Some have taught that Jesus said that Christians are supposed to bind and loose things on earth and in heaven. Especially financial power, praying for political victories, and demons. This teaching is based on Matt 16:19 and Matt 18:18. What does this mean and more importantly what does it mean in context?
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Michael A. Campbell
Numeric Discrepancies in Bible Translation
Sometimes there are numerical and mathematical discrepancies between bible translations. Example: in 2 Sam 15:7 Absalom worked on his coup of David’s kingdom for 40 years in some translations, but four years in other translations. What do we do about those?
Continue readingCasting Lots in the Bible
What does the bible mean when it says the Israelites were “casting lots”? Is it like throwing dice, flipping a coin, or maybe like a “magic” eight-ball?
Continue readingOne in Christ
What does the bible say about discrimination between ethnic groups, tribes, nationalities, sexes, and social classes?
Continue readingThe Christmas Story
The pop-culture version of the Christmas story is that Jesus was born one night under a star and three wise men (the Magi) showed up and gave him a bunch of gifts. Then immediately that same night they fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s infanticide. This is an over-simplification that is filled with contradictions.
Continue readingWitch of Endor Talking To The Dead
The Bible says talking to the dead is a sin (Lev 19:31). Does that confirm that talking to the dead is possible? After all, Saul consulted with a necromancing medium in 1 Samuel 28 in order to talk to the deceased prophet Samuel right? Was that really Samuel or something else?
Continue reading11th star in Joseph’s dream
A curious question about Joseph’s dream of the stars (Gen 37:9-10). There are 11 stars instead of 10 even though Benjamin hadn’t been born yet. One might wonder, does this apply to Dinah or Benjamin?
Continue readingEt (Aleph Tau) in Genesis 1:1
Some people have taught that there are 7 words in the Hebrew version of Gen 1:1 and the word “Et” is a special word that points to Jesus. “Et” is spelled with “את” (aleph and tau) the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. They say this word is untranslated because the Jews forgot the meaning, and that it points to Jesus because says he is the “alpha and omega” in Revelations 1:8 which references the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet. This gets connected to John 1:1 which says “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It sounds so romantic but this is not true.
Continue readingTruth in Love
When interacting with the world, believers must speak the truth in love (Ep 4:15). Anyone trapped in sin doesn’t matter if it is drug addiction, sexual sin, idolatry, or greed, will be defensive about their habit. The best thing to do is to focus less on the specific category of sin, and instead on the person needing salvation.
Continue reading120-Year Lifespan in Genesis 6:3
Many theologians and such throughout the years have interpreted Gen 6:3 to mean that humans only have 120 years to live, however, many post-flood people lived way longer than that, Terah: 205 (Gen 11:32), Abraham: 175 years (Gen 25:7), and Isaac: 180 years (Gen 35:28). What does this mean?
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