The tribe of Issachar……Each of the twelve sons of Israel received a blessing from his father, Jacob, just before Jacob's death. The twelve sons were the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, and Jacob's blessings contained prophetic information about the future of each tribe. In the case of the tribe of Issachar, Jacob prophesied, […]
Where is Mount Sinai? There are several possible candidates for the authentic site of Mount Sinai. The oldest tradition identifies the site as Jebel Musa ("the mountain of Moses") located in the Granite Mountains in the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula. Christian pilgrims have been coming to this site since the fourth century. One […]
“What are the gates of hell?”……Answer: The phrase the "gates of hell" is translated in some versions as the "gates of Hades." The gates of hell or gates of Hades is found only once in the entire Scriptures, in Matthew 16:18. In this passage, Jesus is referring to the building of His church: "And I […]
“How is eternity in hell a fair punishment for sin?”……This is an issue that bothers many people who have an incomplete understanding of three things: …The nature of God…The nature of man…The nature of sin.…As fallen, sinful human beings, the nature of God is a difficult concept for us to grasp. We tend to see […]
“Is annihilationism biblical?”……Answer: Annihilationism is the belief that unbelievers will not experience an eternity of suffering in hell, but will instead be "extinguished" after death. For many, annihilationism is an attractive belief because of the awfulness of the idea of people spending eternity in hell. While there are some passages that seem to argue for […]
“Is hell real? Is hell eternal?”……It is interesting that a much higher percentage of people believe in the existence of heaven than believe in the existence of hell. According to the Bible, though, hell is just as real as heaven. The Bible clearly and explicitly teaches that hell is a real place to which the […]
Hell We have often heard statements such as “War is hell” or “I went through hell.” These expressions are, of course, not taken literally. Rather, they reflect our tendency to use the word hell as a descriptive term for the most ghastly human experience possible. Yet no human experience in this world is actually comparable […]