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: 4 minutesQuestion 08138 The New Testament makes several references to angels being involved in the giving of the Law at Sinai, a detail that is not immediately obvious from the Old Testament narrative itself. Stephen mentions it in his speech before the Sanhedrin, Paul refers to it in Galatians, and the writer of Hebrews builds an…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08121 Spiritual warfare is not an optional interest for particularly dramatic Christians. It is the reality every believer lives within, whether they recognise it or not. The New Testament assumes a world in which invisible powers are actively at work, in which the Christian life involves genuine conflict with real enemies, and in which…
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: 6 minutesQuestion 10013 This question lies at the heart of understanding the Bible’s storyline. How we answer it affects how we read prophecy, how we understand God’s purposes, and how we see ourselves as believers today. The distinction between Israel and the Church is one of the fundamental insights of dispensational theology, and Scripture makes this…
Reading Time: 7 minutesQuestion 7080 This question has caused considerable debate throughout church history so how we answer it affects everything; from how we read the Old Testament to how we live our daily lives. The short answer is no, Christians are not under the Mosaic law. But we need to understand what that means and what it…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 7083 The question sounds simple, but it touches on something of real theological importance. Did the rules change somewhere between Genesis and Acts? Were Old Testament believers saved by keeping the law, by performing sacrifices, or by some arrangement that no longer applies? The way this is answered has profound implications not just for…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 7081 This question goes right to the heart of how we understand God’s dealings with humanity throughout history. The relationship between law and grace is not one of contradiction but of progression and purpose. To understand this properly, we need to let Scripture speak for itself and trace how God has revealed His plan…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 10019 The law God gave to Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai has puzzled Christians for centuries. If we’re saved by grace through faith, why did God give the law? Was it a failed experiment? A temporary measure until something better came along? Or did it serve specific divine purposes that remain relevant for…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 60098 The claim that Peter and Paul preached fundamentally different gospels is associated with a strand of dispensational teaching sometimes called ultra-dispensationalism or hyper-dispensationalism. In its more extreme forms, this teaching argues that only Paul’s letters, sometimes only his prison epistles, constitute the relevant Scripture for the church today, since Peter was preaching a…