Verse: About By This Verse Website and Its Goals

Jun P. Espina 3 min read

Updated on March 24th, 2021

The Birth of By This Verse

VERSE. This word is awash with meaning if linked to the Holy Scriptures! I created By This Verse (http://bythisverse.com) as a “preaching” website. With the Internet, anyone could pass on the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ to many people at the speed of light. As the idea thrilled me, so I created By This Verse, A Reflection on Life, in 2011.

As a newbie in blogging, I ran through many flaws. I uploaded my write-ups through the Blogger platform, at first. Then, I moved to WordPress without understanding such things as the SEO (Search Engine Optimization), the work of tags and categories, the redirection of my URLs, or the complications of the link addresses of my posts. I moved By This Verse from one website engine to another in ignorance.

Another huge oversight worth sharing was that I cared less for my website(s), unlike the seasoned bloggers. In 2016, someone hacked By This Verse (under InMotion hosting!), and I was the last person to have uncovered it.

By This Verse: Concerning the Truth

Since By This Verse was born to share God’s word with the world, my apparent negligence for its maintenance was far from acceptable as it benefited the devil more. Christianity is warfare. (cf. Eph. 6:10-20) The Christian Gospel is the truth as Christ Jesus is the Truth (cf. John 14:6). To borrow from Henry David Thoreau: “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me the truth.” To build By This Verse along with its extraordinary goal is a noble task. I wish I could make it and mold its traffic in my lifetime by the grace of God.

By This Verse: Respecting the Gospel of John

I preached to my folks for around one year from the Gospel of John using only one verse, which was the most-quoted John 3:16. It wraps the heart or the core truth of the Holy Bible. I told them that God so loved us, according to the verse, that we will continue to live beyond the grave through faith in Christ Jesus. What a promise! “Did they receive the word of Christ gladly?” was the question I asked myself. John 3:16 contains an enormous peak of hope: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Just like Bible blogging, only a very few would pay attention to God’s written promises. Preaching Christ, though, is the one thing essential. People’s acceptance of God’s message is the work of the Holy Spirit, not the preacher’s. By This Verse aims to share the Good News, for it is all that it can do! As our blog description suggests, this site is about the Gospel and our biblical points or reflections on life.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

By This Verse: Regarding the Book of Romans

I took a picture (lost when this site got hacked!) of a man or woman in a “duck character” in Hong Kong Disneyland but didn’t have any idea it would be useful as an odd description of By This Verse. (Like a quacking duck?) In the photograph, the “duck” acted as if he or she was about to preach something. As a “reflection on life” and a preacher on the Web, I believe By This Verse should never lose sight of Romans 6:23 as it shares God’s word, for this Scripture is so loaded with meaning, second only to John 3:16.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)

Its first part answers the eternal question, “Why do we die?” And, how sad, since the final verdict of our Father God is that the “wages of sin is death.” God has pronounced judgment already that sin always ends in death (in hell). We have only one destination after death, according to the verse, that is, our second death in the lake of fire—in hell, since we are all sinners. (cf. Rom. 3:23) Yes, all of us! But then, God hastily added, after deciding to send us all to hell on account of our sin, the word “b u t” — “but the FREE GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus.” What a relief!

By This Verse: Touching the Lonely Path

Preachers, By This Verse included, are just like a quacking duck to some. Most people hate the truth. Death, for example, is not a myth. Hence, the majority don’t want to talk and hear about it–even about its Bible remedies.

Another illustration is the negative response of the people when our Lord Jesus Christ first said that He would die as the only Redeemer of humankind from the power of sin and death. Christ said that He was the Truth and that He would offer His blood for the salvation of the soul. A divine offer, isn’t it? But the people mocked and killed Him instead.

It is happening even today. I think the ads “Convert to Islam” gathers more clicks than “Is Jesus God?” By This Verse understands this: Preaching is a lonely path! But our risen Lord Jesus Christ commanded us, real Christians, to spread the truth that our Lord, the Son of God, owns both the eternal life and the everlasting damnation of every human being. He is both our Savior and Judge. (cf. Acts 17:31)

Come to Me, [Christ gave His invitation to all!] all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (Matt. 11:28; John 3:36)

By This Verse: Regarding Christ’s Command to Go and Preach

Christ’s command to preach the gospel was not given to the unbelievers. Why because the sharing of the Good News involves a divine intervention and a constant anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is, after all, God’s message to all human beings, His message of love, the forgiveness of sin, the salvation from hell, and the life in heaven forever in a new spiritual body (cf. 2 Cor. 5). The unbelievers don’t have Christ’s Spirit yet; they couldn’t be a “vessel for the master’s use.”

If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. (2 Tim. 2:21, KJV)

God may use a donkey (Num. 22:28) to preach, too. We cannot limit God’s wisdom on how to spread the Good News. He may use the unbelievers, too, in unique ways. Nonetheless, the Great Commission to preach was given to the believers specifically. (cf. Matt. 28:16-20)

Make Disciples

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:16-20)

Be a Part of the Great Commission

By This Verse is a website that was established to help the readers understand the way to enter heaven and live there forever according to God’s word. It is a solitary path in these last days where the truth is “transgendered, ” and the Islamists’ agenda applauded as the “new light,” while Christianity, the “new darkness.”

As already mentioned, real Christianity is warfare. But God is almighty, and His gospel of salvation from divine judgment will be preached, according to His will, in the churches, in the schools, on the Internet, anywhere until the end of time.

By This Verse intends to take part in the Great Commission by God’s grace.