The Sword of the Spirit

 A PRIMER ON BAPTIST HISTORY AND IDENTITY Part of my Christian identity involves me being an independent Baptist. An independent Baptist (sometimes being referred to as “Independent Fundamental Baptist”) Church is a self-governing, Bible centered, soul-winning Church that is baptistic in its doctrine and practice. In other words, such a local Church is fully autonomous, has no external hierarchy, and is responsible and accountable only to God, while holding fast the Baptist distinctives. Though I am first and foremost a Christian, I am a Baptist in faith and practice. I am a Baptist for a few reasons, one being that I believe Baptist doctrine lines up perfectly with the teachings of Paul and the New Testament. The second reason being what Baptists stand for. Historically, Baptists have taken a firm and uncompromising stand for the truths of the word of God (many times resulting in their persecution, imprisonment, and martyrdom). The third reason is because of the rich heritage and ...

Here is an article I wrote in pdf form quite some time ago on the word " replenish ."

The first thing we need to realize is that the interpreter of Scripture is the author (the Holy Spirit). The common saying is, "The Bible is the only book whose author is always present when one reads it." There are plenty of interpreters that have the author present, in the room (Psalm 139:8), and inside them (Romans 8:9) but do not ask for guidance from the author. We are to let the author of the Scripture Himself interpret the text. So instead of going to men first, go to God first and see what He will reveal to you. The greatest tools to interpret the Bible are not a seminary education or a P.H.D. The best tools to interpret the Bible is to have a humble mind and believing heart. Peter writes, " Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation " (2 Peter 1:20). This means that if you want the correct interpretation you do not go to any scholar or Church to acquire it. You are to go straight to the author. The Bible says, ...

  Inductive Study of James 2:14-26 Before jumping right into James 2, I think it is important to briefly cover the literary and doctrinal context of the book of James. This will dispel a lot of confusion that has been conjured up by scholars and commentators that have only muddied the waters with their failure to “ rightly divide the word of truth ” (2 Timothy 2:15). According to the very first verse of the book of James, the book is written to “ the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad ” (James 1:1). I do not think it could be any clearer, the author of the book declares that he is writing to Jews rather than Christians. Robert Breaker writing in his commentary on James states, “James does appear to contradict Paul several times in his epistle. However, one must keep in mind who James is writing to. According to James 1:1, he was writing doctrinally to Jews... When you realize that James was writing to Jews and Paul was writing to saved, born again Christians, then all those ‘...

  “ABUSERS OF THEMSELVES WITH MANKIND” Both Andersonites and sodomite sympathizers alike take advantage of this phrase in order to propagate their agenda. For those of you that do not know, Andersonites (followers of the heretic Steven Anderson) are so anti-sodomite that they take it to an unbiblical extreme, preaching that sodomites cannot be saved and that every sodomite should commit suicide. On the other side, you have the extreme left-wing modernist “Christians” (most of which already deny the fundamentals of the faith) who resort to using mental gymnastics in order to get around that fact that the Lord has condemned sodomy in “all three testaments” (that is to say, before the law, under the law, and after the law) as a loathsome sin. Both of these diametrically opposed groups find common ground, stating that this phrase does not refer to sodomy. Let us consult the Scriptures to see whether this is so. After all, the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible (Isaiah 28:9-10, 1...