Articles by Jason Patrick Hilburn
Jesus is called “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), yet He told His disciples, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). How can both statements be true?
There is no contradiction. In one sense, Jesus came to bring peace. In another sense, He knew that His coming and His teachings would bring division.
Jesus Came to Bring Peace
Jesus came to make it possible for men to have peace with God.… Read more
Some misuse Matthew 22:36-40, wrongly teaching that if we “just love God and love others,” we do not need to do anything else to please God. That is false.
Just because Jesus said that loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves are the greatest commandments does not mean they are the only commandments. In fact, love for God requires obedience and is demonstrated by obedience (John 14:15, 21, 24; 1 John 5:3). The two “greatest commandments” do not eliminate Christ’s other commandments.… Read more
While foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus said: “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (Luke 21:31). Some conclude from this passage that the kingdom did not exist until the destruction of Jerusalem. However, the New Testament repeatedly speaks of the kingdom as already existing before that event (Col. 1:13; Heb. 12:22-28; Rev. 1:9). How, then, should Luke 21:31 be understood?… Read more
John 3:34 teaches that the Father gave the Spirit directly to Christ “without measure,” meaning without limitation or partial distribution, which is different from the way others received and exercised the power of the Holy Spirit in limited, task-specific ways during certain parts of the Old Testament period (Num. 11:17; Jdg. 3:10) or the miraculous period of the first century A.D. The terms “Messiah” (Hebrew) and “Christ” (Greek) both mean “The Anointed One,” indicating that Jesus was anointed in a unique way, fully empowered by the Father.… Read more
Some claim that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not distinct Persons at all, but are the same divine Person or Spirit revealed or manifested in different ways. Others claim that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are truly distinct divine Persons, yet share one undivided divine essence and are therefore regarded together as “the one God.” However, the New Testament most often uses “God” to refer to the Father and explicitly calls Him the “one God” in several key passages (Jn.… Read more
How is it that one of the plain truths of Ephesians 4:4-6 (often called “the seven ones of unity”) now sounds strange to many Christians? “One body… one Spirit… one hope… one Lord… one faith… one baptism… one God and Father of all, who is above all…” (Eph. 4:4-6).
These seven simple, Spirit-given truths are meant to produce unity, yet one of them — the truth about God the Father — has been largely overlooked, softened, or even denied by many children of God.… Read more
If we know the Truth but refuse to live by it, this reveals a tremendous lack of love on many levels.
• A lack of love for God: If we truly loved Him with all our hearts, we would be doing His will to please Him and to be with Him forever (Mt. 22:36-38; 1 Jn. 2:3-4; 5:3).
• A lack of love for Christ: If we truly loved God’s Son, we would be obeying Him out of gratitude for His selfless sacrifice: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn.… Read more
Jesus told the Jews who sought to kill Him, “Search the [Old Testament, JPH] scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). Christ is seen throughout the Bible, including in the life of Abraham’s son Isaac, who lived about 2,000 years before Christ came to earth:
ISAAC – Son of Abraham, the son of promise (Genesis 17:16ff)
CHRIST – Son of Abraham, the Son of promise (Gen.… Read more
Many who claim to be Christians do not seem to take sin seriously. They joke about their disobedience and show little concern for living righteously—but sin is what nailed our Lord to the cross. There is nothing more serious than that, and true love does not rejoice in iniquity (1 Corinthians 13:6). Impenitent sin is just as deadly after conversion as it was before conversion (Acts 8:12–24; 1 Corinthians 10:11–12; James 5:19–20).
Jesus, the very one who died to save us, also commands us to take up our cross of obedience and self-denial daily (Luke 9:23).… Read more
The Bible presents a clear yet profound understanding of “the Godhead” that emphasizes both the Father’s supremacy and the distinct roles of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The term “Godhead” refers to Godhood, the divine nature shared by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Romans 1:20; Colossians 2:9; Acts 17:29). While some theological terms such as “Trinity” have been used historically, what many think of when they hear “Trinity” may not be what the Bible teaches.… Read more
An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more
In Ephesians chapter four, Paul said Christians must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit (unity based on what the Spirit revealed), being bound together in peace and love (Eph. 4:2-3), but unity and peace are destroyed when people deviate from what the Spirit revealed in the Bible. The Holy Spirit gave us the “seven ones” of unity (Eph. 4:4-6), and to be united we must all agree upon these critical criteria:
Christ finished His main mission on earth by giving His life on the cross, saying, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30), but today some are twisting His statement into a false doctrine. They claim that since Christ said, “It is finished” on the cross, there are no “works” (no actions) men can do today that will have any effect on their salvation. This has led some to the conclusion that baptism cannot be essential, and that once a person is saved, there is no work he is required to do.… Read more
Was the phrase “filled with the Holy Ghost” referring to the miraculous CAUSE of the Word being spoken, or the non-miraculous EFFECT of hearing the Word? The reader is encouraged to study the following Scriptures:
· Luke 1:15 – “filled” (by hearing?)
· Luke 1:41 – “filled…spake”
· Luke 1:67 – “filled…prophesied”
· Acts 2:4 – “filled…speak…tongues”
· Acts 4:8 – “filled…said”
· Acts 4:31 – “filled…spake”
· Acts 7:55 – “full of…said”
· Acts 9:17 – “filled” (by hearing? See Galatians 1:11-22)
· Acts 13:9 – “filled…said”
· Eph.… Read more
