The purpose of my website is to help you worship the one true God the Father and serve His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord. If you truly worship the Father and serve His Son, please contact me so we can work together in reaching others with the truth: ryan@understandingscripture.net
True Theology – Part 1
Introduction It has been rightly said that a strong walk with God begins with a right view of God. My walk with God has grown far more in the last couple of years than it did over the prior three decades as a Christian. It’s because I rejected the doctrine of the Trinity as false…
The Correct View of God and the Son of God
Introduction Jesus Christ declared, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (Jhn 17:3). Only those with the true view of God and His Son Jesus Christ have hope of eternal life, while all with false views don’t. John said, “Whosoever transgresseth,…
The Doctrine of Christ
The apostle John wrote, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2Jo 1:9). The Trinitarian view of God transgresses the doctrine of Christ—it’s not what He taught. And according to John, whoever transgresses…
What is the Holy Spirit?
Introduction In his book “God the Trinity” (Malcolm B. Yarnell III, B&H Academic, 2016), Yarnell conceded on the opening page of his Prologue that according to a recent survey of evangelical Christians “more than half claimed the Holy Spirit is a force and not a personal being.” And this has proven to be the case…
Man and Eternal Life
Introduction The corruption of the pure gospel message of Jesus Christ began while the apostles were still alive. Paul had to deal with Greek philosophers that denied the resurrection of the body because of the belief that flesh is evil while spirit is good. John fought against Gnosticism that taught an erroneous spiritualized view of…
The Second Great Commandment
Introduction Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law…
Baptism in the Name of Jesus
There’s evidence from church history that the statement “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Mat 28:19), is a corruption by the Roman Catholic Church into this Trinitarian formula. That Matthew wrote his Gospel originally in Hebrew was attested by Ireneus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Jerome.…
Other Writings
The Fate of the Ignorant
Introduction One of the most difficult questions for Christians to answer is the fate of the ignorant and those who die without having heard the gospel. This is a big problem because we recognize that it’s beyond unjust for anyone having never had the opportunity for salvation to be tormented in fire eternally. How can…
The False Antithesis of Faith Versus Works
Introduction Jesus Christ warned us to not be deceived, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Mat 24:5). Jesus is our Savior and what He said about salvation is the truth while anyone saying something different is wrong. We must…
Seated Together with Him
Introduction Trinitarian ministers teach and preach extensively about Christ’s death on the Cross, burial in the tomb, and resurrection from the dead but hardly utter a peep about His ascension to heaven and current position as our Advocate, Intercessor, and Mediator at the right hand of God. They push the doctrine of Sola Fide or…
Where Our Treasure Is
Introduction Matthew chapter 6 is the middle chapter and heart of Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, and the most definitive teaching in the entire Bible of how to enter His Kingdom and have eternal life. There’s an explicit characteristic distinguishing those on the two different paths in this life, “broad is the way, that…
Learning from the Unlearned
Introduction Trinitarian scholars, theologians, and pastors hold a tight grip over mainstream Christianity by masquerading as the purveyors of the truth and denouncing true teachers gifted by Christ as unlearned and uneducated. They’re full of tactics and schemes to magnify themselves and minimize others in the eyes of their followers. They persuade their followers against…
The Good Message of Jesus Christ
Introduction The euangelion or “good message” that the Lord Jesus Christ preached is the same message His apostles preached. There’s no difference whatsoever in messages because the apostles learned from Him and were sent by Him with His message. And His message is faithfulness to Him as Lord: “No man can serve two masters” (Mat…
The Circumcision of Christ
Introduction Circumcision in the flesh is literally the cutting-off of the foreskin of flesh from the body, “Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s…
The Law of Christ
Introduction It can be confusing trying to distinguish how the Law of Moses relates to Christ’s law that He gave primarily in His Sermon on the Mount. Is Christ’s law completely new and distinct from the Law given through Moses? Do the Ten Commandments or any of the commandments given through Moses still apply to…
No Man Can Serve Two Masters
Introduction There’s only one way to eternal life and it’s through the only way God provided—His Son Jesus Christ. But even knowing and embracing that truth, we can still be falsely assured that we have the Son yet truly headed for destruction, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and…
The Separated Breath
Introduction Ask several Christians their view of the Holy Spirit and you’ll likely get an array of different answers. Most aren’t very confident in what they know and believe about this subject. Some say that it’s a force or a power while others maintain that it’s a personal being. The primary cause for the confusion…
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
Introduction Why do many preachers discourage us from trying to understand the Bible ourselves? Why do they warn us that we’ll fall into error unless we learn from them and their system of theology? Could it be that the opposite is the case? Could it be that they’re knowingly teaching us error and don’t want…
Reformation or Rebranding?
Introduction Paul’s last words about the time that would come have indeed developed into the condition of the church today, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the…
The Faithfulness Once Delivered
Introduction The message of faithfulness to God was declared from the beginning by the Son of God through the creation itself. It was later proclaimed to Abraham, and again to God’s people under Moses. And it was the message preached by the Son of God in the flesh. Salvation is by faithfulness to God in…
The Truth is in Jesus
Introduction The Protestant Reformation was a split from the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) about 500 years ago. However, it wasn’t a complete break because it kept the RCC’s views of God and man—that God is a Trinity of co-equal Persons, and man is an eternal spirit being living inside a physical body that leaves the…
God Doesn’t See the Future, He Makes the Future
Introduction “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col 2:8), “But ye have not so learned Christ” (Eph 4:20). Theologians teach much philosophy as “Christian” doctrine. Rather than gleaning the truth from the Scriptures and submitting…
True Theology – Part 2
Introduction The entire doctrine of the Trinity is illogical and simply doesn’t make sense. Even the most intelligent preachers, scholars, and theologians admit that they just can’t understand it. But the reason they can’t understand it is because even God can’t understand it! But seriously, since truth is logical and the Trinity is illogical, it’s…
Undermining the Authority of Scripture
Scholars, theologians, and seminary graduates are revered as being the experts that we dare not question. But the lowly Bereans, on the other hand, were hailed for holding even the apostle Paul to the authority of Scripture, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of…
They Went Out from Us
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us” (1Jo 2:19). Calvinists and the proponents of “Once Saved Always Saved” (OSAS), use this verse…
The Gospel Message from the Beginning
Introduction The doctrine of Sola Fide states basically that we are saved by faith or belief in Jesus Christ alone and not by any of our meritorious works. But it’s not true that we’re saved by faith alone for the simple reason that we’re not saved by faith. We’re saved by faithfulness to our Lord…
My 10 Favorite KJV Archaic Statements (humorous)
10. “whilst that I withal escape” (Psa 141:10) 9. “they are sottish children” (Jer 4:22) 8. “By his neesings a light doth shine” (Job 41:18) 7. “and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him” (1Jo 3:17) 6. “I think myself happy” (Act 26:2) 5. “where David himself and his…
Memorizing Scripture – Don’t Do It!
Not only hearing but also doing Alright, the title of this article is meant to get your attention. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever try to memorize Scripture, only that it should have its proper priority in our walk with God. Some ministers endorse Scripture memorization as one of, if not the most fundamental…
Evidence for the Christian Faith
The historical event of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead establishes the following: The entire Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Cor 15:14,17). If it didn’t happen, then Christianity is a sham. But if it happened, however, then everything listed above and more is settled. The question we must now…
A Brief Overview of Ephesians
The mystery hidden from the beginning In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul used the Greek word mysterion six times (Eph 1:9, 3:3,4,9, 5:32, 6:19) to indicate a message that had been hidden but then later made known: “Having made known unto us the mystery” (Eph 1:9); “the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages…
Understanding Scripture 