provided for information purposes only. Any conclusions or opinions formed should be based on the principles as outlined in Acts 17:11. The material is intended for use as a witnessing tool and to keep you informed so you will not be unaware (Luke 21:34) of what is happening according to Scripture’s” However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
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INTERESTING INFORMATION ARTICLES
DID THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS PREDICT THE RAPTURE? PROPHECY WATCHERS EXPLORES ANCIENT CLUES HIDDEN FOR 2,000 YEARS
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
SPIRITUAL DARKNESS: The religious state in which unbelievers exist, namely, that of spiritual ignorancMercyMee with its attending immorality and misery
SUMMARY OF ARTICLES
"The Captain of the Lord's Army"
McLaughlin, Heritage Church, McKinney, TxThis is a wonderful Message. Don’t miss it, you will be blessed! Pass it on to your Homebound Family and friends
Chrisma News - Aug. 8, 2026-- For decades, the Dead Sea Scrolls have strengthened confidence in the accuracy of the Old Testament. But could they also contain clues pointing to one of Christianity’s greatest prophetic hopes—the Rapture?
That was the question explored during a recent Prophecy Watchers roundtable featuring Josh Peck, Gary Stearman and Mondo Gonzales. While emphasizing that the Dead Sea Scrolls are not inspired Scripture, the panel argued the ancient writings may preserve remarkable insights that align with New Testament prophecy.
“I certainly don’t put the extra-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls at the same level as the Bible,” Peck said. “But they do add a lot of context for the time that Christ would have lived.”
One of the discussion centered on Daniel 12 and repeated references in the scrolls to mysterious “shining ones.” Peck believes those figures are more than symbolic language.
“When you really break down everything that it says about them, it really seems to be talking about these are raptured believers,” he said, noting the writings distinguish them from both angels and ordinary people.
The conversation also turned to the 24 elders in Revelation. Peck argued they are glorified believers already in heaven before the Tribulation begins, calling their presence one of the clearest biblical arguments for a pre-Tribulation Rapture.
“If the 24 elders are … glorified believers,” Peck said, “they’re there in heaven before Jesus starts breaking scrolls.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls do not reveal a new doctrine. Instead, the writings show that long before the New Testament was completed, some Jewish believers were already anticipating prophetic events that we now see fulfilled in Christ—and ultimately pointing toward His promised return.
https://www.heritagechurchmckinney.com/messages/The%20Captain%20of%20the%20Lord's%20Army.mp3
THE NEW JERUSALEM IS MORE THAN A HEAVENLY CITY
Charisma News – Jul. 26, 2026 -- Many Christians picture the New Jerusalem as a magnificent city with streets of gold and gates of pearl. But John Bevere says Revelation points to something even greater: the eternal fulfillment of God’s desire to dwell with His people. On a recent episode of The John Bevere Podcast, Bevere and his son, Arden, explored one of Revelation’s most intriguing passages, where the apostle John is invited to see “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” but is instead shown the New Jerusalem descending from heaven.
Why Is the New Jerusalem Called the Bride?
Bevere said many believers have overlooked the significance of Revelation’s description of the New Jerusalem.
“We’ve often separated the Bride from the city,” he said, explaining that Scripture presents them together rather than as competing ideas.
According to Bevere, the New Jerusalem is a real city prepared by God, while also representing the redeemed people who will dwell in His presence forever.
Rather than diminishing either truth, he said Revelation reveals the deep connection between God’s eternal dwelling place and those He has redeemed through Christ.
God’s Plan Has Always Been to Dwell With His People
Bevere said the Bible tells one continuous story from Genesis to Revelation.
God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before sin separated humanity from Him. Throughout the Old Testament, His presence filled the tabernacle and later the temple. Then Jesus came as Immanuel, “God with us,” and after His resurrection, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within believers.
Revelation brings that story to its completion.
“This has always been God’s desire,” Bevere said. “To dwell with His people.”
The New Jerusalem is the final picture of that promise fulfilled, where nothing will separate God’s people from His presence again.
More Than Streets of Gold While Revelation describes breathtaking beauty throughout the city, Bevere encouraged Christians not to lose sight of what makes the New Jerusalem glorious.
Its greatest treasure is not its walls, foundations or streets, but the presence of God Himself.
He said heaven should never be viewed primarily as a destination filled with rewards, but as the place where believers will enjoy perfect fellowship with Christ forever.
Hope That Changes How We Live
Bevere said understanding the New Jerusalem gives Christians a greater appreciation for their eternal identity and future.
The closing chapters of Revelation are not simply about a heavenly city—they reveal the culmination of God’s redemption plan and His unwavering desire to live with His people forever.
That hope is more than a future promise. It is a reminder that every step of God’s plan has been leading to the day when His people will dwell in His presence for all eternity.
SEXUAL IMMORALITY ISN’T FREEDOM, IT’S SLAVERY
The Christian Post – Aug. 16, 2024 – Previous U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg insisted that widespread access to abortion doesn’t just make women “more free,” it also gives men more “freedom” as well.
His statement showcases the common idea that human happiness and fulfillment depend on sexual freedom. And what better guarantees that “freedom” than abortion, the ability to erase one of the main “barriers” to unrestricted sex, namely, the unplanned birth of a new human life?
But sexual immorality isn’t freedom, it’s slavery. Jesus warns that “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). And, while we know that any kind of sin is enough to damn us (if we do not stand covered by Jesus’s finished work on the cross), sexual sin is more perversely corrupting. That’s why Paul emphasizes that “Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Now, we live at a time when the temptation to put on those chains voluntarily is overwhelming.
Everywhere, whether on TV, billboards, and especially on social media, we are bombarded not only with temptations but also with the message that it is good to give in.
But sex outside of the context for which God intended it — a man and a woman united in monogamous marriage — consistently leads to misery. If complete sexual freedom is the key to joy, then why is it that Gen Z, which lives in perhaps the most libertine era in human history, also reports such high rates of loneliness, depression, and anxiety? Shouldn’t the ability to partner with whomever you wish — free of social opprobrium and with the ability to kill any preborn children so they don’t “get in the way” of your life — bring unprecedented joy and cure loneliness and depression?
Certainly, other factors also play a role in this mental health crisis. But a large part of the problem lies with the destruction wrought by sexual debauchery.
Solomon instructs that “Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel” (Proverbs 20:17). Similarly, pleasure gained by sin might feel “sweet” for a moment, but its sweetness quickly turns to ash.
Men and women are both learning the emptiness of sexual libertinism. They were told that this unrestrained liberty is the way to achieve lasting joy. They seem to gain it for a moment, they feel happy for a time — but then they find out the hollowness of what the culture promised them.
They find out that these worldly relationships don’t really satisfy them, that they gave up the beauty of a lifelong, self-sacrificial commitment to another human being. They find themselves listless and unhappy, and they can’t explain why.
Abortion empowers this empty lifestyle: Before the widespread advent of abortion, the risk of having an unplanned pregnancy was a powerful deterrent on immoral behavior.
Yes, it’s true that abortion is an evil as old as ancient Egypt, but at no time has it been so widely available and aggressively promoted as it is in the 21st-century West.
It’s an added irony that the left, which claims to be feminist, is so pro-abortion.
Buttigieg is right, in a way. Abortion has made men more “free” — but not in a good way. Men may be more free to pursue happiness but they are also more free from responsibility. They’re more free to sleep around, have affairs, and then eliminate the consequences of their behavior by killing any unplanned babies, sacrificing them on the altar of their selfish, immoral pleasures.
Men and women both would find it much better to ignore Buttigieg’s philosophy and accept, as the 17th-century Puritan Thomas Watson wrote, that “To serve God, to Love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world.”
SALVATION: THE FIRST STEP
Acts 16:19-40
After a baby takes his first steps, the parents call loved ones. They excitedly announce the awesome accomplishment, which is the beginning of a new life of greater mobility and maturity. In the same way, the Christian life begins with a first step—salvation. But it’s only the start of a new life of increasing spiritual growth.
When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” they answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). It’s simple enough that even a child can do it, and after salvation, we are all like babies taking our first steps. A new believer doesn’t understand all the doctrines of salvation any more than a toddler knows all the mechanics of walking. However, once we are saved, we have a responsibility to learn what God has done for us and to take more steps of obedience in the Christian life.
Genuine salvation always results in transformation. When we receive Jesus as our personal Savior, He comes to live within us through the Holy Spirit. Our old way of life no longer fits our new identity, and the Spirit works within us to make us more like Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Has there been a particular point in your life when you recognized your sin and then asked Jesus to forgive you and become your Savior? If so, how has your life been transformed since then? Spiritual growth is one of the ways we can know that we are saved.
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