Montanism refers to a group of Christians who followed the teachings of Montanus who came into prominence in Phrygia in Asia Minor mid-second century. Montanus was a former priest of Cybele, a goddess similar to Gaia who was revered as the Earth Mother. Prophecy was not new to the area as the cults of Men, …
Most Christian denominations designate certain individuals as “clergy.” Clergy in these denominations or groups hold most, if not all, of the leadership positions. Besides administrative functions, they do most of the teaching, perform baptisms, weddings, and lead services, etc. It is hard to pin down the purpose of having a laity. Most groups with clergy …
This article does not include a comparison to original Christianity in the matters discussed. It presents what happened in these matters along with occasionally reporting what the writers of these histories deemed important for our understanding. Remember the point of this website is to see how different doctrines developed over time, and how they compare …
This article discusses the controversy over philosophy in Christianity. Remember the point of this website is to see how different doctrines developed over time, and how they compare to original Christianity in order to understand how we got so many divisions and what we must do to restore the church. This article will primarily look …
Who was in Charge in the Apostles’ Tradition? While there is no manual on Church government in the New Testament, there are numerous sections of scripture that itemize requirements of leadership as well as records of leadership decisions. But, most importantly, the role of the headship of Christ and the operational capacity of the Holy …
“The first Christians had no doubts about how to determine which was the true Church and which doctrines the true teachings of Christ. The test was simple: Just trace the apostolic succession of the claimants.”[1] So starts a pro-Catholic article on catholic.com. The principle of Apostolic Succession says that the original apostles ordained bishops and …
The epistles are packed with references to the body of Christ. For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or …
This is just an overview of the beginning of the movement in the church to have general councils without addressing how they compare to original Christianity. 325 AD marks the year of the beginning of this movement in the Church, the great General Councils of the church. It marks Nicea I as the first general …
Today’s topic is an emotionally charged one. Many of us know or have known people who have been affected by the destructive power of the overuse of alcohol. God forbid that you know someone who has killed someone while driving drunk, or lost their house, job, and/or marriage because of the inability to overcome the …
T 18.1 The Prohibition Tradition in Some Modern Churches Read More »
In T 1.6 Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 6, The Apostles Taught About Our Adversary, the Devil, and that We Have the Power to Overcome Him we looked at an overview of the role of the Adversary in the world today. After a review of some key points, we are going to get into more …
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12 WEB) Although it may appear so, scripture says that our Christian struggle is not with people. …
While in some ways this is a sad lesson, it is a vitally important one. We have seen in Tradition in Original Christianity, Part 3, Prophets and Prophecy Were Vitally Important how fundamental prophecy was to the newly established church. Part of the Apostles Tradition is that while they were there, after they passed, and …
Before we get into more about devil spirits, we are going to look at how scriptures speak about resisting the devil and overcoming temptation. And we are going to be talking about sin which is far less exciting than manifesting the power of God, and in fact, a subject that some avoid. However, as Jesus …
T 1.62 How the Devil Tempts Us to Sin, Resisting the Devil Read More »
Of all the Christian traditions water baptism seems one of the longest enduring and most rooted. In fact, it reaches so far back that reconciling it to some of what happened in the book of Acts with all of the outpouring of spirit appears hard to reconcile due to a number of confusing elements which …
Since we are talking about devils as evil spirits and discerning of spirits now is a good time to take a deeper look at the word spirit in scripture. Spirit is one of those things like electricity. You can’t see it; you only know what it is by its effects. Oh, you can see lightning …
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 »
One of the effects of different believers and churches teaching different things is that they will be rewarded differently. If what we believe is true, then we will be rewarded accordingly. But if not, then all of our works will be for naught, or worse, work against us. And all of this is because of …
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 …