The Holy Spirit’s intercession for believers is a profound truth found in Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” This passage teaches us several key things about the Spirit’s intercession: 1. The Spirit intercedes for us in our weakness As believers, we are weak and finite…
Author: Erin Weitzman
The phrase “prince of the power of the air” is found in Ephesians 2:2 which says, “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” This verse gives us insight into the spiritual forces of evil that exist in our fallen world. 1. The “power of the air” refers to the domain of Satan The “power of the air” refers to the realm in which Satan operates. The air encompasses the earth, and Satan is pictured as…
Zion is a significant concept and place in the Bible that has deep spiritual and symbolic meaning. Though the word “Zion” appears over 150 times in the Bible, its exact definition is complex and has evolved throughout Scripture. At its core, Zion refers to the city of Jerusalem. The name “Zion” first appears in 2 Samuel 5:7: “Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.” This verse describes King David’s conquest of the fortress of Zion from the Jebusites. He then renamed it the “City of David.” So Zion was originally the name of the…
The Bible contains many apparent paradoxes that challenge our understanding and force us to think more deeply. Here are some key examples of paradox found in the biblical texts: God is Three Yet One The doctrine of the Trinity states that God exists as three co-equal, co-eternal persons – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit – yet there is only one God. This paradox of multiple “persons” in one divine nature is hard for human minds to fully comprehend (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19). Jesus was Fully God and Fully Man In the incarnation, Jesus was…
The Bible does not provide exact parameters for how much authority a pastor should have over a church. However, there are some key principles that can guide our understanding of pastoral authority. Pastors are called to lead and shepherd the church Several passages indicate that pastors have a role of leadership within the church. For example, 1 Peter 5:1-2 (ESV) says: “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that…
Does God Have Free Will? The question of whether God has free will is an interesting theological debate. At the heart of the issue is the tension between God’s sovereignty and human free will. The Bible teaches that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and completely sovereign over all things. Yet the Bible also teaches that humans have the ability to make free choices. So how do these two ideas fit together? Does God also have free will in the sense that humans do? Definition of Free Will To answer this question properly, we first need to define what we mean by…
The book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work that is ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon used by Jews, apart from the Beta Israel canon. It is regarded as canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, but no other Christian group. The older sections of the book consist of five textual units: The Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) The Book of Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–71) (also called the Similitudes of Enoch) The Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) (also called the…
Secularism is the idea that governmental policies and institutions should exist separately from religion or religious beliefs. At its core, secularism advocates for the separation of church and state and believes religion should be a private, voluntary affair. The Bible does not specifically mention secularism, as it is a modern political concept that emerged in Western thought several centuries after the biblical texts were written. However, the Bible does speak to related issues regarding the relationship between faith and government. Overall, the biblical texts seem to point to religion and politics intersecting in some capacities, though reasonable debate exists around…
The Aquarian Gospel is a book written by Levi H. Dowling and published in 1908. It claims to detail the life of Jesus Christ and his activities during the years between his childhood and the beginning of his public ministry, a period not covered in the New Testament. Here is an overview of what the Aquarian Gospel teaches about Jesus: The Aquarian Gospel states that Jesus was born on January 6th to Mary and Joseph in a cave in Palestine. As a young child, Jesus traveled to India, Persia, Assyria, Greece, and Egypt to study their religions and spiritual traditions.…
The seven sons of Sceva are mentioned only once in the Bible, in Acts 19:13-16. Here is what we know about them from this passage: They were Jewish exorcists The text tells us that the seven sons of Sceva were Jewish exorcists. This means they likely traveled around practicing exorcisms and casting out demons. Exorcism was commonly practiced in the ancient world by both Jews and pagans. The Jews would invoke the name of God or other holy names to try to expel demons. Their father’s name was Sceva We don’t know anything else about their father Sceva. But the…