Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS
This is the last episode for the month of September – time for our monthly news roundup. In this episode, we’ll be talking about the number of kids growing up in two-parent families, a shrinking pool of donors for churches, and a TV preacher raising money to speed up the return of Christ.Continue Reading
When Paul wrote to Titus about the qualifications for elders, one of the requirements for these men was that they have an ability to deal with false teachers.
“Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain” (Titus 1:9-11).
Paul said these false teachers “must be silenced.” But how would this be done? No one expects the elders of a local church to kidnap a false teacher, put duct tape over his mouth, tie him up, and then lock him in a closet to prevent him from spreading his error. Since they cannot use physical force to silence false teachers, how are they to do it?Continue Reading
One of the principle documents of the Restoration Movement was The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery. It announced the dissolving of this religious body (the Springfield Presbytery) and articulated a desire for all such bodies to “be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large.”
This document was signed by six men – the most well-known was Barton W. Stone. Two of the men – Richard M’Nemar and John Dunlavy – later departed from the faith to join the Shakers. In his memoirs, David Purviance – another one of the six who signed The Last Will and Testament – described their departure and the impact it had upon the church.
“They were not content to abide in the simplicity of the truth. They became fanatics, and were prepared for an overthrow — when the Shakers entered in among us and swept them off with others who were led into wild enthusiasm. The shock to the church was severe — but it terminated for good. It served as a warning to us to watch and pray, and cleave to the Lord and to his word. We heard the word of the Lord: ‘Is there no king in thee, is thy counselor perished?’ M’Nemar was gone, but Jesus Christ had not joined the Shakers. The bond of union and fellowship was dissolved between us and those who had received the Shaker testimony. They were moved from ‘the foundation of the apostles and prophets,’ and had received a new revelation — ‘another gospel.’ ‘They went out from us, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.’ We found their character delineated: 1st Tim. 4:1, ‘Some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils’” (The Biography of Elder David Purviance, p. 115).
Paul warned Timothy of those who were “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). How is it possible for one to continue to progress in his learning but never come to know the truth of God’s word? There are three ways this can happen. Any one of these, or a combination of the three, will prevent someone from coming to know the truth.
Continue Reading
Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | RSS
This episode discusses how a false teacher uses the Bible to teach error. It is important that we recognize how this is done so we will be better prepared to identify, expose, and combat false teaching. There are three ways that are discussed in this episode:
Article: How to Use the Bible to Teach Error
If you found this episode to be useful, please share it with others. Also, if you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a rating on iTunes or Stitcher. This also helps others hear about the podcast. Thanks.
We sometimes hear celebrities, politicians, and other godless people quoting (or misquoting) the Bible. They often do so in an attempt to defend an unscriptural position (e.g. support for same-sex “marriage,” opposition to the death penalty, etc.). When we hear them, we might think, “What business do they have in speaking about the Bible?” God asked the same type of question in the following text.
“But to the wicked God says, ‘What right have you to tell of My statutes and to take My covenant in your mouth? For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you. When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you associate with adulterers. You let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes” (Psalm 50:16-21).
There are certain ones who have no right to speak God’s word. Let us notice who was identified in the text.
Continue Reading
“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life’” (John 6:66-68).
Public opinion can quickly change. This chapter in John’s gospel began with Jesus miraculously feeding five thousand people – and this number only included the men (John 6:1-13). As a result, the people concluded, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14). Believing this, they were ready “to come and take Him by force [and] make Him king” (John 6:15), even though this would require them to do battle against the powerful Roman army. But by the end of the chapter, all of them had left except for His twelve disciples (John 6:66-68).
Why did the crowd leave Jesus? There are at least two reasons for this:
Continue Reading
When you subscribe, you’ll also receive 3 free PDF’s: Plain Bible Teaching on the Gospel, the latest issue of Plain Bible Teaching Quarterly Review, and Road Trip.
Jesus Christ came to set us free from the bondage of sin (Romans 6:3-6; John 8:34-36). Yet many Christians are content to remain enslaved to it. They have been convinced that we can never defeat sin; therefore, they have resigned themselves to the belief that they will always struggle with it.
Yet the Bible does not present the removal of sin from one’s life as an unattainable ideal but as a realistic goal. Paul said there is a way of escape for every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). Peter spoke of what one needs to do so that he will never stumble (2 Peter 1:10). John wrote so that we may not sin (1 John 2:1). Jesus told the woman allegedly caught in adultery, “Go. From now on sin no more” (John 8:11).
But how can we successfully remove sin from our lives? We first need to understand the reasons why we sin so we can learn how to find the way of escape. This material has been written to help each one of us overcome sin, rather than struggling with it perpetually.
The second edition also contains questions at the end of each chapter to aid in personal and group Bible studies. There is also an appendix at the end with additional articles related to sin and temptation. This book is available in paperback and digital formats.
Click here for more information and to download a sample of the book.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
If you have further questions about using any of the material on this site, please contact me.