by Berit Kjos
The Shepherd’s Way
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.
“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands…” Isaiah 49:15-16 Continue reading »
So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
– 1 Kings 12:28-30
Throughout all of Scripture which documents that period of Israel’s history from the time the original Temple was built until it was destroyed centuries later, there is a unit of measure by which God holds all leaders accountable. Their righteousness is contrasted to the faithfulness of King David and their wickedness is compared to King Jeroboam, seen in these verses initiating what will later be repeatedly referred to as “the sins of Jeroboam”. Jeroboam does not create something completely new from day one. Instead, he ultimately takes everything connected with the One True God and systematically twists each and every item into a shadow of its former self. This activity is particularly evil in that it is not directed at everybody in the whole world but exclusively toward God’s people alone. Jeroboam twists every single direction God gave for how His people should serve and worship and replaces them with a duplicate which looks very similar on the outside, but is a complete apostasy on the inside. And where does this apostasy start? What was the first step taken to achieve total corruption of God’s people? Worship. And I believe it is most often the way that deception and apostasy enter into Western churches today. There may be cases where it makes its first appearance through the pulpit or an ancillary ministry activity, but it most often first enters through the worship team. Continue reading »
Preface: There are many books, websites, and other resources documenting those persons and organizations who, by biblical standards, are undoubtedly spiritual deceivers. But as the old saying goes, “Give someone a fish and feed them for a day, teach someone to fish and feed them for life.” Hopefully this provides a starting point for developing the biblical tools by which the faithful can discern the methods and activities of the faithless.
Granted we need to heed ALL of God’s Word, but we especially need to take heed of things which are repeated in Scripture. The Holy Spirit is trying to impress upon us something of particular importance whenever something is referred to in God’s Word more than once as evidenced in the Old Testament by the books of Kings and Chronicles, and in the New Testament by the Gospels. But there is a particular Old Testament event which is recorded three times in order to emphasize it’s particular importance: the king of Assyria’s invasion of Judah. (2 Kings 18-19, 2 Chronicles 32, and Isaiah 36-37) We will examine the account in Isaiah in order to better understand the greater lessons provided for engaging spiritual deceivers in the arena of spiritual warfare. Continue reading »
A Japanese translation of “Judge Not” is now available from the Online Sermons page. 
A Japanese translation of “Burning Bush” is now available from the Online Sermons page.
The Jews, Modern Israel and the New
Supercessionism: Resources for Christians, by
Calvin L. Smith, ed. (Lampeter: King’s Divinity
Press, 2009). pb. xx+164pp. ISBN: 978-
09562006-0-0. 12.99 GBP. Due 8 May 2009.
Foreword by Mitch Glaser
(President, Chosen People Ministries, New York)
Preface by Mark S. Sweetnam
(Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin)
Additional contributions from Andy Cheung,
Tony Pearce, Jacob Prasch, Howard Taylor,
Stephen Vantassel and Paul Wilkinson. Continue reading »
Jacob recently responded to the question of Jesus and the donkeys as recorded in the Gospels:
The two donkeys fulfill the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. The riding on the donkey “lowly” as a King contrasts to the fact that Kings rode horses.In His first coming, although a King, Jesus comes meek and lowly as a sacrifice for sin. In His second coming He arrives as a conquering King mounted on a horse (Revelation 19:11). Continue reading »
Click here to read a meditation on the scars of Jesus by Pastor Bill Randles.
A japanese translation of “Abraham’s Journey” is now available from the Online Sermons page. 
To: James Jacob Prasch,
I have shared a link of yours with some friends (”Christians Cults“) even though you tolerate the Calvinistic heresy “once saved” promoted by people like John MacArthur and Dave Hunt. I have recently explained why a teaching by Hunt is false. We can see that you deal with Pentecostal and Charismatic and Catholic heresy. When will you deal with Baptist and Reformed heresy? Sandy Simpson refuses to touch it. Mike Oppenheimer thinks Baptists are OK. David Servant explains why Calvinism is false… Why is the “once saved” heresy still taught in seminaries? Don’t these people have Bibles? Continue reading »
Gentlemen:
Can you offer any biblical insights into the orthodoxy of last Sunday’s communion service at my church. Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, has been doing communion every Sunday for over a month – looks like it’s corresponding to Lent, but he didn’t say that. I was troubled by this communion invitation since it was more mystical than I’ve ever heard him get, and I did not participate – something I have never done before. Continue reading »
A visitor to the Moriel website wrote in an email:
Shalom Jacob.
You wrote an excellent article on Christian Cults, and my family commend you for the biblical principles applied and woven into that article.
Anyway, that is not the reason why I’m writing to you. I’m particularly concerned about the issue of John chapter 8:1-11. Apparently, every footnote of every Bible translation contend that the earliest Greek manuscripts do NOT contain it. So HOW did it manage to creep into the latter codices? The same standard applies to Mark 16:9-19. Continue reading »
Since Noah knew about clean and unclean animals (Gen. 7:1-10), this distinction was part of an ancient tradition that antedated the Mosaic Law. Whether a creature was “clean” or “unclean had nothing to do with the animal being “good” or “bad”, “strong” or “weak”; it all depended on what God said about the animal that mattered. When He gave us these laws, He probably had the health of His people in mind (Ex. 15:26; Deut. 7:15), yet the main purpose of Kashrut (or the dietary laws) was to instruct the Israelites that they belonged to God and were obligated to keep themselves separated from everything that would defile them. “Be holy, for I am holy” He tells them 8 times in Leviticus.
Nevertheless, the spiritual principle of separation from defilement is applicable for God’s people today. We know God must make a difference in every area of our lives. Continue reading »
Question: A certain sect has argued that the resurrection of Jesus was on a Jewish Sabbath. Is this possible?
Answer: Absolutely not. Continue reading »
Jacob’s sermon “Christian Cults” is now available for listening or reading online. This teaching explains the difference between “Christian” cults and other types of cults. “Christian” cults are actually organizations who may actually preach the Gospel but incorporate false doctrine as opposed to out-and-out cults which don’t preach the true Gospel such as Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
This issue comes up regularly, especially in connection with extreme groups associated with the Messianic Movement and is a very useful teaching for learning how to discern what constitutes a cult and what it takes to recover from being saved through one.
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