We are often asked our opinion regarding "contemporary worship services." I pray that I will answer this according to God's word and will. I want to be careful because I feel there are many "babes" (1 Corinthians 3:1) that are sincere, but deceived about this matter. One can be a "babe in Christ" without being a new Christian. I spent many years with little or no growth in my Christianity, so the length of time one has been saved has nothing to do with their maturity in Christ. I want to be kind, but more so, I want to honest and scriptural. Love is never Godly love if it is...
Blogs by Leland Maples
By Leland Maples
September 15th, 2014
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 2 Corinthians 6:17
Separation from the world and worldly people has always been the sign of a saint of God. In the Old Testament, God required His people, Israel, to be set apart from the other people on earth. Some of His harshest penalties happened because His people comingled with the nations of the world. Paul, author of over half the New Testament, was very emphatic about Christians being separate in all of his writings. Paul said we are to...
By Leland Maples
June 15th, 2014
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves..." 2 Timothy 3:1-2
The prevailing sign of the "last days" will be a misplacement of love. The love of man will far exceed the love of God and His Son. The love of man will far exceed one's love for integrity truth, righteousness and holiness. In fact, statements in favor of the truth are now proclaimed as "hate speech" in many quarters.
We have often commented in this column about the problem of putting the second commandment (Mark 12:28-31) before the first...
By Leland Maples
May 15th, 2014
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Colossians 2:16-17
We have just finished the Book of Colossians in our weekly Bible study. The book was written by Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome after he announced to the chief of the Jews:
"Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." Acts 28:28
Just as the resurrection of Christ brought...
By Leland Maples
April 10th, 2014
It's resurrection time again!
"Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:38-40
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity is nothing. If Christ did not rise from the dead, we...
By Leland Maples
March 15th, 2014
Have you noticed that today's "Messianic synagogues" are made up mostly of Gentiles, not Jews? Among some Christians there is the thinking that to partake of Jewish feasts, Jewish rituals, Jewish days and Jewish attire makes one more spiritual than a Gentile in a New Testament church. Even in the future Smyrna church during the tribulation period there will be people claiming to be Jews who are not (Revelation 2:8-10.)
Israel, today, is "Lo-ammi" (Hosea 1:9) meaning not My people. Israel's condition is described in Hosea 3:4:
"For the children of Israel shall abide many...
By Leland Maples
February 15th, 2014
Valentine's Day is a religious holiday that only one religion connects any religion to it. The background and research is so flimsy that Valentine could have been one of three saints or no saint at all. The holiday is depicted by boxes of candy, red hearts, little make believe angels called cupid (angels in the Bible have no wings.) Nothing about salvation, heaven, hell, resurrection, the cross, etc., are connected to this day. Even though Valentine Card sales are only #2 in regard to Christmas cards, the day does not leave much impression outside of erotic, romantic or frivolous.
... By Leland Maples
January 15th, 2014
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20
Welcome to the 21st century! The whole world and especially America is coming under this condemnation. In politics the practice is called putting the "spin" on certain things, in the Bible God calls it lying.
Women can murder their own children and the devil's crowd calls it "women's reproductive rights." "Marriage equality" is a nice term for the perversion of marriage (or is it the marriage of perverts?) A "...
By Leland Maples
September 15th, 2013
I wonder if man has outsmarted himself. With technology continuing to improve, the world-wide web, Facebook and Twitter; tablets and exquisite cell phones, interplanetary travel, the ability of friend or foe to know where you are and what you are doing at all times, can the mark of the beast be far behind?
"Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their INVENTIONS" Psalms 99:8 (caps mine) "Thus they provoked him to anger with their INVENTIONS and the plague brake in upon them." Psalms 106:29 (caps mine)
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By Leland Maples
August 15th, 2013
"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Psalms 12:6-7
In my lifetime, I have seen America's leadership begin to "…hate the good, and love the evil…" (Micah 3:2.) This hate of good and love of evil seems to parallel with the changing of one Bible translation right after another. Like the Athenians on Mars' hill, today's religious (not necessarily Christian) crowd seem to spend "their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear...