In the world, there is a lot of television programming these days about the devil. Lucifer is a TV program that presents the devil who looks like a charming man in all of his charming ways. He is the hero of the show and presented in a somewhat sympathetic way. Supernatural is a show where …
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” I have heard this quote repeated in regards to many of the differences between churches. It has been attributed as the watchword of Christian peacemakers by Phillip Schaff, a noted nineteenth century church historian. While some ascribe this quote to Augustine, it actually comes …
T 19.1 Modern Christian Traditions – The In Essentials Unity Doctrine. Read More »
I have many times heard a preacher or teacher substitute one word for another in a verse or set of verses. For example because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved[emphasis added]. (Rom 10:9 ESV) The …
The Importance Of Each Word, More on Word Studies Read More »
This particular word study is very personal to me, and it may be to you because it has to do with the origin of the Gospels. I was raised a Roman Catholic and had twelve years of religion classes in Catholic schools. However, my mother’s side called themselves Protestant and believed in the Bible as …
Doing a Word Study To Determine a Word’s Meaning in the Original language Read More »
Paul admonishes believers to not shy away from the manifestations of the Spirit . Don’t quench the Spirit. Don’t despise prophesies. (1Th 5:19-20 WEB) The word quench is the Greek word sbennumi. Its translated quench, extinquish, go out. Here’s an example where it is translated “going out”. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us …
A recent article in Christianity Today starts with, “Are American Christians really this bad at theology? Are we simply just a band of unwitting heretics? Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research’s recent State of Theology study seems to indicate that, yes, a large percentage of us are at odds at what we believe.”1 The article goes …
Theology Is As Clear As Mud To Americans in 2020 Read More »
Christianity is about love. And we are in the administration of grace. So surely no persons or churches should be reproved, rebuked, or corrected, right? There should be no criticism of any kind, constructive or destructive, right? Terms I hear expressed are to be loving, forgiving, “giving grace” and “endeavoring to keep the unity of …
Here is a picture of an ancient Greek manuscript page from the Digital Walters (link opens new tab to view page) which are released for free under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (link opens new tab to view page) license for anyone who wants to use them: This page is somewhere in Acts or …
From the gospels and epistles, we have in the writings of the apostles and their agents that prophets and prophecy were a vitally important part of the apostle’s traditions left for us to follow. From recognition in the gospels of how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ were foretold in the Law …
Some churches teach that Christians are required to tithe. Tithing is giving one-tenth of your income to God’s work. I have personally heard tithing taught in Baptist, Full Faith, Assembly of God, and Pentecostal churches. Most of these churches teach that not tithing is robbing God. And I have sat and heard those warnings. In …
Believers are charged to follow the apostles’ tradition: So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. (2Th 2:15 ESV) Remember that tradition encompasses both what is taught and what is practiced. One thing the apostles emphasized both in …
The message of the Gospel is the good news of Christ. And spread that message is what Apostles did, first and foremost. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Act 5:42 ESV) When they had appointed a day for …
Jesus taught about the end of times. And as I write this the world is in the middle of the corona virus pandemic. As usual there are some that are saying that this is the beginning of the end. Matthew chapter 24 is the most prominent place in the Gospel where Jesus talks about the …
It has been on my heart to write a post about the racial tension soaring around the States these days but unlike what usually happens there have been no words coming to me, only intense sadness and sorrow. Every time I start to think about it my mind gravitates to the picture of the white …
Jesus lived by revelation, the revelation in God’s word. He also walked by the spirit and knew things that he only could have gotten by supernatural means. For example, he knew that the comforter would come shortly after his ascension. In The Not Enough Information Rule – Sticking to What is Revealed we looked at revelation …
Jesus’ Source For Truth Was Revelation From The Scriptures Read More »
Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deu 29:29 ESV) This verse is fairly plain but let’s just look at some of the words …
The Not Enough Information Rule – Sticking to What is Revealed; Context Read More »
Some people say that the reasons that Jesus performed all the miracles he did certainly included compassion but also to establish that he was awaited Messiah.i But Jesus himself stated another reason for his many wonderful works; he was teaching by example that we might follow his powerful walk in the spirit: “Truly, truly, I …
Most people understand the idea of a Kingdom or monarchy. It is a land or a realm where a king or queen rules. Examples in the bible include Kings Saul, David, Solomon, and the succession of Kings in Israel and Judah. Examples of monarchs today are Queen Elizabeth of the British Empire and Sheikh Hamad …
OriginalChristianity.net is about what Original Christians actually believed and practiced, and then how it evolved over the millennia into a widely divided system of now thousands of denominations. So it is important to focus right here on key elements that contributed to this massive splintering. Critical to that point, we start in Part one discussing …
T 1.1 Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 1b, The Nothing But the Truth Rule Read More »
As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” (Psa 41:4 ESV) Father, you are the God who heals us. People are hurting. People everywhere are getting sick, some are dying, and people everywhere are having to stop their lives and stay apart because of …
A Prayer in this Time of Disease and Uncertainty Read More »
In T 0.1 Introduction to Tradition in the Church, we discussed that a tradition is a set of beliefs and customs that gets passed from one generation to another. We also looked at the verses that charged believers to follow the tradition that was handed down by the Apostles: So then, brothers, stand firm and hold …
T 1 Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 1, Rightly Dividing the Word of God Read More »
Christians follow the Bible, and the Bible starts with the five books of the Law, Genesis through Deuteronomy. Those five books are called the Torah to Jews. The rest of the Jewish Bible includes the Prophets also called the Nevi’im, and the Writings also called the Ketuvim. The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings combined …
If you go to a Christian church chances are it will be following one or more of many Church Traditions. Some churches advertise themselves as part of a tradition like the Wesleyan tradition, the Reformed Tradition or others. Some traditions are easy to see. The Catholic church, of course, follows the Catholic tradition. The Baptist …
This article is about both who we may be now, and who we can become even though it may be so hard that it appears impossible. I’ll start off by saying that at one time I was a smoker, and even though after a while I didn’t want to be a smoker I couldn’t just …
H4 The Difficulty Of Some Decisions, The War in our Flesh, Renewing the Mind Read More »
(Warning – mature content, parental guidance, items of a sexual nature are discussed) In Agape – First Things First – Christians Love we learn that the love of God is the great commandment of God and the mark of the true believer. But not every place that the word love is used in our English …
H3 Four kinds of love in the Bible, When Love is not Love Read More »