“As for you, you were dead in our transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of ire, but because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in... Read more
For most of us, the idea of an eternal hell is almost universally accepted as being what the Bible teaches. We almost cannot imagine any other view being taken seriously. However, that was not always the case. In fact, for MOST of early Church history, there were 3 different views of Hell, and the eternal suffering viewpoint was in the minority. Note this reference in the New Schaff-Herzog Christian Encyclopedia which says: “The earliest system of Universalistic theology was by... Read more
American Christians have an unfortunate blind spot when it comes to politics. While they worry about how to put “Christ” back into Christmas, many of them are slowly but surely taking the “Christ” out of Christianity. For example, for the last few weeks Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, James Dobson, and others have vocally supported the Republican candidate for the US Senate in Alabama, Roy Moore, and last night 80% of White Evangelical Christians voted to place him... Read more
“If you stopped learning today you wouldn’t live long enough to put into practice all that you already know.” – Fenelon, 15th century Bishop. [Paraphrased from the book, “Let Go”] This quote has stuck with me for a long time now. I believe it’s true. For most of us, the time for learning new information about Jesus is long over. It’s way past the time for putting into practice what we already know that Jesus commanded us to do. Sadly,... Read more
What’s the big deal about Donald Trump declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? Well, for Christians who take a Futurist view of Prophecy, it supports their notion that certain conditions need to apply in order for the Anti-Christ to rise up so that Jesus can return and Rapture the Church. It’s no surprise that Mike Pence – a very strong Christian Zionist – was standing behind Trump when he announced this unprecedented shift in policy. Pence no doubt... Read more
As I have been studying the scriptures and investigating the canon of the New Testament lately, I made a remarkable discovery about a lost Epistle of Christ. Now, there are a few epistles of Paul that we know about that have been lost, like the Epistle to the Laodiceans, and an ealier Epistle to the Corinthians that predates our 1 Corinthians, for example. But most Christians, and even many New Testament scholars, do not know that there is one epistle... Read more
Two of the most disputed books in the New Testament are 2 Peter and 2 Timothy. In fact, the majority of New Testament scholars doubt that either of those letters were actually written by Paul or Peter at all, holding instead that some other writers who may have been disciples of these Apostles – or disciples of their disciples – took it upon themselves to add these epistles at a much later date. This sort of thing was not uncommon... Read more
The Greek word for “worship” is proskyneō and it is translated as “to kiss, to lower oneself in humility or reverence, to adore, to surrender completely to another”. So, when Jesus let go of His equality with God [see Phil. 2] and humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, and became nothing, He was doing exactly what anyone does when they worship something. For example: Jesus “lowered himself in humility” Jesus became a servant to mankind. Jesus adored us... Read more
Dear America, I want to apologize. On behalf of my brothers and sisters in the Christian Church, I need to say that I’m sorry that we have failed you. We were sent by our Lord Jesus, to spread the love of God to everyone we meet. We have not done that very well. In fact, many times, we have spread division, hate, guilt and shame instead of love, compassion, mercy, grace, forgiveness, or peace. I’m very, very sorry about that.... Read more
Ever since I first became a Christian at the age of 9 and gave my heart to Jesus, I have been told over and over again that Jesus is coming back soon. I watched those terrible films, you know the ones: “Thief in the Night”, “Left Behind”, and “The Late, Great Planet Earth”. I read the books, including “88 Reasons Why Christ Will Return in 1988” and the sequel, “89 Reasons Why Christ Will Return in 1989”, which incidentally was... Read more
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