No Other Doctrine

Why do Catholic Bibles carry extra books, and what about the "lost books of the Bible" sold late at night? Pastor Scott Thom shows why the Apocrypha was rejected: Tobit teaches that almsgiving purges sin, 2 Maccabees supports prayers for the dead and purgatory, and Judith prays for a lying tongue, all against the plain teaching of Hebrews 9:27, Luke 16 and Galatians 2:16. The Jews never quoted it, Jesus and the apostles never quoted it, and it was only declared Scripture at the Council of Trent in 1546, in answer to the Reformation. He then reads from the so called Gospel of Thomas, with its boy Jesus striking playmates dead, and other false gospels, explains why heresies like Marcion's forced the church to gather the New Testament, and walks through the tests every book had to pass: authoritative, prophetic, authentic and life transforming.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

When someone asks why your Bible has 66 books and theirs has more, do you have an answer? Most believers were never taught how the Bible came together, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Who decided which books belong in the Old Testament, and why should Christians trust it? Pastor Scott Thom traces how the Jews, scattered after Rome destroyed the temple in 70 A.D., carefully guarded and listed their Scriptures, and why the Bereans of Acts 17 were called noble for testing Paul against them. He shows how Jesus Himself confirmed the Old Testament: naming the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms in Luke 24:44, spanning it from Abel to Zechariah in Luke 11, and setting it above the traditions of the Mishnah and Talmud. Along the way he explains why the Jewish Bible counts 24 books that are the same as our 39, why a quote "from Isaiah" can come from a minor prophet's scroll, and why the Apocrypha fails the test, with Tobit's impossible lifespan and Judith placing Nebuchadnezzar in Nineveh.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

Have you ever skipped the Old Testament because it felt too hard to understand? Most believers were never shown how the whole Bible fits together, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

What does the Bible actually say about angels? Pastor Scott Thom teaches who angels are: each one a direct creation of God and so called sons of God, the host of heaven created to glorify Him, spirits who can take on human form so real that Abraham ate with them. He tells the story of picking up a stranger on a dark road as a young believer who vanished from beside his car, and explains how angels appear as living creatures and speak in dreams. He speaks frankly about the demonic "enemy dreams" many Christians experience but never mention, how to rebuke them in the name of the Lord, and how to tell an enemy thought from your own. He closes by showing why angels are far stronger than man but not everywhere at once, and why the popular practice of "binding Satan and loosing God" every morning takes Scripture out of context.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

How much of what you believe about angels and spiritual warfare came from movies rather than the Bible? Most believers were never taught systematic theology, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Must you be baptized, and only "in Jesus' name," to be saved? Pastor Scott Thom tells how, as a brand new believer, a radio pastor told him his baptism "didn't take," and why something in his spirit said no. He then shows from Acts 2:38 in the Greek, from Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1 that Christ did not send him to baptize, from the thief on the cross, and from Cornelius' household receiving the Holy Spirit before they were baptized in Acts 10, that baptism follows salvation rather than causing it. In the second half he turns to the Lord's Supper and its roots in the Passover, explains that communion is about fellowship and becoming one with Christ and each other, and gives five reasons transubstantiation is not biblical, along with a gentle way to talk with friends who were taught it.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

When a friend tells you that your baptism didn't count, could you open the Scriptures and answer them? Most believers were never trained to work through hard doctrinal questions, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Could God still be adding books to the Bible today, and how do we know the one we have is trustworthy? Pastor Scott Thom finishes the tests every book had to pass, authentic, life transforming and received by God's people, and shows from Hebrews 1:1, 2 Peter 1:3, Jude 3 and Revelation that the canon is closed, so no later revelation like the Book of Mormon can stand beside it. He explains what inerrancy means for the original manuscripts, how the Bible sets its own impossible standard of perfection, unchanging truth and 100 percent accurate prophecy from Deuteronomy 18, and why no other holy book meets it. Along the way he answers the copyist question of Solomon's 4,000 or 40,000 stalls, explains the tens of thousands of manuscripts behind our Bibles, warns how modern teachers water down the meaning of words, and begins the doctrine of inspiration.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

When a coworker says the Bible is full of errors, can you calmly show them why it isn't? Most believers trust Scripture but were never trained to defend it, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Is the Bible itself evidence that God exists? Pastor Scott Thom builds the case that the Bible is unique in every way that matters: in its circulation and translation, in how scribes counted every letter to copy it, and in surviving emperors who burned it and philosophers like Voltaire who predicted its end. He contrasts it with the thousands of documented changes in the Book of Mormon and the Jehovah's Witnesses' rendering of John 1:1, and shares how learning about the Navajo code talkers of World War II showed him why God's Word repeats itself: it is built so that changing one verse breaks others. He closes with the hundreds of precise prophecies about Christ, the historical accuracy that convinced scholar Robert Dick Wilson after 45 years of study, and the discovery of the Hittites that critics once said never existed.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

Most Christians who stay quiet about their faith say it's because they don't feel sure enough to explain it. Confidence comes from training, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

In this crossover with his Leadership From The Cross podcast, Pastor Scott Thom teaches that leadership is revealed not only by what a person achieves but by what they refuse to tolerate. True leaders reject groupthink for independent thinking, like Nicodemus seeking Jesus while the other Pharisees went along with the crowd, and unlike Rehoboam, who listened only to friends who thought like him. They reject simple answers to complex questions, like Nehemiah, who prayed, planned and surveyed the ruined walls before he said a word. They reject their own first thought for the well examined one, practicing the self examination of 2 Corinthians 13:5. And they reject social pressure disguised as truth, insisting on evidence, as Peter and John ran to the empty tomb, without making the demand impossibly high as Thomas did. He closes with a challenge to use these gifts at home, at work and in ministry rather than let them slip backward.

Please note: the phone numbers mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040 and 505-207-4407, have been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560. For The Habit Revolution ebook, text HABITS to 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

Do you see these leadership qualities in yourself but have never been trained to use them? Most leaders at home, at work and in the church learn by trial and error, and between work, family and cost, formal training feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Why do some Bibles carry footnotes saying a verse is "omitted," and is the King James the only trustworthy translation? Pastor Scott Thom explains the difference between a translation, a transliteration, a version, a revision and a paraphrase, and why Greek verb endings make translating harder than it looks. He then walks through the two families of manuscripts, the thousands of copies behind the Textus Receptus and the few hundred Alexandrian texts from the region where the Gnostic heresy took root, how Westcott and Hort and later the Nestle Aland text came to favor the older few, and why the disputed verses still belong in your Bible. He closes with the history of the King James Version, its many revisions since 1611, and why the King James only debate is a fight Christians don't need to have, since only the original manuscripts were inspired.

Please note: the phone numbers mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040 and 505-207-4407, have been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560. For The Habit Revolution ebook, text HABITS to 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

Standing in the Bible aisle, do you know how to choose a translation and what those footnotes really mean? Most believers were never taught how our Bible came to us, and between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Why do some people take off in ministry and in life while others plod along or go backward, even with the same opportunities? In this leadership teaching, Pastor Scott Thom compares high, average and low achieving leaders in three areas. High achievers make people the priority alongside the vision, as David protected Israel's flocks and villages even while Saul hunted him, while Saul used Jonathan and David for his own glory. They welcome and build other leaders, as Paul did in 2 Timothy 2:2, rather than guarding their position like Diotrephes in 3 John. And they seek counsel eagerly, listening even to those they train, unlike Rehoboam, who ignored his father's advisers and lost the kingdom. Drawing on thirty years of mentoring men, he describes the inquisitive learners who become tomorrow's leaders and points to Jesus and His apostles as the pattern.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

Want to be the leader who grows instead of the one who stalls? The leaders who thrive are the ones who keep learning, yet between work, family and cost, Bible school feels out of reach. CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.

Why do scientists announce "intelligent life" at the faintest pattern from space, yet call the vastly more complex code in our own DNA an accident? Pastor Scott Thom builds the argument from design in everyday pictures: a toddler drumming a rhythm, five trees in a perfect line, a cry for help spelled in alphabet cereal. Patterns and specified information only ever come from intelligence, and the language written in every cell, down to the systems that keep the body from poisoning itself, had to work from the beginning. Caller Greg asks how a fish could ever become a lizard, opening a discussion of irreducible complexity, why theistic evolution is a contradiction, and why there is no chain of evolution, let alone missing links. Pastor Scott closes by separating honest bias from bad bias and explaining why the resurrection stands beyond any reasonable doubt.

Please note: the question line mentioned in this episode, 505-578-2040, has been retired. To reach Pastor Scott and Cross Fellowship, use 505-375-6560.

Cross Fellowship is a Bible teaching church home in Albuquerque. Learn more and plan a visit at CrossFellowship.org.

Get Trained at Pastor Scott's Bible College

In this episode Pastor Scott announced the Bible college he was building, and it is now open. If you have wanted to give clear, simple reasons for your faith but between work, family and cost Bible school felt out of reach, CCF Bible College (CCFcollege.com) closes that gap with self paced, affordable training you can start any time, including Shepherd School, a two year program built for anyone pursuing pastoral and full time ministry roles. Pastor Scott will personally walk you through the next step if you qualify. Text COLLEGE to 505-375-6560 to learn more.

You can also catch Pastor Scott's other two podcasts, "Leadership From The Cross" and "Navigating Life from the Cross," available on any podcast app.