Priests of God are most often associated with the Catholic religion. That tradition has specific qualifications to become a priest. "Catholic men who have been baptized, have undertaken their confirmation, and are practicing members of their local Parish for at least 2 straight years, can be admitted to a seminary to study and become a [more]

All kinds of qualifications for a preacher (or, in today's vernacular an "evangelist", "minister", or "pastor") exist today. Special schools for preaching God's word are abundant. "Ordination" is an associated concept defined by Wikipedia as "the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, [more]

Free will: "Whether free will exists, what it is and the implications of whether it exists or not are some of the longest-running debates of philosophy and religion." This is well-stated from Wikipedia. A search on "free will" brings all kinds of philosophical debates, opinions and definitions. For our purposes, we simply want to examine [more]

In today's religious vernacular, a preacher is a pastor.  In fact, the word pastor is used almost exclusively as a title in religious organizations.  Most dictionaries would list synonyms for "preacher" to be "pastor" or "minister".  Effectively, in the religous world today, "Preacher", or preaching, has been relegated to simply one duty of the [more]

Inspired by the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland in 1998, U2 wrote a song called "Peace on Earth". The song challenged the very premise of its title. In the bombing's aftermath, the Irish-native and lead singer confessed, "the whole 'peace on earth, goodwill to all men' struck a sour note. It was hard to [more]

Dual fulfillment in prophecy is something that Wikipedia defines as a, "mainly Christian idea that some prophecies in the Bible have both a short-term and long-term fulfillment." We see this in the Bible and know they have a "short-term" and "long-term" fulfillment because an inspired writer is interpreting it to be so. In other [more]

Before we attempt to understand the purpose for miracles, we should probably be clear about what a miracle actually is...at least according to Scripture.  A good definition for Bible miracles would be, "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs." This is actually the first definition from Websters. Incidentally, the second definition they list [more]

The idea of Jesus' kingdom comes from Jesus Himself, but was Jesus' kingdom established when He walked on earth in the first century? The question of "When?" regarding Jesus' kingdom is debated.  Some even say that Jesus came to establish His kingdom but he failed. What will Scripture tell us? [more]

Pastor Robert Morris says that your belief determines your behavior. From a sermon recorded in 2018: "Your belief determines your behavior. So there are people that say they believe in Jesus, but they've never lived for him. Please hear me. I don't think [they] really believe. I really don't. Because when you believe, the [more]

Socialism is a political system that has ebbed and flowed in geopolitics since the late 1800's. Its various forms range from labor class organizations to Marxism to Facism to full-on Communism. Leaders of socialism or the regimes themselves are recognized as anti-religion and are often criminally or even violently opposed to any public display of [more]

The inward call versus the outward call. Many today distinguish these as two different types of Godly or heavenly 'callings'. Dividing the spiritual callings found in scripture between an 'inward call' and an 'outward call' is perpetuated at least in part by teachings credited to John Calvin. "Calvinism", or more currently labeled Reformed or [more]

God's irresistible grace, also referred to as the 'effectual call' in the Westminster Confession of Faith. It is probably better known as "irresistible grace" as it represents the "I" in "TULIP" - a broader collection of doctrines ascribed to John Calvin (even though he existed long before the acronym). This doctrine of irresistible grace [more]

Understanding the Bible can be difficult. For many centuries, the Catholic Church taught that the Bible could only be understood by an ordained priest. In modern times, people like N.T. Wright and other well-credentialed theologians are often held up as having profound (even special or unique) insights into God's word due to their advanced degrees [more]

The idea of Christian fellowship may seem obvious. After all, the word "fellowship" is commonly understood. Merriam defines it as "companionship" or "community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience." So Christian fellowship is simply a group of Christians getting together, right? The Bible never speaks of "Christian fellowship" per se. Yet the Greek word [more]

The Ten Commandments are recorded in Exodus 20. They were given to Moses by God and written on tablets of stone. According to IMDb, the classic 1956 movie "The Ten Commandments" (staring Charlton Heston) is the seventh highest grossing film of all time! The Ten Commandments were central to the Mosaic Law but were only [more]

A literal return of King David is a tenant of much of the modern religious thought today. Purveyors of premillennial doctrine, such as David Jeremiah, teach that King David will return in the flesh to rule alongside Jesus during the thousand year reign on earth. The prophets have much to say about David's reign. However, [more]

The Roman soldier's gladius was a double-edged sword used for stabbing and slashing. It was highly effective in its day. The metaphor describing God's word as a double-edged sword is made several times in Scripture. Some references are explicit, others implied, but all together they show something about God's word that's poignant. [more]

Central to this question of will Elijah return is a prophecy given by Malachi. Elijah was a prophet that lived during the final days of the judges, just before the first King Saul was installed over the twelve tribes of Israel. He lived roughly seven hundred years before Malachi, yet Malachi prophesies that Elijah will [more]

God has relied on messengers throughout history, but tracking the messengers of God through Scripture reveals some interesting things about God's character and His word. It also has implications for those that make claims about their own supposed "anointing" by God to speak His words today. God hasn't always used messengers. There are several [more]

Fear is a strong emotion with a fairly negative connotation. It's generally not a good thing. Psychology Today gives advice about how to overcome fear. Therefore, "fear God" could leave the secular thinker with a negative definition of a basic Scriptural tenant. And how can one fear God and also love God at the same [more]

The question about Priscilla teaching Apollos seems to get raised when dealing with women's roles in the church. As more and more Christians are influenced by social and cultural trends, the idea that women are subjugated or limited in their ministry is not a popular idea. An instance in Scripture that records a woman teaching [more]

One of the oft debated questions about the remnant of Israel described in God's word is how many it will include. There are different ideas, but one of the most prominent beliefs about the number in God's remnant comes from Revelation. That's the first passage1 we will look at but there are others. [more]

Much is debated today about if miraculous gifts (aka "power of the Holy Spirit" in Scripture and charismatic gifts today) of the Holy Spirit still exist. Miraculous gifts as a topic is sometimes condensed into two camps - cessationists and continuationists. It is a debate closely associated with and connected to whether or not [more]

The office of elder in the first century church was an important one. As such, Scripture includes specific qualifications for church elder. To be clear, we should note that Scripture uses several words to refer to "elder" including bishop, overseer, elder, presbyter, shepherd and pastor. These are all used interchangeably across different Bible translations from [more]

How we interpret Bible prophecy presents a unique challenge, at least to the extent that the question should be asked...Is Bible prophecy even something we can interpret? interpret (verb): 1-to explain or tell the meaning of : present in understandable terms. 2-to conceive in the light of individual belief, judgment, or circumstance. Merriam-Webster We ask [more]