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?

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.

Faith in Truth Comes From God

How do you KNOW the Spirit of God dwells in you?  How do you KNOW God has chosen you, and adopted you to be a child of God?  The answer is more simple than the world thinks.  Your faith in the truths of Jesus Christ is proof.  Why? because the faith to believe these truths, comes from God; but what truth exactly?

Who Is Jesus Really?

The debate about the historical existence of Jesus is not a debate at all.  Genuine historians, even secular non christian historians accept the fact that Jesus actually existed.  E.P. Sanders, a highly respected secular historian stated: "...we have a good idea of the main lines of his ministry and his message. We know who he was, what he did, what he taught, and why he died. ….. the dominant view [among scholars] today seems to be that we can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish, that we can know a lot about what he said, and that those two things make sense within the world of first-century Judaism."  So, who is Jesus?

What Did Athenagoras of Athens Teach?

Not a lot is known about Athenagoras except what is found in his writings and quoted by later writers.  It is estimated that he was born around 133AD and died around 190AD.  His writings are dated to around 176AD.  Oddly he is not recorded in the writings of Eusebius but none the less is noted by other church historians.  From his writings we can determine what it is he understood from the Apostles teachings; and his writings are extensive.  His known writings mainly focus on why Christianity is superior to pagan religions and a very lengthy argument for bodily resurrection.  His writings also contain a very detailed explanation of The Trinity before the term 'the trinity' was applied.

What Did Melito of Sardis Teach?

Lightfoot believed that he is second generation Christian in this region and was a successor to an Apostle of his local church community in Sardis but given his estimated date of death, this is unlikely but close.  He knew Polycarp, his disciple Irenaeus, and personally acquainted with Ignatius.  He was martyred around 177AD.  He wrote numerous books but are mostly lost except for some fragments and a lot of quotes from Eusebius, Polycrates, Origen, Tertullian, and Jerome.  He is a important figure in the Church because he was very close to Disciples of the Apostle John and relatives of eye witnesses of people raised from the dead by the Apostles.  In his travels he also met Tatian and Theodotus and most likely would have also met Clement of Alexandria. 

What Did Hippolytus of Rome Teach?

Hippolytus was born around 170AD and died a martyr around 235AD.  He was a disciple of Irenaeus who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Apostle.  Even Origen of Alexandria heard him preach at an early age.  He was critical of the popes of Rome and even accused Pope Zephyrinus of modalism.  Under the persecution at the time of Emperor Maximinus Thrax he was exiled where he later died as a martyr.

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:

Is God Perfect? Does God Make Mistakes?

Is God perfect and does he make mistakes?  This is the first question in TheStateofTheology.com research study.  Of all those who participated, 34% said that they did not believe he is perfect and that he makes mistakes.  That is huge.  1 in 3 professing Christians did not believe God is God.  This article will address the issue to help the 34% know God deeper and equip the 66% of professing Christians to better explain this lacking understanding in the church.

The Transfiguration of Jesus

What is The Transfiguration and why is it such an important event?  This has been studied by theologians for ages. Through scripture we can understand what happened that day on the mountain and what the significance is.  

The Season of 10/40 Missions

The Gospel 4All.com exists to serve the church and reach people world wide; and not just in America and English speaking nations. Access to the Gospel message is fundamental for a people group to be reached and having an opportunity to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Modern free societies have the opportunity to access the gospel through transportation, traveling, media, and internet access but what about the closed nations or the countries that limit the travel and internet access?  How do they get access to hear the life changing and powerful message of Jesus?  Through those whom are called specifically for this type of mission work.  And for those whom do come to faith in Jesus in a restricted and hostel nation, how do they receive the support from the church?  This is the responsibility as the church body as a whole.  Those who have been blessed with the resources for support.  We want to connect those who are blessed with resources and those who need them. 

The Original Pure and Holy Marriage

Before sin and corruption entered the world, Adam was the Husband of Eve (Gen 3:6).  That shows us there is an uncorrupted form of marriage and an original holy design for marriage.  To understand this original uncorrupted form, we need to look at how it was first revealed leading up to its original ceremony, first declaration and explicit elaboration by Jesus.

The Council of Chalcedon and It's Impact

In 451 AD, Roman Emperor Marcian called for the church to come together and make known a very deep understanding of The Person of Jesus Christ to solve the confusion and division.  As Gnostic teachings and writings spread throughout the semi-early Christian world, confusion about who Jesus was in the deepest way is an issue.  The issue is the true nature of Christ. In attendance were over 500 church teachers from all parts of the Christian world and in their possession were the earliest biblical manuscripts.

Repentance

Repentance is an essential sign of genuine saving faith.  It is what is to be preached and what The Gospel Message compels true believers to do.  It can be faked and is avoided by health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity teachers.  There is a reason for this.  But what is IT (repentance) and why is it an essential element of faith?

What Did Irenaeus of Lyons Teach?

Irenaeus was born around 115 AD and was martyred around 200 AD.  He was a disciple of Polycarp; who was a disciple of John The Apostle.  He is best known for his 5 books named "Against Heresies" which was comprised around 180AD and addressed the Gnostism heresy.  He generally laid out the orthodoxies of Christianity and express two very important aspects of the faith; scriptural authority and teaching linage from the apostles themselves.  He was a church leader in Gaul which is now Lyons France and had influence with the church leader in Rome, Victor I and later important church teachers like Hippolytus of Rome.  His teachings validates the teachings from the apostles, to their disciples, to him; the succession of truth.

What did Justin Martyr teach?

Justin Martyr was born around 100 AD and was martyred around 165 AD.  He has two complete surviving literary works. He teaches a lot about understanding John ch1 and the Logos.  He has the earliest and most detailed description of how the earliest church functioned in an organized manner.  He had a very good debate with a highly popular Jewish scribe (The Dialog) and wrote letters to the Emperor of Rome and a Senate member.  Fragments of another letter specifically about The Resurrection remains as well.

He is within the time frame of speaking with eye witnesses, family members recounting eye witness testimonies, and the disciples of the Apostles.  Thus his insights are extremely important.

Justin was the mentor for other predominate Christan church leaders such as Irenaeus. 

Christology; Pre-incarnation

Christology; pre-incarnation is the study of Jesus in the Old Testament.  This is a very important study because this is how the Messianic Jews knew who Jesus was even before he died and rose again.  How did his followers know him as the Messiah, Christ, and Son of God before his crucifixion and resurrection?  By correctly understanding and knowing the Old Testament.  This also shines light how to better understand the Old Testament and have sound hermeneutics.

The New You Forever

From our physical birth to our physical death there is nothing on the outside besides a change of habits, thinking processes, and locations that make us spiritually alive.  We enter the world as sinners estranged from God.  We are born spiritually dead (Eph 2:1-3, Col 2:13).  We live a life of habits, environmentally and socially learned behaviors and ways of thinking.  One of the greatest results of coming to faith in Jesus Christ is being made spiritually alive and 'born again'.  But what does that mean? What happens?

The Virgin Birth

Jesus' virgin birth is extremely important to understanding who Jesus truly is!  Where he came from, how he got here, and how he relates to us are all intertwined with his miraculous birth.  First we need to look at what was foretold about him:

Isaiah 7:13-14

Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?  Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.