Rioting Christians?

This issue takes a real level of pure honesty to see clearly.  By establishing biblical truths we can be correctly guided into a correct and godly understanding and decision making.   Rioting and violence because of oppression is revenge.  So the question now comes to: 

Should Christians support and take part in Riots because of injustices?

Faith Without Works is Dead

Let's make this clear;  Christians are saved by GRACE through FAITH in Jesus Christ as Lord God and Savior (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9).   But it is because of genuine faith in Jesus that will defiantly cause the life of someone who just came to faith to drastically change.  A changed life is a sure fact.  To reiterate, it is NOT the changed life that leads someone to faith.  It IS the faith that leads to a changed life.  Faith proceeds the life change but the life change is an inevitable result from saving faith.  This addresses the issue of Lordship Salvation.

James drives this point home in James 2:14-26.  Verse 26 bluntly states "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

The Triune God of Christianity

This essential biblical teaching is a profound and deep understanding of the eternal God of the universe.  He condescends these truths about himself just enough for us to be able to understanding Him to this degree.  This understanding allows us to know and understand him on the deepest level in our time in this world.  It also helps us see faiths that know Him and religions that do not know him.  Helps discern false teachings and truth in more clear terms.  The following is known as The Trinity.

It is so profound and at the deepest level of our understanding; it is best that our finite freshly minds can understand of our infinite and eternal creator of the universe.  Anything deeper is incomprehensible for our limited intellectual sinful minds to grasp.  The term "trinity" is not in scripture because it is a word used to describe the triune God described in scripture.  See 'Objections to the Trinity' bellow.

Christianity can be described as Monotheistic Trinitarianism.  Belief in One God made up of three 'persons'.  The word 'persons' does not accurately describe what makes up 'the trinity' but it helps.  It is NOT faith in three different gods. It is NOT One God with three different 'masks' (Modalism/Oneness Pentecostalism). It IS the following:

Islam: Muhammad's Fatal Mistake

Much like the bible, the Quran is dependent on the truthfulness of its teachings.  The source of the Quran's teachings is claimed divine.  Divine truths can not contradict other known truths or false in its teachings and this must be true for the Quran to be true (Quran 2:256).

It is clear the church taught The Trinity when Muhammad was having the Quran written.  The teaching of the Trinity is found all over the bible and the doctrine of the trinity was described in mid 4th century.  Orthodox Christianity has always taught that the Trinity is simply this:  One God made up of three unique equal 'persons'; God the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  One Triune God.  This is evident from all the early church writings and councils long before the creation of the Quran.

The Quran on the other hand runs into a big problem in its record of what Christianity taught and claimed.  In fact, Muhammad miss understood the doctrine of the Trinity found in the bible and taught for hundreds of years before him.  His misunderstanding and ignorance is recorded in the Quran.

Scripture Alone

With so many teachings being passed around and so many new religions and cults coming and going throughout history we need to be sure we hold to sound doctrine and the truths recorded in scripture.  There are some other religions that claim to view the bible as divine but then use other sources to add to it or interpret it making their other outside sources equal to scripture in essence. Yet these different religions do not believe the same things and in many ways contradict each other in what they teach about the bible.

Witnessing to Jehovah's Witness: The Watchtower organization

for any religion and faith there is a source that provides the defining elements of that religion.  For Jehovah's Witness their source is the Watchtower publications that define how the bible should be interpreted.  The bible is not their source but the Watchtower is.  The Watchtower agrees that logic helps lead man to know truth as they use logic to define their doctrine and interpret scripture.  Therefore logic can help us discover not only truth but also lies. 

Christian Sinners or Christian Hypocrites

Christians are sinners and the world is quick to view them as hypocrites.  Some Christians even embrace the idea of being a hypocrite but the real question is; are Christians hypocrites?  More importantly when people put their faith in Jesus Christ as lord and savior, does God see them as hypocrites?  Lets first look at Jesus' attitude toward those who followed him and those who claimed to love God but did not follow him.

Your Personal Ministry and Missions

Please read All Christians Are Missionaries

So what can you do locally, Nationally, and Internationally to be obedient to Christ and his commission for the church and you?  There is a lot of simple things every person can do to reflect the grace and truth of Jesus in their lives and everyone around them.

All Christians Are Missionaries

Anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ and a Christian is taking on the responsibilities and the duties given to all those who are part of the body of Christ.  All disciples of Jesus are called to make more disciples of Jesus and to teach the world everything that is in the scriptures for God's ultimate glory.  This is known as The Great Commission.  Although Jesus has commissioned all his followers to be missionaries; that doesn't make all his missionaries willing and effective.  Do you see your local community, work, family, friends, and everything you live around as your mission field?

The Amazing Grace of God

Gracious; the greatest characteristic of God.  Without his Grace, we would be nothing.

What is Grace?

Simply put, unmerited favor.  It is God showing kindness and being benevolent to anything undeserving of his kindness and benevolence.  It can not be stressed enough that it is undeserved.  We do not deserve or earn his favor.  We do not deserve blessings; they are given without merit.

Witnessing to Jehovah's Witness: Identity of Jesus

The saving message of The Gospel centers around the person and work of Jesus.  Any corruption of the person and work of Jesus changes the gospel to something else.  Faith in a lie does not lead anyone to salvation.  Addressing the identity of Jesus and then understanding the truth of what he did is critical.  Specifically Jehovah's Witness' have faith in a distorted belief in who Jesus is and thus it has lead to an entirely corrupted theology.  To be able to address the problems we first need to know where they get their information from and where it went wrong. 

Born This Way

A lot of talk in our culture of how people are born a certain way.  Some people say they are born to be inclined with a certain attraction or born a certain sex but a different gender.  The list can do on and on about what people feel they are born to be.  They were born that way.  The scientific jury is still out on the different ways people feel is their genetically predisposition but it is clear from scripture that we are in fact born a certain way.  We are born prone to desire sin and selfishness.

The Other Side of The Real Jesus

In the modern civilized world, the church has more or less focused on Jesus' softer side.  Through the years the church has managed to try and avoid even in some cases hide a certain side of Jesus that they felt turned people away from him.  Any kind of action, attitude, and character of Jesus that people find 'negative' or 'offensive' is watered down or dodged to appease the feelings of man.  Now the only side of Jesus people know is something happy and nice but when they hear about the other side of Jesus, they reject it.  In the end, they don't truly know Jesus because they deny his "other side".  So what is that 'other side' that the church is to cowardly to teach and discuss?  It is the side that causes conflict and confronts evil.  Jesus is not politically correct.

Lets allow Jesus' words and actions to speak for us;

Have you been deceived by The World?

We are commanded to test and discern what is pleasing to the lord and to guard our hearts and minds.  How do we do this? Its actually very simple.  The Word of God is our standard and the Holy Spirit is our councilor and teacher through scripture.  The Word of God is alive and active because the Holy Spirit works through it.  All we do is compare explicit teachings in scripture and correct applications of the character of God to the things in the world and just like a light in the darkness, things are revealed. 

When was the last time you did this with how you think about everything in your life?  How do you know you haven't been deceived by things of this world?  You maybe be supporting and encouraging the very things that is unpleasing to the Lord.  Is that what you want to do, be an advocate for what God hates?

With these simple questions, you can test whether or not you have been deceived by The World.

The Gym of Jesus

So many people go to the gym to burn fat, build muscle, and shape their bodies to a highly efficient calorie burning machine resulting in a culturally desired physic.  At what point do our bodies become our focus of worship and the gym becomes our masters?  First we need to understand our bodies from God's point of view then we can see how to live a fit and healthy life that glorifies God.

Jesus Is God

Who Jesus is, is fundamental to having eternal life or eternal damnation in the next life.  The Holy Spirit reveals this identity of Jesus to those who are called to believe.  Not everyone can see him for who he truly is and scripture records that perfectly.  Here we list 13 proofs of Jesus' deity.

Jesus Is Coming Back!

This is His promise and God is completely faithful to his promises.  Jesus is coming back.  Jesus first came to pay for the sins and ransom all those who believed through history.  He came as the faithful suffering servant of God.  But that wasn't the end of God's revealed plan for humanity.  In the future ordained time He will return to judge the world and rule as king over all creation.  Just as his first purpose was revealed and prophesied in scripture (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7), the second purpose is also (Zechariah 14:4).  Just as the first purpose of coming into the world was perfectly fulfilled (John 1:1-20), the second purpose will be also (Zechariah 12:10) and the whole world will know (Revelation 1:7).

What Will Happen At His Second Coming?

What Happens When We Die

It is the completion of God's plan for those who came to faith in Jesus Christ.  For God, the plan began before the creation of the world, but for the person it began when they were lead to faith by God's Grace in Jesus Christ.  From that moment on, their lives are changed.  Though still with a sinful nature, they are enabled to be free from its enslaving grasp. Free to recognize it, fight it, and empowered to resist.  Free to come to God for mercy, forgiveness, and to receive his Grace, forever.  As they went though life, God continually sanctified them and matured them in faith.  Finally at the end of their life in the world, God will do yet another thing for them: Its called Glorification.  This is our hope that has yet to be revealed.

Why "Good Friday" is so Good

The Friday before Resurrection Sunday (Easter), Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross.  It is not explicitly said in scripture to remember this day annually as "Good Friday" but instead Christians are explicitly commanded to remember through The Lords Supper (1 Cor 11:24-26).  Either way the timing of the celebration and remembrance of the event is free to the individual believer (Romans 14:5). 

What Are is Good Friday Celebrating?

Follow Your Heart?

People encourage others to 'follow their heart' as if our hearts will lead us to where we need or should go.  That it will lead us to happiness and all we have to do is let it lead.  It sounds all good and freeing but should we?   Should we 'follow our heart' or is that something more going on in our hearts that we should not follow.

What does our human heart tell us?

To do what is best for you and only for those who could and do encourage what is best for you. Those who would not and don't encourage what is best for you, they are wrong.  Our heart is our standard and test for what is best for ourselves and the world around us.

Its a basic creed that is shared by all people.  But again, should faith in our hearts lead us?  Should we encourage others to be lead by their hearts?  To look much deeper we need to see what our creator has said about our hearts.

"The World" According To God

Throughout scripture we see comments of Jesus saying things like "the world will hate you because it hated me first" in John 15:17-19, but who exactly is "the world"?  In Matthew 18:7 Jesus even warns "The World".  In John 1:10, John says that "the word" did not recognize Jesus for who he truly is.  John then later says that Jesus took away the sins of "the world".  And the more we see "the world" used we begin to see it in a locational sense and a representative sense.  It is the representative sense that we want to really focus in on.  When used in relation to mankind, what kind of people does it represent?

The use of the phrase "The World" is easily understood by the context.  In Romans 1:20 it is locational and geographic.  It is referring the planet earth and everything in it.  Romans 1:8 is referring to all known regions of the earth; again, locational.  But in Romans 10:18 we start to see something more than a plot of land or region of earth.  We see it referring to the parts of the earth where man inhabits; the inhabited 'world'.  This gets into "the world" that refers to mankind and not a locational region of earth. 

Who Is "The World" Referring To?

If Your Not Fighting Sin, Your Living It.

The war on sin is a necessary part of Faith in Jesus Christ.   We would not even have the sight to recognize sin or the knowledge of sin if it wasn't for God.   We would be unable to resist sin and would forever be dead in sin and slaves to sin if it wasn't for God.  Therefore the fight of sin, is a result of someone who has recognized and acknowledged their sins and have been given the ability to resist sin and are free from its slavery.  If you truly love God, you WILL fight your sin.  Here we list 10 things that are important to fighting sin in your life!