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The Gospel of Jeffrey Dahmer

...rent post-baptism too according to Roy Ratcliff, although he didn’t get much time to live after converting — he was baptised in May 1994 and bludgeoned to death by another inmate November of that same year. But the point remains, which is the heart of the Gospel: God’s grace and mercy are far bigger than we can ever comprehend, as much as we might not like it, God can save whomever HE wills, not whoever WE prefer. Like the thief on the cross, who also faced the consequences of his crimes yet cried out to Jesus in his final moments, anyone can be saved, no matter their past. This is the Gospel in its simplest terms. Don’t get me wrong, Jeffrey Dahm...

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

...t through baptism, raised to new life in Christ. I won't go into this topic too much now, as I've written on it plenty before here and here. I just wanted to focus our minds on the victory we have because of Jesus and what he did for us this day, centuries ago. I'll close with this worship song which celebrates the resurrection, which I really like. Focus on the words of the song and praise God for Jesus! Happy Easter, everyone....

The Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...Through baptism we are born again into our new bodies, spiritually speaking (Col 2:12), whilst we wait to put on and clothe ourselves with immortality fully upon physical death by our resurrected bodies (1 Cor 15:54).   In terms of the new creation in contrast to the old, the early Christians had a belief and view of the resurrection of Jesus as being the beginning of the new creation – the eighth day they called it. The epistle of Barnabas conveys it well: The sabbaths, that now are, are not acceptable unto me, but that which I have made is, even that in which, after that I have brought all things to an end, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day...

Did the Early Church invent the Trinity?

...oncerning baptism, baptise this way: Having first said all these things, baptise into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living [running] water. … But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. — Didache 7:1, A.D. 70. Clement of Alexandria (c. 95-140) Do we not have one God and one Christ and one Spirit of grace which was poured out upon us? And is there not one calling in Christ? — 1 Clement 46:6, ~A.D. 95 Brothers, we ought to think of Jesus Christ, as we do of God, as ‘Judge of the living and the dead’ — 2 Clement 1:1, ~A.D. 95–14...

Jesus, Mithras and Ancient Roman Cults: Separating Fact from Fiction

...ents like baptism and communion (Eucharist). While both belief systems value spiritual growth, their approaches differ, especially in that with Christianity all the work for salvation is achieved by and through Jesus, we don’t work or do things to attain that salvation. We also know what the seven grades of initiation into Mithraism were called, thanks to Jerome listing them out in chapter two of his letter To Laeta: Those I mean by which the worshippers [of Mithras] were initiated as Raven, Bridegroom, Soldier, Lion, Perseus, Sun, Crab, and Father? It’s not unusual for religions to have special rites and rituals, but since we know very little about Mit...

The Battle for the Trinity: Historical Heresies and Church Defences

...Jesus’ baptism where the Father speaks, the Son is baptised, and the Spirit descends like a dove. Patristic Quote: Tertullian argued against Modalism by affirming the distinctiveness within the Godhead: “We do indeed believe that there is only one God, but we believe that under this dispensation… there is the Son, who has issued from the Father, and the Spirit, who has issued from both Father and Son” (Against Praxeas, 2). Nestorianism What It Taught: Nestorius, a 5th-century bishop, suggested that Jesus Christ was two separate persons — one human and one divine — rather than one Person with two natures. Church’s Response: The Coun...