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 …
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 …