Female Elders and Overseers

Female pastors and elders has become a hot button issue in more recent generations.  If God has no issue with female pastors, neither should we BUT if God makes it clear about his ordained unique roles in His church, we ought to obey.  To know the TRUTH on this matter is extremely important.  It is the difference between standing on truth and obedience or denying God's truth and being disobedient.  That's huge.  To properly understand this, we must ALWAYS go to God's Word first.  We will pick apart 1 Timothy 2:11-14, 3:1-7, 8-13, Titus 1:5-9, and then address common arguments.

Spark Spiritual Conversations

There is something that transcends this physical material world.  Every human knows it, feels it.  All humanity, atheists, humanists, agnostics, and all other religions all willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly admit that there are two elements of the human existence; purpose/meaning and belonging.  These are the essential elements of human existence that will ALWAYS spark spiritual thought and lead to a gospel presentation.

When Christians Support Abortion

Christians can support abortion in different ways.  They may support it indirectly but knowingly through an organization, politician, or political party who advocate for abortion.  Or they may outright support it directly.  Either way, a Christian is supporting something that contradicts their faith, offends God, oppresses life, perpetuates dehumanization, inequality, and hinders the gospel.  This article exposes the Christian hypocrisy and false worship of supporting abortion.

The Blessing And Priviledge of Oppression

There are two ways to view oppression and persecution; (1) as being a victim and the negative societal effect or (2) as a righteous opportunity with positive eternal effects.  But how do we properly see oppression and persecution through the eyes of God?  We must take to heart what Jesus spoke and believe it, trust it, and apply it.  Are you an oppressed victim or a victorious servant?  Does how you handle oppression bring God glory?  Is he pleased with how you live under oppression?  We need to look at what Christ Jesus reveals to know and see how oppression can be turned on it head.  How oppression can be a blessing and privilege in the life of a Christian.

Women Pastors And God's Design

This has become a touchy issue in recent history.  With more American and European churches allowing more woman pastors in teaching and church body leadership roles than ever before, we ask, why in recent history and not prior?  Why do some object to this?  Is this gender discrimination?  In all the questions we can ask, we must first and foremost turn to Holy Scripture to determine what is truth and what God reveals about this issue.

Can We Rightly Judge with Statistics?

The first important question is SHOULD we, as Christians, make judgements on a person, or groups of people, based on Statistics?  Can we rightly judge solely based on statistical analysis?  Why is this even an issue?  It goes to the heart of using statistics to see a need for the gospel.  Of course, everyone, at all times everywhere, need the gospel, even we need the gospel.  But Jesus strategically went to specific areas and the Apostles went to specific areas, whether it was locations or people groups. But how did they rightly judge where to go and who needed what message first.  What does this have to do with racial profiling, prejudice, and rightful judgements?

The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse

Pennsylvania, 2018, The Catholic Church is rocked, once again, by allegations sexual abuse.  Except this time, it is a HUGE revealing that spanned over 70 YEARS! 1,000 plus victims! BY OVER 300 PRIESTS! Some of these Priests have been promoted AND their names even redacted (protected).  The reason why we added "once again" in the first sentence is because, well, this is not the first time.  And clearly, over the 70 years it was not.

Public Evangelism

Before setting out to conduct street evangelism and open air preaching it is a good idea to research the county and city ordinances regarding noise violations and disturbing the peace.  Odds are someone will get offended and call the police claiming one of the two.  When police are called, they have reasonable suspicion that a crime or ordinance violation has been committed.  They are obligated to respond and investigate.  This should be expected. (check out Is Street Preaching Biblical?).

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.

Is Christmas Pagan?

Every year before Christmas we all see people sharing memes and articles about how Christmas is a pagan holiday or comes from pagan roots.  But is this true and does it matter?  First lets investigate where Christmas, the seasonal symbols and ideals, came from and discuss why it matters.

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.

Who are YOU?

You, your being, your essence, your identity, who you are.  What makes you, you?  The modern world uses conditional compound labels to construct who people are.  Race, politics, religion, family heritage, social economic class, sexuality, and other social constructs are used to build someone's 'identity'.  African American or Italian American.  Liberal or Conservative. Christian or Muslim.  Heterosexual or Homosexual.  Wealthy or poor.  Throw a bunch of these labels together and boom- you?  What if our true essence of being and eternal identity is not found in those? 

The Choking Thorns

Jesus' metaphor for the seed sown among the thorns (Matthew 13:22; Luke 8:14) is extremely relevant to today's issues of the Western church and the current social issue of systemic injustice.  This is a much heated debate that needs to be addressed.  How it is addressed and how solutions are sought are key.

The Nashville Statement

The Nashville Statement is a document published online and authored by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood that clarifies the orthodox Christian faith position on human sexuality.  Over 150 predominate orthodox Christian teachers from around the world have signed the statement.  Of course it is not without controversy given our day and age and with some rejecting Christians.  Regardless, much like in the days of The councils of past, it addresses and clarifies the orthodox Christian faith in this specific matter.  But is it biblical?  Read the statement here: https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/

How to be a local missionary for your community

Every Christian is called to be a witness of the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Though not everyone is called to go to some far away land but everyone is called to proclaim the good news exactly where they are because that is exactly where God has placed them at that moment in time.  How faithful we are to God in his calling is what we are accountable for, none the less, we are called and placed for this purpose.  Then how do we be a local missionary for our community?

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 Worldly Construction of 'Race'

In changing times and as cultural identities evolve, a constant issue has been and seems always will be the struggle of favoritism and discrimination of people who look and act different.  Even God's people struggle with this issue to this day.  How we address the issue is not found in worldly political strategies and policies but in the truths in Holy Scripture and the Characteristics of God himself.

Actually Trusting God

Knowing God can be trusted and actually trusting God are two different things.  One is just simple knowledge, the other is the application of the knowledge.  One is easier than the other.  But also our understanding of who God is helps us be able to actually trust him.  We can have no worries about the unknown future, results, and have peace with Joy; all from actually trusting God.