The Conquering Truth

In the past weeks, several hurricanes have struck the United States, killing hundreds and displacing millions. Many professing Christians are offended if you say that God sent these hurricanes as judgment, but we’d like to argue that this is because we tend to think very shallowly about the judgment of God. And while disaster striking an area does not inherently mean that God judged the people who lived there because they were the most evil and vilest of sinners, scripture clearly teaches God ordains all events and that he is the one who kills and makes alive (Deuteronomy 32:29), who brings peace or sends calamity (Isaiah 45:7).

The law of God confronts us with our sin. And while sinners hate this condemnation, they also want others to obey God’s law because it makes their life easier. Because of this, they are very quick to notice sin in others, specifically, the sin that the law has convicted them of. This is often referred to as projection. Scripture refers to it this way: And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Having right doctrine is important, but it’s not enough. That why orthopraxy (having correct practices) matters.

There are well-meaning Christians who teach that no one should ever be allowed to remarry after divorce. The main problem with that interpretation is that God divorced and remarried. Spiritually, God is only ever married to the invisible church, but that is not true in an earthly sense. According to Scripture, God divorced Israel and He was divorced from Judah when he came to them and they put him to death. But then Christ is betrothed to the church, with his death paying the bride price. So, if God, who is perfectly righteous, divorced and remarried what does that mean for us?

Do you understand the many ways that Christianity has made the world a better place?

If you pay attention to the news at all, you’ll hear a lot of worried cries about how we need to work to “save democracy”. But if you know much about American history, you’ll know that the US isn’t a democracy and has never been one. In fact, if you’ve really studied history you’ll know that pure democracies tend to be short-lived institutions. And because this is a podcast by Christians, and largely aimed at Christians, you shouldn’t be surprised that we want to take this all back to scripture and talk about what the Bible teaches about government, how people should rule themselves, and why pure democracies tend to lead to evil.

Before Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he promised to send his Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us. But how does the Holy Spirit accomplish his ministry? How can we know if we are being led by the Holy Spirit?

Charles Finney was both an avid proponent of revivalism and a relentless enemy of Reformed doctrine in the early American Church. Finney himself was a product of revivalism, professing faith in his late 20s at an emotional revival service. Finney quickly dedicated himself to the ministry, and began studying for his ordination as a Presbyterian minister.

Many churches have mortgages or are seriously considering getting one. Sadly, it is shocking how many Christians (and particularly, pastors) do not believe the Bible when it says, “The borrower is a slave to the lender”. We like to make rationalizations and say that slavery has been abolished, and that it’s just a financial obligation that can be ended at any time, but those are just lies. The warning about slavery IS a warning about the financial obligation. Also, Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows and does not repay” and we should understand exactly what this says about the obligation that debt puts upon us. And while we published an episode on debt and slavery earlier this year, in this episode we want to focus specifically on churches and why the Bible teaches that it is a sin for the church to become a slave.

The Bible has a lot to say about food, and from the beginning, we can see how food was related to sin, to sacrifices, and to the worship of God. There were also the food laws of Israel, which are frequently misunderstood. But through all of this, the Bible never teaches that a person’s health is tied to the food they eat. And this matters a great deal, because this is a common false teaching, even among the orthodox.
But the Bible does talk about health. It has to, because life and death are moral, spiritual issues. We understand this because anything to do with whether someone lives or dies will always be a moral topic because we understand that death exists because of sin and so we know that health issues must tie back to sin being in the world.