(Note: These are my more experimental essays I put up to generate discussion and get feedback. Work that I feel is solid goes into field use, like GiveThemLife.com.)
Don't Use A.I.'s To Trick People
Deep fakes are in the news all the time. They turn one person into another to trick people. I heard a missions organization built an A.I. to make Westerners look like natives. They hoped people would be more receptive. Here I warn to share the Gospel in honest, not deceptive or crafty, ways. I also provide socially-acceptable ways to blend in.
Fake churches want more eyes and dollars. They use "worship" songs about their fake versions of Jesus to do it. Since they sound Christian, real churches often use them in their worship service. They don't realize the many ways that drives people toward false churches. This essay shows why we need to get fake, worship songs out of real churches.
Testing Watchtower's Claims (Jehovah's Witnesses)
This article gives a brief history of Watchtower, the Bibles they used, and their key doctrines. It also refutes the doctrines using the Word of God. The best gift that God gave me was their original Bible whose translations of John 1:1 and John 8:58 didn't match their newer one.
A.I.'s Prove the Trinity isn't Self-Contradicting
The Trinity says God is both 3 and 1. Opponents of Biblical truth have long claimed it's logically impossible to be both 3 and 1. Prior metaphors were either inapplicable or things like mental illness. This articles uses both computer multitasking and A.I. personas to offer real-world proof of systems that can be 3 and 1 at the same time.
God Doesn't Promise Health and Wealth
Prosperity theology is growing in popularity and damage. Most sources only cover a tiny bit of it, take hours to watch, or charge you for the privilege. Here's a thorough take-down of prosperity preaching that takes 10-15 minutes to read. For further study, I include links to other sources and video examples of false teaching.
Proof That There's Only One God
We will answer the question: "Is there one God or many gods?" To do this, we'll use the Word of God, real-world observations about designers, and what we've observed about our universe's design. We'll see which theory best fits what we observe in the universe.
Biblical Alternatives to Celebrate Recovery
Celebrate Recovery claimed to be a "Christ-centered, recovery program." Based on the Bible, they had a life-changing program that helped millions of people. I attended long enough to know that's mostly not true but some aspects were impressive. Here's my overview of its, its strengths, its false teachings, and alternative designs for interested churches.
Should We Share the Gospel on the Clock?
I've kept sharing the Gospel at the hotel I work at. Especially offering tracts to customers. After a few complaints, the owner who had removed the Bibles also banned sharing the Gospel. They also said it was stealing time. We can't sin to do good but is that stealing time? I paused to do intense study and seek counsel about this. I decided to keep sharing at all costs.
Translations need to be accurate, pleasant to read, and easy to memorize. Preferably, free with no licensing restrictions on how they're used. We need them in English and thousands of foreign languages. We also need to produce new ones for people groups whose languages we're learning. In some cases, translators have to create written languages or concepts for those people groups. We need to do all of this quickly at low cost. My proposals on doing all of that.
Two Ways to Make Christian Music (Brief
Take)
Should we put Christ front and center? Or appeal to the secular crowd more?
Messianic Prophecy: A Profile of Jesus
Many Jews and atheists reject our claim that Jesus was prophesied to be the Messiah. They claim that the OT passages are taught differently by Jewish scholars. We'll use passages that some Jewish scholars agree are Messianic. We'll also interpret Isaiah 53 in isolation away from the Gospels. We will build a profile of the Messiah to compare to people in history. We'll also look through a covenant lens at what happened to the Jews after the crucifixion.
Testing Catholicism Using the Word of God
There's a lot of Catholics in this world. Many Hispanics I run into are Catholic. It's important to show them true vs false teaching. Their souls are often on the line. This article combines the Gospel, Scripture, and various proofs of consistency to establish a baseline. Then, shows that Catholicism contradicts the Word. (In Spanish, too.)
Understanding and Testing Prophecies
In the NT church, Paul said they should desire and test, not despise, prophecies. He describes many benefits it gives. Most people claiming to prophecy today are fake. We want to obey the Word without bringing in fake stuff. This quick article describes what prophecy does in NT context, how we're supposed to handle it, how to test it, and one other thing that's even more important.
Healing Now and Then: We Lack That Authority
Many churches claim they (we) have Jesus' and Apostles' same authority and power. Signs and wonders do continue but look nothing like then. I asked God for clear passages and tests to settle once and for all whether these churches can back that up. Here's what I feel He gave me.
Many people who need Jesus Christ are asking people around them why the world is so screwed up. This article shows the Bible predicted it using Jesus' and Paul's prophecies. Both its points and the article itself can be used to share and prove the Gospel.
"The Bible Is Just a Story" (Or "Can a Story Do That?")
People often say the Bible is just a story that helps some people out. The Bible's defenders often get deep into evidence it's true. This defines what the Bible says it is, looks at it through non-believers eyes like it's a story, describes its impact in story terms, and that looks less believable than God making it. Also, the results of America watching Netflix all of 2020 should settle this once and for all. Did all those stories do what the Bible has done?
Using the Bible to Test Joseph Smith's Revelations
Folks involved in the Church of Latter Day Saints, often called Mormons, follow different beliefs than Christians. Both types of people seek God, believe the Bible is His Word, and try to find salvation in Him. They believe very different things about that, though, due to extra revelations Joseph Smith said God gave him. We'll give them a fair shake by looking almost entirely what the Bible says followed by Smith's claims.
Why Small Sins Can't Be Tolerated (for secular audience)
Many people believe they should still go to heaven or a good place if their sins, or wrongdoings, aren't that bad. Responses usually use concepts like holiness that humans can't wrap their heads around easily. This brief article (1.5min) shows why small sins can't be allowed into a heavenly place just using your life experiences on Earth.
The In's and Out's of Evangelism in Mark
There's been arguments about using brokenness, the Law, or benefits of the Gospel for evangelism. Especially how God might want us to do it (and bless). Well, let's just dedicate some daily reading to how Jesus did it. Maybe there's things to imitate. :)
Free Will vs Predestination: What's Gaming Teach Us? (Quick Draft)
Aspects of Free Will vs Calvinism debate, esp creating people for hell, really bothered me. Neither side fit all of Scripture. I asked God for a view that did. One morning, this poured out: proof one can accomplish predestination-like results with free will. Further, hundreds of millions of people can understand this from personal experience. I lazily put main points in but never finished it. EDIT: An elder told me this is Molinism. I don't know if Molinists strongly proved it would work or just wrote theoretically.
Martial Arts Metaphor for Our Walk with God
Paul describes our walk with God as a race we have to keep running to get the prize. A Gracie Jiu-Jutsu tournament I saw seemed to paint a much more thorough picture. I wrote up this draft comparison. You don't need to know anything about martial arts to understand it.
Dishonest Manager: Expository, Bible Study
I read in a study Bible that this was a hard one to interpret with a lot of debate. I delayed reading its notes to take in on later. Now is later. I hope readers enjoy it.
Homosexuals Coming to Christ: Their Book; My Favorite Testimonies
I know and love many homosexuals who need Jesus like everyone else. How churches treat that subject bothers me. Beyond inadequate. Plus, are there Christians with their struggle that they could relate to and learn from? After praying God send guidance, I stumbled on this site made by people having "same-sex tempation" who found Jesus, renounced their sins, experienced His love, were transformed by it, and want to share that with others like them (everyone actually). I read every testimony. There's a pile of them on this page with brief descriptions. Edit to add this book by Jackie Hill Perry.
On Sin in Entertainment and Churches
Back with Christ, I was strongly obedient for months before slipping. Then, barely praying, barely in the Word, and tempted/distracted more. Before, the Spirit helped me avoid all sin (even fake!) in entertainment and groups. Purged it from my life. Got closer to people again, esp in churches. Fell quite a ways. What goes in our brain and comes out our mouth has a huge impact on how holy we can live. I wrote this essay to illustrate the danger, inspire discussion about it, and encourage getting even pretend sin out of churches.
Getting
the Gospel Everywhere. And Fast.
Rapid
Translation of the Gospel
Two articles. Jesus returns after the Gospel reaches all people. This is a summary of our situation. We have the resources to get it done fast. The second article tries to solve the problem more rapidly at lowest cost. Even community-sized churches can try it on their own, too.
Might eventually add sections on music, sermons (expository and topical), articles on variety of topics, book reviews, etc. I've collected way more stuff than I have time, energy, or will to organize and share. Might get more up here eventually. Meanwhile, prioritizing whatever will help people live holy and share Gospel.
You can also contact me here by email if you want.