You may not see it, but Progressive Christianity is not the right path for you. Here are signs that you are putting yourself at risk of going past what is written in Scripture. Solutions are also offered here.
You have to be invited into the kingdom. God’s call to come in is going out to you right now.
Progressives deny the full authority of Scripture, particularly about sex and personal conduct. It restricts their style. They characterize a love for Scripture as “bibliolatry.” Continue reading
How much do progressive pastors and other leaders rule the church on these complex issues? How much are they changing the King’s original intent for his kingdom?
The Jerusalem and temple establishment may have rejected Jesus, but God calls him his beloved Son and made him the chief cornerstone of a new temple.
I would be derelict in my duty as a teacher not to discuss this very biblical truth.
Bad public leadership requires public correction and rebuke. I hope this post is redemptive, not condemning. It’s a call to repentance. After you read it, check back every two or three months. I will probably update it. I now regularly update it, as the issues emergge.
The temple establishment and religious leaders get their comeuppance, in contrast to the commoners and expendables.
Critics of the Bible forget that it also advocates liberty. It’s the Grand Arc of the Biblical Narrative, from Genesis to Revelation. Let’s see if we can discover universal truths from these historical, culture-bound slave laws. I updated this post.
Only one is the right source.
This is a story about God’s generosity. Do new converts get more grace than long-serving Christians, or does everyone get an equal amount of grace?
This a table of Messianic prophecies, which go a long way in building up our faith and the reliability of the Bible. It also answers the question: How does this post help me grow in God?
It goes a lot deeper than just coming back from the dead. Christ is our example and leader. Here are the basics about his resurrection.
Those two verses say that “many” bodies of holy people who had “fallen asleep” (i.e. died) were raised from their tombs and entered Jerusalem and appeared to many. Is this fact or pious fiction?
This parable will be a challenge for some of us. You must forgive, or your Father in heaven won’t forgive you. Serious!
Three options can solve the puzzle. Scriptures: Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10.
Did Matthew really believe that Jesus straddled two animals at his triumphal entry? Or do a Greek noun and a pronoun clarify the problem?
God is searching for you, out of his love. He sent his Son to look for you. That’s how much he loves you.
Updated 19 March 2024. Or at least an explanation. He is included at this website because he renewed Christian doctrine.
How are the chronological differences to be reconciled?
Once again, the hostile critics pounce on Matthew’s perfectly legitimate and culturally acceptable use Old Testament themes and words.
We need the New Testament and the Old Testament.
Did Matthew commit an error? What does this mean for inerrancy, if he did? If ….
Wow. Now we have entered the realm of nitpicking to the nth degree. We have to move grains of sand one at a time with tweezers.
After God’s great harvest, you will be judged. Are you a follower of Jesus? Are you found in union with him or away from him?
There are definitely differences in the three accounts of Jairus’s daughter being raised from the dead, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But do these differences blind us to the central truth of the story?
Many Renewalists believe apostles do exist. But should there be restrictions? An old-fashioned Bible study to answer the question. (I have updated this post once again, answering the question as to why Paul did not apparently appoint elders to the church at Corinth.)
Are the four Gospel writers all that clumsy, or do they employ the story teller’s art to narrate the story of these disciples from the writers’ own point of view?
If you have to, sell everything you have to get into the kingdom. Don’t let your possessions prevent you.
Would Jesus show indignation or anger towards a leper, a needy man? Hostile readers pounce on some ambiguity.
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13. The second and third temptations were switched in Luke Gospel from the sequence in Matthew’s Gospel. Hostile critics and readers pounce on the differences and conclude that the Gospel are unreliable. Are the critics right?
Don’t miss out on the kingdom of God. Dig for it.
Luke records that Caesar ordered a worldwide census, during the governorship of Quirinius, in Syria (Luke 2:1-2). Critics have spotted some chronological problems. Luke may have been wrong. Is the problem solvable with sound reason and historical digging?
Did Matthew really believe that baby Jesus was never circumcised?
You must be born again to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). When you do, your life a radical turn for the better.
The Book of Genesis is the story of the families of earth, as the author narrows them down to one family in particular. This one major family, whose patriarch is declared righteous for his faith, will lead to the Messiah about 2000 to 1800 years later, about seventy years before the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.
Hostile critics turn molehills into mountains. They apply unequal weights and measures to the Old Testament and the synoptic Gospels and John. That’s unfair. The Gospel writers were conforming to Old Testament precedence. Here’s the evidence.
The kingdom starts off small and grows slowly. Then it grows in your life and in millions of lives around the globe, individually. Through changed lives after the salvation of each person, the kingdom can influence society for the better.
I only briefly discuss this model / theory of knowledge. This is philosophical theology (in which I am not an expert). But this particular theory has, believe it or not, Scriptural support. (Yes, I was surprised too.)
Is tithing demanded of the New Covenant believer after the cross? Or does the New Testament teach something better? This is an old-fashioned Bible study.
This parable is about counterfeit disciples, satanic attacks by planting them inside the kingdom of God, yet we must not render ultimate and final judgment on them before God does. It also speaks of Jesus’ view of the end-times. It is not as complicated as the teachings of popular, end-time Bible prophecy teachers.
What makes a healthy disciple? This list is simple and uncomplicated.
These events happened a mere few years after the Great Commission and the Ascension. The earliest church is the gold standard. Let’s see what we can learn from them in two passages, Acts 2:43-47 and 4:23-31.
Apostles are appearing everywhere in modern American churches and around the globe, particularly in Africa and Latin America. What are apostles? What are they supposed to do? Do churches today misapply the title, or are they correct?
Will you let persecution or the anxieties of life steal or crush the word out of you? Or will you allow God to change your heart to become good soil? This is the most important parable for challenging our hearts to be receptive to Jesus and his gospel.
Not every corner of the American church, but large sections are unhealthy, particularly in the Renewal Movements.
What are they? What are their motives and purposes? How do we discern the differences, when they seem so similar?
We could title this post: “God Is Doing a New Thing through Jesus.” That’s the basic meaning of this parable.
Another seeming Bible contradiction disappears, when we look closely at the accounts in Matthew 27 and Acts 1.
Who were they? A satanic hybrid or just extra-tall human warriors? Do they appear today? Should we obsess over them? This post also has a modern angle and is pastoral.
Gnosticism is alive and well today, disguised in various forms of postmodernism. It is being taught today. Let’s see if we can see through the disguises and get to the truth.
What are gnosticism and Gnostic writings? This post gives you the basics about those writings, and how they veer off from the New Testament.
This post covers questions like, who were the OT prophets, contrasted with the prophets of today? Does America have a special covenant with God, as ancient Israel did? How did the NT writers handle prophets and their prophecies? What about inaccurate prophecies? Is decreeing the same as prophesying? Can we decree Scriptures at will? (I updated this post.)
How do we know whether we are a wise of foolish builder in the kingdom of God? How do we become a wise one?
Many Renewalists say yes for prophecy. The biblical evidence favors them. Now what about prophets? (I have recently updated this post yet again.)
Renewalists believe these gifts are for today. This is an old-fashioned Bible study, word by word. line upon line. I thoroughly revised this post.
Certain interpreters of those verses in the title have restricted women’s full participation in the teaching ministry. But are these restrictions truly biblical? Let’s take a deeper look at the verses. (I updated this post yet again.)
Does the church replace Israel? Or is replacement theology partly true and partly false, depending on definitions and contexts? After exegeting a key passage in Romans and looking at others, I finally made up my mind (for what it’s worth).
How restrictive are those verses in the title? Does the Greco-Roman household offer any guidance for reading them? What about other verses in the New Testament relating to women’s ministries? (I updated this post yet again!)
What does light mean in the kingdom of God? Does it produce good works? What is its source?
Let’s allow the clarity of Scripture to overturn needlessly complicated eschatological (end-times) interpretations that have dominated American Christianity for many decades. Further, is this replacement the same as the church replacing Israel? Read the post to find out. And look at the photos, too! (I updated this post with verses from Acts.)
Sometimes the church can be self-righteous and condemn a sinner in the name of holiness, ignoring mercy. Or it can be permissive in the name of mercy, ignoring holiness. I updated this post.
These are the written testimony of the church fathers before or a little after the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. They teach that the gifts were for their days, after the apostles died.
These are the written testimony of the church fathers before or a little after the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. They teach that the healings and deliverances (exorcisms) were for their days, after the apostles died.
These church fathers flourished before or a little after the Nicaean Council in AD 325. They believed in prophecies, dreams and vision. Some even got them, after the apostles died.
This is an easy-to-follow word study in Hebrew and Greek, with all the words transliterated into English. And then redemption and ransom are applied to our lives today. Also, was Christ sent to ransom “many” or “all”?
This is an easy-to-follow word study of key terms in the New Testament and a close look at Matthew 7:1-5. Let’s understand what it really means in context. (I updated this post.)
Scripture: Acts 28:7-10. What was flowing here was the gifts of healings which Paul listed as one of the nine gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.
What is justification? Can God declare a guilty man not guilty? How? I updated this post.
God’s judgment scares people, and in a sense they are right. Reverential awe and fear are appropriate. But there is a solution for them to escape a negative judgment. I updated this post.
Scripture: Acts 28:1-8: This passage is included in the category of Healing and Deliverance because Paul got a sustained healing, a divine inoculation (of sorts).
A commenter asked if a person can be saved without believing in the Athanasian Creed.
This is an old-fashioned Bible study. Let’s learn the basics of this major theme in all of Scripture. It’s the most important one of all. It is definitely multi-faceted!
Scripture: Deuteronomy 21:10-14. I knew a kid named Carl at elementary school, my contemporary. He was half American and half Japanese. His dad had married a Japanese girl after WWII and brought her over here. I knew a Vietnamese hairdresser who married an American during the Vietnam War, and now she lives over here. War-time marriages like them happen in our own times. Now what about the ancient Near East?
Scripture: Acts 20:9-12. This is a restoration of a boy who fell from a window and was taken up dead.
Grace is multi-faceted in Scripture. So together let’s study what it means. We also review some basic theology.
This is a study on “many” in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 (The Son of Man ” gives his life a ransom for ‘many'”). We can further ask, did Christ die only for the elect (limited atonement) or for all and everyone (unlimited or universal or general atonement)? To answer those questions, I also review other atonement passages.
Scripture: Acts 19:11, 12. God worked miracles through Paul’s facecloths and work aprons.
Since it is a Calvinist doctrine of salvation and it is growing, I have decided to cover this topic. I write to learn.
Yes, Jesus really did teach us to pray like this. His teaching was clear and simple. Let’s follow his instructions. Bonus: A careful reading of the verses disagrees with Word-of-Faith exaggerations.
Scripture: Acts 16:16-18. Paul expelled it in Jesus’s name, not by his own name.
The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. His answer was startling (as usual). Yes, Jesus really did teach us to pray this way.
Bonus: Find out how Word-of-Faith teachings exaggerate Jesus’s instructions.
Matthew 6:16-18: Fasting is a powerful spiritual weapon like no other. Let’s learn from the Lord who fasted forty days and forty nights. I also include a brief study of fasting in other verses.
To answer that question, we must separate the Kingdom of God from the Kingdom of Caesar. Part One in a four-part series.
Some Christians bind Satan and loose angels. They base this on Matthew 18:18. But is this verse correctly interpreted? Also, how does the church discipline wayward members? And what does it mean when Jesus taught that where two or three are gathered in his name, he’ll be there among them? (Bonus: watch how a careful reading of the Greek text takes down word-of-faith, decree-and-declare exaggerations.)
To answer that question, we look at four episodes in the Gospels: John the Baptist and some soldiers; Jesus and a centurion; an apparent command to use a sword against a disciple’s family; and two swords during Jesus’ arrest.
Scripture: Acts 14:8-18. I will focus on vv. 8-10, the healing itself.
Did they pick up swords to stop the persecution and control nonconformists? Or did they teach that the state should lay down its swords to have peace, kind of like “defund the police” in the first century?
The question is really asking whether they can kill in the name of the law or the Constitution. What do the Scriptures say?
Scripture: Acts 13:6-12. He was not your average magician. He was also a false prophet and deceiver.
Why is this biblical fact so important? Short post here.
Scripture: Acts 9:36-43. This section of Scripture also holds key lessons for those of us who believe in healing and raising the dead today and even seeing people get healed—and some Renewalists have seen the dead raised.
We could use some good news nowadays. The following news links certainly count as the best.
He beheaded the men and pubescent boys and enslaved the women and children.
The tensions come from the Quran itself.
Scripture: Acts 9:32-35. Renewalists believe miracles of healing do and should happen everywhere because 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 opens the doors for every believer to do them, as the Spirit distributes the gifts to meet the needs of people.
Passage: Acts 8:5-13. Philip was not an apostle but a deacon and evangelist, yet he too worked miracles and signs and deliverances.
UPDATED. Have you been taught all your life that the rapture and Second Coming are distinct events, years apart? Is it difficult to change your cherished belief? The teaching about the Second Coming in the earliest apostolic community was unified and without complications. Here’s the plentiful biblical and nonsymbolic and direct evidence. In the Second Addendum, I tell you my recent decision.
Qital simply means military or physical slaughter or violence. Nearly every verse that has the word qital is quoted here.
Jihad means to struggle or strive, sometimes with weapons (lesser jihad), other times with inner force against vices in the soul (greater jihad).
Passage: Acts 5:12-16. Those verses are a summary of the miracles that the apostles worked, including by means of Peter’s shadow.
The Palestinian media say that Jesus was a Palestinian. A Dutch film says the same. Would the so-called “historical” Jesus recognize the label? How did he refer to his homeland, even under Roman occupation? Clarity and historical accuracy, not politics, is the purpose of this article.
The old laws need to be studied today because they’re still being practiced right now.
Jihad means struggle, sometimes personal, other times military. Qital means only military war and appears more often in the Quran than does jihad. This article is Part 4 in the series on sharia.
Passage: Acts 3:1-10. Peter and John followed Jesus in their healing ministry, for he too healed the disabled and paralyzed (e.g. Matt. 9:1-8 // Mark 2:1-12; John 5:1-14). They saw him do this.
Passage: Luke 7:11-17. Jesus issued a command, and the boy responded.
Passage: John 11:3-4, 11-15, 23-26, 38-44. Jesus listened to his Father and obeyed him. He did not act alone and on a whim, with this resurrection.
This post is an old-fashioned Bible and word study, with a brief, practical application for ministry.
These are the “big ten” reasons that go a long way to explain why Christianity is still the fastest growing religion in the world and why it gains converts from the other religions.
Passages: Matthew 9:18-19, 23-26; Mark 5:21-24, 35-43; Luke 8:40-42a, 49-56. Never forget that Jesus followed his Father in working miracles. He did not act presumptuously.
People struggle with their identity in Christ. Satan and their own minds tell them they are no good, because they have sinned too many times for God to forgive them. They are worthless and useless to God and his mission for them. However, here are verses that proclaim who you are “in him” or “in Christ”. (I often also include other prepositions.) Let these biblical truths enter your heart and mind and reject the self-destructive thoughts. Renew your mind with Scripture!
Despite the abuse, confession is still a biblical practice, whether for sins or for salvation in Christ. Make it part of your prayer life.
What does the Bible say? It has the best revelation on the sexes, clearer and superior than any modern worldview. (I updated this post to answer the gender confusion.)
Passage: John 4:46-54. We can watch and learn from Jesus.
Renewalists use the term all the time, but do we know what it means? What does the Bible say?
American Bible teachers appear confused about biblical interpretation between the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT).
Passages: Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus commended only very few people with great faith. One of them was this Roman centurion. Who were the others?
The Scripture is Matthew 23:8-12. Some translations make it seem as if Jesus forbids calling men ‘teachers’ in his kingdom community. But what did he really say?
This post is a biblical theology discussion. If you are fighting for your or someone else’s healing, I advise you to skip this post. Read it later when the outcome of your fight is final, and you need to understand what the Bible really teaches about healing. (I updated this post yet again. In this post, I also answer whether healing is in the atonement.)
In this context, ‘divine, hard determinism’ means the people had no choice but to believe and be saved. God ‘appointed’ them to eternal life. In other words, are Calvinists right to use this verse as one of their most important prooftexts? (I updated this post.)
The only reason this verse has become controversial and complicated is because Complementarians (those who restrict women from full participation in ministry) have made it controversial and complicated. But Romans 16:7 is straightforward and clear and easily translated. (I updated this post yet again.)
Passage: John 5:1-18. Jesus issued a series of commands, and then the man got up because he was healed.
Who were the “sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6 and elsewhere? I updated it yet again!
The big word literally means “all-knowing” or “all knowledge.” He absolutely and totally and exhaustively knows himself, his creation, and you. I also discuss middle knowledge (a.k.a. Molinism) and open theism. (I updated this post.)
Passage: Luke 17:11-19. Only the despised Samaritan returned to thank Jesus.
You must be born again. But what does that mean? Does anything result from rebirth? Or do we just stay the same? I also cover Romans 7:13-25. (I updated this post.)
How closely and often do Acts and Paul’s epistles agree? Fifteen tables, plus two bonus tables, in this post, laying out the parallels.
Is the book of Acts historically reliable, in comparison to its own Greco-Roman writing culture? Many tables are included, to answer the question.
Passages: Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:20-39. Jesus went out of his way to go into this region, just to minister to these two men. Yet he could not expel the demons immediately. Why not?
This is a biblical theology discussion. If you are fighting for your or someone else’s healing, I advise you to skip this post. Read it only when the outcome is final, and you have unanswered questions about what the Bible really teaches.
This is about God’s foreknowledge, choice, predestination, and human freewill. If we have the right perspective, we can reach sensible conclusions. (I updated this post.)
Passages: Matthew 12:22-26 and Luke 11:14-20. Signs and wonders (really just demon expulsion and healing in this passage) is a sign that the kingdom of God has come.
What do those verses about being taken away and left behind really teach? The answer may shock many people who have been taught only one viewpoint. I also briefly look at Matthew’s version.
Passages Matthew 17:14-20; Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43a. These three passages are full of lessons for us who believe in expelling demons. Let’s follow Jesus and learn from him on how to do ministry, as we read these passages together.
Here are biblical passages that show that people outside of ancient Israel and the law of Moses had a level of the knowledge of God, most likely because God revealed himself to them.
An odd teaching has been circulating around the church for a long time.
Passage: Matthew 9:32-34. Matthew is the only Gospel which has this story.
Passage: Mark 8:22-26. Two stages? What does this mean?
So begins a ten-part series. Though difficult to believe at first, our truly understanding the kingdom of God can just about clarify all of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. So then, what is the kingdom? Can we define it biblically, or is the topic just too complicated? What does it mean for us today?
The context says that “things” means “works.” Here are commentaries and my take on this issue.
Passage: Mark 7:31-37. What about us? Can we follow his method today?
The cultures surrounding Israel valued kings. Thus, monarchy worked its way into Israel’s government, but only with God’s permission. This post provides background material for the kingdom Jesus proclaimed.
Youtube critics daily, it seems, call for the blood of Christian prophets who are mistaken about some of their prophecies. The critics read Deuteronomy 13 and 18 and sarcastically demand the death penalty for their ministries. But what did Paul say about their mistakes? Let’s do a side-by-side comparison of the OT and the NT.
We are living in eternity right now. We just don’t see it yet, because the kingdom of God is not fully manifested—for now.
Passage: John 9:1-12. Should we use his unusual method for healing people today?
This difference is what Jesus established and the New Testament authors laid out in the Scriptures. It’s really very simple.
Yes, the kingdom is partly manifested right now, but it is seen with the eyes of faith and in visible signs like salvation of souls and bodily healings and demon expulsions and harmony in the household–all done by the power of the Spirit.
Do we ignore the Old Law so we can be free to live as we wish in the New Covenant? What about Christian Sabbath keeping? What does the Bible really say?
How much continuity and discontinuity is there between the New Covenant and the Sinai Covenant? This article is designed to answer the confusion between hyper-grace on the one side and legalism on the other.
The “already and not yet” is still a valid and wise statement about God’s kingdom, which unfolds in three stages.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 