Bible Doctrine

The story has been told of an aging emperor who needed to find someone to replace him. Since he had no near kin, he decided to find a young person from within his kingdom. Many children gathered in. The test was simple. To each, he gave a seed and asked them to return at a certain time to show what they had grown. When the time came, many gathered with beautiful specimens in hand. One by one his subjects passed before him to show him their prize. Finally, a young boy came thru with nothing but a pot of soil. His seed had not sprouted. “Where is your plant?” he asked.

Humanism is Satanic driven—essentially glorifying man in defiance of God. Humanism is an “easy” flip of Truth, in our easy-to-live, fun-filled, pleasure-mad, financially-driven, entitlement-minded, cancel culture society. Humanism reverses the truth of Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created to the emphasis and practice that all things are for the pleasure of man.

Many people mistakenly use the words Testament and Covenant interchangeably and synonymously. These words, in fact, have quite different meanings in the original Hebrew Biblical context. Someone has said that theology is the art of making distinctions in the Bible. In particular, two Holy Scriptures point out this important understanding of the Word of God: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2Ti 3:16).

From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So begins Matthew’s account of Jesus’ public ministry.
“We believe and confess that, since the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and therefore prone to all unrighteousness, sin, and wickedness, the first lesson of the precious New Testament of the Son of God is repentance and reformation of life.” So begins Article 6 of the Dordrecht Confession.

“So why can’t we go to Bro Tim and say that his eyes should be opened so he can receive his sight? They certainly could have done that in Jesus’ day! Is there something wrong with our faith, that we are unable to heal people like the disciples did when Jesus was here?”
I sat and pondered the statements made by the young man across the table. He was sharing his heart. His questions are valid. These questions make their rounds in our circles, and they deserve an answer.
There are some facts we know of about miracles:

The concept of obedience is very familiar to us. We were all supposed to have been taught this at a young age. But yet we need reminders and succeeding generations will keep arising that need these concepts taught and reinforced.

“The blood was everywhere,” is a possible commentary on a bad accident or act of violence. A look back on earth’s history gives a similar conclusion. The blood is everywhere. The perfect, tranquil calm of creation soon gave way to blood, toil, sweat, and tears. What might this blood imply?

For the disciples in the upper room, feet washing was not new. They knew the old custom of welcoming travelers by providing water to wash their feet. They had read the Bible stories of Abraham, Lot, Laban, Joseph’s steward, and the old man in Gibeah offering this service to their guests (Gen 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; 43:24; Jude 19:21). They knew that the job of washing feet was often assigned to slaves and was considered very lowly.

On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacked the United States with shocking results. Like most Americans, I can remember exactly where I was when the news came. In the weeks that followed, our nation was caught up in patriotic fervor and crying out for revenge. October 7, 2001, America struck back, attacking Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, marking the beginning of America’s longest war.