Kingdom Ready Blog

Introduction

Some Christian denominations place quite a bit of emphasis on two specific manifestations of the Spirit – the manifestations of speaking in tongues and interpreting of tongues.

From what I have seen, those denominations have the following basic belief, about speaking in tongues and interpreting of tongues:

All Christians can do authentic speaking and interpreting of tongues, whenever they decide to.

In other words, those groups believe that each and every Christian can perform Spirit-empowered speaking and interpreting of tongues, whenever they want to.

For simplicity, I’ll refer to that doctrine as the “Tongues at Will” doctrine.

Introduction

There are a number of verses in Scripture that are frequently used, to try to substantiate the doctrine of the Trinity. Those verses are sometimes referred to as “proof texts”, because their proponents claim that those verses prove the existence of the Trinity.

From my experience, the verse that is most frequently used as a proof text is John 1:1.

Here is a common rendering of John 1:1, in English translations of the Bible. The ESV, NASB, NIV, and even the King James all translate John 1:1 as follows:

Introduction

From what I can see, one of the items that Scripture emphasizes – in both the Old and New Testaments – is the importance of being humble.

In fact, there are a number of different “facets” of humility that Scripture speaks about. In other words, the Bible talks about being humble in several different “areas” of our lives.

So, let’s take a look at Scripture, to see if we can identify some of those areas.

Humility with regard to knowledge

Introduction

Jesus is given many titles in Scripture. For example, in many places he goes by the following titles: the Christ (or Messiah), our Lord, and the Son of Man. In addition, in a few places he is called the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the King of the Jews.

One other – and very notable – title that Jesus is given is: the Son of God. Here are some examples:

Matthew 16:15-17 (ESV):

Introduction

As we are all aware, the Bible is filled with miraculous events - e.g. the parting of the Red Sea, giant hailstones falling from the sky, the flood, people being raised from the dead, etc.

Up until a few years ago, I was under the impression that miracles are completely based on God’s decisions. In other words, I used to think that the only reason why a miracle occurs is because God (or Jesus) decides to perform the miracle. As a result, I assumed that human beings have no effect whatsoever on whether a miracle occurs or not.

Introduction

One of the key figures in the New Testament is John the Baptist. For one thing, Scripture tells us that John the Baptist fulfilled the Old Testament prophesy, about the one who would “prepare the way of the Lord”:

Matthew 3:1-3 (ESV):

¹ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”

Background on Methuselah

One of the patriarchs who is listed in Genesis chapter 5 is Methuselah. He has the distinction of being the longest-lived person recorded in Scripture – he lived to the ripe old age of 969.

Recently, I discovered a relatively interesting fact about Methuselah. Here are some of the items that are listed about Methuselah and his descendants:

Genesis 5:25 (ESV):

²⁵When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.

So, Lamech was born 187 years after Methuselah was born.

Genesis 5:28-29a (ESV):

Introduction

One of the figures that Scripture refers to, in both the Old and New Testaments, is “The Satan”. In addition, the New Testament refers to a figure called “The Devil”. For example, The Satan caused the catastrophes that befell Job, and The Devil is called “The father of lies”.

An important item to note is that the Hebrew word satan means “adversary”, or “accuser”; and the Greek word diabolos (from which we get the word “devil”) means “slanderer”.

Introduction

One of the most famous commands of Jesus is to “love your neighbor as yourself”. But what does the word “love” really mean in this context? In other words, what, exactly, does Jesus really mean by that statement?

From what I have seen, many English-speaking people assume that the word “love” always has a connotation of good feelings for others. In other words, many people assume that love only refers to positive emotions about other people.

However, is that how the word love is used in Scripture? Or could it be that Scripture has some other meaning in mind, when it uses the word love?

Introduction

The English language, like most languages, uses the concept of “homographs” – that is, the concept that a single word can have many different meanings, depending on the context. Here are some examples of homographs in English:

• Will he run for president?
• Please don’t run across the street.
• Don’t wear these tights because there’s a run in them.

• Our house is the one on the right.
• Jen always has the right answers in math class.
• Susan B. Anthony helped woman obtain the right to vote in the U.S.A.