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Throughout the Bible, God personally demonstrates that Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, is also God Almighty along with the one we know as God the Father. In Isaiah 7, the LORD God Almighty identifies the Child to be born as "God with us", and in Isaiah 8, God declares that YHWH will be that "stone of stumbling" and "rock of offence" that the New Testament declares is the Lord Jesus Christ, affirming that Jesus Christ is indeed God.Read More
Matthew 22:1-14
And answering, Jesus again spoke to them again in parables saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is likened to an human king, who makes marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call the invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come.
Again he sent other servants saying, “Tell those having been invited, ‘Look! I have prepared my dinner: my bulls and my fatlings have been killed, and all are ready! Come into the wedding.’”
But uncaring, those went away, one indeed to his own field, the one yet to his merchandise.
But the rest, taking hold of his servants, abused and slew them.
But hearing [this], the king was angered, and sending his armies, destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.
Then he said to his servants, ‘Indeed, the wedding is ready...
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As a record of death, fossils only appear after organisms began to die; what may have happened prior to death of living things must be determined from sources outside of the fossil record. Read More
I had an eureka moment one morning as I was thinking with some frustration about the reality of “church”: go to a place to sit with other people for an hour as some fellow tells you what to think about God, the Bible, and your faith, with no opportunity permitted to question, challenge, correct, or rebuke. Sit down – stand up – sing this – pray that – hear what I’m telling you, that God told me to say and don’t question it, even when you know I’m lying.
And I realized more consciously that we suffer from Rome...
Read MoreJesus told the Pharisees that, “If you were blind, you would not ever have sin. But now you say, ‘We see’, then your sin remains.” John 9:41
In other words, if any of His hearers had been incapable of seeing, they would not have been guilty of sin. Jesus is not referring to physical eyesight, but the ability to perceive and comprehend what sin is. Without that ability, a person does not have sin.
An infant is born completely incapable of such perception and comprehension, and lives a significant time before possessing those abilities. Consequently, an infant does NOT have sin at birth, nor does a child, until that time when they are capable of seeing, and comprehending what they see...
Read MoreWhy do so many preachers make Jesus’ “sermon on the mount” so difficult when it is so basic and simple. There are no hidden meanings among Christ’s statements of contrast between two aspects of things which characterised the culture and generation in which He spoke, and which continue to characterise our own, if we choose to pay attention.
The very first statement tends to elicit a lengthy, counter-textual explanation of what has no bearing on what Christ said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
All manner of linguistic contortions are used to explain what it means to be “poor in spirit”; in fact, some modern Bible renditions, and many modern teachers, rephrase this to read “happy are those who are spiritually poor …” Some take further licens...
Read MoreChristmas time is here, and as with many of the past Christmases, some well-meaning, and other self-righteous, professors of Christian faith begin to slander and condemn the saints of Christ who chose to celebrate the birth of the Saviour on and around December 25. They regularly repeat the false accusation that Christmas (and Easter in its turn) are pagan festivals reappropriated by Christians to somehow clean up the paganism and give Christians something better to do at that feast time.
The second accusation is that all of the symbols of Christmas are pagan...
Read MoreMatthew 13:10-16
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, ‘Why speakest thou unto them in parables?’
11 He answered and said unto them, ‘Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which says, “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they...
Read MoreWhen Was Jesus Crucified?
First we examine the verses that speak of His death:
RAISED ON THE THIRD DAY
Mt 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mt 17:23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
Mt 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Mt 27:64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first...
Read MoreThe death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single-most important event in world history. Single, because His resurrection is completely dependant upon His crucifixion, yet without His resurrection, His death would have been futile.
Paul wrote that, “if we are planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be of His resurrection.” Romans 6:5 Yet he also wrote: “… if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17
Through the death of Christ, forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God[1] is made available to men, and through His resurrection we receive eternal life. Without Christ’s death, there is no forgiveness; without His resurrection, we have no hope beyond this world...
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