Articles

• God’s Perfect Will vs. God’s Permissive Will

    God’s general will is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. For instance, does the LORD want you to live a life of fornication or adultery? Obviously not. Theologians call this God’s preceptive will, based on the word ‘precept,’ which means rule, mandate, guideline or principle. God’s more specific will is revealed to the individual believer […]

• What Is FAULTFINDING? What’s Wrong With It?

  Jude warned believers in the 1st Century about false teachers; notice how he describes them: These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. Jude 1:16 The one description we want to focus on is ‘faultfinder.’ A faultfinder is someone who […]

• What Is the “Eliphaz Syndrome”?

    The “Eliphaz Syndrome” is the tendency to formulate vital doctrine based on visions/experiences rather than the rightly-divided Word of God. If you’re not familiar with Eliphaz (el-ee-FAZ), he was one of Job’s three “friends” whom the LORD accused of folly in what they said to their suffering friend (Job 42:7-8). Eliphaz was the one […]

• What Does It Mean to Be “Baptized for the Dead”?

  Let’s read the verse in question: Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 1 Corinthians 15:29 The topic is the resurrection of the dead, which some believers in Corinth doubted due to […]

• What Is the Significance of 153 FISH in John 21:11?

  Let’s read the full passage in question: 1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. a It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll […]

• Do Believers Need a “Spiritual COVERING”?

  Anyone who takes the initiative to step out in faith and do something in service of God’s kingdom will inevitably hear criticisms like: “Who’s your covering?” “Who are you accountable to?” “You’re not one of us!” Those who voice such criticisms are curiously upset that someone’s actively doing the work of God. In some cases […]

• What Does It Mean to Be “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR”?

    The Bible says “we are more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). What does this mean? A conqueror is someone who fights and defeats a foe. A person who is “more than a conqueror” is someone who partakes of the blessings of victory because the foe is already defeated. Make no mistake, you are more than […]

• What Can We Get From Eli, Samuel and the Flickering Lamp?

  In 1 Samuel 3 we observe young Samuel being called to his prophetic ministry while he was staying with the elderly high priest, Eli, at the the Tabernacle in Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant was located. Samuel and Eli slept under the same roof somewhere outside the Tent of Meeting (i.e. the Tabernacle).  The […]

• How to Distinguish 3 TYPES OF TRIALS — SITs, MITs and DITs

  When you experience an unexpected trial of some sort, the first thing you need to do is determine if the assault is a Self-Inflicted Trial (SIT), a Discipline-Intended Trial (DIT) or a Maturity-Intended Trial (MIT). Here’s an explanation of each: SITs are obvious: they’re the result of one’s own folly, like being injured due to reckless driving and the resulting […]

• Should Believers Participate in FASTING?

  Fasting is a spiritual discipline in which the individual goes without food for a period of time to, ideally, humble themselves and focus on spiritual things. It is denying the needs of the outer man to attend to the needs of the inner man. The Messiah insinuated that the Church would fast after he was […]