Two Minutes With The Bible

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Bethlehem's Babe Exalted
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Bible accounts of the birth of Christ are touching indeed. The angelic announcements, the virgin with child, deeply embarrassed, yet highly honored; the holy Babe in a stable because there was no room in the inn, wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in a manger; the night suddenly turned to day, the multitude of the heavenly host praising God!

Surely it is fitting that we remember all this and celebrate it, especially since our Lord thus humbled Himself that He might die for our sins. Yet here we must be careful not to be led astray, lest we know Him only as a sweet babe in a manger rather than as the mighty Savior that He is. As Americans we celebrate the birthdays of great men, but we do not emphasize their babyhood! We rather honor them for what they have accomplished, rejoicing that such men were born into the world.

Our Lord is no longer a babe and He does not wish to be thought of as a babe, but rather as the One who, having died for our sins at Calvary, now lives to dispense to a world of lost sinners the riches of His grace.

It was from His glory in heaven that He revealed Himself to St. Paul and instructed him to write: “Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him [so] no more” (II Cor. 5:16).

And again in Hebrews 2:8,9, the Apostle declares: “Now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus…. crowned with glory and honor” as the One who “tasted death for every man.”

It is wonderful to remember our Lord as the Babe born at Bethlehem, but still more wonderful to know Him now as the One who is “able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

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Children And Grown-ups
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Lord Jesus said to a religious leader of His day: “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). All true Christians have been born again by the Spirit of God (Titus 3:5). They are therefore the children of God (Rom. 8:16).

Children are a joy in any normal household, but it is a tragedy when a child remains a child, physically, mentally or both. It is a tragedy too, that so many Christians, truly born again, remain spiritual babes — they do not grow. They know that Christ died for their sins but have made no progress in grace or in the knowledge of the Word. To such Paul wrote:

    “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual [men], but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear [digest] it, neither yet now are ye able” (I Cor. 3:1,2).

Thus those who, spiritually undeveloped, were able to digest only the milk, or the simple things, of the Scriptures, were called “carnal” and “babes,” in contrast to those “spiritual” believers who had grown in grace and were able to assimilate the deeper, richer truths of the Word of God.

This is not a compliment to those who constantly boast that they are satisfied with “the simple things,” and fail to study God’s Word, as II Tim. 2:15 commands. To such Paul writes, by divine inspiration:

    “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again… and are become such as have need of milk… For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat [solid food] belongeth to them that are of full age…” (Heb. 5:12-14).

A new-born babe in Christ is a joy to behold, but every born-again Christian should grow through the study of the Word. I Pet. 2:2 says:

    “As newborn babes desire the sincere [pure] milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”

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Looking For the Loophole
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


To many people, it just doesn’t seem right that God would punish someone in hell for all eternity, and so they look for loopholes in the Bible’s clear teaching about eternal damnation (Rev. 14:11, etc.). They mean well, but they remind us of what the Lord said about the rich man in hell, who pleaded that Lazarus be sent to warn his five brothers, “lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:28.). It is often argued from this that this man had repented, and only a God who was a monster would refuse to release him. As we compare Scripture with Scripture, however, we believe otherwise, especially when we compare the torments of hell to the torments of the Tribulation.

There are many ways to show that the Tribulation will be a time of hell on earth, but perhaps the simplest is found when we read that “in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it” (Rev. 9:6). What a picture of hell! You would think that everyone on the receiving end of the unfathomable torments of that day would repent in the hope that God would relent and spare them further torment. Yet despite the fact that men will be “scorched with great heat” (Rev. 16:9), in John’s vision, they “blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not… of their deeds” (vv. 9,11).

In light of all this, we feel the rich man’s request to warn his five brothers was not an indication of any repentance on his part—far from it. Like many incarcerated men, he was looking for a loophole in the prosecution’s case against him. You see, if Lazarus was sent from the dead to warn his brothers, he could argue that he never benefited from such a supernatural warning, making his conviction unjust.

Add it all up, and a more accurate picture of hell appears. Hell is not filled with cries of repentance to which God turns an unfeeling deaf ear. Like the description of the Tribulation we just read, the air is rather filled with the sound of blasphemy, voiced by men who are eternally convinced that God is wrong and they do not belong there.

Fortunately, dear reader, you do not have to go there. Just admit that God is right, that you are sinner (Rom. 3:23) who deserves to die an eternal death for your sins (Rom. 6:23; Rev. 20:14), but that Christ died for your sins so that you don’t have to (I Cor. 15:1-4). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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Resurrection Power
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


How comes this flower to bloom so fair,
With loveliest fragrance to fill the air?
A short time ago the seed lay dead,
The cold, wintry ground its desolate bed.

But now, behold, from the dampened earth,
Without a sound to betray its birth,
This thing of beauty has blossomed and grown
To possess a loveliness all its own.

And as we view it, standing there
With a majesty quite beyond compare,
A mighty conviction grips the heart:
This beautiful flow’r has a counterpart.

Our Savior once suffered and died for sin.
Though no one so righteous as He had been.
It seemed that the devil had sealed His doom
As they buried His body in Joseph’s tomb.

But what is this wonder that greets our eyes
As the rays of the third morning’s sun arise?
Behold, He is risen! The grave could not hold
The Author of Life; the Anointed of God!

And now the dead who have trusted in His name,
Though sleeping in Jesus, will rise again
With bodies more glorious than this flower
–Sown in weakness, but raised in power!

C.R.S.

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Never Even Missed It
by Pastor John Fredericksen


One Sunday, a Christian family of four decided to take two different cars to church. After the service was over, the young boy rode home with his mom while the eight-year-old girl rode with dad. The father and daughter decided to stop at a furniture store to look for a living room set. After a while the dad got in his car and drove home. After a few minutes in the house, the mother asked, “Where’s Emily?” Until that question, the father had not realized that he left the store without his daughter and drove all the way home without her. Despite the solitude in the car, he never missed her until after arriving home. All the way back to the store, the ten-year-old brother, who was very angry with his father, kept asking his dad, “How could you have forgotten my sister?”

It is a simple reality that many times the most important things in life are simply forgotten. During the years of Israel’s many kings, a pattern of turning away from the Lord to false gods persisted. But that changed with one king. Once King Josiah ascended the throne, “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” (II Kings 22:2). “And like unto him there was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might” (II Kings 23:25). Josiah became a spiritual reformer, ridding the land of false worship, sinful practices, and leading the nation back to the proper, exclusive worship of Jehovah.

This spiritual revival began at the beginning of Josiah’s reign and was built on one primary incident. Josiah instructed trusted people to make needed repairs in Israel’s house of worship, the temple, which had been neglected for many years. In the process of making these repairs, Hilkiah the high priest made an important discovery. He reported back to King Josiah, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord” (II Kings 22:8.). Amazingly, God’s chosen and blessed people, Israel, had been without God’s Word for decades. It had been absent in their times of worship, in their homes, in their conversations, in their work place, and in their lives, AND NOBODY EVEN MISSED IT.

Over and over in the Old Testament, the Lord instructed Israel to build their lives around the Scriptures. They were to write portions of it on their door posts, read it daily, diligently teach it to their children, and make it a topic of conversation as they went about their day (Deut. 11:18-20). How could it be that God’s own people could be without God’s Word and not even miss it?  No doubt the answer is through a growing neglect of the Scriptures, disinterest in spiritual things, and preoccupation with temporal things, resulting in a cold callousness toward the Lord. It’s a dangerous pattern and a dangerous place to be.

Could we today, who know Christ as Savior, come to a place where we have little or none of God’s Word in our lives and never even miss it?  Absolutely,and it happens all the time.  The same pattern that plagued Israel persists today.  We are easily distracted and preoccupied with the temporal distractions of this world.  Neglecting time in the Scriptures, or not applying it to our daily lives and conversations, can lead to a growing disinterest in the things of the Lord.  It may be easier to see this in someone else’s life than in our own, but this danger is very real for all of us.

What should each of us do to avoid this from happening to us?  The first thing is to be awakened to our need to make God and His Word preeminent in our lives. Just as Israel was to read it daily, constantly discuss it, and make it the central part of their worship, so it should be for us. This principle is just as needed today as it was for Israel. The Apostle Paul tells us to “hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love” (II Tim. 1:13). God’s Word in our lives is our life line to good spiritual health so “don’t leave home without it” and make it a topic of conversation with family and Christian friends. Finally, don’t neglect the place of worship where God’s Word is rightly divided and where the primary doctrines of grace are recognized to be found in the letters of the Apostle Paul.

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You Can't Get By With This
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


One of Pastor Stam’s favorite jokes went something like this:

Teacher: “Johnny, what’s the difference between a pronoun and a preposition?”

Johnny: “Yeah, that’s what I say, what’s the difference!”

Despite Johnny’s indifference, we know there is a great deal of difference between pronouns and prepositions! These parts of speech are important, especially when it comes to Bible study. For instance, Pastor Stam once wrote:

    “Not once does Paul in his epistles teach that members of the Body of Christ are baptized with or in the Spirit.”

In response to this, we sometimes get letters asking about this verse:

    “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” (I Cor. 12:13).

But a close look will reveal an important difference in the preposition used in each case. The Apostle Paul taught that believers today are baptized “by” the Spirit, but Pastor Stam doesn’t say we’re not baptized by the Spirit, he says we are not baptized “with” the Spirit. No contradiction here!

Speaking of Christ, John the Baptist predicted:

    “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 3:11).

This prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost, where “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues” (Acts 2:4). It is important to notice that Christ is the Baptizer here, and that He baptized people with the Spirit. This is often confused with I Corinthians 12:13, but in this passage the Spirit is the Baptizer, baptizing people into the Body. That’s quite different than what happened at Pentecost, where the Lord was the Baptizer, baptizing people with the Spirit, enabling them to speak in tongues.

This explains why believers today are not able to speak in languages they never studied, as they did at Pentecost, for we do not have their baptism. But if we do not have their baptism, we must also conclude that at Pentecost they did not have our baptism. That is, we are not baptized by Christ with the Spirit, and they were not baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ.

We realize this runs contrary to the common teaching that the Church began at Pentecost, where it is said that believers were first baptized into the Body, but we believe the difference in prepositions used in these passages is just one of many evidences that the Body of Christ began later, with the raising up of Paul.

You just can’t get by with mixing with and by!

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The Value Of Bible Study
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:15).

Timothy was a fortunate young man. His father was not a believer in Christ, but his godly mother made up for this lack as, day after day, from his earliest childhood, she taught him the Word of God. As a result he came to know Christ at an early age and later became St. Paul’s faithful co-worker and close associate in making known the wonderful “good news of the grace of God.”

In his very last letter the great Apostle Paul recalls Timothy’s “unfeigned faith… which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice”(II Tim. 1:5).

If only we had more such mothers and grandmothers today, with husbands to help them! If only our American children were not set adrift on a restless sea of human speculation, but were taught the eternal truths of God’s Word, the Bible!

We all need to “know the Holy Scriptures,” not only because they teach reverence for God and build moral character, but most of all because they “are able to make [us] wise unto salvation through faith… in Christ Jesus.”

The theme of the Bible, the Old Testament as well as New, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the riches of whose saving grace are unfolded to us in the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace. It was to Paul that God committed the preaching of the cross of Christ. He it is who tells us about the riches that flow from Calvary. He it is who tells us, by divine inspiration that:

    “…WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH [CHRIST’S] BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE” (Eph. 1:7).

    “THAT IN THE AGES TO COME HE MIGHT SHOW THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US THROUGH CHRIST JESUS” (Eph. 2:7).

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So Soon
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


How highly the Galatian believers had esteemed Paul; how heartily they had loved him when he had first come to them proclaiming grace! The Apostle recalls it in Galatians 4:13-15:

    “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

    “And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

    “Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.”

How happy in grace, how thoroughly blessed, had the Galatian Christians been — when Paul was with them! But let the Apostle turn his back, as it were; let the legalizers come courting on the morrow and suddenly these same believers were ready to go back under the Law. “So soon” had they fallen from grace! The Apostle was dumbfounded! “I marvel,” he says, “that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel”(Gal. 1:6).

How unspeakably sad! And how natural that, hearing the news, the Apostle should sit down immediately to write them this urgent epistle, in large letters.

The temptations to “fall from grace” are as great today as they ever were. It would be well, therefore, to read this letter to the Galatians often so that we might be among those who “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. 5:1).

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Knowing Christ As He Should Be Known
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


John the Baptist introduced our Lord with the proclamation: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). Throughout His earthly ministry Christ was known as “the Son of David”, the king with whom God made a covenant to establish His Kingdom forever.

The Old Testament prophets predicted that Christ would — and He will — reign on earth upon the throne of His father David. While His Kingdom was being proclaimed “at hand”, He walked and talked and ate with men as “the Son of Man”. Wearied with travelling, He sat at Jacob’s well and asked for a drink of water. Pressed by the throng, He got into a fishing boat and addressed the multitudes from the sea. Hated by His adversaries, He was tried, scourged, spit upon, and nailed to a tree. This was indeed “Christ manifest in the flesh”.

With regard to His humiliation, however, the Apostle Paul says, by divine inspiration: “God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9).

Again, the Apostle declares that God’s mighty power was “wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, FAR ABOVE ALL…” (Eph. 1:20). He is no longer to be known as “the lowly Jesus”, but as the exalted “Lord” in heaven. And this has its bearing on us too:

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we Him no more” (II Cor. 5:16). Our blessed Saviour is now to be known as the glorified Son of God, the Great Dispenser of Grace to a lost humanity; the One who in love and mercy “tasted death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).

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Peace With God, Access To God And The Hope Of Glory
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


According to Rom. 4:25, Christ was delivered to death for our sins and then raised from the dead because He had fully settled our debt. The results of this mighty work of redemption are marvelous indeed to ponder over.

First, it means for every believer in Christ, that “being justified by faith we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). If Christ has paid for our sins and the barrier between God and us has been removed, why should we not enjoy peace with God? Why should we not rise in the morning, go about our work during the day and retire at night with complete confidence that all is well; that we are at peace with God and that He loves us as His very own?

But more: Verse 2 goes on to say that by Christ we also have “access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” If the barrier of sin has been removed and we are at peace with God, what is there to keep us out of His presence, especially when He Himself bids us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”? (Heb. 4:16). How wonderful to have a standing before God in grace! to be at peace with Him and to enjoy free access into His presence by faith!

But there is still more. Not only does the believer in Christ enjoy peace with God and access to God, but, as this same verse says: “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” “Hope” in the Bible is, of course, more than a wish. It is an eager anticipation of wonderful things to come. Heb. 6:19 says: “Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast.” Man has always been afraid of the glory of God. When the glory of the Lord shone round about the Judaean shepherds “they were sore afraid.” This was because “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But the simplest believer in Christ may rejoice in the anticipation of sharing God’s glory some day.

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The Conflict Between the Old and New Natures
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Concerning the conflict continually going on between the old and new natures in the believer, St. Paul says:

    “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:17).

Regarding this conflict in his own personal experience, he writes:

    “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

    “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

    “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Rom. 7:19,22,23).

It has been taught by some that we need not experience this continual strife between the old nature and the new. They say: “Get out of the 7th of Romans into the 8th.”

We would remind such that the Apostle Paul wrote Romans 7 and Romans 8 at the same sitting; that in the original language the letter goes right on without interruption — without even a chapter division.

Thus the same apostle who exclaims: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1) refers in the same letter, only a few sentences before, and in the present tense, to “the law of sin which is in my members,” and freely acknowledges the present operation of that law in his members, as we have seen above.

How then shall we get out of the 7th of Romans into the 8th? Paul experienced both at the same time, and so do we, for while we are free from the condemnation of sin, sin itself nevertheless continues to work within us, and we must constantly “mortify the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13).

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True Thanksgiving
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Many people entertain only vague notions about thanksgiving, just as they do about faith.

They confuse faith with optimism, will power, presumption, imagination, and all sorts of other things. A doctor tells his patient that but for his faith, he never would have come through his illness. Somehow the patient was “just sure” he would recover. A smiling mother encourages her married daughter to “have faith, that everything will turn out all right.” But faith in God is believing God; believing what He has said. True faith is based on the written Word of God (See Rom. 10:17).

But unregenerate men have vague ideas about thanksgiving. A man escapes some great harm and thanks his “lucky stars.” Another says: “I’m grateful for a healthy body,” but to whom is he grateful? He doesn’t say. In many cases it doesn’t even occur to him to ask. He’s “just thankful”!

How refreshing, then, it is to open our Bibles, especially to the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners, saved by grace, and to see him giving thanks for specific blessings, and to a specific Person — God!

    “Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet [fit] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:12,13).

    “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!” (II Cor. 9:15).

    “Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory!” (I Cor. 15:57).

    “Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph!” (II Cor. 2:14).

It is our prayer for all our readers that you may be especially thankful for “the gift of God [which] is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

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Salesmen And Soldiers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


It is true indeed that salvation is bestowed by grace and received through faith — entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise. But it is equally true that it costs to embrace the truth and costs even more to stand for it, rather than selling out. This is why Proverbs 23:23 exhorts us to “buy the truth and sell it not”. In this sense we are not to sell the truth. Yet in another sense we are salesmen of the truth, urging men to buy it.

As we do this we find that there are those who would actually seek to hinder men from buying the truth. Yet it is not primarily they who oppose our efforts, but Satan and his hosts.

    “FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD [age], AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS [wicked spirits] IN HIGH PLACES” (Eph. 6:12).

This is why God’s salesmen must also be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ” (II Tim. 2:3). We must make the glorious message known despite the opposition. We must “put on the whole armour of God” and meet our adversaries with “the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”(Eph. 6:11,17). When they would shut our mouths we must pray for ourselves and each other:

    “…that utterance may be given unto me, THAT I MAY OPEN MY MOUTH BOLDLY, to make known the mystery of the [Paul’s] gospel.

    “…THAT THEREIN I MAY SPEAK BOLDLY, AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK” (Eph. 6:19,20; Rom. 16:25, 26).

This, by the grace of God, is our prayer and our resolve.

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Grace Today And Tomorrow
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Paul learned what thousands upon thousands of God’s saints have learned from his day to ours: that it is often more blessed to experience God’s grace in suffering than to enjoy deliverance from suffering, for in the former case we lean the harder and pray the more, and so are drawn closer to Him. Moreover, we find that His strength is made perfect in weakness and that when we are weak, then are we strong (II Cor. 12:9,10).

But even better things are in store for God’s people: Some day, “in the ages to come,” God will display to all the universe “the exceeding riches of His grace.” How will He do this? “In His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

Dear reader, have you accepted the grace of God in Christ Jesus? Do you believe that He loves you and that He “came into the world” to bear all the blame and shame and punishment that was your due, so that you might be “justified freely by His grace” (Rom. 3:24)?

If not, will you take Him at His Word now and come to know the truth of II Cor. 4:15:

    “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.”

Whatever your past; however great or many your sins, take God at His Word. Believe that He loves you in spite of all. Believe that He has already provided the payment for your sins in Christ:

    “In whom we have redemption. through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

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The Noble Bereans And Paul's Gospel
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


We have said that the Bereans were commended for listening with open minds to teachings which they had never heard before. Yes, when they were confronted with them. It was the Athenians, not the Bereans, who made it their policy to consider as many viewpoints as possible on every subject (Acts 17:18-21).

The strength of the Bereans was that they kept close to the Scriptures. When confronted with some new doctrine, they did indeed give it an interested hearing, but then“searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). Had they found anything in Paul’s message which contradicted the Scriptures they would immediately have rejected it. And for this God calls them “noble”. They were the truly great, the spiritual aristocracy of their day.

Too many believers today aspire to be like the Athenians rather than the Bereans. They say they wish to have open minds, and this is good if it is remembered that an open mind is like an open mouth; not everything should be put into it.

The Athenians went to the other extreme from the Thessalonians, who would not even consider a new doctrine when confronted with it — would not even consider it in the light of the Scriptures.

The Bereans were the wisest of the three. They kept close to that blessed Book, and, when confronted with unfamiliar teachings, immediately subjected them to the test of Scripture.

This is the wisest course, even if only because we are all limited in time and strength. Obviously we cannot spend a great deal of time looking into the conflicting teachings of men without sacrificing a great deal of much-needed time for Bible study, and in the measure that we do this we are bound to grow spiritually weaker.