Mark attempts to answer every question that comes in to him. Though all can not be listed here we have posted the most relevant questions.
If you have a question that you would like answered you may send it to Mark by email or postal mail by clicking on "contact us" on the home page.
Question:
Is reincarnation real?
NO! Reincarnation is a religious concept of the Hindus and Buddhists. They refer to it as "soul transmigration." It is a belief of the eternal birth-death-birth cycle where a persons soul moves from body to body. Each time they "reincarnate" into a new body (it can be a human body or an animal body) the status or importance of their next body is a direct result of the kind of life, (good or bad), that their soul led in its previous body. So if they lived a "good" life they believe it will result in a rebirth or reincarnation into a higher quality of life and if they lived a "bad" life then they are reincarnated into a lower life form. They base this belief on the law of "Karma" which is the foundation of Hinduism and the ultimate goal in this Karma cycle is for the soul to "progress" to the highest level of existence and "become one with the universe." Reincarnation is a sister religion to "pantheism" which is the belief that everything is God - the trees are God, the sky is God, the grass is God, people are God etc. Both of these, reincarnation and pantheism, are also the central doctrines and beliefs of occultism. What a belief in reincarnation does is that it provides the person with unlimited chances to "get life right." If they don't get it right this time then they can get it right in their next life, then the next life, then the next life and on and on. So, it doesn't really matter what you do in life, how much you sin, how much wrong you do, you can do whatever you want because you have unlimited lifetimes to make things right "whenever you feel like it." The belief of reincarnation goes against the entire teaching of the Bible. The Bible very clearly and concisely refutes the doctrine of reincarnation. The Bible says "it is appointed unto man to die ONCE, and after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Only one life. The Bible says that "the wages of sin is DEATH" (Romans 6:23) not chance after chance and life after life until you get it right. Reincarnation teaches that salvation is not from God through His Son Jesus Christ but rather that salvation is eventually attained by everyone once they have "perfected" themselves at the end of their Karma-based life cycle. It is a dangerous, deadly, heathenistic, paganistic and atheistic belief! Only through the Cross of Jesus Christ can we find perfect peace, and hope, and eternal life.
Question:
What do you think about tattoos?
The Bible teaches that "the world is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24:1). All things belong to God. Even our body is not our own, “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6: 19 & 20). Our body is the temple, or dwelling place, of the Holy Ghost. The apostle Paul calls our body “the temple of God” (I Corinthians 3: 16&17), and “the temple of the living God” (II Corinthians 6:16). We are commanded to yield our body and its members, as well as our soul, as instruments of righteousness to God, to His glory. Scripture instructs that we are not to defile this temple of God, “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh...nor print any marks upon you” (Leviticus 19:28). Cuttings and markings in the flesh was a heathen practice in idol worship. The infinite love of God and the all-encompassing effectual power of the Cross is written in Christ’s shed blood upon the hearts of those who have made Him their personal Lord and Saviour. That is the only (if I may use the analogy) tattoo that we should bear.
Question:
Does the Bible describe Heaven?
Thank you for your e-mail and your interest to learn more about God's Word.
In answer to your questions; We are given a description of the Heavenly City in the 21st and 22nd chapters of Revelation. Jesus said “in My Father’s House are many mansions” (or rooms). The Bible does not tell us how these individual rooms will be adorned but we can be sure that it will far surpass anything that we can imagine. It does however describe the precious stones that will make up the twelve foundations, the gates of solid pearl, the streets of gold and more. Heaven is far, far greater than anything that you or I can even begin to imagine.
Heaven will not be like life on this earth. We will not get bored there, we will never lack anything and there will never be any pain, disappointment or sorrow of any kind. We will not be spending our days floating on clouds and strumming harps as many artists have depicted. The Bible makes clear that God will have work for us to do though it does not tell us in detail what this work will involve. Though the Bible does not answer all of our questions about Heaven it does tell us that it will be a place of supreme happiness and joy. The Bible says “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for us" (I Corinthians 2:9).
Yes, Heaven is forever, but there will not be “time” in Heaven as we know it. The Bible says “there shall be time no longer” (Revelation 10:6). We will have no sense of time there, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). We will never run out of things to do, see, and experience in Heaven. We will have all of eternity to explore the wonders of all His creations and experience the incomparable depths of His Love.The most important thing is that you can go there. God loves you so much that He wants you to be with Him forever, and Christ came into the world to make that possible if you will open your heart and give your life to Him today.
Question:
I want to know God more and more and love Him. How do i do that? I want to grow spiritually, i want to forsake
everything about this world.
The first thing you should do is thank God for giving you this desire to know Him better. He has put this spiritual hunger within you because He loves you and wants you to come to know Him more. Do not ignore your desire to know God better. The Bible tells us to, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6).
If I understand your question correctly you have already taken the most important step that any person can take and that is to turn to Jesus Christ and ask Him into your life. When we do that He will forgive our past and He will help us to become the person we should be. When we take that step something remarkable happens, God Himself comes to live within us through His Holy Spirit, and He will help you by giving you the strength that you need to live for Him - the Bible says that “The Spirit helps us in our weakness” (Romans 8:26).
As you walk daily with Him you will come to know Him more and more. As your personal relationship with Him grows so will your love for Him. Nothing can take the place of a consistent and consecrated prayer life. Seek God and His will for you every day through prayer. Tell Him you know that you need Him. Ask Him to help you learn and to grow in your knowledge of Him as you read His Word, the Bible, every day. Give Him complete access and complete control at all times in all areas of your life. Begin every day by committing it to God, asking Him to guide you and to help you resist temptation. With God’s help you can and will become closer and closer to Him and you will become the person that God wants you to be and the person that you long to be in Him.
Question:
I recently lost a very close friend. How can I deal with the pain and sorrow I am feeling?
Few events in life are as painful as losing a good friend, and God understands your grief. He even understands your doubts and the other feelings you may have, and I want to assure you that they do not change His love and concern for you. One of the Bible's greatest truths is this: God never abandons us when life becomes hard. He does not turn His back on us. He is always with us and wants to help us, even when life is difficult and everything seems to go wrong. Trials will either make a person turn away from God or drive them to Him. If we turn to Him our faith grows stronger, and afterward we are better equipped to meet the next challenge that comes our way. The Bible says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance" (James 1:2-3).
God wants to comfort you and help you deal with your loss. Don't cut yourself off from Him, even if you find yourself confused by what has happened to you. Instead, turn to Him and tell Him honestly how you feel -- and then ask Him to help you as you adjust to the loss of your friend. The Bible reminds us that He is "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). If your friend accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour of their life then they have passed from all the pains and sorrows of this life into the joy and peace of heaven. They are now safely in God's presence forever. In heaven, the Bible says, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Revelation 21:4).
I urge you to continue to commit your problems to God and ask Him to help you grow spiritually stronger through them. Never forget: Jesus Christ went through far more than you or I ever will, and He will never abandon you. Now more than ever, put your faith and trust in Him, and thank Him for the hope we have of heaven because of His love. Then reach out to Him every day. I can't promise all your problems will be over-but I do know this: It's far better to face them with Christ than to face them alone.
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Question:
Is it possible to turn away from Christ and lose your salvation?
There are those who hold strongly to the belief of "Once saved Always saved". Such state emphatically that "there is nothing you can DO to become saved. Therefore there is nothing you can DO to become "un"saved. They believe that you can neither GAIN nor LOSE your salvation based on anything you do. To begin with the first premise is wrong because in order to be saved there are indeed a number of things we must do: First, we must be willing to hear the Gospel message - Second, we must believe the Gospel message in faith - Third, we must repent of our sins and invite Jesus into our heart - Fourth, we must confess that we believe in God and that Jesus rose from the dead - and Fifth, we must remain constant and committed in the faith. The second premise is wrong because the Word of God does in fact very clearly state that "many get saved and for a while believe but afterwards fall away" (Luke 8:13, John 6:66, I Timothy 1:19). God also said "Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; and he will die in his iniquity (turning away) that he has committed" (Ezekiel 33:13). The principle is repeated in verse 18, "When the righteous turns from his righteousness, he shall die for it (be forever separated from God)." Additionally, in Revelation 3:5 God says specifically that it is only those who remain loyal, true, and faithful to Him that gain entrance into Heaven - "He who conquers (maintains) his righteousness, I will not blot out his name from the book of life" clearly indicating that those who DO forsake their righteousness WILL be blotted out. God would not have made the one statement if the other were not true as well. Sin, in any form, separates us from God. We do not "lose" our salvation each time we sin. But what I do not find anywhere in God’s Holy Word is the idea that after we accept Jesus, then we have "free rein" to live any kind of a sinful lifestyle that we want to and never repent and still expect to be in Heaven. Such teaching is certainly not Biblical and would in fact, in all totality, completely undermine the very foundation of all Scripture and its central teaching that repentance, faith, the Cross of Christ, and life-long, dedicated, un-wavering commitment to such, is the only way to Heaven. Through and through God’s Word completely and definitively dispels the misnomer that there is absolutely nothing man can do to forfeit his salvation. The Once Saved Always Saved teaching is one that says "I can do whatever I want, commit any sins and as many sins that I want as long as I have accepted Jesus as my personal Saviour. However, the Bible clearly contradicts over and over again in no uncertain terms this completely false notion. Once we have accepted Jesus as our personal Saviour we simply can NOT go on living as the world does in open, rebellious sin and still be saved. It simply is not possible and it is not taught anywhere in God’s Word. It is not part of God’s prescribed plan of Salvation, and it certainly contains no Biblical basis of merit. Those individuals who hold to the Once Saved Always Saved belief will also often quote the following Bible verse in an attempt to "prove" their belief: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8: 38&39). This is unarguably a wonderful Bible promise that God has given us and it should serve to inspire each of us. But does this Scripture actually say that once a person is born again that it is impossible for him to lose his way and be lost? No. Actually quite the opposite. This scripture is talking about God’s unconditional love towards man and in no way is it speaking of unconditional salvation. Salvation is Conditional. Carefully note that the verse says nothing can separate us from the love that God has for US, not the other way around. We should also take note and pay close attention to the fact that the word "sin" was not included in the list of things which are unable to separate us from the love of God. The Lord also even goes so far as to say that if any man makes folly with his own faith that He will abhor him and cast him off. He states also that those who do not overcome will have their names blotted out of the book of life (Revelation 3:5, Psalm 69:28, Exodus 32:33). We could justifiably even go so far as to say that the teaching of Once Saved Always Saved is in every way Biblical heresy because such a teaching is a free license for immorality. But even worse (if there could possibly be worse than such teaching) this belief calls our Lord God Himself a liar because it teaches that no matter what you do you can not fall away. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says exactly the opposite when He states that "many get saved, but afterwards FALL AWAY" (Luke 8:13, John 6:66, I Timothy 1:19 etc). If a saved person makes the decision to "turn away" from God and sows to please their own sinful nature they will die spiritually (Romans 8:13, Galatians 6:8). Unfortunately there are some (as Jesus Himself said) who for whatever reason "fall away" and elect to turn their back on Jesus Christ. They fail to "overcome." We know that God will never leave us or forsake us, that is His promise. But Christians can choose to depart from Jesus just as sinners can choose to be saved. So in conclusion, the answer is: Yes, a Christian can turn from God and miss out on the joys of Heaven. The key is to completely commit every area of our lives to Christ, to remain true and loyal in that commitment , and to follow Him every day of our life - for that is the only path to true Salvation.
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