Author: Herb Drake
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The Romans 8:28 Puzzle
Romans 8:28 has been translated many ways. This article invites you, the reader, to participate in putting the puzzle together. The puzzle pieces are those in the figure that have boxes above. (We need not look at the last half of the verse as it does not vary substantially from bible to bible.) So how…
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Hijacking the Church
The first to hijack Christianity was the Emperor Constantine, who used Christianity to unite the Roman Empire under his control. Carrying the Chi Rho symbol, the first two letters of “Christ” in Greek, his soldiers prevailed against Maxentiius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge of 312 AD. Constantine invited the “bishops” of the day…
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Separation of Church and State
While house church theology and the American political left may disagree on a long list of issues, they are in lock step on the question of the separation of church and state–but for completely different reasons. One might look at separation in a number of ways. We Christians are told that we must separate from…
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Home Church Confessions
One can’t understand the history of the home church without understanding the confessions that they wrote to guide their lives. A great many of these have survived, each containing a detailed statement of faith that almost always references the Bible to justify each statement. Confessions differ from creeds in purpose and format. Creeds are a…
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The Living Room
So wrote Danish philosopher/theologian Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) even before he started his series of essays against the Institutionial Church of his day that came to be called his “Attack on Christindom.”. Excerpts from some of those essays appear below. Regarding Establishment Christianity The human race in the course of time has taken the liberty of softening…
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To Bind, to Loose
If you’ve studied Matthew’s gospel long enough, you will have encountered the words “bind””and “loose.” You may have wondered what was meant. In fact, it was not until relatively recently that scholars have found its origin is from rabbinical writings to indicate whether a behavior will be prohibited (bound) or permitted (loosed). Since Matthew’s is…
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Sermon on the Mount vs. Modern Culture
There are some red letter verses in the Bible that can’t be properly interpreted without knowing a little bit about the culture of the first century. As a result, these three verses have entered our language to mean almost the opposite of what Jesus was teaching. . Verse in Matthew Chapter 5 Modern Use What…
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House Church and the Will of God
What do you think has the highest priority in the Church? Learning and obeying the will of God? Or being entertained with music and preaching? Let’s say that a group of Christians, whether large or small, needs to make a decision. The House Church’s gathered people have direct access to the Lord, who, we are…