5 minutes a day
5 days a week
1 New Testament in a year

There are 261 weekdays in a year, and there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. By reading one chapter, Monday through Friday, you will read the whole New Testament by the end of the year. The Daily Cup series is to help with that goal.

Happy Studying!

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup." -- Psalm 16:5

Click here for a pdf of the study schedule - CLICK HERE

     My question is regarding Jesus' casting out of demons.  During our sermon today, our preacher referenced Matthew 8 where Jesus cast out demons from many people after preaching in Capernaum.  What happened to the demons after they were cast out?  There is the one example of them being cast into the herd of swine and then drowning in a lake, but what about the others?  I couldn't find anywhere where it says anything about what happened to them.  Did they die?  Were they permitted to go on living on Earth?  Were they cast to hell?  Any idea?  Thanks.

Sincerely,
Disturbed By Demons

Dear Disturbed By Demons,

When they were cast out, the text seems to indicate that they went back to the spiritual realm – what Matt 12:43 describes as ‘waterless places’.  Matt 12:44 talks about a demon coming back from those waterless places and re-possessing a person, but after Christ’s time, that no longer became possible.
Demon possession ended not long after the days of Christ because when Jesus cast demons out, they were cast out for good.  Jesus made it clear that one of His jobs was to bind the devil and take his strength away by casting out his demons (Matt 12:28-29).  When Jesus’ disciples had come back from their evangelism trips and related to Him that they had cast out many demons, Jesus told them that they were defeating Satan by getting rid of Satan’s demonic minions (Lk 10:17-18).  When Jesus and His disciples cast out demons, they did it permanently and bound Satan by their acts.

5 minutes a day
5 days a week
1 New Testament in a year

There are 261 weekdays in a year, and there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. By reading one chapter, Monday through Friday, you will read the whole New Testament by the end of the year. The Daily Cup series is to help with that goal.

Happy Studying!

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup." -- Psalm 16:5

Click here for a pdf of the study schedule - CLICK HERE

     How can I know God exists?  Am I really expected to believe in something that I've never seen?  Am I supposed to just read the Bible stories and decide that they sound true?  If that's the case, I have a hard time believing because they don't sound true.  For example: Jonah and the Whale, Noah's Ark, and Joshua using horns to bring down the walls of Jericho.  There must be more to it; please teach me.

Sincerely,
Serious Skeptic

Dear Serious Skeptic,

The best way to show you that the Bible is accurate is to show the uniqueness of the Bible. The writers of the Bible admit that it is their hands that wrote it (Gal 6:11), but they also explain that God’s Spirit guided those hands (Eph 3:3-4). If that is true (and it is!), then the Bible would show signs that it was written by God and not man. Here are some simple reasons that the Bible is unique from every other book:

1. It is 100% scientifically accurate. Isa 40:22 mentions the earth being round. Job 36:27-28 explains the water-vapor cycle. These and other verses mention scientific principles that were not understood until centuries later.

2. It never contradicts itself. Over 40 different writers penned the pages of the Bible. They came from different walks of life and different eras, yet no one has ever found a contradiction from Genesis to Revelation.

3. It has been perfectly preserved throughout history. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint are copies of the Bible written 1,000 years apart, and yet, there is no difference in the text.

4. No book is as widely distributed as the Bible. Written in over 2,500 languages and sold by the billions, the Bible is the most published book on the planet. No other book comes even close.

5. The Bible is accurate in prophecies. The prophecies of Tyre (Eze 26:3-21) and Babylon (Isa 13:19-22, Isa 14:23) give specific, detailed accounts of the fall of those cities. Those prophecies were written many years before the events took place, and yet they came to pass exactly as the Bible foretold.

These are only short answers to the question ‘Why should I believe the Bible?’, but they are a good start. If you want a more detailed answer, we recommend Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell and Has God Spoken? by A.O. Schnabel as great reference material on this topic.

5 minutes a day
5 days a week
1 New Testament in a year

There are 261 weekdays in a year, and there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. By reading one chapter, Monday through Friday, you will read the whole New Testament by the end of the year. The Daily Cup series is to help with that goal.

Happy Studying!

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup." -- Psalm 16:5

Click here for a pdf of the study schedule - CLICK HERE