In the religious world, this single thought is the reason so much confusion exists and why believers in Christ do not share the same faith. To one group of people, Jesus came to set up an earthly kingdom but was rejected by the Jews. In place of the kingdom (which He failed to establish), Jesus set up the church as an interim institution until Christ is able to return once again to the earth and establish His Kingdom on earth. Many of these followers are called "premillennialist".

A basic belief of premillennial doctrine is that we are presently living in the "church age" and that a "rapture" will occur on some future date followed by seven years of tribulation. After this time Jesus will be revealed and the millennial age will begin. The Jehovah Witnesses believe the kingdom was established in 1914 and when Jesus returns in that generation (of 1914) the battle of Armageddon will take place, the thousand year reign of Christ will occur followed by Satan being loosed and the wicked destroyed with the 144,000 in heaven as the rest of the saved live upon a new earth.

"He lived life to the fullest," they said. Words of comfort spoken in a difficult time of grief in memory of the one who had died. Funerals are times when reflections are made upon life and a recognition of the reality of how short life can be. A young man in his prime of life and at the "top of his game" his life ended. The eulogies described his character and how he was enjoying making God laugh and living in that place of eternal rest. He did good deeds and attended church faithfully. He will be missed but he is no longer in pain and anguish.

His life on earth was filled with pain and anguish. His suffering was not brought on by a disease that ravaged his body unexpectantly or by others. The agony that brought his untimely death was a life filled with drugs, alcohol, prostitutes and an overindulgence of every part of life. Everyone who knew him and spoke of him reflected upon his avarice lifestyle. He tried numerous times to overcome his addiction to drugs but continued to go back to them. The consumption of alcohol was incredible in the amount and the frequency. His life was filled with an addiction to prostitutes. He died of a drug-overdose and the last person he spoke to was the stripper he had partied with for the final 24 hours. He was a likable person who had a caring heart. He was a good person in many ways.

It is not my place to sit in judgment of a man as we have only one judge (2 Timothy 4:1). However we are admonished to judge with "righteous judgment." (John 7:24) Can we then make some determination of salvation based upon a righteous judgment of scripture? The apostle Paul wrote, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9,10) If the lifestyle of a person falls into this kind of activity, the conclusion offered by God is they will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5; Hebrews 13:4; Revelation 21:8, 22:15)

Generic salvation or the idea that all men will be saved - no matter what - is rather prevalent. In an interview by Robert Schuller (May 31, 1997), Billy Graham made the following statement in response to what he thought the future of Christianity would be: "Well, Christianity and being a true believer - you know, I think there's the Body of Christ. This comes from all the Christian groups around the world, outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ, or know Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the Body of Christ. And I don't think that we're going to see a great sweeping revival, that will turn the whole world to Christ at any time. I think James answered that, the Apostle James in the first council in Jerusalem, when he said that God's purpose for this age is to call out a people for His name. And that's what God is doing today, He's calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light they have, and I think that they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven." Robert Schuller then said, "What, what I hear you saying that it's possible for Jesus Christ to come into human hearts and soul and life, even if they've been born in darkness and have never had exposure to the Bible. Is that a correct interpretation of what you're saying.?" Billy Graham responded, "Yes, it is, because I believe that."

Can man be saved - no matter what? On the one hand we have a young man who lives as wickedly as he can and on the other hand we have those who never have heard of Jesus Christ - all who are in heaven. Jesus rejects this teaching in His own words: Matthew 7:21-23 - John 14:6 - Matthew 28:18-20. The early disciples taught the basis of salvation is grace, mercy, faith, truth, obedience, repentance, confession, baptism, holiness, righteousness, purity, godliness and a myriad of scriptures defining salvation. Paul completes the pattern in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 when he writes, "And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."

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The Bible is filled with many curious things that man has puzzled over for centuries. Many ideas have arisen to answer intriguing stories and some have been told for so long they are accepted as fact. One such story abounds with speculation and supposition of its true meaning: the mark of Cain.

The first two children named in Scripture are Cain and Abel. What a wonder it must have been for Adam and Eve to see life brought into the world and the beauty of creation. The little boys grew and in the process of time were grown enough to offer sacrifices to the Lord.

Cain went out and the only record of his existence is six generations. No doubt there were many more descendants than listed but only Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, Lamech and his four children Jubal, Jabal, Tubal-cain and Naamah is shown. A third son is shown in record of Adam and Eve as Seth is born. In Genesis 5, the book of the generations of Adam is listed and eight generations bring us to Noah. Genesis 6-9 describes the flood that destroyed every living creature, both man, and cattle, and creeping things and birds of the heavens; and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. The total remaining population of the earth was eight people.

It is important to note that the whole generation of Cain was destroyed in the flood. Some have supposed the mark of Cain still exists today on various people. This is based upon a lack of understanding of scripture. The lineage of Seth was the only people saved and only eight at that. The world came from Adam the first time and then came from Noah the second time. Noah was not in the lineage of Cain. Whatever the mark of Cain was, it perished (at the latest) during the flood. It is also important to recognize the mark of Cain was only given to Cain as a protective measure against anyone killing him. No place in record suggests this mark became a hereditary mark passed down from generation to generation. If the mark of Cain did not cease to exist at the death of Cain it ceased to exist at the flood.

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According to the dictionary, if we do something often and it becomes easy to do, it's a habit. Habits are good and habits are bad. There are many things we do and should do that are good for us and useful for our lives. It is important to brush our teeth often and to make it such a routine that we do so easily. We can see the result of this good habit by a healthy mouth.

In our relationship before God we should have the habit of prayer and mediation on the Word. This should be so often that it becomes second nature to our lives to bow in prayer and listen to the words of God in our lives. These are good habits that will enrich our minds and fill our hearts with the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5).

There are habits that become a part of our lives that mar our character and seek to defeat our communion with God. Bad habits will produce bad results and without pause to consider the consequence, may destroy our soul. There are two ways to look at bad habits. One is to believe there is nothing we can do about them; the other is to believe we can overcome them. We are victims of our lives and we are predestined to live in such a manner that the bad habit controls our thoughts and actions. The enslaving power of sin will imprison our lives in repetitive actions of harmful lust. In the beginning we will blame ourselves but as time goes by we begin to blame others until finally swallowed up in our own pity, we resign ourselves to our bad habit.

How do we overcome sin? James points out that we should abort the actions leading up to the sin. When we change our character and our lives, sin will not enslave us as before. We will not make the similar mistakes of the past. Portia Nelson illustrates this process in the "Autobiography In Five Short Chapters." It goes like this: "Chapter One - I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost ... I am hopeless. It isn't my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out. Chapter Two - I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place. But, it is not my fault. It still takes a long time to get out. Chapter Three - I walk down the same street. There is a deep hold in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in ... it is a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately. Chapter Four - I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. Chapter Five - I walk down another street."