Faith and Self Defense

The Prophet’s Voice (Part 14)

One of the least understood portions of Scripture in the Church today is 1 Corinthians 12 – 14. Thousands of books have been written and millions of sermons preached to explain every imaginable interpretation about what Paul meant when he wrote – “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” (1 Corinthians 12:1) Interesting that Paul wrote this specifically to address the ignorance in the church about spiritual matters (Greek - pneumatikon) and what has come from it is more ignorance in the Church about spiritual matters. I don’t think that’s what Paul had in mind when he wrote it. He expected Christians to understand clearly his meaning and purpose.

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Christians, Jews, and the Baby Messiah (Part 3)

One of the biggest objections Jews have to Jesus Christ being Israel’s promised Messiah is the fact He has not fulfilled the Hebrew prophecies about defeating Israel’s enemies and establishing the Davidic rule of the world from a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. However, the Apostle Peter spoke to that objection almost 2,000 years ago.

“But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:18-26

Jesus did fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies about Messiah’s suffering and would have fulfilled all of the other prophecies “if” Israel had repented and been converted. God would have forgiven their sins and sent Jesus Christ from Heaven back to Israel to establish the long-promised Messianic Kingdom. As we know, Israel rejected the offer and killed many of Christ’s followers in a futile attempt to destroy those “who were of the Way.” (Acts 9:2)

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Christians, Jews, and the Baby Messiah (Part 2)

Most Jews and Christians agree that after a long time of trouble, God will establish Israel as the foremost nation in the world and will bring about universal peace. That’s where the Messiah comes into the picture. Some Jews believe the Messiah will be a man from the lineage of King David, with impeccable spiritual credentials, who will lead Israel to defeat the great armies of the world and bring in a time of universal peace. Some Jews believe the people of Israel will rise up with the help of God and bring in a time of lasting peace through the principles of messiah. Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel and will come back to earth a second time to defeat the armies of the world and establish great peace in Israel. So, who’s right?

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Christians, Jews, and the Baby Messiah (Part 1)

I’ve had the privilege of speaking with many Jewish people through the years about their Messiah. I’ve found a lot of common ground with them about prophecies concerning the Messiah. However, I’ve also come across some major disagreements. For those Jews who believe the Messiah will be a person, one thing we can agree on is that the Messiah begins life as a baby. Question is, was it the baby Jesus?

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Convince Me There’s A God: Design

Having been an investigative journalist for many years I highly recommend returning to the beginning of an issue, crime, or whatever is your assignment before reporting about it. If not, you may miss the very thing that will turn your story in the direction of truth, which should be the objective of every journalist.

In that spirit I returned to Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species when a creation scientist challenged evolution on my atheist radio talk show more than 40 years ago. I’m not sure if I had slept through some of the evolution classes in high school and college or just didn’t understand what I was hearing, but I learned that Darwin had issues with his own theory.

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The Prophet’s Voice (Part 13)

Coming from atheism to Christianity was a wonderful experience, but it was also a bit of a culture shock. I quickly learned that Christians have many sub-cultures that often divide believers from fellowshipping with each other. I had been a Christian for only a short time when I started hearing that some Christians spoke in “tongues” and others didn’t. Those who spoke in tongues questioned the spirituality, even the salvation, of those who did not speak in tongues. Those who did not speak in tongues questioned the spirituality, even the salvation, of those who did speak in tongues. It seemed strange to me given the simple facts about salvation from Scripture (e.g. Acts 16:31; Romans 10:8-10) and Christ’s call to unity within His Body (e.g. John 17:20-23; Ephesians 4:1-6). I wondered why there wasn’t more clarity about something that had become so divisive, then I learned that tongues was divisive as early as the Apostle Paul’s ministry.

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On A Journey Of Thanksgiving

What should our response be to God’s continual provision and protection? Thanksgiving! God has called His people to be be thankful in all we do and say. It’s at the heart of how we should respond to God in our lives “in everything.”

Here’s a brief journey of thanksgiving, beginning with Israel after God freed them from slavery in Egypt and continuing until the day we are all together in Heaven under the eternal care of our Heavenly Father.

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The Prophet’s Voice (Part 12)

We’ve seen that Church prophets are involved in evangelism, edification, exhortation, comforting, profiting others, and teaching. It’s probably obvious that prophets also prophesy.

“Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” 1 Corinthians 14:1

The Apostle Paul made it clear in 1 Corinthians 12 & 13 that love is the “greatest” and the “more excellent way.” Concerning the gift of prophecy Paul wrote, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2) Prophets, take note! We need to prophesy from hearts filled with love – love for God, love for the people God has saved, and love for the people God wants to save.

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Convince Me There’s A God: Questions

Atheists know that “changing sides” is against the code. Not many of us do that – change sides – but I did. Atheists have been asking me for the past 40+ years why I went from atheism to theism. It’s a fair question and why I’m writing this series of articles about what convinced me that God exists. I’m reaching back to those months before May 1971 when I made “the change” to demonstrate that what I did was both “reasonable” and “necessary.”

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Can I Trust The Bible? (Part 30)

In the next three parts of our study we will look at three Apocryphal books that are additions to the Book of Daniel: Susanna, Prayer of Azariah, and Bel and the Dragon. Should these be included in all Bibles as the Word of God?

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The Prophet’s Voice (Part 11)

We’re learning what it means to be a “church prophet.” Those are Christians who have the gift of prophecy as explained in Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians and Romans. In previous studies we’ve seen that church prophets have an important part to play in evangelism, edification, exhortation, comfort and profit in local churches. Is there anything else? Yes, there is much more church prophets can and should do for the Church, the Body of Christ.

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The Prophet’s Voice (Part 10)

There is truly great “profit” in being a church prophet, but it may not be how it sounds. Most people think of “profit” as personal gain (e.g. financial, possessions, position, power), but is that what God means when He speaks of the profit of the prophet? Let’s get a lesson about “profit” from the greatest Prophet Who ever lived — Jesus Christ.

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Convince Me There’s A God

So, you don’t believe there’s a God. I understand. I didn’t believe in God either, until May of 1971. Most atheists I’ve talked with about the existence of God during the last 40 years have expressed their concern for me in one way or another. Some have asked if I was ill and on heavy medication at the time of my conversion. Others said I must have been a very poor atheist because good atheists don’t believe in God. I was not ill or on medication at the time and people who knew me said I was a “good” atheist. Something happened that led me to look at various arguments for the existence of God, and once I looked I found something I had never seen before. Read more…

You Cannot Prove The Existence Of God!

I was an atheist when I first said that to a Christian about 45 years ago. I must say it felt pretty good to say those words. It makes one feel superior to tell a person they cannot prove something they believe. Most Christians I said that to personally and on my radio talk show either crumbled or exploded at that point. Either reaction was fine with me.

I am no longer an atheist, but still believe the statement to be true. We cannot “prove” the existence of God, but we don’t have to. Read more…

The Prophet’s Voice (Part 9)

Jesus Christ is the great Exhorter of His Church – coming alongside people through the Holy Spirit to call them back to Him. Christ sits at the right hand of God in Heaven, “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” (Ephesians 1:20-21) Jesus is King of kings and Lord of Lords, “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16) Jesus is truly “our great God and Savior.” (Titus 2:13)  Read more…

The Prophet’s Voice (Part 8)

The next ministry for a church prophet is exhortation. The English word is defined online as “an address or communication emphatically urging someone to do something; a speech or written passage intended to persuade, inspire, or encourage; language intended to incite and encourage; an utterance, discourse, or address conveying urgent advice or recommendations.” The Greek word translated as exhortation is paraklesis, meaning “a calling to one’s side, to one’s aid.” Interestingly, Jesus called Himself and the Holy Spirit parakletos, from the same root word for “exhortation.” (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7)

This is important for a church prophet to understand because our work of “exhortation” must come from the Holy Parakletos rather than from ourselves. What equips any Christian to urge, persuade, inspire, incite, or advise anyone else? The Holy Spirit does that work and as long as the church prophet is coming alongside of another person and communicating to them what the Spirit says, we can truthfully say that we are ministering “in the Spirit.” No one knows the things of God “except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11), so we MUST hear from the Spirit to know what God is saying to us and others. Read more…

The Prophet’s Voice (Part 7)

In part 2 of our study we saw that the ministry of the church prophet will impact people in many ways: evangelism, edification, exhortation, comfort, profit, teaching, revelation, encouragement, explaining mysteries and knowledge, revealing what was hidden, and equipping believers for their service to God. Jesus Christ, the Chief Prophet of the Church, is our greatest example of each aspect of the prophetic ministry. Paul is also a leading church prophet whose example we can follow (Philippians 3:15-17; 2 Timothy 3:10-11) .

In the last part of our study we looked at the “ministry of reconciliation” and how the prophet’s voice will impact unbelievers.

“But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.” 1 Corinthians 14:24-25

Prophets speak the Truth as revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit then uses those prophetic words to convict the unbeliever of their sin and convince them of their need for Christ the Savior.

In this study we’ll look at how a church prophet will edify members of the Body of Christ. First, let’s get a good definition of what it means to “edify.” Read more…

The Prophet’s Voice (Part 6)

Jesus Christ spoke in four primary ways during His earthly Ministry: Teachings, Commands, Prophecies, and Prayers. Here are examples of each. Read more…