This is the 13th in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from “What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity,” available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon and other booksellers. There is little dispute among professing Christians that our Heavenly Father is God. This is true even among the most prominent forms of counterfeit Christianity. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in the deity and personhood of Jehovah, whom they identify as the Father, even though … [Read more...]
MBCH celebrates 80 permanencies, moves forward with strategic plan
BRIDGETON – Trustees met via videoconference and in person – spread out across the MBCH’s chapel – for their board meeting July 28. Though they noted many challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, bright spots emerged as well. Trustees celebrated 42 permanencies in the second quarter, and 80 in 2020 thus far. They lamented a recent United Supreme Court ruling that repealed restrictions on abortion, but celebrated other rulings that affirmed religious ministries like MBCH can hire … [Read more...]
Kansas City ministry refurbishes ‘blessing houses’ for refugees
KANSAS CITY – By the time 12-year-old Alinoti Fataki was born, his parents and older siblings had already fled from violence in their small village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From the Congo, they made their way through Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and then to Mozambique, where Fataki was born. Throughout their journeys, his family suffered through warfare and sickness. In Mozambique, his sister nearly died of illness. “But here I am today, and even though we have faced many … [Read more...]
Father, Son, Spirit: Distinct, not separate
This is the 12th in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from “What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity,” available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon and other booksellers. In the previous column, we examined the personhood of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While the three persons of the Godhead are distinct, they cannot be separated. That is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal. They exist simultaneously, not consecutively. So, let’s … [Read more...]
SBU alumnus killed while helping stranded motorist
BOLIVAR – Southwest Baptist University (SBU) alumnus and Southern Baptist church planter John Powell, 38, was killed on July 18, while helping a stranded motorist on U.S. Highway 75 in Sherman, Texas. Powell graduated from SBU in 2005 with a degree in biblical studies, and at the time of his death he was serving as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in New Caney, Texas. According to local reports from television station KXII, Powell was one of two men who stopped to help a motorist whose … [Read more...]
The personhood of Father, Son, Spirit
The Bible tells us there is one true God, who exists as three distinct but inseparable persons. So, let’s briefly consider a few ways in which the personhood of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is expressed in Scripture. The Father God the Father displays personal attributes. To name a few, He is: Loving: “And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him” (1 John 4:16). Gracious: … [Read more...]
The Trinity and other gods
This is the 10th in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity, available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon and other booksellers. In Scripture, the Hebrew word elohim is used thousands of times for the singular God of Israel, but not exclusively. The biblical writers also employ elohim to refer to members of God’s heavenly council or assembly (Ps. 89:5-7); gods and goddesses of nations surrounding Israel (Judg. 11:24); … [Read more...]
Robert Bowman to headline ‘Witnesses Now’ event
Robert Bowman, widely regarded as the leading evangelical scholar addressing Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness interpretations of the Bible, is the featured speaker at an upcoming conference focusing on the beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sonrise Baptist Church in Bonne Terre is hosting “Witnesses Now for Jesus – Midwest,” a regional apologetics conference that features sound Bible teaching and testimonies from former Jehovah’s Witnesses, July 24-26. The event is open to all, … [Read more...]
Hebrew Scriptures and the Trinity
While most arguments for the Trinity are grounded in the New Testament, God begins revealing His triune nature in the Old Testament. One hint at the plurality and unity of the Godhead may be found in several passages where God speaks. For example, Genesis 1:26 reads, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.’” Here, the verb “said” is singular, but the verb “let us” is plural, as are the possessive endings of the nouns “our image” and “our likeness.” Then, … [Read more...]
The Lord our God is one
This is the eighth in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity, available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon. The Bible consistently declares there is one true and living God, the self-revealed Creator who alone must be loved and worshiped. All other gods are false. The physical depictions of these gods, as carved images or naturally occurring phenomena such as stars and trees, in fact represent demons (see Deut. 32:16-17; … [Read more...]
How Scripture uses the word ‘God’
This is the seventh in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from “What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity,” available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon. To avoid confusion when exploring the Trinity, we need to understand three different ways the Bible employs the word “God” and the way we use it in our theology. Otherwise, we may be tempted to see the Trinity as three gods. First, there are references to God as Father. The New Testament often uses this approach … [Read more...]
MBC releases new book on the Angel of the LORD
JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Baptist Convention, through its High Street Press imprint, has released a new resource for personal or group study titled Jesus Before Bethlehem: What Every Christian Should Know About the Angel of the LORD. Written by the MBC’s Rob Phillips, the 338-page book explores dozens of Old Testament appearances by a figure often identified as “the angel of the LORD.” This figure not only speaks for God; he speaks as God. He appears as a man, a voice from heaven, a … [Read more...]