Questions and Answers
Amazingly, there are those who consider themselves to be “Christians” who do not believe that the Old Testament is a necessary part of their belief system. Just to give some brief examples to show that such attitudes exist, let us take note of the following: “In the USA, North Point Community Church (of Alpharetta, Georgia, USA), Senior Pastor Andy Stanley has stated that Christians need to ‘unhitch’ the Old Testament from their faith. In the final part of a recent sermon series, Stanley explained that while he believes that the Old Testament is ‘divinely inspired,’ it should not be ‘the go-to source regarding any behavior in the church.’ To justify this, Stanley preached last month about Acts 15, which described how the early church decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians” (christianpost.com). The above Pastor also said that “(First Century) Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures (the Old Testament). Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.” Of course, we know that that was not the outcome of the Acts 15 conference, and in our Q&A we say: “For instance, we… Sometimes, when looking at various “parallel” Scriptures, one may find at first glance an apparent contradiction. Some feel that the accounts in Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9 contradict each other. To begin with, let us consider the context in Acts 9. Saul, who is later called Paul, persecuted true Christians seeking their death (Galatians 1:13-14). Saul was a carnal-minded Pharisee, who embraced the teachings of the Pharisees (Acts 23:6). At that time, he was very eager to kill genuine followers of Jesus Christ, because they had a different doctrine that, from the Pharisaic point of view, was contrary to their teachings. It was the religion of that “new way,” the Way of Jesus Christ, who was time and again wrongfully accused of being a blasphemer, because He claimed to be the Son of God. But Christ has always been, and still is, the Son of God! Saul, furious in his anger, went to the high priest and asked letters which he wanted to carry to the synagogues of Damascus, affirming that he had the authority to bind and deport the disciples of that new Way, whether women or men, to Jerusalem, in order to accuse them of death in court (Acts 9:1-2). Now let… This is an interesting question. Many times, especially the Catholic concepts of angels picture them as good-looking women with long blond hair, long white dresses and huge white wings, but is there any biblical evidence for such concepts? On the other hand, can it be dogmatically said that angels, representing female features, do not exist? We have addressed the question as to how angels are being portrayed in the Bible in our free booklet, “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World.” Beginning with page 13, under the headline, “What Angels Look Like,” we show from the Bible that some angels have man-like features; some look like animals with wings (especially mentioned are those who are looking like a lion, a calf, a flying eagle, or black, white, red and sorrel horses); and others have features combining man-like and animal-like features (cherubs with wings are described as having the likeness of men, but each one has four faces—faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle). When describing the man-like features, we point out that sometimes, angels appeared as “young men,” but this is not always the case (at least, in several incidents, it is not mentioned that the angels… In the first of this two-part series, we looked at Scriptures which indicate that the early apostles thought that Jesus might return in their lifetime, and since that time, there have been many other predictions about the Second Coming right up until the present time. We showed that the world is currently in chaos with prophecies being fulfilled. We also briefly reviewed the manifold and insurmountable problems around the world at this time. It is the job of the true Church of God to preach the gospel about the soon-coming Kingdom of God on earth and to warn about what is to come. In our booklet “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” the following is written under the heading, “We Must Be About Our Father’s Business,” on pages 25-26: “As we saw earlier, when Jesus Christ came preaching the Kingdom of God, people thought that He would establish it right then. Note in Luke 19:11: ‘Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the Kingdom of God would appear immediately.’ “Although He, the future King of the Kingdom, was among them, the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on this earth would… Since Jesus returned to heaven around 2,000 years ago, there have been continued interest and predictions about His return to earth. We know from the Bible that even before Jesus was crucified, resurrected and then returned to heaven, the original apostles were looking to His Second Coming. In Matthew 24:3, we read: “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’” Jesus then lists what will happen before His return to earth, from verse 4 until the end of the chapter. And after He had returned to heaven, some thought that His return was to be in their lifetime. Let us look at some examples of this. In Acts 2:16-17, we see that Peter was speaking on the day of Pentecost in 31 AD, recorded by Luke some 30 years or so later, and Peter said: “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your… In the previous installment, we began discussing the history of the Stone of Destiny and its relationship with the Throne of David. In this second installment, we will continue with astonishing claims in this regard. “Tradition identifies this stone with the one upon which Jacob rested his head at Bethel… Jacob’s sons carried it to Egypt, and from thence it passed to Spain with King Garthelus, son of Cecops, the builder of Athens. About 700 B.C., it appears in Ireland… there it was placed upon the sacred hill of Tara, and called ‘Lia-Fail, the ‘fatal’ stone, or ‘stone of destiny’… Fergus II (d. 501), the founder of the Scottish monarchy and one of the Blood Royal of Ireland, received it in Scotland, and King Kenneth (d. 860) finally deposited it in the monastery of Scotland (846)… Upon the stone their kings, down to John Baliol, were crowned. … after the death of Zedekiah [it] was carried by a migrating colony, with ‘Scota the King’s daughter’ under the leadership of the prophet Jeremiah. “There is no record of what Jacob did with the Stone, but it is hardly likely that he who had had such a dream, and… As we will see, the “Stone of Destiny” and its history are closely connected with the history of the “crown” and the Throne of David. To begin with the “Throne of David” and the “crown,” our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,” addresses the history and future of the throne of David, stating this: “The Bible foretells that the throne of David would be overthrown or transferred three times (compare Ezekiel 21:27). And so it happened… it was transferred from Jerusalem to Ireland, then from Ireland to Scotland, and finally from Scotland to England. Today, it is in ENGLAND, from where the Queen [and now King Charles III] rules, sitting on the throne of David, over one of the tribes of Israel (i.e., Ephraim). “Ezekiel tells us: ‘And Thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it [to] him’ (Ezekiel 21:25–27, Authorized Version). “The Hebrew word for ‘overturn’… In part 1, we looked very briefly at how much the Bible has been influential in the world and how its influence can be noticed today for those with eyes to see. Let us review some more interesting information that will help us realise how influential the Word of God has been over a long period of time. On the website: “What Christians Want to Know,” we find more interesting information: “The Bible is quoted more often than any other piece of literature in history and has had more influence on our language, culture, and laws than any other book or idea ever published. A recent book by the linguist David Crystal, appropriately called Begat: The King James Bible and the English language, counts 257 phrases from the King James Bible in contemporary English idiom. Some of the phrases from the Bible that has become part of our everyday language include [the following quotes are taken or adapted from the Authorized Version]: “Gave up the ghost ~ Genesis 35:29 “Out of the mouth of babes ~ Psalms 8:2 “Put words in thy mouth ~ Jeremiah 1:9 “Feet of clay ~ Daniel 2:33 “Salt of the earth ~ Matthew 5:13 “Fought the good fight ~ 2 Timothy 4:7 “Turned the world upside down ~ Acts 17:6 “God forbid ~ Romans 3:4 “Take root ~ 2 Kings 19:30 “The powers… It is virtually impossible to fully reflect the influence that the Bible has had on so many nations around the world. Many books could be written on this subject and still not exhaust the many ways that God’s Word has influenced so many people and nations over a long and sustained period of time. However, in an increasingly secular and disbelieving world, its contents are ridiculed by many as being irrelevant and out-of-date, but how wrong are they who believe such things. The Word of God has much to say to those who would mock and ridicule its relevance and veracity. We read in Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Because of the enormity of the subject and to help us achieve this in a relatively brief way, we will quote selectively from different sources to make the point that the Bible has impacted society enormously; much more than we may at first realise. The Guinness Book of Records states as of June 2020, the following: “Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book. A survey by the Bible Society concluded… In the previous three installments, we have shown that the text in Matthew 28:19 (“baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”) is NOT a formula to be uttered by the baptizing minister, and to insist on using these exact words as a formula would be erroneous and unbiblical. We have also investigated the question as to whether this passage is even genuine or whether it was added at a later time, and we left it to the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. Some may respond that the Worldwide Church of God under the late Herbert W. Armstrong [who died in 1986] engaged in the practice of baptizing “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and that we must therefore do so as well. This argument is flawed for several reasons. We say this in our Statement of Beliefs, under Doctrinal Foundation: “The major doctrines of the Church are those, which were taught by Herbert W. Armstrong, derived from the Biblical teachings as followed by God’s faithful servants, and originally established by Jesus Christ through the founding of His Church in the time of His…Why do you consider the Old Testament so important? (Part 1)
Do the accounts in Acts 9:7 and Acts 22:9 contradict each other?
Are there any angels who may look like women?
Don’t you emphasise the end times too much when there still seems to be plenty of time left? (Part 2)
Don’t you emphasise the end times too much when there still seems to be plenty of time left? (Part 1)
What do we know of the Stone of Destiny? (Part 2)
What do we know of the Stone of Destiny? (Part 1)
What has been the influence on society by the Bible? (Part 2)
What has been the influence on society by the Bible? (Part 1)
Why do you not baptize by using the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”? (Part 4)
