Category Archives: Articles

Various Topics

ENOCH: IS IT SCRIPTURAL?

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By: Bill Watson

Church of God Independent Ministries

There is a lot of “chatter” on the Internet these days about the Book of Enoch. Many influencers, podcasters, authors, and commentators, as well as some religious authorities, reference the Book of Enoch as a credible source to support an eschatological narrative that discusses certain watchers [a.k.a. angels] God allegedly sent to help, guide, and advise mankind, but instead, corrupted them.

There is a lingering interest and credibility associated with this book for several reasons. First, in the book of Jude, we see this apostle referencing the writings of Enoch and claiming it mentions the return of Jesus Christ (Jude :14). We also have evidence from early church history that some of the early “orthodox” church fathers used the book as a reference. However, by the 5th century, its influence was marginalized because it wasn’t canonized.

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Bible Discrepancies – Spying Canaan

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by Mike James

Was it God’s idea to spy out the land of Canaan or the people’s? This alleged discrepancy relates to the two scriptures provided below:

Report of the Spies (Numbers 13, 1 – 26). Chromolithograph after a drawing (1860) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794 – 1872), published ca. 1880

Numbers 13:1-2: And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them (KJV).

Deuteronomy 1:21-23: Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe (KJV).

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HOW OLD IS THE EARTH & UNIVERSE?

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By: Bill Watson

Church of God Independent Ministries

In today’s Christian community, there is a controversy over the age of the earth. There is a segment of Christians who firmly believe that the earth and universe are only 6000 years old, while another group believes it could be billions of years old, as evolutionists would have you think. Frankly, this is one of the compelling and underscoring reasons the young-earth Christians support a young-earth hypothesis–to differentiate themselves from evolution. But do we have to go to such an extreme to counter the theory of evolution and “cross swords” with science?

Does the Bible have anything to say about this? Does the Bible address this question? Can we answer this by using scripture? Or is this one of those questions that cannot be answered except by theorizing or hypothesizing about what the answer MIGHT or COULD be?

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Questions About Tongues

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By: Mike James

In Acts 2, we have the first example of the gift of tongues occurring. The Holy Spirit caused this miracle to occur (Acts 2:4), and the miracle was the ability to speak in foreign languages and to be understood by speakers of that language (Acts 2:5-12).

Later in 1 Corinthians 12:10, we read that some will have the gift of speaking in tongues (diverse languages) and others will have the gift of interpreting those languages. The same Greek word here, glossa, is used in Acts 2, where it was clear we are speaking about foreign languages.

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Books Mentioned in the Bible

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By: Mike James

by Mike James

Whenever you get into a discussion about whether apocryphal or pseudepigraphal books should be in the Bible, some will mention books mentioned in the Bible. The question will be why these books in the Bible aren’t part of the canon if the Bible itself mentions them. Let me provide a few examples of what I’m talking about.

In Numbers 24:14, we read the following: “Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon.”

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Was Jesus Christ’s Nature Divine While He Was Human?

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by Bill Watson

In the beginning of the Church, back some 2,000 years ago, there was an awful lot of controversy surrounding this “Alien visitor” from another dimension of time and space. He was quite the disrupter of the status quo and caused a lot of questions with regard as to who this “Jesus” really was. Some even thought He was a prophet reincarnated from the dead to redress the times in which they lived.

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Dominionism

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By: Mike James

by Mike James

Dominionism is a theological and political belief system that wants to establish Christian governance based on biblical principles. It emphasizes the idea that Christians should exercise authority over all aspects of life, including politics, culture, and society.

This view is based on a specific interpretation of Genesis 1:28. Here is what the scripture says: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.'”

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Debt

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I think everyone would agree that having debt is not a good idea. Obviously, with large ticket items like homes and cars most of us are going to have to go into debt to purchase these needed items. I think we would also agree that if we borrow, we should pay back what we owe.

The Bible has things to say about this topic and mostly from a personal point of view. Here are a couple scriptures to think about on this topic.

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