Passion 4 Him

(The following is a comparison. It shows the differences and similarities and why Jesus said to "Beware of false teachers!" We must "test the spirits to see whether they are from God;" ( 1 John 4:1-3).                                              Key Person or Founder,     Date, Location Mary Baker Eddy Biblical Christianity : Jesus Christ. Founded about AD 30-33, in the Judean province of Palestine (Israel today), under the Roman Empire. Followers of Jesus Christ become known as Christians. Christian Science :  Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910). Founded 1875 in Massachusetts. Headquarters in Boston, MA. Key Writings Biblical Christianity : The Bible, written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament), and Greek (New Testament). Chri...

The saturation in today’s world of television, movies, and other forms of visual media has had an adverse effect on our ability to listen, think, and reason. It’s as if the entire society is suffering from attention deficit disorder. Sadly, many preachers decided to make major accommodations to the appetites of a generation weaned on media and entertainment; but they left biblical preaching behind. Have you ever noticed how many television commercials say nothing about the products they advertise? The typical jeans commercial shows a painful drama about the woes of adolescence but never mentions jeans. A perfume ad is a collage of sensuous images with no reference to the product. Beer commercials contain some of the funniest material on television but say very little about beer. Those commercials are designed to create a mood, to entertain, to appeal to our emotions—not to give us information. They are often the most effective commercials because the...

      Spiritual Depression is something of a manual for the Christian life and can be read again and again with real profit. With regard to happiness and fulness in the Christian life, it is perhaps the greatest book ever written. First published in 1965, its enduring message continues to strengthen and uplift generations of Christians across the globe. To Order:  http://spiritualdepression.grantedministries.org/index.html

During my days serving as a pastor in New England, I heard of a teacher named Thayer S. Warshaw who quizzed a group of college-bound high school juniors and seniors on the Bible. The quiz preceded a Bible as Literature course he planned to teach at the Newton (Massachusetts) High School, generally considered a top public high school in the nation. Among the most astounding findings he got in his replies from the students were: Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers. Jezebel was Ahab’s donkey. Some students thought that the four horsemen appeared on the Acropolis, that the New Testament gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luther , and John . . . that Eve was created from an apple and that Jesus was baptized by Moses. Seriously! The answer that took the cake was given by a fellow who was in the top five percent of the graduating class, academically. The question: What was Golgotha?   The answer: Golgotha was the name of the giant who slew the apostle David.   If it w...

The Glorification of Dead Christians The most detailed description of the rapture of the church is found in Paul's first letter to the persecuted Christians whom he left in Thessalonica. He wrote this letter from Corinth, where he confronted much confusion about the personal destiny of believers. Some Christians in Thessalonica had already died (perhaps by martyrdom), and the saints there were concerned that their dead loved ones would miss out on the second coming of Christ. But dead Christians will not be forgotten by God at the second coming. In fact, they will be the first humans to experience glorification since the Lord Jesus. Yes, Christ was "the firstfruits." He is the first and only human ever to have been glorified. But "afterward" – nearly 2,000 years already – members of His body and bride, namely, "those who are Christ's," will share His glory "at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:23, NKJV). Now Paul was emphatic in his l...

Corinthians and the Rapture The church which Paul (and later Apollos) established in Corinth had a special problem with the doctrine of bodily resurrection. Like all Greeks, they rejected this concept because they wanted to be free at last from all physical limitations in the afterlife. That is why we read of the Athenian philosophers: "When they heard (i.e., from Paul at the Areopagus) of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked" (Acts 17:32, NKJV). So Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles (cf. Gal. 2:7-9), devoted a large section of his first letter to the Corinthians to the nature and reality of Christ's resurrection and the resurrection of all believers (1 Cor. 15:3-56). But the climax of his entire discussion is the rapture of the church. "Behold, I tell you a mystery (Greek: mysterion – something previously unknown but now revealed): We shall not all sleep (i.e., die), but we shall all be changed- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the...

For many Christians, the most exciting events happening in the world today surround the reformed state of Israel and the turmoil of world events which the Bible tells us will lead to Armageddon. The Biblical conflict surrounds the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the peoples round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah (the Jews) and against Jerusalem . And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all the burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the nations of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3) Tel Megiddo in northern Israel (Site of Armageddon)   While God beforehand had declared that the Jewish people would be driven out of their land into all the nations of the earth (an historical event known today as the Diaspora ), He promised to restore them to their land (Ezekiel 36:22-24); and that once they we...

Answer: The event usually referred to as “the end of the world” is described in 2 Peter 3:10: “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” This is the culmination of a series of events called “the day of the Lord,” the time when God will intervene in human history for the purpose of judgment. At that time, all that God has created, “the heavens and the earth” ( Genesis 1:1 ), He will destroy. The timing of this event, according to most Bible scholars, is at the end of the 1000-year period called the millennium. During these 1000 years, Christ will reign on earth as King in Jerusalem, sitting on the throne of David ( Luke 1:32-33 ) and ruling in peace but with a “rod of iron” ( Revelation 19:15 ). At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released, defeated again, and then cast into the lake of fire ( Revelation 20:7-10 ). Then, after a final judgment by God, the end of the w...

Parker Brothers did not invent the Ouija Board. It had already been around for awhile when it was bought by Parker Brothers in 1966 and turned into a commercial success as a board game. Its beginnings lie in the distant past when an earlier version (a tripod device) was used in the ancient ws of Babylon and Greece to contact departed spirits. The tripod became the pointer now used with the Board, which is printed with the alphabet, the numbers 1-9, a 0 (zero), and the words 'Goodbye', 'Yes', and 'No'. There are other boards like this with different names, but with the same history and purpose. The modern version of this game was developed by a man named Planchette, a spiritualist (someone who contacts the dead as part of their religion). The Board was further transformed around the turn of the century under the direction and ownership of two men, Elijah J. Bond and William Fuld. Fuld's name can be seen on the Ouija Board today. The name Ouija is...