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]

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 God [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]

The last days is a common phrase in Scripture, especially with the prophets of the Old Testament. They often speak of the last days and other derivative phrases such as days are coming or latter days or in/on that day. The Hebrew words for "last/latter" and "days" can be understood "end" and "times/age" respectively. As [more]

Some maintain that Jude quotes from the apocryphal book of Enoch. Often, this is put forward as a statement of fact in order to move forward to the much "larger" discussions regarding the meaning of extra-Biblical quotes, their place in Scripture, and the question of their inspiration. The book of Enoch is part of what's [more]

A literal one thousand year reign of Jesus on His throne. There are many that believe Jesus' return is for just that - a one thousand year reign (millennium) on earth. It is widely taught and even passed down as "church doctrine." It is a teaching that comes from primarily one verse - Revelation [more]

Someone hearing the gospel is certainly one way for an individual to come to know about God's word and His will. When somebody hears the "good news" they learn about Jesus, His mission on earth and God's plan for mankind's salvation. While hearing the gospel is one way, is it the only way [more]

"It's a miracle!" That's an exclamation we hear often and have probably uttered ourselves. It might be used to describe passing a test you didn't study for or to sum up a great, come-from-behind victory. For example, the great Olympic victory by the U.S. Men's Hockey team is known as the "Miracle on Ice." [more]

Must an apostle see Jesus? This question gets raised when attempting to justify the appointment of apostles today. The word "apostle" in the Greek (apóstolos) literally means "one who is sent" or "to send off" or simply "messenger". Therefore, while the word could be applied to any missionary or emissary, the question about requiring that [more]

It is such an important question. Can we lose our salvation? Or said another way: Can God's grace be rejected? Can someone actually squander, neglect, or even return as it were their free gift from God? There is a prevailing thought about this question among the Christian community. For example, a popular answer to [more]

Whether or not the Bible is God's complete revelation has profound implications on Christianity today. If the Bible isn't the complete revelation of God, then the door remains open to "other" revelation. If the Bible is not the complete revelation, then it must require other scriptural authority such as the Quran or the Book [more]

At the intersection of religion and politics is influence. Specifically, can the righteous influence unrighteous leaders? Of course, there are all kinds of religious interest groups attempting to influence policy one way or the other. But what about individual influence? At the time of this posting, the United States is a largely Christian nation founded [more]