The Kingdom and Its Enemies

Its a big world out there 24,000 miles around it, nearly 200 countries, and more than seven billion people! Jesus has gone back to Heaven, where He reigns as king of kings and Lord of lords. That means He has authority over ev-eryone and everything in this world, to use whatever He needs to aid His soldiers on the ground. Who are His soldiers? You and me! He has left Christians here to complete the work God has been doing since before the creation: saving the souls of the obedient. Jesus says to each one of us, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature... If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.... I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

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Our World..... Lesson 9Providential Care

Quarter Three-Student Book.indd 57 5/13/14 11:40 PM

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Gods Providence at Work TodayNow lets finish up the study on providence. We looked at amazing things

God did in the Scriptures to help His children in their struggles in this world that Satan rules, but there are amazing things happening now!

Hebrews 1:14 says, Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? That means that God, even today, sends out His angels to help take care of us. We wont see them, but theyre here, wherever theyre needed. Hebrews 13:2 explains more: Do not for-get to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Now, thats saying that even now it may be that someone comes to us, seeming like an ordinary human, like the time that angels came to Abraham and to Lot in Genesis 18:2; 19:1, and to Joshua (5:13) but that may be an angel! Or it may be that angels are with us but not visible, as in 2 kings 6:17. We wont know for sure; well never see angel wings or anything else that looks angelic, but God says He does take care of us, and He has lots of tools to enable Him to do that.

In the Bible we saw examples of Gods use of nature, governments, peo-ple, angels, and all kinds of other things to do what His people needed Him to do. Now I want to share some things that have happened in our world in our time that seem to be explained only within Gods providential care.

Missionaries were about to move to a new country. For years they had been trying to go to India, but now a family of American Christians working in the little country of Sri Lanka was asking someone to come there and help them start the Lords church. What to do? What to do? The missionaries were praying for

God to open the right doors and to close the wrong doors. Their part was to apply for visas [permission to live in the country]. The husband had an Indian visa, which meant that there should be no problem getting a visa for the family. So they said, If the family gets a visa, well conclude that God wants us to go to India. If we cant, well believe He wants us in Sri Lanka.

The visa was denied, so they moved to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka and began to teach the Gospel to anyone who

Into Gods World.....Memory Verse: Hebrews 1:14: Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?


would listen. The missionary advertised a two-week school for those who might be interested in studying the Bible. A certain well-educated man, who had just gotten out of a business with his father-in-law, and currently had no job, saw the ad. He said to himself, Im not working. This is an opportunity to go to a Bible school.

Before the end of the two weeks, he was baptized and became a great helper in having home Bible studies. In a few months the missionary family moved to India. As they were studying with people, and able to begin the church in New Delhi, they looked into the possibility of having programs over the radio stations operated by the Indian government, but they were told that Christian religious broadcasting wasnt allowed in that Hindu nation.

Then they heard some exciting news: the radio station in Sri Lanka, called The Giant of Asia was allowing Christians to use their towers for broadcasting! The coverage was most of the Eastern side of the globe! What a great blessing of God! The missionary knew preachers in India who spoke several of the major languages, so he was sure everything could be managed but what about a reliable person to manage the contracts with the radio station? Oh yes! God had been looking ahead, and a zealous, trustworthy Christian was already in place in Colombo!

What happened? Through the years of the team working together, millions of people in India have been able to know that Jesus died for them, and many have obeyed Him in baptism! God does work all things together for good!

Ill tell you another story that shows His providential care. You know that Jesus has told Christians to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and our work really is to go and to teach so that people will want to learn more about God and to obey Him. But God knows that there are those who are already looking for Him, even though nobody has come to teach them. Those are the people He takes care of through providentially pulling many things together!

A man in Burma worked at the airport in Rangoon as an air controller. One day he met a man from India who was also an air controller. They got to talking, and the Indian man said that he was studying a Bible course from an American missionary in Thailand. He gave the address to the Burmese man who wrote for the course. Then he and he and his family very careful-ly studied each lesson. They became convinced they needed to be baptized, so the mission-ary from Thailand flew over and studied further with them

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and baptized them into the body of Christ! That was the beginning of the church of Christ in Burma! Now there are many Christians in that country, and even Bible training schools! But look at Gods reach in this: from India to Burma to America to Thailand and back to Burma, and working over several years of time! Gods hand is not shortened that He cannot do whatever is needed, and He looks ahead in His preparations, and He never forgets the work Hes weaving together!

Another amazing thing happened to a missionary in Pakistan. One day a man came to the gate and was looking at the sign that said The Church of Christ Meets Here. He came inside to find out more about the church, actually checking to see if he could worship with them in good conscience. Through several hours of discussion, the missionary learned that the man, a doctor, was from the mountain-ous area of Iran, bordering Russia. He said he was a part of a group of Christians there, and that the church with which he worshiped numbered about 5,000!

Their history? He said that some of the men who had seen the star of Jesus were of his tribe, and they had followed the star to Bethlehem. After they returned home, they waited until the baby would be grown up and would be able to do the work He had been born to do. They returned to Israel and were there in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, among the crowd that heard Peter and the other apostles preaching that at last the kingdom of God had come! They were baptized and waited there for some time, learning from the apostles and writing down what they called The Sayings of Christ. When they came home again, they taught their families and their tribal people what they had learned, so that they became Christians too.

The doctor had a very correct understanding of the Gospel and of how to become a Christian and to worship God. He said that his people had been persecuted to the point that they had isolated themselves in the mountainous regions. Later, when the missionary was in Iran again, he went to the area the doctor had told him about, at the edge of the mountains. The only way he could go further would have been by horseback and with an interpreter, so the journey had to stop there. People in the area did tell him, though, that lots of Christians used to live there but they had moved into the mountains.

So you see how God can bring people together, to supply what is needed for someone who is already looking for the Truth!

Now, let me ask you this. When youre getting ready for a test, what do you do?

Study all that weve covered in the book and in the class.

And if youre in a competition say, a Tai kwan Do competition how would you prepare?

Practice...

So, if God has put His treasure of the message of the Gospel in our hands,

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asking us to take it to all the world, how do we prepare? Well, first of all, are we will-ing to do what He asks?

But Im just a kid, Daddy. I cant go to some other country!

Thats right, son, and some of us wont ever go to some other country, but for you today that place is neighborhood friends or friends in school. They need to see Jesus in the way you talk and behave, and youll want to make opportunities to talk to them about God and to ask them to come with you to Bible class. Weve done that with Jamie and his mother, and when they are ready we want to have personal Bible studies with them so they can learn how to obey God.

But youre growing up, and you need to be praying now about how you will use your life. Some people think, I need a job to make lots of money! Its wonderful when people become good doctors or lawyers or do some other work that will help people and may also pay well. But our main focus, as Christians, is different on God, first, and then how we can use our homes and talents and money in His work of spreading the Truth. Yes, we want to be able to feed our families and to buy clothes for our kids, but our most important preparation needs to be for Gods work: to be able to teach classes, to serve as elders and preachers and song leaders and evangelists even in our own coun-try, and to support families who do go into foreign countries with the Gospel.

Do you know why I put in forty hours a week at the office to earn a living, and then preach and work with that small church that cant afford to pay me any salary? Its so we can help them grow to be a stronger church.

Maybe the time will come when all of us can even live in a foreign country, to start the church there, but if we cant do that, what we give to support someone in a mission field may be the only way those people can hear the Gospel.

Now, if were going to teach people in this country, how do we need to prepare?

We can learn how to door knock and sign people up for Bible studies.

Thats right. And if were going to do well in those Bible studies, we need to know something about what the people around us believe in religion. Most of our neighbors are members of denominational churches, so we need to know what those churches teach. If we know, well be better able to show them the Truth.

Then, if were preparing for maybe going to some other country as mission-aries, we need to learn how people live in those places, and what they believe. Did you know that most of the people in the world are not Christians? Can you tell me the names of some of those other religions, and the gods they worship?

Ive heard of Muslims a lot lately in the news.

And we need to know about them and their god and their book. We need to know about Hindus too, because most of the people in India believe in those gods and India is the second largest population in the world! China is the largest country. What do most of the Chinese believe? We have a lot to learn!

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Questions1. What is a miracle?2. Is providence the same as a miracle?3. Did Gods prophets and messengers in the Old Testament do miracles?4. Did John the Baptist perform miracles?5. Did Jesus perform miracles?6. Did the Apostles perform miracles?7. Has the age of miracles ended?8. How is this age of providential care and the Bible better than miracles?

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Jesus could heal the sick, raise the dead, and do unlimited kinds of miracles. The reason was to prove that He was Who He claimed to be: the Son of God (Matthew 12:25-32). When He began His church, He gave the apostles the power to do all kinds of miracles too, and also to preach and to write the Bible by the direction of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament completed Gods perfect book of directions for Christians. The last book is Revelation, and there we are forbidden to add anything to what God has said. But during those years while the New Testament was being written, Christians scattered over the world needed help. Various ones in the con-gregations were given special miraculous gifts. Some could heal people, to convince on-lookers that God was working through them. Some could speak the truths that would be written in the New Testament. Some were given special knowledge, so they could help to guide the church. We read about this last part of the miraculous age in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10: Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. The Bible is the perfect law of liberty [James 1:25: But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a for-getful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.] Today, there are people who claim to do miracles by Gods power, but they teach doctrines that contradict the New Testament. If we didnt have the Bible, there would be no way to prove if a teacher was from God or from satan. 1 John 4:1 warns, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false proph-ets have gone out into the world.


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Our World..... Lesson 10Division Confusion

Parents, Teachers, study this lesson with care, and teach it with love. It is not intended to alienate or to offend anyone, but to help everyone to see that division and doctrines created by men are tools of satan to ensure that well-meaning people dont find the truth. There may be as many as 41,000 denominations in the world! In the US the estimate is 1500 different religious groups, teaching many different doctrines. Almost 8 out of 10 Americans would say they are Christians: Baptist Christians, Methodist Christians.... JESUS PRAYED THAT WE MIGHT ALL BE ONE!


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Satan Invades!What did Jesus promise in Matthew 16:18? I will build My church. It

was a very simple plan. He wanted everyone who believed in Him to be united in His one Family. God is our Father; Jesus is our elder Brother (Matthew 12:50)whom we love and respect as our Lord by wearing His name. Believers were first called Christians in Antioch, the first congregation that was made up of both Jews and Gentiles (Acts 11:26). Romans 16:16 says, The churches of Christ greet you. This was not really the name of the church, because the word for church just meant those who were called out called out of a worldly life to follow Jesus.

The church was also called the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) because He is the Head and the members are like His mouth, eyes, hands, and feet, taking His Gospel to all the world. The church is described as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33), because Christians are to belong only to Him, and to love and obey Him like a wife does for her husband. In return, Christian hus-bands were taught to love their wives like Christ loved the church that means they should be willing to die for them!

The church in Scripture is often called the kingdom, over which Christ is the king one kingdom, one king! In fact, usually in the New Testament, the church was just called the church because there was only one and everybody knew what that one was!

Well, you know weve talked about old Satan! Hes always been around, telling lies and getting people to mess up what God is doing. Back there in the Garden of Eden, he lied to Eve, and he told her that if she would just eat that fruit that looked so good, she would be like God! Do you remember when we first talked about Satan, we read a passage of Scripture that de-scribed him as being the anointed cherub. But he wanted more! He said, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ... I will be like the Most High.

Thats still his goal, and hes still telling people they can be gods or like god. He did his work in the Garden, and now all humans are sinners. When Jesus was born, Satan tried through king Herod to get rid of that Baby that was a threat to the devils success, but that didnt work. Then when Judas betrayed Jesus and He was crucified, Satan thought he had finally won. But Jesus came out of that grave, conquering death and Satan was beaten again. At last, the church began on the day of Pentecost, and people could wash away their sins in baptism they could be SAVED!

Into Gods World.....Memory Verse: Ephesians 5:15,16: See then that you walk circum-spectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.


Do you think Satan just threw up his hands in defeat and quit? No, he developed a plan, a scheming, devilish plan. He knew that Jesus had died so that the sins of everyone who was baptized into His Family could be forgiven, and they could live and grow as children of His Father, looking forward in hope to their own eternal life with Him. The work had been done, and Satan couldnt stop any of that. Now, whoever learned about Jesus and His church could do like the people did on the day of Pentecost: they could repent of their sins and be bap-tized, and God would add them to the church.

But.... if Satan could get Christians to change up some of the teaching, it would be like a train going off the track they wouldnt be on the road to heaven any more! And if he could get them to start some other churches, all claiming to belong to Christ, then people would be confused about just what was right, and he would be able to get them on his own broad way, even though all the time they would be thinking they were right!

So error began to creep into congregations. Paul warned in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 that men would begin to teach error and to lead people away from the Truth. In Acts 20:29-32, he told the elders of the church in Ephesus: For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not spar-ing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

But the problem is that people start thinking for themselves instead of lis-tening to the Bible, and their thinking can bring about differences. We can under-stand that problem, a little, in the early church because the New Testament was not completed. Most Christians would not have had even one copy of one of the books. The church in Rome would have had the letter Paul wrote to them, but they wouldnt have had copies of all the other letters. Thats why there were special gifts of teaching in the early church, so that Christians could learn from apostles or other inspired teachers.

As time passed, divisions took place because some were teaching that sprinkling water could be counted as baptism, which is actually a burial in wa-ter, like Christ was buried in the grave. Others taught that dedicated preachers of the Gospel couldnt have wives and families. Some believed that certain foods should not be eaten on certain days. With the differences in beliefs, division took place and the different groups called themselves different names: Gnostics, Montanists, Monarchians.

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Inspired: Certain men were given the gift of prophecy that is, through the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit,they were given the message of what to teach and preach, so that there would be no error (2 Peter 1:21).


Finally, one group appointed a leader over all of their churches. They called him the Pope, and that church came to be known as the Catholic (universal) church.

Of course, not all the Christians left the Truth. Jesus had promised that when He started His church, nothing would destroy it, so there have been Chris-tians and congregations of the Lords church in the world ever since the day of Pentecost, though many did go astray.

The Catholic church grew and became even more powerful than many of the governments. They had priests and monasteries and huge church build-ings. They told the kings what to do. Then came a time when some in the Cath-olic church began to speak up about the wrong teachings and the problems in the priesthood. Do you know what happened? Those who wanted changes were persecuted. Many were killed!

It was a terrible time, but out of that developed what is called the Reformation Movement: those people were trying to re-form what they thought was Christianity, and so different churches were started. A man called John Smyth decided that the baptism in the New Testament was a burial in water not sprinkling, so he started what came to be called the Baptist church.

The Methodist church grew out of the dissatisfaction of another man named John Wesley with the Episcopalian church of which he was a member. His churches followed cer-tain methods!

There are many today who call them-selves Pentecostals, claiming to be like the first church, as it was started on Pentecost. Church of God, Assemblies of God, Holi-ness, Pentecostal and many other names are used by their groups. They believe that miracles can still be performed and that people can talk in tongues. Because these things are mentioned in the Scriptures, it is easy for them to convince listeners that they are right. The problem is that even the New Testament teaches that the age of miracles would come to an end when the perfect book of God the Bible was completed.

There was a story in the news about a snake handling church Pentecostal that made hunting and catching poisonous snakes a part of their religion. They believe that when

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The Miraculous Agev The Apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pen-tecost, enabling them to speak by inspiration, to perform miracles, to speak in languages they had not studied (Acts 1:8; 2:4-47)v The apostles could give miracu-lous power to select people, through the laying on of their hands (Acts 6:6,8), but they could not give that power to others (Acts 8:5,14,15).With the completion of the New Tes-tament, and the death of the Apostles and those to whom they had given special gifts, the miraculous age ended.v 1 Corinthians 12:31; 13:8-13 explains the more excellent way. Even magicians can do things that the average peson cant explain. In the name of religion people today CLAIM to do miracles by Gods power even though they are teaching doctrines that are not in the Bible. v We have Gods Word now to guide us. By it, we can check every doc-trine, to accept the Truth and to reject error.


Jesus promised the apostles that even a snake bite wouldnt hurt them (Mark 16:18 was fulfilled when a snake bit Paul in Acts 28:3-5, and he didnt get sick), that promise still holds true today. But that was only for the miraculous age and God never intended for anybody to deliberately take up poisonous snakes like these Pentecostal people were doing as a religious thing to prove that God would protect them.

But do you know what happened? The man who started that church just died from a rattlesnake bite!

The Seventh Day Adventist churches were started by a man named William Miller who prophesied that Jesus would come back in 1843. I guess he hadnt read where Jesus Himself said in 24:36 that only the Father knows when He will return! Lots of people believed Mr. Miller, though, and when Jesus didnt come, he set another date. When He didnt come that time, either, his followers divided. Ellen G. White became a prophetess, teaching that the Ten Command-ments are still to be followed, and that the day of worship is the Sabbath.

The Jehovahs Witnesses church was started by Charles Russell, after he was disillusioned with Millers failed prophecies in the Seventh Day Adven-tist church. Russell wrote six books that he claimed were inspired by God like the Bible, but Revelation 22:18,19 the completion of Gods message to the world says no one is allowed to add anything to Gods word! Mr. Russell also taught that the Holy Spirit is not Deity but only the force of God, that Jesus was not divine while in the flesh but only human, and that God has hidden Jesus body somewhere that there was no resurrection.

Joseph Smith started the Mormon church. He claimed to have visions and revelations, and these were written in the Book of Mormon to guide his followers. He taught that no one can be saved if they reject that book.

Anthony and Laura, do you see a problem with these denominations?

They dont sound like the church Jesus started.

Youre right, son. There are lots of churches, and all of them teach many things that are not in the Bible. They were started by men, and they believe and practice what those men taught. But who started Christs church?

Jesus

And which book is supposed to be our guide?

The Bible.

Yes, the Bible and particularly the New Testament, because we are Christians living under the law of Christ, not under the law that was given to the Jews through Moses.

Besides these and many, many other denominational groups that teach doctrines that are different from the New Testament, you see lots of huge church

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buildings these days where community churches meet. In those groups youll find Baptists and Methodists and lots of people from different churches. Not much real doctrine is preached in those pulpits because they dont want to upset anybody. So, mostly, their preachers talk about being good people and being blessed by God and those churches are sort of like spiritual clubs. Built into humans is the need to remember God, and also the need for mixing and mingling with other people. Community churches take care of both of those things, with-out upsetting anyone by teaching some doctrine they dont believe.

Your Mother and I are teaching you about these things, kids, because you need to know the difference between the church Jesus owns and the division Satan has caused that developed denominations. You need to know the differ-ence between the doctrines that were written in the New Testament to guide the church and the doctrines that these men who started these churches were teach-ing their followers.

Satan wants the world to be confused. He wants division among those who believe in Jesus. He wins the victory when we get all messed up and go down his broad path to destruction.

I want you to memorize Ephesians 4:4-6, so that those words will always be in your mind and heart. There is ONE body and ONE Spirit, just as you were called in ONE hope of your calling; ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE bap-tism; ONE God and Father of all...

There are seven ones in these verses. Three of them identify the God-head: God, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. God must be first in your life in all you do.

The other four ones are about us and our relationship with God: We have faith in God and His word, and then we are baptized into the one body of Christ, so that we have hope for eternity! Isnt that a powerful summary of Christianity? If you stay faithful to these words, youll never be led off the narrow path by Satan and he will be beaten!

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1. What did satan, as the anointed cherub, want to do?2. What did he tell Eve, if she ate the fruit?3. How did satan try to get rid of Baby Jesus?4. When Jesus was crucified, had satan won the war with God?5. Could satan keep God from starting His Family, the church of Christ?6. What has satan done to confuse people so that they dont find the true church?7. Can you name some of the denominations that are in your town?8. What are the seven ONES listed in Ephesians 4:4-6?


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... He has put eternity in their hearts... (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Embed-ded in humans is the need to worship. Almost since the begin-ning, though, they have created their own gods, making images of things they could see since it is not possible for sinful people to see the true God with their eyes. Some of these created gods have faded with time; some are worshiped even today!

Our World..... Lesson 11Many Kinds of gods


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Into Gods World.....

Other gods and Other ReligionsDaddy opened the Bible, saying to Mother, Laura, and Anthony, Ecclesi-

astes 3:11 Is an important verse of Scripture. Lets read it to begin this study:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eter-nity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

What do you think He was describing when He said He made every-thing beautiful?

The Garden of Eden?

Yes, and every-thing else in creation! It was perfect! And the next part of the verse tells us something about the way He made us. What do you think He meant when He said He put eternity in their hearts?

All people all over the world have buried their dead, often with clothes, jew-els, tools, and other things because they believed they would live again! Mother answered.

Thats right, and all people everywhere have worshiped God or a god! These two things show us that the Bible account has to be true when it tells about the one great God and His creation of humans with souls!

Have you ever seen a fairy, Anthony?

No but Ive read about them in my story books.

Do you believe fairies are real?

Not really, because theyre just story books. And nobodys ever seen one.

Has anybody seen God?

No...

Has anybody seen a soul that has come out of the grave?

The disciples saw Jesus.

Memory Verse: 1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.


Yes, and thats another proof that what the Bible says is true, because in these almost 2000 years since Jesus was resurrected, no one has been able to offer convincing proof or arguments that He is still in the grave! But during all those thousands of years even before Jesus came, people who had never seen God and had never seen a resurrection still believed both of those things! That knowledge is a part of our being made in the image of God. Even though weve never seen our souls the real me living in this body and even though weve never seen God, the consciousness of His existence is in our make-up.

The sad thing is that so much of what Adam and Eve knew from the be-ginning got all mixed up as their children had children and those children had children, and they began to populate the world. We know that their first son killed their second son. The Scriptures say that Cain and his wife went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod. That doesnt mean that they moved far enough away from Eden to be out of Gods sight, because God sees everything. It means that they werent living the way God wanted people to live.

In fact, Genesis 4:25,26 says, And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

Back then, people lived a long, long time. Adam lived to be 930 years old! He was 130 years old when Seth was born, so that means he had another 800 years to teach Seth all he knew about God and he would have known a lot because for some time he had even walked and talked with God!

Enoch was Seths great-great-great grandson, the sixth generation from Adam. We know that he was so devoted to God that he didnt die; God just took him to heaven! So some of the people even then 687 years after the creation were still obeying and loving God.

Methuselah was Enochs son. He lived in the same world with Adam for 243 years, so Adam would have been able to teach him a lot about God too. Methuselahs son, Lamech, was the father of Noah. During Noahs life most of the people in the world had not only forgotten God, they were very evil. Gen-esis 6:11-13 says, The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Seth Adams son was still living for 355 years after Methuselah was born, and even for 34 years after Noah was born! So Noah could have learned a lot about God from these men who were righteous. We know that he loved God because the Bible in Genesis 6:9 says that he was perfect in his generations.

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We see a lot thats bad in the world today, but it had gotten so awful in No-ahs time that God just couldnt stand it any longer. What did He do, Laura?

He told Noah to build the ark, and the flood came.

So the evil people were washed away, and Noahs family started over. But by the time Nimrod came along and became a powerful ruler, building the mighty tower of Babel that he planned to reach on up into heaven, they were disobeying God again. It was then that God made different languages, so the people were scattered because they couldnt understand each other.

We dont know just when they got mixed up about God to the point that they started worshiping the stars and rivers and figures they had carved, but there are all kinds of gods and goddesses in the ancient histories throughout the world. God described their stupidity in Isaiah 44:9-17: Those who make an image, all of them are useless... He [a man] plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, De-liver me, for you are my god!

Can you imagine such a silly thing using part of a tree for a fire, part of it to cook with, and then carving part of it into a god?

Some of the gods that were worshiped back then were Baal, Marduk, and Ashteroth. Ani-mals and even people were sacrificed to them.

But that kind of thinking is still a part of some pagan religions. Have you ever heard of Hinduism?

A boy in my class is from India and he says he is Hindu, Daddy.

Do you know anything about that religion?

Not really...

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HinduismIn the earliest forms, Hindus made animal sac-

rifices to their god, the beliefs were very simple, and there were no priests it sounds a lot like the early days in Genesis, during the Patriarchal Age when the fathers of the families were the ones God dealth with. As time passed, those fathers forgot more about the true God, so they made idols of all kinds. Shiva, the god of destruction is one of their gods. Hin-dus say anything can be worshiped, even people!

In Hinduism there is no savior, like Jesus.

They believe that there are five levels of people; they call them castes, and you cant change your caste. The lowest class has to do the dirty work like sweeping and cleaning toilets; if their shadow falls on a high-caste person, he believes it makes him unclean. These untouchables cant even go into the temples to worship!

The highest caste are the wealthy people and the priests. Hindus believe that their goodness or evil in past lives determines which caste they are in. They believe that when someone dies, he will be reborn [reincarnated] but maybe not even as a human. If he was lazy in this life, he might come back as a turtle or a sloth! If he was bad he might be a dog in his next life!

Buddhism A Hindu by the name of Buddha, several cen-

turies before Jesus was born, got tired of the priests lording it over the people like they were kings, so he started another religion. He taught his followers the reason everybody suffers is because of desire. So, the goal was to give up all desire so that there is no greed or hatred or passion about anything. The best Hindus and Buddhists are supposed to become holy men and leave their families and just live in the jungle and meditate. They are supposed to stop loving any-thing or feeling any attachment even to their families!

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Biblical AgesPatriarchal: The father of the household [the patriarch] offered sacrifices, and God spoke directly to the faithful patriarchs, as Noah, Abra-ham, Jacob, etc.Mosaic: The law of Moses was given for the people of Israel. The priests offered sacrifices.Christian: The law of Christ came into force with His death, ending animal sacri-fices and a priestly system.


Thats just the opposite of what Jesus teaches us. He wants us to love God and each other!

Some Hindu beliefs that Buddha brought into his teachings were karma [and we hear that word even here in America!] which means that the good things and bad things that happen to a person are because of his past life, and nirvana [when you hear that word, you know Hinduism is creeping into our language!]. Hindus believe that when a person gets so good that he finally knows he is god, hes not reborn again. His soul just mixes into god and he is not a separate being anymore. What that really means is that they are working toward the time when they will no longer exist!

The Buddhist goal is to reach the point at which they are totally detached from greed, hatred, and cares. Buddha was so turned against all the idolatry in Hinduism that he never taught that there is a god! But even Buddhists needed something to worship, so they made Buddha their god, and they bow down to the floor to worship him!

Islam We hear a lot about the religion of Islam in the news. In order to under-

stand it better, we need to look at its history. A man by the name of Mohammad claimed that the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him he was to start a new religion. This was about 600 years after Jesus lived and started His Family.

In his hometown of Mecca, Mohammed preached a mixture of his own thinking and some of the Old Testament laws and even a little of the New Testament, but he wasnt making many followers. So he decided that the sword was the best way to build the new religion. From the time he started killing in the name of allah, he grew in power. He took over towns and then countries, killing everyone who didnt convert to Islam. In the news these days, the claim is often made that Islam is a peaceful religion, but its book the koran says very clearly not only that infidels [those who dont become Muslims] are to be killed, but also those who would leave Islam. In

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Muslim countries, when a person becomes a Chris-tian, his life is in great danger. The flag that represents Islam even today often shows crossed swords, so it is not a religion of peace!

The holy place for Muslims is the kaaba [a black stone building] in Mecca, where it is required that pilgrimages be made each year. Tradition teaches at least three different stories of its background: (1) it fell from heaven and is like the House in Heaven; (2) Adam built it; (3) Abraham and Ishmael [Arabs descended from Ishmael] built it. History says that it was a place of pagan worship until Moham-mad conquered the city of Mecca and claimed it for allah.

Islam is not simply a religion; it is the government, the courts, the law for family, business, education it is the total life for its followers. The law of the koran is called Sharia, and the belief of Muslim leadership is that Islam must take over the entire world, and that Sharia must become the law ev-erywhere. Sadly, even children are taught in the schools that to die as a suicide bomber in the name of allah is the best thing anyone can do.

The koran teaches that those who are disobedient should be beaten, and often people die from the beatings. It also says that it is good to lie if that will help to spread Islam. In countries where the religion is in strict control, women have to wear clothes that cover their whole bodies, faces and all. usually girls are not allowed to go to school, and if they get into any trouble they can be beat-en or stoned to death.

The middle East and many countries of Africa are under the power of Muslims. Their goal is to take over Europe and America, and to make everybody become Muslims and to live under their Sharia law. We must pray that our gov-ernment leaders wont be blind to what they are doing.

Its so important, Laura and Anthony, that we study Gods word so carefully, and that we believe in God and Jesus so deeply that if someone said, Either you give up Jesus and be a Muslim, or we will kill you, that we would count the cost and be willing to die for God. We pray that such a terri-ble thing will never happen, but we have to grow strong now, to fight off Satans temp-tations, and to live and even die for God. And we must be working as Christians to spread Jesus Gospel so that even Muslims will learn that God is love.

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Anthony, if someone gave you a statue of one of the Hindu gods, would you fix a special place for it and take special care of it?

I dont want one of their idols, Daddy!

And I wouldnt either, Laura piped up. How can they worship something and pray to something for help that cant even do anything to help itself?

The main reason, Honey, is that is what theyve been taught all their lives! Thats why its so important that your mother and I be very sure that what were teaching you kids is exactly what God says in His Book, because youll probably stay with whatever we teach you, if we do a good enough job of it.

But, theres one more kind of god that we need to talk about before we leave this subject of idols and false religions. Im sure youd never worship an idol, but did you know that we can make our own gods and idols out of any-thing? Without even realizing it, people do that!

Have you ever heard anyone say, So-and-so just worships money!? Some people spend all of their time and energy and thought on money they never have enough, and some would do even very wrong and evil things, just to get their hands on more mon-ey. in 1 Timothy 6:10, the apostle Paul warned the young man, Timothy, ... the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Things are gods to lots of people. Maybe its an X-Box or some other kind of machine a boy has r-e-a-l-l-y wanted, so he saved up his money and spent a lot of his time just dreaming of the day when he would have his very own well, he might still call it an X-Box but in his heart it may be more important than God. If he thinks about it more and spends more money on it and would rather be playing games on it than anything else, then he may al-ready have an X-Box idol in his heart! Had you thought about that???

Or, when you get a little older and have to have a car, watch out that you dont make a god out of it!

So, whats the rule, kids? Be always on guard so that nothing in this world is as important to you as God is! Jesus even said that if you love

Mother and me more than you love God, you are not worthy of having Gods love (Matthew 10:37).

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Our World..... Lesson 12Do We Sometimes Make Idols?


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Into Gods World.....

Satans TricksDaddy was laughing as he sat down with Mother

and Laura and Anthony for their evening Bible study.

Whats funny?

Something I saw today. You know weve talked about the idols that people make and worship. Well, in Hinduism, many people have a little place of special worship in their homes. They have a shelf thats sort of an altar of worship, and they put their idol on it. Then they may offer flowers or something else to the idol. Well, I saw one Ganesh, the elephant god of pros-perity that they pray to for money and success in a shop and picked it up to look a little closer. Do you know what was printed on the bottom of that god? Made in China!!! Can you imagine worshiping a god that was made in a factory in China?

But, really, its not funny its sad that sincere people can be that deceived by Satan.

I wouldnt do that, Daddy, Laura said.

No, but Satan has lots of ways to trick us when we may not be watching closely what hes doing. Weve taught you about the true God, and so you know that Hes the only one we can worship. But tonight we want to talk about some other tricky ways Satan tries to get us off-track.

What are some of the things weve said people in our world do that satan likes?

Bullying kids, Anthony suggested.

Laura added, Cheating and lying.

The really bad people murder and steal, Mother suggested.

Youre right. All of those things are common in our world, because lots of the people are following Satans lead. But you wouldnt do those things, would you, Anthony?

Memory Verse: Philippians 4:8,9: Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy med-itate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.


No, sir, I wouldnt.

So for people like you who want to be good, Satan has a very different bag of tricks. Do you know what some of those tricks might be?

To argue with you and Mother, and to disobey? Laura asked.

Yes, he uses those things. Thats why were always teaching you to have respect for authority for God, for government, for teachers, for us as your parents. But therere other ways Satan tricks all of us some-times: he uses temptations to take up our time and thought and money on things that arent wrong, in themselves. But they become wrong the way he uses them. Let me show you:

Anthony, do you have a video game?

Yes, sir.

Does Mother limit the time you can play each week?

Yes, sir.

Why do you think she does that? Theres nothing wrong with the game; youre not hurting anybody when you play it. Why cant you just play any time you want to, and for as long as you would do it?

um-m-m... Maybe Id just play all day... because Im always sad when the times up and I have to stop.

But why would Mother not want you to play a game all day? and then you might get up tomorrow and start all over again, and the next day! Whats wrong with that, if youre having fun?

Well, you said I have work Im supposed to do, so I cant play all the time.

Thats right, son; were not in this world just to use all our time playing games and having fun. All of us have to learn to carry our share of the work load. Do you remember that after God had created Adam and Eve and had put them in the Garden of Eden even before they had sinned by listening to Satan the Bible says, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it (Genesis 2:15). So they had work to do responsi-bilities! What does that word mean, Laura?

Things we are supposed to do.

So, what do you do now, Anthony, instead of playing games all day?

I keep my things picked up in my room, and when I bring something to the den or somewhere else, Im not supposed to leave a trail of stuff. After dinner, were supposed to take our dishes to the kitchen and rinse them. When you work in the yard, you tell me to come too so I can learn how to cut grass and pull weeds. And, theres school and homework!

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Laura, what jobs do you have?

To keep my room clean too, and help Mother with the dusting and vacuum-ing. I like to help make cookies so I can learn to cook. I help set the table for din-ner, and unload the dishwasher. And sometimes I help fold clothes from the dryer.

Ok, now lets think of some fun things to do and decide whether or not theyre good for us. Ill start with the first one: Play ball. Tell me some good things that come from playing ball.

Well... its good to learn how to follow rules, and to get to be a winner at running and playing.

And the exercise is good for our bodies. So its good to learn rules and to be a skillful player and to get exercise. How would Satan use playing ball as one of his tricks?

Sometimes people get mad when they dont win.

And if all I did was play ball, I couldnt do my work, Laura added.

Well, how about reading? Can Satan use that as one of his tricks?

um-m-m! Daddy you hit on my temptation! Laura laughed. I could read all the time! Isnt that good?

Yes, therere some useful things about reading. We learn from what others have learned and have written, so read-ing can be a very valuable use of time. You have to read a lot to do your school work, dont you?

And even when the kids were babies, I started reading to them, Moth-er spoke up. Some of our best family times have been when we read special books together. I treasure those times.

And, just like tonight our family Bible study is reading time, so thats really important. But would it be good for anybody to just sit and read all day?

No.... Theres more to life than just books.

Thats what we have to remember: that we need to fill our days with many good things, and not let Satan pull any of his tricks on us. Lots of people now spend so much of their time watching TV or playing computer games or texting their friends or reading or playing sports or checking out Facebook or Youtube or a dozen and one other things things that are not wrong, themselves but sa-tan makes them wrong for us when he gradually gets us in the habit of spending hours and hours on those things.

Were humans. We live in bodies. We need to rest, dont we? So God made day and night, so that it would just be natural to curl up and go to sleep

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when it gets dark. You know if you dont get enough rest, youre grumpy! But doctors say getting enough rest is important for the health of our bodies and even our minds. I read the other day that in Alaska and places where it never gets really dark in the summer months, people have more problems with depression and there are even more people who kill themselves because of depression! So God knew what He was doing when He gave us time to rest.

We need time to relax and have some fun too. Thats good for our health. Proverbs 17:22 explains, A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. When you think about some of the really strange looking animals God made, you just have to laugh! God must have a sense of humor, and He wants us to laugh and have fun, because even thats good for us.

We need exercise, if we want to stay healthy. Too many kids now just want to sit around and read or watch TV or play computer games, and eat! And so they get fat because theyre not running and exercising. Some of those kids will develop diabetes and joint damage because of the way theyre treating their bodies. Thats why work is good for us, because it gets us up out of our chairs and away from the refrigerator, and makes us use our muscles! Now, in ages past, people walked to wherever they needed to go, they had to dig the ground to grow food, they had to carry heavy things on their backs from one place to another so there was hard work involved in just living. Things have changed so much now. We think of all the advantages we have, and what a wealth of tools and helpful marvels we have! And we do have a lot to be thankful for but satan can turn those good things into problems for us if we let him.

A good rule to remember is Moderation in all things. Laura, do you know what moderation means?

Not really....

Mother?

It means moderate sort of middle of the road in everything. Not to play all the time, or eat all the time, or be funny all the time! Or even to work all the time! It just means to make some time for everything and to have a balanced life.

Thats a good explanation. Does that make sense to you kids?

Yes,sir, it does.

So God wants us to work some and play some and study some and rest some and most of all He wants us to make time for Him every day. In fact, God wants to be in our minds all through the day. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, Pray without ceasing.

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And Philippians 4:6-9 describes the way we should think: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things. The things which you learned and re-ceived and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Now lets see if we can understand what the apostle Paul was telling us God wants us to do:

1. Be anxious for nothing. with prayer and supplication [with earnest hearts] and thanksgiving make requests to God.

2. The result? Gods peace will guard our hearts and minds through Jesus.3. We are to meditate [think deeply about] on these things: true things no deceit or lies in our thinking

noble things high ideals

just things fair things and right things

pure things no evil or sin in our thinking

lovely things happy, positive things

of good report reputation for rightness

things of virtue high standards

things that are praiseworthy examples we can follow

4. If we build our thinking and our lives on these things, Gods peace will be with us.

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1. Satan wants people to worship __________ instead of God.2. He wants people to do ________ things like stealing and killing.3. If people want to be good, he fools them with his bag of ________.4. How does Satan make good things into something that is wrong?5. Is it wrong to spend hours and hours and hours every day on games?6. What does in moderation mean?7. How is playing sports good for us?8. How are we healthier when we exercise and are happy?9. What does it mean to have responsibilities?10. If we are to have a good, balanced life, Who must be a part of every day?


Lets Look Back...Lesson One: Who Is satan?

Some people today think there is no such being as satan: We, as hu-mans, just do some things that are wrong. Satan is a spirit being so we cant see him with our eyes, but Gods word tells us that he is real. Hes described as ... a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). He was created when God created all the angel host, but he wanted to be as great as God and so he made war with the Michael and the good angels. Revelation 12:7-9 says that he was thrown out of Heaven, and that he is now at war with Gods people on the earth.

In the Bible we read of many battles people have had with Satan: Adam and Eve; Job; Peter; Judas; and even Jesus. Jesus taught us how to defend ourselves against Datans attacks: with Gods Word! Thats why its so important that we study the Bible and know the right way to live.

Satan uses many weapons in his war with us: lying, deceit, discourage-ment from problems. If we refuse to listen to Satan, and listen instead to what God says to us in His Word, He will use all of Satans challenges to make us stronger for the right. He has purpose for our lives in this world.

Lesson Two: How Satan Wrecks the WorldBefore the flood of Noahs time, the Bible says that Satan had so wrecked

the world that everybody did only evil things all the time only Noah and his family still loved God.

What were some of the terrible things people did? [Encourage students to give answers.] fighting, killing, lying, stealing, cheating, cursing, immodesty and lust, immorality, idolatry...

Humans were created in a likeness of God. We can think and act; we have consciences. [What is a conscience?] Within ourselves, we know that some things are right and we feel good about doing them. We know that some things are wrong, and we feel guilty when we do those things. Our lives must be pure, and we must learn to be passionate about living for Jesus.

It is important that Christians be with Christians, so that we can help each other to be strong against Satan. Christians need to marry Christians so that they can have good homes and raise their children to be Christians. That way, we can be ready when Jesus comes back to take His Family to Heaven.

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Into Gods World.....Lesson 13


Lesson Three: What Has Jesus Done for US?We know that when God created the world, everything was perfect but

now it is a dangerous place because sin destroyed the perfection. There are natural disasters, like storms and earthquakes that happen everywhere.

People have been ruined too, because satan has lied and deceived almost everyone. He is always trying to trip us up and to get us to live like the people around us. It makes him happy to see trouble-makers having fights, ruining their lives with drugs, and cheating and lying.

But Jesus has done everything to help those who love Him. He made the family fathers and mothers to teach their children in the right way; and He made His spiritual Family, the church, so that Christians can help each other to be strong and to live faithfully all their lives. Jesus loves His church so much that He died on the cross to save us. He taught His disciples to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel to everyone. Since we are His disciples now, that should be our purpose every day to live as pure examples of Christianity, and to make opportunities to talk to others about what Jesus has done for us. We who know Christ are not to focus on the latest fashions and fancy foods to eat and smart things to have; our reason for being in the world is to help people see Jesus living in us.

Lesson Four: God and Satan at War!The church of Christ is Gods Family in the world. The church is carrying

on the war with Satan. You might ask: If there is the danger that a Christian will become weak or will let Satan tempt him to leave Christ, why does God leave us in this dangerous world? Why doesnt He just take us to heaven when we are baptized, and then all of us will be saved, and nobody will lose the war?!

But think about that: Who is teaching you how to be a Christian? Your parents? Are they Christians? Your Bible class teacher? Is he/she a Christian? How would you learn if there was no one to teach you? And if the first ones who obeyed the Gospel had been taken to Heaven right then who would have been left in the world to have brought the truth and the Bible on down through the centuries to us???

So we HEAR the Gospel, we BELIEVE that Jesus is Gods Son, we REPENT we die to sin as we turn away from Satans temptations, we CON-FESS our faith that Jesus is Gods Son, we are BAPTIZED into Christ buried in water and raised up out of the watery grave, resurrected to new spiritual life, becoming new babies in His Family. What we do to be born into the family pictures what Jesus did for us: He DIED for our sins, He was BuRIED in the grave, and then He was RESuRRECTED. Teaching this is our purpose in life.

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Lesson Five: Gods Circle of SalvationFifth graders often are beginning to wonder if they would go to Heaven if

they died; to wonder if it is time for them to obey the Gospel. Most children at that age are not mature enough in their thinking to have been able to read the Bible for themselves and to figure out the rights and wrongs and the remedy for sin. Children are not perfect, but God does not count their errors against them until they are old enough to be counted as responsible. For our children, we kept emphasizing that the best way to judge accountability is the persons own attitude: if the first concern is for what the parents will think, rather than how God will judge some wrong in their behavior, they are not yet ready for the one-to-one relationship with God. They would still be counted as innocent, I believe.

But when they do obey the Gospel, they are born into Gods Family, and they have a new life to live. They need to be made aware that Satan will be working really hard to tempt them to leave the faith because hes angry that an-other soul belongs to God. Satan realizes they are just spiritual babies, and dont know much about defending themselves. They need the help of their physical family and their spiritual family to grow strong.

The new life requires growth and changes. We learn about these in the Bible. We learn to be loving and patient, to go the second mile, to turn the oth-er cheek rather than to give in to anger when someone mistreats us. We learn that we are to be lights of Jesus in the world What Would Jesus Do? should be our guide always. Life, now, has great purity and spiritual purpose.

Lesson Six: Gods Perfect Plan satans Work to Wreck It.Gods book the Bible is not a history book about people who lived

centuries ago. Yes, it does tell us true accounts of people and ages past, but it is far more than a history. It is God speaking to us today, as our Heavenly Father, telling us what to do to have the best and safest life possible in this broken world; and telling us what not to do, to protect us from making terrible mistakes.

The Bible was written by about 40 men, over a period of more than 1600 years! Most of them never knew any of the other writers, and most of them never got to read what the others wrote! Yet, the message is one: it begins with the creation in the Garden of Eden the original Paradise and ends with the eternal Paradise the new Heaven and Earth that Jesus has gone to make ready for His Family.

All through the Bible are prophecies statements about things that would happen many years down the way and all of them came true, which proves that God inspired the men in what they wrote. We can follow Gods perfect plan to be born into His church, to live purposely and in purity every day for Him, and we can look forward to living with all the saved people eternally.

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Lesson Seven: That Special FamilyWhat is Gods special Family called? [body bride church of Christ]

Where did it begin? [Jerusalem]

When did it begin? [the Day of Pentecost, approximately AD 33]

Who is its Head? [Christ]

Christians are called sheep and the men who lead the church are called shepherds. That means they take care of the Christians, teaching them, lead-ing the church in its work. They are helped in that work by men who are called deacons which means servants in the original language. What do servants do?

There are also teachers and preachers evangelists in the church.

In the New Testament, God has described the kind of men who are to lead the church, both elders and deacons. He has shown how we are to come to-gether on Sunday to worship Him as a body of people. We are to sing hymns of praise to God, to take the Lords Supper in remembrance of Jesus death to save us from our sins, we are to study the Bible, we are to pray, and we are to give of our money to help pay for the work the church is in the world to do. God leaves us in the world but we are to live so differently from the broken world around us that people will be able to see Christ in us. That purity is our purpose.

Lesson Eight: The Fathers Care for the FamilyJesus promised, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

Since creation, there have been three ages in the way God has worked with humans. The first was the Patriarchal Age; the second was the Mosaic Age; the third is the Christian Age.

Patriarch means fathers. During that age [about 2500 years] there were no churches or any organization of people. God talked to the fathers of faithful households [such as Noah and Abraham] and gave them guidance. There was no Bible for them to read.

Through Moses God gave what we call the Law of Moses to the people called Israelites. They were a chosen nation, because God planned for Jesus to be born to them.

Jesus died to begin the last chosen nation, Christians who make up the church. We see God working through miracles [parting the Red Sea, Jesus raising the dead] and also through His providential interweaving of people, pow-ers, things, to bring about what He wanted: Jonathan, Sennacherib, Elisha, Paul. After the Scriptures were completed, the miraculous age ended because now we can prove all things through Gods written word.

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Lesson Nine: The Wonderful Providence of GodMiracles were powerful proofs that a prophet or a teacher was actually

from God. That was their purpose. The Scriptures say that the more excellent way would be through the coming of THAT [not HE] which is perfect (1 Corinthi-ans 13). The only two perfects are Jesus and the Bible. Jesus is He; the Bible is that, a thing, not a person. So when the Bible was completed with the Rev-elation of Jesus to John, the message from God was finished and there was no more the need for proving that a preacher was from God. Now we can know by comparing his message to Gods word. This is the safest way for our souls. A magician or a fake healer can deceive people, but if his message is tested by Scripture, his error will be clear for all to see.

So, today, God works powerfully but not miraculously, through anything and everything He needs to use to bring about His will. Reggie, Vertannes, the doctor in karachi are examples of Gods providential care for those who are look-ing for Him. With the same power, He works in the lives of Christians to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. Hebrews 1:14 and 13:2 are His bind-ing promises. knowing Gods providential work, we turn to Him in fervent prayer always, in all things.

Lesson Ten: Satans Further AttacksSatan has been the enemy of Gods people from the beginning, but he

really tried to destroy Gods plan to save us by destroying the Baby Jesus. When he failed in that, he hoped he could tempt the man Jesus to worship him instead of God. Finally, Satan must have thought he had won the war when Judas betrayed Jesus, the Jewish leaders condemned Him, and Pilate finally allowed His crucifix-ion. But then Jesus came out of the tomb, alive, and the victor over death. By His resurrection, He promises a resurrection for all of us, so Satan was badly defeated.

But then, when Jesus began His church, the devil sneakily planned a new way to fight. He couldnt keep Jesus from calling people to obey Him, to be baptized into His church, and to live by the Bible. But Satan could start counter-feit churches! Do you know what counterfeit means? Tell me about a counterfeit dollar.... It may look like the real thing to people who are not trained to recognize the genuine bill, but a counterfeit thing is worthless. Counterfeit churches look like churches groups of religious people but they wear different names and worship different ways and teach different ways of being saved and all kinds of other doctrines. Jesus began only one family, and He says in Ephesians 5:26,27 that He is coming back for His one bride!

We, as part of His bride, have to live pure lives, purposeful lives, pas-sionate about teaching others so they can be saved to and live prayerfully under Gods providential care. What a life!

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Lesson Eleven: Other gods and Other ReligionsAlmost from the beginning of Satans war with God, hes been getting peo-

ple to worship idols and things instead of God. He told Eve that she would be like God if she ate the forbidden fruit.

There are many religions in the world today, and one of the lies the devil is still getting people to believe is that humans can become like God. So stat-ues are made of Buddha and of men in the Hindu religion who became gods. People bow down to them, their faces to the ground, and worship them.

In the Bible, God ridiculed humans who would cut down a tree, burn part of it to warm themselves, burn part of it to cook their food, and then carve a god from the rest of the tree. He showed how stupid they were to fall down before an image they had carved with their hands an image that could not move or speak or even help itself in any way and to pray to it for their needs.

To us, knowing the Bible and what it teaches us about God, we cant imag-ine that anyone in this day and age would actually worship a lifeless stone. Mil-lions in the world follow these religions Satan has made, to confuse people and to keep them from turning to the true God.

But even though we know the truth about God, still we can be fooled by Satan. How? By letting anyone or anything be more important to us than God. We have to be careful in this, because if I ask you, Who do you love most? you would probably quickly say, God! But we show who is most important to us by our actions. If we have hours to devote to video games and no real interest in letting God talk to us through the Bible, who or what is more important to us? If wed choose to go to a ball game instead of to Bible class or to do some work in the church, that tells us what is more important to us. Our passion must be for God, not for entertainment or things in this world.

Lesson Twelve: Satans TricksSatan knows that many people dont want to do bad things. You wouldnt

kill anybody or rob a bank. So if he cant get us to do really bad things, hes sat-isfied if he can just keep us from putting God first in our lives. So he zeroes in on every innocent distraction possible. Theres nothing wrong with reading a good book, or playing video games, or competing in sports, or a thousand-and-one other things. But if Satan can fill our days with thinking about all the fun things so that there is no real time left to give to God, he wins again! Satan is a tricky fellow, and we have to be on guard all the time, or hell find a way to trip us up.

Our protection from him is to be sure that God is truly the most important in our lives; that we sincerely pray to Him, thankful for all He does every day, talking about Him to others, trusting Him to keep His promises, with peace in our hearts.

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Year and Quarter 1Subject:




-2/1 Bible characters in pictures -- teaching words and names

-3/1 Families and growing together; parent/child; love; obedience; brothers/sisters-4/1 Learning to obey God, par-ents; being responsible, loving to brothers/sisters/others

K/1 Behavior at home and at school; attitudes; following Gods rules, and results 1/1 Now that were in school deal with language, influence, responsibility, achievement

2/1 Bible Time Series on cre-ation, the world before, during, and after the flood

3/1 God & me; Jesus is His Son; Family of God; parallel physical & spiritual

4/1 The Bible learning to use it; taking care of it; drills of all kinds; dict; concord; etc.

6/1 Setting your priorities early in life; making God first in time, talents, money, interests

5/3 The Kingdom and its enemies: Satan; division; false teachings; atheism; apathy

7/1 Satans lies (evolution, hu-manism, false doctrine; deal with points and counter-points)

8/1 Jesus teachings and how they work in daily life, to make this the safest, best life; purity

9/1 Reaching out physically and spiritually in the home, the church, among friends & others

10/1 Jesus Christ the Eternal Sacrifice, Youth Version

11/1 Divided classes for m/f; Growing to maturity and ready to live in the adult world

12/1 We have the message the world needs. Let us prepare to take the message to others.

1/2 We learn about Jesus; His friends; His life and culture; develop room with spot scenes

2/2 Bible Time Series on Da-vid, his life, his relationship with God; his lessons

3/2 Children in other lands, customs, religion, need for God and the Gospel

4/2 We learn about the Chris-tians in the New Testament

5/2 The Church in prophecy and in this world, the Church in Heaven.

6/2 World religions; how they affect daily life; how Gods Word has affected the world

7/2 Knowledge of denomina-tions, history and doctrines; use Star book for references

8/2 Religions of the world, compare and contrast with Truth; respecting Bible authority

6/3 The Gospel, the church; worship, the fruit of the Gospel

10/2 Concepts of God; Spiritual life; His plan for the ages, for now; for eternity

11/2 Dealing with Satans theologies: new age; humanism; evolution; atheism12/2 Great people of the Bible from insignificant backgrounds; God can use us for great things if we give our lives

-2/2 Bible characters in pic-turesteaching words and names. -3/2 God made everything; Bi-ble Times Series on the Creation; set up for the quarter-4/2 The wonderful Creation and how it was spoiled; Satan and how he would ruin us

K/2 God; The Book of Books; how to use and care for it; make a book of main lessons

1/3 We learn about Jesus; His miracles and parables and prom-ises; wall scenes

2/3 The family, as God planned it; Daddy, head; Mother, care in the home; no divorce

3/3 Jesus teachings shape our daily life how they protect us and enrich us with a good life

4/3 Hall of Fame exemplary Christians of today from other countries

9/2 Keep yourself pure; dealing with boy/girl relationships; choosing a Christian

7/3 How God works in our lives, in answer to prayers; through providence

8/3 Behavior, peer pressure, attitudes; finding the answers in examples in Scripture

9/3 The wonder of it all: universe, earth, plants, animals, humans,

10/3 The Gospel, the church; worship; daily work and life

11/3 Tracing the early church; writings of church fathers; value of the church

12/3 Dealing with pain, set-backs; delays; attitudes toward God as we pray and wait

-2/3 Bible characters in pic-turesteaching words and names.

-3/3 Biblical Identifications; God, Jesus; angels; heaven;

-4/3 Bible Time Series on Jesus, who He is and how we relate to Him in life

K/3 Bible Tree; develop fam-ily tree of Abraham, Isaac, etc., learning lessons from them

1/4 My family and me; giving, receiving, loving, helping, obey-ing; work chart

2/4 Bible Time Series on the life, travels, teachings, example of Saul/ Paul

3/4 Bible Times Series on Mo-ses, exodus; leader; lawgiver lessons learned from examples

4/4 Bible Times Series on Dan-iel and captivity; parallels may come to us, for lessons

5/4 Prayer and providence; occurrences in Scripture; victory in Christ who rules over all

6/4 In the home, personal preparation for life; finding lifes answers in the Bible

7/4 family, church, community; lights for others in our behavior (Gospel presentation)

8/4 Dare to dream to heights, to make your life the most spiritual, the richest possible

9/4 Leadership in the church; divided classes for boys & girls, teaching classes, others

10/4 What will you do with what you learn; dont be a stu-dent forever; be a worker

11/4 How Christianity works for me, supplying the answers for life

12/4 Let go and live! Trusting life to God is the way to have the fullest, happiest life

-2/4 Hall of Fame Bible char-acters with wall photo gallerywe learn how to live

-3/4 The Big Battle

-4/4 Hall of Fame Bible char-acters with wall photo gallerywe learn how to live

K/4 Bible Times Series; Gods church in Acts; today; behavior, worship; room set-up

5/1 Jesus in promise (prophe-cies), in the flesh; in His church; coming again

ProposedTopical Studies for Into Gods World Curriculum


Published by World Evangelism Publications [P.O. Box 72, Winona, MS 38967, USA]

for Churches of Christ

It is our intention to produce a full line of Bible class materials, written by Christians for Christians, both in the US and throughout the world. In order to do this, time and patience, as well as funds, will be required.

Believing that this is a work of the church, rather than a business venture, we are offering concerned Chris-tians the opportunity to volunteer to be a part of this much needed undertaking. If you can help with the writing, the editing, proofing, artwork, layout work, and/or the funding, please contact us at 662-283-1192.

Ultimately, our goal is to provide four quarters of classbooks for each year, cradle through high school, and topical studies for adult classes. Along with the student books, additional materials such as teachers manuals, take-home sheets, activities, graphics for the classroom, and DVDs will be developed for Sunday morning and mid-week studies. In providing all that is needed for the class-es, it will be our aim to keep the prices as low as possible.


Documents

The Kingdom and Its Enemies