Send us a Text Message. In this last episode of how God's word was authenticated, Arnie and Fred begin by looking at the time Paul raised Eutychus to life after he had died from falling from a third-floor window. We talk about what makes this occasion so important to us today. Paul was at Corinth preaching the gospel and demonstrated it with the Holy Spirit and power. This confirmed a number of truths for us. We note what they were by looking at a number of passages relating to them. There was a time when Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish religious authorities for their preaching. In ..read more

Send us a Text Message. In this episode, Arnie and Fred begin by looking at what Paul said about his apostleship and what the signs were of it. We look at a couple of situations that necessitated providing benevolence to the saints and how these efforts were confirmed. It became necessary to provide daily subsistence to some of the widows in the large congregation in Jerusalem. There was a problem in doing so and the apostles gave guidance on how to alleviate it. We look at that occasion and the means God provided to approve what was done. Luke tells us about Peter being sent to teach a Gentil ..read more

Send us a Text Message. Arnie and Fred continue their discussion of what the Bible says about how God's word was authenticated. We begin this episode by looking at Philip's teaching of the Ethiopian eunuch about confession and immersion in water. When Paul came to Ephesus, he met some disciples who were baptized by John.  A discussion ensued about immersion in the name of the Lord and the authentication method is noted. We look at the time Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians and what happened to him during that trip. Again, his experience and the teaching he received w ..read more

Send us a Text Message. Arnie and Fred begin a series of episodes on how the word of God was authenticated according to the Bible record. We discuss what miracles are and how important they are in the confirmation of the word of God and the purpose they served. We note that they were never used for propaganda, profit, entertainment or convenience. Sometimes there were people who were sick, but the miracles were not used to heal them.  We look at a number of instances where miracles were performed to authenticate the spoken word. We note that Jesus addressed the miracles and their purpose ..read more

In this final episode on the empty tomb, Arnie and Fred begin by discussing the promises Jesus made concerning His resurrection as He talked with His apostles. We talk about the various plans Jesus' enemies developed, including to be rid of him and making sure the tomb could not be opened. We discuss the consequences of Jesus' resurrection, what it means to those who have obeyed Him. For instance, the declaration it provides concerning Jesus' being the Son of God. We note how we are affected as those who are guilty of sinning against God. The resurrection tells us something about our own death ..read more

Arnie and Fred continue to discuss some of the theories that have been proposed to explain away Jesus' resurrection. We begin this episode by looking at the last theory called the swoon theory originally proposed by German philosopher Karl Venturini who died in 1849. He proposed that Jesus merely fainted on the cross, either from drug induced stupor or wounds, was revived in the cool, damp tomb and escaped. We discuss what the Roman soldier did to ensure that Jesus was dead according to one of the witnesses. We discuss Jesus' condition on the cross that clearly indicate this theory is unsuppor ..read more

Arnie and Fred continue to discuss the empty tomb and some of the theories to explain it away. We begin by looking at the Stolen Body Theory. We discuss who proposed this theory and why it was so preposterous. Some have suggested the False Account Theory. The suggestion is made that the disciples lied about the resurrection. We note several Bible passages that show why this theory is also wrong. There have been those who say the Romans stole Jesus' body. We ask several questions and look at a couple of Bible passages that reveal the problem with this one. We move on the theory that the Jews st ..read more

In this last episode about those who watch after the flock, Arnie and Fred finish up discussing passages where the word elder appears. Some of those passages were not referring to elders in the local church. We note that every church that has qualified men must appoint elders. We discuss the plural form of the word elder which is sometimes translated presbytery, elderhood or eldership, referring to the same plurality of those men in the local church. We talk about the fact that all elders are of equal "rank".  Peter shows this when he uses the term "fellow elder" in his first epistle. We ..read more

In this episode, Arnie and Fred complete their discussion on overseers in the local church. We note that Christ is the overseer of men's souls, and no human archbishop or chief bishop ever appears in the Scriptures. We begin talking about those who are referred to as elders in the local church. We note that these two terms are referring to the same individual. We look at the term elder and what it indicates and implies of the individual seeking to serve the assembly in that capacity. The term elder appears throughout the New Testament in many different contexts. We examine those examples. We w ..read more

In this episode, Arnie and Fred look at what the Bible says about those who are responsible to watch over the Lord's local flock. We begin by reading where Paul tells Timothy about these people. We discuss the terms used for these men and note that there are some translated words that are not as good in describing them. We talk about several passages that show that there is no hierarchy, clergy, laity or titles of honor used in the Lord's local assembly. We focus in on the term overseer and the other word we find that is a mistranslation of it. We look at the responsibilities of these overseer ..read more