The Noble Bereans

                  It was shocking to come across an article from The Washington Post entitled “Jesus Won’t Save You – President Xi Jinping Will, Chinese Christians Told.” The article stated, “In the latest campaign, party members involved in poverty alleviation toured villages telling people how the party was supporting agriculture and removing poverty, ‘melting the hard ice in the hearts of religious believers’ and ‘helping turn them into believers in the party.’” The chairman of the local poverty alleviation effort even went so far as to tell the villagers that they, “should no longer rely on Jesus, but on the party for help.” What is the consequence faced by these poor villagers if they rely on Jesus instead of the party? If these people do not put their faith in the party, “they won’t be given their quota from the poverty-relief fund.” Essentially, they are being told to give up their faith in Jesus or starve to death. My hea...

Peter wrote to Christians who were scattered throughout Asia Minor – in what we now call the country of Turkey. Peter wrote by inspiration in the beginning of his second letter that Christians were to add to their faith characteristics that would keep them from being barren and unfruitful (2 Peter 1:8). Before they were to add these characteristics however, they were to already have faith (2 Peter 1:5). This article will briefly examine what is meant by the term “faith.” The writer of Hebrews said, “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV). The ASV reads, “ Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen ” (Hebrews 11:1 ASV). Faith is the support and evidence of the things for which we hope and cannot see. The writer goes on to say, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear ” (Hebrews...