... in leadership by his son, R.G. Spurling, Jr. After ten years of little growth, three laymen influenced by the Spurlings' work claimed a deep religious experience similar to that written about by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and as a result began to preach sanctification. The three laymen began to hold services at Camp Creek, in Cherokee County, North Carolina, among a group of unaffiliated Baptists, Spurling and the Christian Union moved their services to Camp Creek and united with the group in North Carolina. During this revival that followed this merger, spontaneous speaking in tongues occurred. ...

... referred to the people as a whole and to the northern kingdom of 10 tribes. Today it is used as a collective name for all Jewry and since 1948 for the Jewish state. (Citizens of the state of Israel are called Israelis; not all of them are Jews.) In the Bible, Hebrew is used by foreign peoples as a name for the Israelites; today it is applied only to the hebrew language. The origin of the Jews is recounted in the Hebrew Bible. Despite legendary and miraculous elements in its early narratives, most scholars believe that the biblical account is based on historic realities. According to the Book of Genesis, God ...

... build strength in our own religion. Reincarnation, life after death, beliefs are not standardized between the religions. Each religion has a different way of applying this concept to its beliefs. Ignorance of these beliefs is a sign of weakness in the mind. To truly understand ones own religion, one must also understand those concepts of the other religions of the world. Hopefully this will be an enlightenment on the reincarnation concepts as they apply to Taoism and Buddhism. The goal in Taoism is to achieve tao, to find the way. Tao is the ultimate reality, a presence that existed before ...

... the exterior society. Cult recruiters prey on those who see themselves as alienated from the rest of society, and give these people the sense of conformity that they desire. A common method of recruiters, to obtain new members, is through chat lines on the internet. A recorded conversation between a member of the Divine Light Mission, Fire-Shade, and an 18-year old boy, Jay 18, was obtained off of the site, IRC Teen Chat. Jay18: I am a really great poet, but all of the kids in my class are pretty warped about it. I basically hide it from them because I don't need that hassle. Fire-Shade: My family has a great res ...

... beliefs of Zoroastrianism the two forces to do battle in the final days are refereed to as Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. Ahura Mazda is the supreme god who dwelt on high in omniscience and goodness. He is said to be forever held in the light. The second of these spirits was Ahriman. He dwelled in the deepest depths of darkness. HE had a lust to destroy, and would take every opportunity to cause others to commit evil. The battle ground for the great confrontation between these two cosmic powers is the universe itself. Ahura Mazda created the world as a trap for Ahriman. Human beings draw him into this world creatin ...

... dictate law is reflected in the story of Moses in Akiba's classroom. First we must note that God is distinctly "tying wreaths to the letters" of the Torah, so that Akiba can decipher their meaning later. Moses the writer of the document is then taken to Akiba's classroom and shown the sophistication that the Rabbis have when they interperit the Bible. Moses is put in the back of the class witht the new students as a symbol that he is not the master of the Bible. Moses was the writer. He had no say in what it meant or contained. Rather he was the first to interpret the words of God and write them. The fact th ...

... In the Christian religion, even if you have lived a life of sin, so long as you repent in the end, you will be saved and given eternal life. This is not so in other religions. Such religions as Hinduism for instance do not believe this. For everything you do wrong you will be punished. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, if not in this life, then the next. Hindu's also believe that punishing the body is part of the path to salvation. Christianity is nothing like this. Many Christians live in high©class society. Christianity is one of the most appealing in that any sins may easily be cor ...

... into other towns, cities and nations. Israel was under the control of the Assyrians and Judah was under the control of Babylonia. Jerusalem and the Temple of God had been destroyed. God had left the house of Israel. Ezekial had a vision of dry bones, scattered in a valley of the desert, which arose and came to have life. This was a symbol of three things: 1. Of the resurrection of souls, from the death of sin, to the life of righteousness; 2. The resurrection of the church from an afflicted state, to liberty and peace; 3. The resurrection of the body at the great day, especially the bodies of the ...

... sons , Haran and Nachor. While living in the city of Ur , Abram married his half-sister, Sarai who later took on the name of Sarah. The newlyweds later learned that Sarai was sterile. They then traveled north to Charan, accompanied by Abraham's father Terach. While in Charan Terach died. It was in Charan where God made his first of a series of revelations to Abram. God spoke to Abram, and told him that he would promise to bless him and make a great nation of him. Abram willingly decided to follow God to the city of Canaan. Abram not only traveled with his wife on this journey, but he also picked up his nephew, Lot. ...

... and evil. Satan (disguised as a serpent) told Eve that she would not die from eating that fruit, that her eyes would be opened, knowing both good and evil. But at the time Eve made her decision, she did not have the knowledge of good and evil. Eve did not know the serpent could be Satan incarnate, nor did she know that her desire to become a goddess would be a sin. The main reason Eve eats the apple is because she wants to become a Goddess. The serpent said that he was a beast and after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he became more human like. Eve was enticed by the words of the serp ...