Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews XX,9,1 wrote that Ananus, the High Priest, assembled the Sanhedrin of the judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who is called Christ, whose name was James. The Apostle James and others were stoned for being lawbreakers. Eusebius had called him “James the Just.” The Jewish religious […]
Author: martinsmanuelbooks
When a Megachurch Goes Wrong
One of the amazing outcomes of the first megachurch was that Paul, a chosen Apostle, was persecuted without the support or defense of the large contingent of Christians in Jerusalem. When James met with Paul he said, the members of Jerusalem’s megachurch have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the […]
Leadership
(and Related Problems) James, the half-brother of Jesus, became a believer and follower after Jesus’ resurrection and took up residence in Jerusalem while the small contingent waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had instructed them. Some years later, he became a leader of the church in Jerusalem. Eusebius, Church historian from […]
Where and How Did this Megachurch Meet?
Where did this first megachurch congregation meet? Such a facility would have been hard to come by then, but it had already been provided by the Providence of God. The Temple in Jerusalem was surrounded by courts that served as gathering places for the thousands of Jews who gathered there for the Sabbaths and Holy […]
Megachurches – do they Promote Oneness?
Megachurches have become fixtures on the landscape of Christianity in the United States of America and many other countries. With them have arisen both positive and negative reactions: positive in success stories of numerical growth, and negative in criticisms about how such growth is obtained and the effect of the growth upon its leaders. The […]
Imagine God and His People being One in Will
Let me begin this concluding Blog on the subject of God’s “control,” or, as I believe better, sovereignty with a quote by Thomas F. Torrance from Divine and Contingent Order, © 1981 T. F. Torrance: The cross of Christ tells us unmistakably that all physical evil, not only pain, suffering, disease, corruption, death, and of […]
What a True Understanding Does for Faith in God
Having a true understanding about God and his involvement in our lives helps us to understand our participative role with God. He has divine will. Our human will is to agree with his divine will. When we assume that God is controlling everything, we can miss the fact that he has given us a role […]
The Domain of God’s Rule and Will
Jesus taught His followers what is called The Lord’s Prayer, in which they say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10). This prayer implies that in heaven God’s name is regarded as holy, he reigns, and his will […]
If God Does Not Control, What Does He Do?
It is a highly complex matter to attempt to describe by the use of Scripture what God does in our individual lives. I will try to summarize God’s disposition toward humanity – all of us – as well as refer to specific promises of God in the Bible. As mentioned above, God is love. To […]
Where Does the Idea of Control Come From?
The word control cannot be found in most modern English translations of the Bible. Control as a verb originated as a term for verification of accounts in Middle English and was derived from Medieval Latin. It appears infrequently in 18th-Century literature but takes on a much greater usage afterward, peaking in the 20th Century. The […]