The teaching set forth in Matthew chapters 24 and 25 is commonly identified as the Olivet Discourse and contains a detailed explanation of the end-times.
Mediator as applied to Christ, is borrowed from persons, whose office it is to reconcile such parties as are at variance, being as it were in the middle, betwixt both, soliciting the cause of each to the other, till they bring them to concord or agreement.
Amongst the many metaphors that our blessed Saviour is expressed by in the holy scriptures, certainly this of the Door must carry emphasis and signification, for use and improvement; otherwise He that was wiser than Solomon, and spake as never man spake, (for excellency of matter and form) would never have likened himself to a Door.
Shortly before He drew His last breath, Jesus Christ cried out, “It is Finished”. At that place and time He bore our sins in His body on the tree, became a curse for us and paid the debt for our sins. On the cross He completed all of the physical and spiritual sufferings needed for the salvation of mankind.
No other holy book for any major religion stakes its claim to authority on its ability to foretell the future.
Are we commanded to tithe in the age of grace? What should we be giving if anything to our local churches? This article deals with giving of finances but also with giving of ourselves. What kind of habit should we have when it comes to giving?
Apocrypha is the name for 14 books written between about 200BC and AD100. Apocrypha, meaning “hidden” or “secret”, refers to the mysterious nature of their origin. Neither their authors nor the circumstances of their writings are known. Neither the Jews nor the early Christians accepted them as inspired scripture. The books themselves do not claim inspiration. There are no “Thus saith the Lord’s”. Although the New Testament has 263 direct quotations from and 370 allusions to the Old Testament, there is not a single reference to the books of the Apocrypha. It was at the Council of Trent, on April 8th, 1546, that the pope declared tradition and the Apocrypha to be canonical and authoritative. These books teach several false doctrines and contain many inaccurate historical facts.
