Rethink Reality.
Welcome to all the new RevTrev Readers this week. I’ve started to use that term to describe people who sign up for Ministry Coaching, the Negativity Fast, RevTrev News, Counselling Corner, and Twitter Tips. I have a few new lists to launch soon, but for now I’m enjoying connecting with so many new people each week through those lists. For those previous RevTrev Readers, did you notice the new tagline? Rethink Reality. I’m going to be focusing RevTrev on my [...] Read more »
Question: Why do the christians believe that Jesus is god not a Messenger? Answer: Another excellent question. I’ll do my best to answer it for you. First let’s look at how the Qur’an talks about Jesus. According to the Qur’an, ‘Isa was the Messiah. He was supported by the ‘Holy Spirit’. (Al-Baqarah 2:87; Al-Ma’idah 5:110) He is also referred to as the ‘Word of Allah’. (An-Nisa’ 4:171) ‘Isa’s mother Mariam was the daughter of ‘Imran, (Âl ‘Imran 3:34,35) — cf the [...] Read more »
Question: Is Mohamed mentioned in the Bible? Answer: Mohamed was alive six hundred years after Jesus and three hundred years after the Bible was codified. So the only way he’d be included would be in a prophecy. Now I know the Gospel of Barnabas has Jesus prophesying Mohamed was to come, [Jesus confessed and said the truth, "I am not the Messiah". (chap. 42). Then said the priest: "How shall the Messiah be called?" ... (Jesus answered) "Muhammed is his [...] Read more »
Question: Why don’t the christians include the gospel of Barnabas? Answer: We need to first understand how the Bible came to be, what the Gospel of Barnabas is, and how it relates to both the Bible and the Qur’an. First off, the Bible was codified in stages. The Hebrew scriptures were differentiated by Jewish leaders around the 2nd AD century. There was a lot of Christian writings and people were getting confused as to what was Christian and what was [...] Read more »
I’ve received a number of great questions from a Muslim reader who seems genuinely interested in finding out more about Christianity. I’m humbled to be asked these questions and I’ve taken my time to answer them the best I can. Here is the first one. Question: I don’t understand how God can consist of three gods. Answer: I understand this is a very difficult concept to understand and as a Muslim it’s even more difficult. The Quran says: Sura 5:72-73, [...] Read more »
Many of our views of abundance come from an orphan or wounded spirit. Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching his sermon on the mount. A big part of chapter 6 deals with why we shouldn’t worry, specifically about money. Jesus is addressing the orphan spirit that many of us have. It’s allows us to worry about the silliest things. 12 times in chapter 6 Jesus gives the answer to overcoming the orphan spirit. 12 times he uses a word that was [...] Read more »
This is an excerpt from “How to Judge and Not be A Jerk” I was speaking to a Comparative Religions Class at a local university on the topic of the early church councils. Much of the early debate of our spiritual ancestors revolved around the nature of Christ. Councils were called to settle disagreements. The Council of Nicea (325) was called to settle the controversy the followers of Arius promoted by teaching that there was a time when Christ did [...] Read more »
Let’s start thinking about abundance from God’s point of view. God is abundant. He creates abundantly (Psalm 19:1-4) He stores abundantly (Psalm 33:7) He provides abundantly (James 1:5) He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:9-11) How Can We Learn to Live Abundantly? Change your thinking. Jesus said: “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, [...] Read more »
This word “abundant” in the Greek is perisson, it means “exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate.” In short, Jesus promises us in John 10:10 a life far better than we could ever imagine. He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Are you living the [...] Read more »
This is a guest post by Barry Pearman. Be sure to check out his links at the bottom of the post. I’m really impressed with the way he’s expanding the Kingdom. I’m glad to connect with more Kiwi’s (I’m married to one). 5 Ways to Help the ‘Clingons’ in Your Life I love people, I really do. Big, short, tall, awkward, sad, happy – they all add flavour to life. However there are some that stretch my pastoral compassion levels to breaking [...] Read more »