[Biblemat] A) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Monday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here are a couple of questions and answers that might be interest-
ing to you:

QUESTION:  "I believe that when we pray for something, in
                      faith, God will give it to us.  If we are sick, we
can pray and God will heal us.  He is able to do all things."
So, the question is: "Does God Answer Every Prayer?"

ANSWER:  I fully agree that God will hear and answer our 
                  prayers: "We know that God heareth not sinners:
but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do His Will, him
He heareth" (Jno. 9:31).  When His children pray, God answers: "For the eyes 
of the Lord are upon the righteous,
and his ears unto their supplication" (1 Pet. 3:12).  The apost-
le John writes, "And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, be-
cause we keep His commandments and do the things that are
pleasing in His sight" (1 Jno. 3:22).  For one who believes God, there can be 
no question that He hears and answers our
prayers.

     But to believe that God answers prayer does not mean be-
lieving that God will give us whatever we ask of HIm!  Do par-
ents always give the child what he or she wants?  God answers our prayers in 
a variety of ways -- "Yes," "No," "Later," or "Here is something else."  There 
are numerous
examples of all of these in the Scriptures.  You see, God gives us what we 
NEED.  And that is quite often different from
what we think we need.  Too many think of prayer as some
kind of divine "faucet" that we can use to obtain blessings
from God.  It is not.  Inherent in every prayer must be the attit-
ude shown in the prayer of Jesus, "Not my will, but thine, be
done" (Lk. 22:42).  As James wrote, "For that ye ought to say,
If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that" (Jas. 4:
15).

     Will prayer always heal the sick?  The apostle Paul wrote
of the illness of Epaphroditus, his fellow-worker, "For indeed
he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him" (Phil. 2:27).  On the 
other hand, the same apostle wrote, "Tro-phimus I left at Miletus sick" (2 
Tim. 4:20).  Surely Paul had
prayed for both men, but one was healed and one was left
sick.  Maybe the best example is Paul, himself.  He refers to a
physical affliction he had as a "thorn in the flesh."  We are not told what 
the affliction was, but he reveals his attitude to-
ward it: "Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might depart from me.  And He hath said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in
weakness" (2 Cor. 12:8,9).  Paul sure didn't get what he pray-
ed for!

     God often answers our prayers as He did with Paul.  We
don't always get what we ask for.  If simply praying for the
sick meant automatic healing, there would be no need for doc-
tors or hospitals, and the loved ones of Christians would never die!  But the 
Lord plainly said, "They that are whole
have no need of a physician, but that that are sick" (Matt. 9:
12).  And again, "It is appointed unto man once to die..." (Heb.
9:27).

     When we minister to those who are physically ill, and pray
for them, we are doing just what Jas. 5:13-16 teaches us.  And while the 
prayer of faith will "save" the sick, it won't nec-
essarily make him or her physically healthy.  Saints still get
sick and die.  Just as did the apostles and their families.  So,
let us do what we can to restore and maintain health, pray to
God for His blessing of healing, and trust in Him to do what
is best for His people.  And best of all, let us learn to accept
whatever answer He gives us.   ---- Clem Thurman in Gospel
Minutes, Vol. 56, No. 3, Jan. 19, 2007.

     QUESTION: -- "God instructed the Israelites to kill all the
                             Canaanites, adn occupy the land.  But why
kill all the children?  They were innocent!"  Why Kill Them All?

     ANSWER: -- Notice what God told Israel: "When Jehovah
                         thy God shall bring thee into the land whither
thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations be-
fore thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and
the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebu-
site, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when
Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou
shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou
shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; neither shalt 
thou make marriages with them; thy daughter shalt thou not give unto his son, nor 
his daughter
shalt thou take unto thy son.  For he will turn away thy son
from following Me, that they may serve other gods: so will the
anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and He will destroy
thee quickly.  But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break
down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew
down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire"
(Deut. 7:1-5).

     That language is clear.  God wanted the idolaters put to
death.  The stated reason was the prevention of the corrupt-
ion of Israel.  Thus, no alliances were to be made with the idol-
atrous nations, but they were to be exterminated.  Any of the
pagans that were left could influence and destroy the faith of
Israel.  Thus, they were all to be killed and every vestige of 
their idols was to be destroyed.

     We can only guess as to the reason why God included the
children in the sentence of death.  Some suppose that it was
because they would grow up and be just like their parents.  A
similar even during the reign of King Saul brought forth this:
"Thus saithe Jehovah of hosts, I have marked that which 
Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the 
way, when he came up out of Egypt.  Now go and smite Ama-
lek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay 
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox
and sheep, camel and ass" (1 Sam. 15:2,3).

     Other than the fact that children would grow up and event-
ually lead Israel astray, I have no idea why God put them under the death 
sentence.  But God is God.  He gives life, and He has the right to take it.  He 
knows the ways of man,
and what He does has a purpose.  It is not our prerogative to
question Him and His Will and His purposes.  We must accept
by faith, even that which we don't understand.   ---- Clem 
Thurman, in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 56, No. 3, Jan. 19, 2007.

(Concerning the question and answer above concerning God's killing of 
innocent children.  Let me say that even though we do not like to hear of such 
destroying of the human life of the innocents, we need to realize that the losing
of human life is not the worse thing that can happen to us.
The losing of the soul is much worse than just losing ones
physical life.  (Matt. 10:28).  So, when an innocent person,
whether it be infants are people not guilty of sins that have
brought about the physical deaths in the first place, we can
be assured of the safety of their souls.  As in the case of the
horrible deaths of the innocent that are brought about by the
evil act of abortion, by the millions, performed by the hands
of the abortionist and the one who allows such to be done to
her unborn fetus, the souls of such innocent unborn babies
are safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on their Savior's breast.
We cannot question the acts and requirements of God for He
made us and is therefore to be obeyed, worshipped and praised by every human 
being that desires to be with Him in
glory after this life is over.  So, let us surrender ourselves to
the God of the universe and accept His actions without quest-
ion.  JWS).
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20070122/121d0cda/attachment-0001.html