Author: Rita

Saved From Hollywood

/ Rita / Leave a comment

Let me introduce you to Becket Cook. He has a YouTube channel where he addresses topics regarding culture and focuses on sorting out the truth from the lies. Becket had a life-changing experience when he became a Christian. He realized immediately that his same-sex attraction and lifestyle would lead him on the wrong path.

Listen to his story here as he speaks to an audience at Biola University in California. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEgIHSOpqf4

Find his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/BecketCook

Receive Jesus/Believe in Jesus

/ Rita / Leave a comment

Are they the same thing?

Lee Strobel says “receive” and “believe” are two different things. When he spoke at Passion City Church, and gave The Case for Christ sermon, he made a point of saying you may believe, but unless you receive Jesus you are not a child of God. He points out the verse that clarified it for him, John 1:12. “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…”

The “avalanche of evidence” that Strobel had gathered and believed, he concluded, was not enough. He realized he had to “Receive the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus purchased for me on the cross when He died as my substitute to pay for all of my sin. When I received this free gift of His grace, then I would become a child of God.” And that’s when Strobel knelt before God and confessed his immoral past. And then He knew he had received complete forgiveness.

Start Minute 28:21—to hear about believe and receive.

How’s Your Conscience Doing?

/ Rita / Leave a comment

Dr. Richard Caldwell from the Straight Truth Podcast and pastor of Founders Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, has some interesting thoughts about the work of the conscience in a Christian’s life.

Dr. Caldwell says, “There are a few things we should know about the conscience. It isn’t the Word of God and isn’t inerrant. It can be wrongly informed and overly troubled. The conscience can be abused, ignored, and violated. It will only be as good as the information we feed it. As Christians, we are responsible for informing our consciences with the truth of Scripture.”

Watch Dr. Caldwell’s ten-minute YouTube podcast for further thoughts on conscience.

Do You Question the Bible?

/ Rita / Leave a comment

Have you heard or thought it yourself that the Bible has errors? According to Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, the problem may be ours and not God’s Spirit-breathed text. In their book, The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, they take a trip from Genesis to Revelation and stop along the way to help us understand some of the most difficult or misunderstood verses in the Bible. Perhaps you will find that the difficulty in a particular passage was not so problematic after all.  

John 3:3 Will You See the Kingdom of God?

/ Rita / Leave a comment

Just prior to the famous verse, John 3:16, Jesus tells Nicodemus that “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Do we truly understand what that means? Dr. R.C. Sproul teaches on this Scripture verse in his inspiring six-part series on being, Born Again. He covers:

Must I Be Born Again?

What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?

Regeneration Is the Beginning.

God’s Sovereignty in Regeneration

Regeneration Is Immediate

Regeneration Is Permanent

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/born-again

Feeling Embarrassed Because You Stumble Over Biblical Names and Places?

/ Rita / Leave a comment

On his YouTube Channel, Pastor Josh helps us to understand the Bible by clarifying Scripture and using tips and tools to make Bible reading easier. In this short, helpful video, Pastor Josh assures us there is no reason to feel guilty when we don’t know how to pronounce those tricky names and places in the Bible. And, he shows us an easy way to learn how to pronounce those unfamiliar-looking mish-mash of letters that are supposed to be names or places.

New Age or Christianity?

/ Rita / Leave a comment

Pastors Chad Moore and Robert Watson from Sun Valley Community Church in Arizona discuss New Age beliefs in this podcast linked below. They endeavor to help Christians discern the pitfalls of the New Age movement by covering what true Christianity is and how it differs from New Age.

Pastor Chad mentions that when he interacts with some Christians, he notices that they take New Age ideas and ‘throw a little Jesus on top.’ He said, “New Age is very common, it’s everywhere, and it’s a big deal in our society.” (1:20 minutes)

A couple of other quotes from Pastor Chad:

“New Age is– ‘I’m gonna get the universe to do what I want it to do.’ New Age at its core is a desire to be God.” (1:58 minutes)

“Biblical Christianity is–‘my life is not my own, it belongs to Jesus.’ And there is a beautiful, freeing, soul-satisfying thing that happens with that.” (24:12)

The Difference Between Holy and Spiritual  (New Age)  Season 4 Episode 12-May 17, 2022  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMZgSNmaa6M

Please listen to the entire podcast for a clear representation of their thoughts.

/ Rita / 1 Comment

Is Scripture (the Bible) still relevant for Christians and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says? Do you believe it is God-breathed?

Some say yes, it’s a “light for my path, “and a few others (Richard Rohr for one) don’t have as much regard for the words spoken by the Lord through His authors.

Matthew Barrett with The Gospel Coalition said: “Without the Word, the church will not only starve but it will have nothing of lasting, saving, value to offer the world anyway. God’s Word is a lamp in a dark world, lighting the path ahead (Ps. 119:93, 105), so that the Christian and the church alike know God and know how to live in his ways as his covenant people.” (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-sufficiency-of-scripture/)

Blue Letter Bible Reference–“We also should note that the Scriptures have proved themselves to be sufficient. Those who read and study the Bible discover that the Scripture provides everything necessary to understand the plan of God and live a godly life.” (https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stewart_don/faq/bible-special/question25-what-is-the-sufficiency-of-scripture.cfm)

Compelling Truth—”The Protestant Reformation reaffirmed the sufficiency of Scripture in its principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), teaching that the Bible alone is necessary to provide the divine words for all of human life.”

….”The Bible does not address every area of life; rather, its revealed words serve as our authoritative source in every aspect it does address. The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture accurately reflects the teachings of Scripture and offers a clear directive for all believers who seek to follow the teachings of the Lord.” (https://www.compellingtruth.org/sufficiency-of-scripture.html)

Richard Rohr—”Jesus is very selective in the Bible quotes that he quotes, and the quotes that he ignores and the quotes that he dismisses and the quotes that he totally disagrees with. So, these people who say, you know, Biblical inerrancy, every Bible line is equally inspired, Jesus himself does not operate that way, you know.”  https://cac.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Bible_Lesson-1_The-Jesus-Hermeneutic.pdf

Does God Exist?: The Moral Argument

/ Rita / Leave a comment

The Moral Argument—drcraigvideos

Approx 5-minute, animated video describing the Moral Argument for the existence of God and showing the difference between these two questions, “Can you be good without believing in God? “Can you be good without God?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiAikEk2vU

********************************************************************

How Does the Moral Argument Support the Existence of God?

This article gives a simple explanation of the Moral Argument that points to God. “… there is a universal moral law that has been intrinsically woven into them by their Creator. This fact produces what is called the moral argument for the existence of God,…”

https://www.compellingtruth.org/moral-argument-existence-God.html

*********************************************************************************

What is the Moral Argument for the Existence of God? Dr. Sean McDowell

Dr. McDowell addresses the questions, “Is there really such a thing as right from wrong? Does the existence of universal morality point towards God? This three-and-a-half-minute video will give you something to think about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTMN7NEl1SU

*******************************************************************************

The Moral Argument for the Existence of God, by Ted Wright

In this blog post, we have an intellectual and philosophical approach to talking about the Moral Argument. https://crossexamined.org/312/#

Thoughts on the Existence of God: Design

/ Rita / Leave a comment

  Made in His Image: The Amazing Design of the Human Body–This easy-to-read article from the Institute for Christian Research shows just a few aspects of the human body that will point to God as the only reasonable explanation for such intricacies.

https://www.icr.org/article/made-his-image-amazing-design-human

********************************************************************************

In this YouTube video from the ministry of Capturing Christianity, biology professor, Dr. Sy Garte brings an argument for God from a biological perspective. Dr. Garte was an atheist who became a Christian when he realized that science and Christianity go hand-in-hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw7DG7L6Gsw

*********************************************************************************

Daniel Maritz, of DLM Christian Lifestyle, addresses the question of God’s existence as he presents evidence of unmistakable design in God’s creation. He shows us reasons and Scripture that point us to the great Designer. This is part two of his series titled, Does God Really Exist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG-l5cm4-Ak