Rediscovering The Vastness of John 3:16

 Everyone has seen or heard John 3:16 on football face paint, billboards, bumper stickers, t-shirts, everywhere.  It has seem to become a mindless slogan in evangelical christian culture.  When digging into the meaning and the message, we find something so grand, so majestic, so powerful, that John 3:16 has the ultimate implications for all humanity; contained in these 25 words (NASB).  For some, rediscovering John 3:16 can mean new eternal life!

A Different Gospel

There is an original and true Gospel message proclaimed by The Apostles.  Sense then, there have been attempts by others to add to it, change it, or preach something entirely different.  How do we know what is the true gospel and what is a different gospel?  That means we must first know what the true gospel is before we can discern a different one.  Everyone knows the most basic form but not everyone understands its supreme and ultimate value and meaning in relation to the identity of God himself.

Are There Prophets Today?

Much like Apostles, there is the Office of The Prophet and gifts of prophecy; two separate things.  We know both existed and used in the days of The Bible but did they continue on after all the Apostles of Christ died?  The word itself, prophecy can mean various things.  We need to see the biblical definitions and uses of the word, then analyze the character of its use in scripture, research church history and compare with modern claims.

Gnosticism in the Modern Era

Gnosticism is a divers system of spiritual beliefs that incorporated pagan, Greek, and Christian ideals to formulate its own system.  Each Gnostic teacher added or changed the Gnostic beliefs to fit their own individualized ideals.   The first mentions of some of these Gnostic ideals were developed from the 2nd to 4th century AD.  The Church exposed these ideals as unorthodox and unchristian but sadly, even today, we can still see some of the ideals being taught.  There are a few primary teachers that developed ideals that are familiar still today: Marcion of Sinope, Valentinus,  Theodotus of Byzantium, Arius of Alexandar, Pelagiu, Cerinthus, Menander, Sabellius, Basilides, and Montanus.  There are other early Gnostic teachers but their forms of Gnosticism are far more separated from orthodoxy Christianity.  These same teachings influence modern religions and movements such as the Word of Faith movement, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, and Islam.

Are There Apostles Today?

This is an important question concerning Apostolic authority of divine witness and eternal truths.  It is key to understand what an Apostle IS, understanding the different types of apostles, their qualifications and validations, and then we can determine if there are Apostles today.

Word of Faith Hermeneutics

Word of Faith Hermeneutics.  There is no one central teacher or organizational ministry but a collection that feed off each other adding in their own unique idea, which is usually accepted by the others.  The primary teachers that form the collection of Word of Faith doctrine are: Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, Joyce Meyer, Paul Crouch, Kenneth E. Hagin, Charles Capps, Marilyn Hickey, Benny Hinn, Paul Yonggi Cho, Morris Cerullo, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, and E.W.Kenyon. What do they teach?

Who was John The Apostle?

 The Apostle John is an extremely important figure when it comes to our knowledge about what Jesus did and taught.  He is also extremely important in early church history.  He was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was James, who was also one of the Twelve Apostles.  He was ready for anything did the most he could out of his love for Christ. 

Who was Simon Peter?

The Apostle Peter, also called Simon Peter or Simeon,  son of Jonah or John who was born in  the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee.  He had a brother name Andrew.  He was a fisherman by profession with his brother and and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. He was also married.  He then met Jesus and his life changed forever.  Does your pastor preach and teach like Peter?

The Original Biblical Writings

It is true that we may not currently have the original writings of the Prophets and Apostles BUT when researching the accounts from the early church teachers we can say that there exists a real possibility that we actual may have, if not the originals, first or second generation copies of the originals.  That's a big deal.  But how can we know that this possibility exists?

When An Angel Teaches A Different Gospel

Since the foundation of the Church, there have been many claims of supposed truth that has come down from heaven after what Jesus, and The Apostles of Jesus have made known in scripture.  Three most notable is what founded Islam, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses.  All of these claim an Angel revealed something to their founders, different from the gospel that was proclaimed in scripture; either attempting to correct or add to it.  But, interestingly, The Holy Spirit knew this would happen and thus specifically said something about it.

Church Shootings

Church shootings are a tragedy just like any other shooting that causes the loss of life.  Some however feel that they are worse in the sense they are done in a 'house of God'.  There have been 14 fatal shootings at a house of worship since 2012 with different motivating factors.  Americans tend to be more shocked by these type of shootings verses all other types but is there really a difference?  There are 3 major misconceptions in American society: (1) A Church building is the house of God, (3) Limiting Gun access will reduce murders, (3) Prayer is not enough.

Evidence for the Crucifixion of Jesus

How do we know Jesus died on the cross?  We must look at the historical evidences recorded for us in ancient history.  What evidence is there?  We have the ancient accounts from Jewish historians, Syrian philosopher, ancient Roman historians and writers, and archeological evidence support; all within the 1st and 2nd century.  With all this evidences, what can we reliably conclude?