The Value of A Fetus

As addressed in our article Is a Fetus a Person?, we know that a Fetus is a person.  But to dive deeper, we want to understand HOW valuable this small developing growing person is in reality.  Is a Fetus of a different value than a grown adult?  Are they equal?  How can we know?  Does the situation of conception justify abortion, such as rape or incest, thus reducing their value?

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 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.

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.

Did God Cause The Orlando Florida Shooting?

This question is essentially the same as the another common question "if God is good, why does evil exist?".  Different religious people from different backgrounds have their opinions of why and how the Orlando Florida nightclub shooting took place and whether or not God caused it or why he would allow it.  When applying this question we can ask; "If God is good, why did he allow the Orlando nightclub shooting?"  To get to a definitive answer on anything about God we must look at him not our feelings or opinions.  This article will ask 5 very important questions such as; Does God Cause Sin?  Why Does God Allow Sin?  Why doesn't God just wipe away all sin?  Why Did God Allow Evil in the First Place?  and Why Isn't God Responsible for Sin?  This will help us understand why there is evil, such as the Orlando mass shooting, who is responsible, and what is the solution.

God's adaptive and fluid Plan?

Does God adapt his plans based on what we do?  Is his plan fluid and changing?  This is hard for us to understand when looking at the surface and in a worldly since.  When we correctly understand God, we can fully understand this issue.  We must look at what he makes known about himself in scripture.  This is not a specific discussion about God's Sovereignty and our Free Will but more focused on God's Plan and its relation to mankind and how it is perceived in space and time. 

The Beauty of Accountability

It is human nature to NOT want to be held accountable for our wrongful actions.  From the very beginning; Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the snake.  But what if that resistance to being held accountable was actually our sinful nature and that God actually wants us to hold each other accountable;  and what if through that accountability we get to experience grace, mercy, forgiveness, and need for Christ on a deeper level of understanding.  An understanding that would not come otherwise.  What does scripture teach us about accountability and our duty out of love for each other?

The Birth of Jesus Christ

With so many stories, movies, plays, books, pictures, and any other possible visual representation of The Nativity scene its hard to know exactly what happened and how in regards to the birth of Jesus.  But looking a scripture, we see a more clear and realistic picture of the birth of Jesus.

Reading Matthew 1:18–25; 2:1–12; Luke 1:26–38; 2:1–20 we can see what God has allowed us to know about his birth.

Don't Judge Me

At some point all genuine followers of Christ will be labeled judgmental and told to "not judge" someone for what ever reason.  Positivism and Emotionalism has crept into the church and infected the minds of some believers.  They are quick to water down God's own decrees in fear of offending the world.  They care more about their own likability and image before the world than they do making what God has already declared known.  They are scared of the 11th commandment; Tho Shalt Not Judge.  What what does God say about making his truths known?

Wall of Martyrs

Matthew 5:11-12

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Not all people and individuals that get persecuted for Christ's sake are known.  But as persecutions are made known we will continue to add the names and regions.  Please also see the links below and stay informed and suffer with the body of Christ around the world. Pray for a region or person who is being persecuted today!

Open Doors World Watch List

Voice of Martyrs Prayer Map 

Gospel for Asia Persecution News 

Jesus Christ's Hypostatic Union

Hypostatic Union is a term given to describe the uniqueness of who Jesus is in his essence.  Jesus was God the Son who came to earth and was fully human at the same time.  It is very easy to jump to the conclusion that this seems like a contradiction but faithfully thinking through it with scripture helps us see that Jesus was fully God and fully man simultaneously.

Lets first look at each nature of Jesus.

SCOTUS and God

5 Justices of the Supreme court of the United States of America made a decision for the of the population and indirectly the rest of the world.  I am not going to get into the politics of the issue because there is something greater than politics going on here. The greater is God's Will, God's Wrath, and The Churches stance.

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.

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.

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?

How "Love is Love" is Unloving.

We keep hearing the phrase "Love is Love" lately and it implies that anyone can love anyone genuinely.  That is only half true.  We can genuinely think and believe we can and do love anyone (or anything) but what exactly is "love".

Love is not a human invention.  It transcends humankind.  Love is not defined by a single culture or dictionary.  It is not a point of view or opinion.  Love is defined and exists a part from man and outside of the physical world.  No personal view or government law truly defines what Love is.  To know what love truly and genuinely is we must look beyond ourselves and this world and see what God himself says it is as he is the author of all things in our reality. 

1 John 4 is THE perfect place to start.

Statement of Faith: Humanity

           Humanity came into existence by direct creation of God and that humanity is uniquely made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). God created the universe and all that is in it by his creative effort.  God brought the universe into existence by the exertion of his will.   Adam and Eve were real people, created by God just as Genesis says.   We believe that all humanity, because of Adam's fall, has inherited a sinful nature, that all human beings choose to sin (Romans 3:23), and sin is eternally offensive to God (Romans 6:23). Humanity is utterly unable to remedy this fallen state (Ephesians 2:1-5,12).  Man is fallen, corrupt, and wicked.