Is Street Preaching Biblical?

People have probably heard a preacher on the side of the road with a mega phone preaching.  Some people stop in listen while others carry on shaking their head.  In modern times, most feel that it is not the best approach to evangelism.  Some will go as far to say that it is too judgemental and pushes people away from God.  But is that true?  Is street preaching unbiblical, unnecessary, and harmful?  First, we must always look to God's word and see what his faithful servants have done in the various cultures.

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.

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.

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?

The Quran: Who Wrote It?

Is the Quran today the same as the original teachings from Muhammad himself?  Of course Sunni Muslims would say yes.  In fact, all Muslims must agree that they are, but, in the Shiite sect of Islam, not all are in full agreement of the source of the final product of the original teachings.  To remove Christian bias, we will look at the historical quotes from Muslims themselves and see how accurate the Quran is.

Commonalities of Cults

There are many subgroups of the Christian faith.  These subgroups tailor their teachings and focuses in different ways.  That is exactly how the Body of Christ functions BUT there are some groups that claim to be 'Christian' when in fact, they are not.  Some deny being 'Christian' but claim to have similar beliefs and 'more correct' views than that of orthodox Christianity; but how can you identify a cult?

Is The Watchtower organization of God?

If a religion completely dependent on who the Watchtower claims to be (sole divinely inspired interpreters of Gods word) conflicts with what is stated in their own bible translation and contain errors in their teachings, can they be of God?  The question really is, if they were found to be false, are their followers truly genuine truth seekers who have the freedom to see it?

Discussion with a Jehovah's Witness

Evangelism takes shape in many forms.  At times God has random strangers walk up and ask random questions that spark spiritual conversations.  Other times major life events causes us to reflect on deeper matters which leads to spiritual conversations.  And at times, God even uses the internet.  In this case, God chose to use the internet.  A devout Jehovah Witness reached out and shared a screen shot image from the JW website about who they think Jesus is.  Given the massive importance of the topic, we felt it was necessary to engage in a dialog with this individual but it quickly changed in tempo, tone, and agenda.

Manuscripts of The Bible and Textual Criticism

The Bible is a collection of ancient manuscripts of the original texts passed down through history.  Scholars gather, compile, translate, research and compare all discovered manuscripts and support texts to determine the original biblical texts.  This article will discuss an overview of biblical manuscripts and textual criticism; we will explain a brief overview of what Textual Criticism is, creation of source documents to recreate a document that closest resembles the original, what actual biblical manuscripts we currently have to study, and what source documents current bible translations depend on.

Is The King James The Best Translation?

There is a belief in fundamentalist Christian groups that the King James Bible is the most reliable biblical text and some even claim it is the only true Bible translation. They are firm in the loyalty to the KJV and trust it is the closest version to the original texts of scripture and some claim it is the exact same as the originals in translation.  But is this true?  To figure this out we will look at the KJV sources, translation, author, and consider God's prevision of his Word through textual criticism.

The Real Opportunity to Glorify God and Love Your Neighbor

Some people think that being a good neighbor is serving the Lord, but then just leave it at that.  Others feel that living a 'gospel' lifestyle is good enough so proclaiming the gospel to your neighbor is not necessary.  Some still, avoid conversations about spiritual things and justify themselves with ideas like "my neighbor sees my gospel lifestyle" or "I do nice things for my neighbor, so they see God through that".  But is that actually serving and Glorifying God and actually loving your neighbor;  Are we actually taking the REAL opportunities that God places us in to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ?

The Positional Creed of The Universal Christian Faith

The Creed of The Universal Christian Faith

What Did Apollinaris of Hierapolis Teach?

Apollinaris was a 3rd generation Christian who could have been influenced by Qaudratus and Aristides and was friends with Melito who was discipled by Polycarp.  Church historians after him spoke very highly of him and the soundness of his teachings.  He gained notoriety when he wrote treatises against Heresies of his time.  He also wrote an apology to the Roman Emperor.  It is unclear when he was born and his death is estimated to be before the death of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius around 177AD. 

What did Aristides of Athens teach?

Aristitdes was a greek philosopher and then converted to Christianity.  He is known for a letter he wrote to the Roman Emperor Hadrian that is estimated to have been delivered around 125AD.  He died around 134AD, only about 44 years after John The Apostle died after writing Revelations.   It is suggested that he also wrote Epistle to Diognetus.  Eusebius and Jerome both having knowledge of his letter to Hadrian and Jerome supporting the soundness of his doctrine.  The comprehensiveness and subject matter is still very relevant to modern society.

What did Qaudratus of Athens teach?

He is the first Christian apologist and is counted as one of the 70 Apostles in the Eastern Orthodox churches and was a friend of the Apostles according to Eusebius of Caesarea.  He would have known John and by style of writing he was directly influenced by John and Paul's writings. He wrote an apology (argument for) letter to Roman Emporer Hadrian when he came and visited Qaudratus' city.  Eusebius had an copy of his letter and stated he was very orthodox with the other Apostles.  Eusebius then quotes him:

Hebrews In Egypt

The Bible records Jacob settling in Egypt, in the land called Rameses.  They became slaves to Egypt and were used to construct the Rameses city.  After 430 years of intense labor and poverty, they left.  (Genesis 47:11,27; Exodus 1:11, 12:37-40).  Is this the only explicit record of Israelites being enslaved in Egypt?  There are a couple logical questions we must ask then we can ponder any sort of evidence or support for the bible's claim.