Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 08050 Paul warns Timothy that a church leader must be “well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7). The same phrase appears in 2 Timothy 2:26, where Paul expresses hope that those who oppose the truth may “come to their…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08141 Few pastoral situations require more care than the moment a church member approaches their pastor and says, “An angel spoke to me.” The claim touches on deeply held convictions about the supernatural, personal experience, and spiritual authority, and handling it badly can damage the person, the congregation, or both. Getting it right requires…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 08111 Hypnosis occupies an unusual space in both medical practice and popular perception. It is used by some healthcare professionals for pain management, phobia treatment, and habit change, while it also features in stage entertainment and is associated in many people’s minds with the idea of surrendering control of one’s will to another person….
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08100 If marriage and family are high-value targets for the enemy, the local church is the highest-value target of all. The church is the body of Christ on earth (1 Corinthians 12:27), the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16), and the pillar and buttress of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). A healthy,…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 60024 The New Testament assumes that false teachers will come. Jesus warned of them. Paul warned of them. Peter, John, and Jude all warned of them. The question is not whether false teachers exist but how ordinary believers can identify them before the damage is done. This is not a call to suspicion or…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 07037 The phrase “eternal covenant” appears at several points in Scripture and raises an important question: what does it mean for a covenant to be described as eternal, and how does this concept relate to the broader storyline of God’s dealings with humanity? The answer reaches into the deepest foundations of biblical theology, touching…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 09018 The doctrine of apostolic succession is one of the foundational claims of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Anglican ecclesiology. It asserts that the authority of the original apostles has been transmitted in an unbroken chain through the laying on of hands from bishop to bishop, from the first century to the present…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1058 Family devotions. Family worship. Family Bible reading. Whatever you call it, most Christian parents feel a mixture of guilt and aspiration about this practice. We know we should be doing it. We’ve heard about the Puritan families who gathered daily around Scripture. We’ve read the statistics about children raised in spiritually engaged homes…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 10111 The New Testament speaks of crowns that believers will receive as rewards for faithful service. These are not merely symbols but represent genuine recognition from Jesus for how we have lived for Him. Understanding these crowns helps us grasp what really matters in the Christian life and motivates us toward godly living while…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 60077 Peter’s first letter was written to believers scattered across Asia Minor—what we now call Turkey—who were facing increasing hostility for their faith. These were real people in real danger. Persecution was ramping up. Their neighbours were suspicious of them. Their former friends thought they were strange. Some were losing their jobs, their reputations,…