Freedom for the captives ministries int'l

17/10/2025

16/10/2025

Happy birthday.

15/10/2025

A Second Resurrection

Revelation 20:5

But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

As many modern translations make clear, the second sentence refers back to verse 4. Verse 4 describes the faithful followers of Christ, resurrected to immortal life at Jesus Christ’s second coming, who will reign with Him for a thousand years. Obviously they will be the first ones resurrected.

If there is a “first” resurrection, then the following resurrection would be the “second” resurrection.

Who are the “rest of the dead” raised in the second resurrection? The vast majority of mankind—those who have not repented and accepted Jesus Christ’s sacrifice—including the billions who have never even heard of Jesus Christ or understood His message.

Our loving God, who “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), will not be thwarted by the deception and death these billions have previously experienced. Our just and merciful Savior has a plan that gives everyone a full and complete chance to repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9).

This second resurrection is celebrated in the meaning of God’s festival that comes right after the Feast of Tabernacles, the Eighth Day or Last Great Day.

15/10/2025

The Great White Throne Judgment Period
Revelation 20:11-12

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Satan has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9), so the people brought back to life in this resurrection will not have had a real understanding of God’s truth or a full opportunity to repent and be saved. That’s why our merciful God opens the “books”—the books of the Bible—to their understanding. He also opens the Book of Life—and the opportunity to be written in it.

As Christians today are being judged during this physical life (1 Peter 4:17), the judgment during the second resurrection will also include time for education, repentance, commitment and evaluation. We’ll see more about this when we read from Ezekiel 37.

14/10/2025

The Eyes of the Blind Shall Be Opened

Isaiah 35:5-7

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

The promised “times of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21) after Jesus Christ’s return will include healing of the disabilities that have plagued humanity throughout history. Jesus Christ gave a foretaste of this in the healings during His ministry (Luke 7:22), but the fullness of healing will come after His second coming.

In addition to the physical healing of eyes and ears, God also promises to open spiritual eyes and ears to understand His truth and way of life (Isaiah 29:18).

Isaiah then returns to the picture of the deserts being restored by life-giving water. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary gives this insight into the parched ground: “Rather, ‘the mirage (Hebrew, Sharab, the sun’s heat) shall become a (real) lake.’”

Again this view of the coming Millennium carries both physical and spiritual implications, as the “parched ground shall become a pool” and “rivers of living water” (the Holy Spirit) will flow (John 7:37-39).

13/10/2025

Happy birthday little Angel

08/10/2025

Prove It Yourself

Acts 17:11

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

After Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia pleading, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9), Paul and his companions began their memorable journey into Europe. After being jailed in Philippi and escaping from a riot in Thessalonica, they came to Berea.

Not much is said about Berea, but what is said is a tribute to the people who heard Paul. The King James Version uses the word “noble” where the New King James has “fair-minded.” The nobility was probably not of birth, but of character. Adam Clarke says, “It was a maxim among the Jews that ‘none was of a noble spirit who did not employ himself in the study of the law.’”

The Jews who heard Paul in the synagogue were ready to listen and prove what they heard to themselves. They didn’t allow preconceived ideas of what the Bible says to keep them from examining what it really says.

As the New Living Translation puts it, “They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”

God is pleased when we search the Scriptures and make sure what we believe is what He is revealing to us from the Holy Bible.

07/10/2025

The Future Feast of Tabernacles

Zechariah 14:16

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Verses 17-19 describe the punishment on those nations that choose to disobey and not keep the Feast of Tabernacles:

“And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

The Feast of Tabernacles was a commanded festival in the Old Testament; Jesus Christ and the apostles and the New Testament Church continued to observe it. And it will be required after Jesus Christ returns to establish the Kingdom of God.

07/10/2025

Abram Gives a Tenth to Melchizedek

Genesis 14:18-20

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

The book of Hebrews reveals that Melchizedek was not only “priest of God Most High,” but was actually the eternal One who would come as Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:1-3; see also Psalm 110:4).

Abram (whose name was later changed to Abraham) had been blessed by God in recovering Lot and the others who had been taken captive. So Abram gave a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek. This is the first mention of the practice of tithing—giving a tenth of our increase to God—in the Bible.

"Tithing is commanded by God. Through tithing, one honors God with his material goods and assists in preaching the gospel, providing for the physical needs of the Church and caring for needy members. A special festival tithe makes it possible for one to attend the commanded festivals of God.”

07/10/2025

A Tithe for God’s Work

Numbers 18:21

“Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.”

In the Old Testament, God delegated His work and His tithe to the Levitical priesthood.

He commanded that the Israelites give a tenth (tithe) of their increase to the children of Levi, one of the 12 tribes of Israel, for doing the work of taking care of God’s tabernacle and teaching the people God’s laws and ways.

12/08/2025

Praying in Jesus’ Name

John 14:13-14

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

Jesus Christ was willing to entrust His disciples—those who have committed their lives to following and obeying Him—with His name. They could pray to the Father “in Jesus’ name”—and what greater privilege could there be than to approach the Father with the blessing of His beloved Son! It’s like being given His official seal or a blank check with Jesus’ signature on it.

And not only can we ask the Father in Jesus’ name, but Jesus Himself said He would do it!

Of course, a disciple of Jesus Christ will be striving to only ask according to God’s will—according to what is truly best for us and others. We won’t ask selfishly or from sinful motives. As Jesus continues in verse 15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” God’s commandments reflect God’s love, providing a foundation for praying according to His will.