How often have faithful members of the Lord’s church begun teaching a lost person, only to have someone else convince the potential convert that he does not need to listen? How often has someone been baptized into Christ, only to have friends or family convince him to leave Christ’s church and become a part of some group that is not in the Bible and not truly following the Bible? Statements or questions like the following are often posed to the person being pulled away: “Who told you that you had to be baptized to be saved?… Read more
Author: Jason
Was Water Baptism Only Required for Jews?
When Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost asked what they should do to be saved, Peter commanded them to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…Save yourselves” (Acts 2:38, 40). In efforts to explain away the clear teaching of Acts 2 and the necessity of water baptism for salvation today, some claim that water baptism was only required for Jews, not Gentiles, and only for a temporary period.… Read more
Understanding Ephesians 2:8, 9 (slideshow)
Selective Outrage
Have you ever noticed that sometimes people become irate over what a particular person or group does, but they ignore the same actions when others (who are usually in their circle) do the same thing? This is called “selective outrage,” and it often happens in politics, when one party does something, and the other party becomes outraged. Then the same outraged people “turn a blind eye” when someone on their side does the same thing that had previously caused them to get outraged.… Read more
The King’s Law on Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
Young people especially need to be taught Jesus’ law on marriage, divorce, and remarriage before they get themselves into regrettable, spiritually deadly situations. When God joins a man and a woman together in marriage, the only authorized reason for them to ever divorce is if one of them commits fornication (having sex with someone outside the marriage relationship). The original word translated as “fornication” means “illicit sexual intercourse,” according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. The spouse innocent of fornication may then divorce the spouse guilty of fornication and remarry an eligible person of the opposite gender.… Read more
The One Body of the Saved
What do the following things from the Bible have in common?
– The body of Christ
– The flock of Christ
– The fold of Christ
– The kingdom of Christ
– The nation of Christ
– The church of Christ
– The nation of Christ
– The family of Christ
– The bride of Christ
They are all Biblical descriptions of the one group of people saved by Christ, the group purchased with the blood of Christ in the first century A.D.… Read more
Regarding Easter
Christians in the first century A.D. did not celebrate anything called Easter. The word “Easter” in Acts 12:4 of the KJV is a disappointing translation of the original word “pascha,” meaning the Jewish holiday called “Passover.” Although many today celebrate Easter as the day Jesus was resurrected, Passover was not the day Jesus was resurrected, but the night/day He was slain (the Jewish day began at evening and lasted until the next evening; Gen.… Read more
They Don’t Sing on Sundays Anymore
The following is from a blog post called, “Why They Don’t Sing on Sunday Anymore.” It was written by a man named Thom Schultz, who is not a member of the church of Christ. I am not bidding him Godspeed but using his words to show how man’s “innovations” in worship have backfired on them. By the end of the article, Schultz finds himself desiring the kind of music God requires in New Testament worship–corporate, reciprocal singing from the heart (everyone singing together to the Lord while also singing to one another) (Eph.… Read more
10 Reasons Why Christians Do Not Attend Dances Like the Prom
1. Because the main purpose of the event is to do something God condemns—committing lasciviousness (indecent dress, touching, and/or body movements that stir up lust) (Gen. 39:12; Matt. 4:3-4; 5:28; Rom. 13:11-13; Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:17; 1 Thess. 5:21-22; 1 Tim. 2:9-10; 1 Pet. 2:11; 4:3-4).
2. Because we don’t want to support/embolden/encourage those who are sinning by our attendance (1 Cor. 10:23-33; Eph. 5:11-12; 1 Tim. 5:22; 1 Pet. 4:4; cf. 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 2 John 11).… Read more
10 Ways to Resist Temptation
Anyone who calls himself a “Christ”ian is claiming to follow the teachings and example of Christ, the one who never sinned (1 Pet. 2:21, 22). We could not be saved without Him (Mt. 26:28; Heb. 2:9; 5:9), but there is also a sense in which we must “save ourselves” (Acts 2:40). None of us deserve salvation, but we must be faithful to God to obtain salvation and keep it (Mt. 7:21; Php. 2:12; 1 Pet. 1:22; 2 Pet.… Read more
If They Tried to Build a Human Body, Atom by Atom
Scientists say there are approximately 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in the average human body (7 octillion, thoughtco.com). These atoms are not haphazardly stuck together as a random mass of chaos. They are orderly arranged to form things that are super complex, such as DNA with intelligent language embedded, cells, tissues, organs (including the brain with 100 trillion neuron connections), and systems such as the nervous, respiratory, endocrine, immune, digestive, urinary, circulatory, integumentary (skin), reproductive, lymphatic, and musculoskeletal systems (verywellhealth.com).… Read more
Being Habitually Late
Sometimes things happen that are outside of our control, causing us to arrive late for certain events, but what about those who are repeatedly late for spiritual events when they could have been on time? Being habitually late may be a symptom of other underlying issues, such as:
– Selfishness
– Laziness
– Lack of respect for other people
– Lack of respect for God
– Misplaced priorities
– Lack of interest in spiritual things (being carnally-minded)
Being late can also have a negative impact on others around us:
– It can be a distraction to those who are trying to learn
– It can be a distraction to those who are serious about worshiping God properly (Jn.… Read more
A Tremendous Lack of Love
When someone knows the Truth, but refuses to live in faithful obedience to God, that is a tremendous lack of love:
- They don’t love God, or else they would remove the barrier of sin separating them from God (Isa. 59:2; Jer. 5:25; Acts 2:37-41; 22:16; Rom. 6:23; 1 Jn. 1:7).
- They don’t love Jesus, or else they would obey Him to show their gratitude for His ultimate sacrifice (Lk. 6:46; 9:23; 17:11-18; Jn. 14:15, 21-24; 15:14; 2 Cor.
The Back Cover of Your Bible
If your preacher tells you he received a direct revelation from God, he has either deceived himself or he is intentionally deceiving others. That kind of language is how false teachers such as Muhammad and Joseph Smith have deceived billions. It enabled them to please people or manipulate people with the alleged authority of God (1 Kin. 13:18; Jer. 23:16).
Friends, do you know why there is a back cover on your Bible after Revelation 22?… Read more
God Does Not Owe Us a List of Everything He Does Not Want
Where did God say that using mechanical instruments in New Testament worship is forbidden? If God did not say, “Thou shalt not use mechanical instruments in New Testament worship,” are they automatically authorized? Friends, God has never owed man a list of all the things He does not want (as will be shown). To be faithful to Him, we simply need to know what He does want, and give Him exactly that. We must not presume that something other than what He specified is acceptable to Him, as many people in Bible times learned the hard way by being punished or even killed (Gen.… Read more