In my last blog post I talked about Pope Francis telling a little boy to pray to his dad who died an unbeliever. He told the crowd that the atheists work of baptizing his children surely pleased God because it’s more difficult for an non-believer to baptize his children then it is for a believer. He declared the man ‘had a good heart’ (speaking about the subject of heaven). He declared we are all children of God even if we’re not baptized. He declared God, having the heart of a father, would not leave his children far from Him when they are good. He askedRead More →

John 3:3 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” What do these verses mean to you? How do we become born again? Can we become born again after death? What does Jesus mean by ‘believe?’ Is God just saying this is a negotiable thing depending on your level of knowledge of Him? Is there maybe a ‘no fault of yourRead More →

A common objection people will make against the deity of Christ is “where in the Bible does Jesus specifically say He is God?”, or “Jesus is not God he was just a prophet” or “Jesus was a nice man, an example of good behavior, but not God.” It was a Jehovah’s Witness that first raised this objection and I admit at the time I didn’t have a good solid answer. Years later by God’s grace I’ve come to know that we can clearly demonstrate from God’s Word that Jesus not only declared His deity, His ultimate authority over all creation in heaven and on earth,Read More →

I was having a discussion with someone telling them how Jesus forgives all our sins, not just some, or only up until a certain point in our life, and once we are baptized by the Holy Spirit salvation cannot be lost. This objection was raised: “Yea, but what if a believer commits a murder?” This is good objection and one that is raised not just by non-believers but by believers as well. After all how could a professing Christian who murdered another human being in cold blood possibly be forgiven? Even if He/She went through their entire life devoted to Christ. When we look atRead More →

I came across this article last night from a Mass that Pope Francis spoke seen here, and video here. Before I say anything, for my Roman Catholic friends/family this isn’t an attack on any of you personally. I’m not questioning your faith or salvation. I only ask that you lend me your ear/eyes for a few minutes. Feel free to rebuke my statements or correct any errors I may have made here. In the Mass the Pope instructs us to turn to Mary for prayer, to protect us, to guard our faith, and without her we cannot be children of God. He is using Biblical languageRead More →

When I engage my roman Catholic friends and family many times I’m told that I’m misunderstanding the teachings. In many ways they were correct and at times still correct. Understanding Catholic teachings is no small feat.  As a former Roman Catholic and in her eyes ‘a separated brother’, I’ve spent a vast amount of hours and study to understand exactly what the Catholic Church teaches. Why? I love my Catholic friends and family but their Church is teaching a different gospel then the one presented in the Bible. For my non Catholic friends we need to be careful with our understanding of the teachings soRead More →

In the video below Pope Francis says the following: “there are those who believe that you can have a personal direct and immediate relationship with Jesus outside the communion and mediation of the Church. These temptations are dangerous and harmful. They are, as the great pope Paul VI, “absurd dichotomies.” He went on to say: “Remember being a Christian means belonging to the Church. “ The Church: While that last statement is true we must understand that the Popes definition of “the Church” is different then the biblical Church. When the pope says “the church” he means The Roman Catholic Church today under his authorityRead More →

I’m unsure who the author of this article is but a friend of mine posted this and I had to share it. I am my greatest relational problem—me. And your biggest problem is you. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I know you’ll be sinned against; I know people suffer abuse of all kinds; but my greatest and deepest difficulty in relationships actually exists inside of me and not outside of me. That’s why Paul offered the cure when he said Jesus came to rescue you from you. Grace alone changes the whole relational paradigm, our whole lifestyle of inward-bentness. Grace liberates you from you, so you canRead More →

If we are going to go out and share the Gospel with others I believe it’s important to understand what other faiths believe in. This enables us to speak the truth in Love (Ephesians 4:15) because it shows respect to the other person who will see that you took the time to understand their point of view thus opening the door to give them the truth of the Gospel. Here is a summary of my understanding of the Jehovah Witness core beliefs based on my studies. Most of the information here is quoted and summarized from the articles, video, and the JW’s website which containsRead More →

Continuing with our believe theme from Part 2 We’re taking a walk through the entire book of John from beginning to end focused on Salvation. Amount of times the word ‘believe’ is used in John 17-21: 8 Total amount of times – ‘Believe’ is found: 89 John 17 John 17:2 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to [a]all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, [b]having accomplished the workRead More →