Gematria uses a combination of letters and numbers to communicate. If we assign number values to letters, then combine letters into words, those words can have a total mathematical value. For example: if we assign 1-2-3 values to A-B-C (and so on, through the whole English alphabet), the word HOME has a value of 8+15+13+5, or 41.
First, what is a cult? The word simply suggests a specific set of beliefs that spring from another set of beliefs. In that sense, Christianity is historically and technically a cult of Judaism. The word is neutral, even though most of us use it in a negative sense.
"Progressive Christianity" is difficult to define, but easy to spot. There are a variety of different ideas in progressive churches, but the one thing they have in common is that they have abandoned the idea that the Bible is true and reliable.
Do people end up in Hell because they're ignorant? It's easy to assume that those who refuse to be saved simply lack information. "If they had only understood," we say. "If only they had known." At first glance, these words feel compassionate, but they really expose an insufficient view of God.
The Bible speaks regularly about demons, and about the healing of physical illnesses. Sometimes, both are included in the same verse. Some conclude that demons cause illnesses, and that casting out the demons will heal the illnesses. Is this true?
Most businesses and churches and non-profits would love to rank #1. For anything. Most don't even rank #1 for their own name! A lot of companies pay a lot of money to try to reach #1. They pay fly-by-night SEO agencies. They pay local ad agencies who don't know much about how the web works. They also pay big money to big agencies full of experts in the field, hoping to rank well enough to get just a bit more traffic than they would naturally get.
The New Testament refers a number of times to people speaking in tongues. That is, believers being enabled to speak in languages they hadn't previously learned. Many in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are taught that every believer will speak in tongues, as that is 'the initial physical evidence' of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Video, 3:14
These days, many who claim the name of Jesus are also politically and theologically "progressive." They don't view God, Jesus, or the Bible in the traditional sense of what Christians have believed from the first century forward. They often substitute their own views for those found in Scripture. For this reason, it's important to be able to compare progressive beliefs with Scriptural truths.
Mormons and New-Agers have something in common: they often consider the Fall of Man to be a positive development for humanity, rather than a negative one. This contradicts what we read in the Bible, of course. Alisa Childers outlines the problems with this view.
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus was God's first creation, and not God Himself. This is rightly considered heresy, of course... but can you explain why they're wrong about the interpretation of John 1:1, where - they claim - Jesus is "a" god and not "the" God? Video, 5:30
Richard Rohr is an author, Franciscan, and a controversial figure on the fringes of Christianity. Here, Fred Sanders reviews his book, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation. Despite Rohr's popularity, it doesn't sound like the book will be a net benefit to anyone.
The Bible spends almost no time on whether God exists. Instead, most of what we read expresses God's character. In a world of competing religions, polytheism, and syncretism, there was no real need for answering atheism.
