Bridge of Reason

Tony Brown spoke at our 2023 Convention on the Impossible Gospel of Mormonism. Our 2024 Convention is already planned and booked for September. Why not join us and enjoy a weekend of teaching, equipping, and fellowship with people who have been there and understand. Find out more here . Meanwhile, I hope you find this teaching a blessing.

From Death to Life What we find in instantaneous spiritual rebirth is a reversal of the fall. God warned Adam that if he ate from the tree he would surely die:   But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) Notice that God said that Adam would die that very day. But Adam went on to live to be 930 years old. So, did God lie? Not at all. What died that day was Adam’s spiritual connection to God . Adam and Eve suddenly found themselves naked and ashamed. Their rebellion had led to them losing their spiritual covering – God Himself. So, what did they do? And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7) How telling this is. The response of man to his spiritual nakedness and rebellion is to try and cover himself. Fallen man believes that he can sort himself out. He be...

  Image by Andrea Don, Pixabay When Jesus began his ministry it was the kingdom of God that formed the substance of his preaching. ‘ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.’ ( Mark 1:14, 15 ESV) In last week’s Watchtower Wednesday I drew attention to the Watchtower teaching on the Kingdom of God . They use this text to show they understand the good news Jesus preached was the good news of the kingdom. Nothing controversial in this, the message of the New Testament is a kingdom message. They say: 'Jesus Christ said that the Kingdom of God * was “at hand,” or had “drawn near,” because he, as the future King of that Kingdom, was present on the scene.’ The Kingdom The asterisk pulls up a box in which we find their definition of kingdom: ‘ The Kingdom of God is the government in heaven established by God to accomplish his will for the e...

  Last time I began to consider an article entitled I "Hear Him" by Aligning My Mind with His Will [1] , by Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Soares claimed that he hears from God via four primary means. In part 1 of this article, I reflected on the first two ‘I hear Him by aligning my mind with Him’ and I hear Him through the Book of Mormon’ . I will now consider his third point and next week conclude with his fourth.                                                               I Hear Him by Making Commitments to the Lord In putting my faith in the Lord’s promises and His gospel, I have made commitments to love Jesus Christ above anything else, to...

THE SITUATION ‘It made me feel so bad.’ ‘I felt like I was ripping his whole world apart. If he accepted what I was saying it would cost him so much.’ The person that told me this had just shared the gospel with his Mormon friend. His friend came from a loving Mormon family. He had four brothers and two sisters, and his parents were pillars of the Mormon community.   They were the model Mormon family. All his brothers had served a Mission, and now it was his turn. He was excited. He had filled in his papers and was waiting to hear where he was to be sent. He was hoping it would be Africa. Plans were also in place for his return from Mission. He had a confirmed place to study at Brigham Young University and a girl who, upon his return, was keen to marry him. All was good in his life. How could he possibly leave this behind? Why on earth would he leave this all behind? THE COST And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross ...

  ‘ But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved.’’ (Acts 15:1) In Acts 15 we see people who follow Paul around, questioning his message of grace, pressing the case for rules that they alone, of course, would teach and apply. These were likely the Pharisees of verse 5. Setting themselves up as authority figures , they insisted Gentiles needed to become Jews in order to become Christians. Y ou may throw at them as many grace verses as you like, their answer will always be the same familiar, ‘I know what it says, but this is what it means. Believe me, I am an authority on these things. I have been to the top of the mountain and have the anointing ’ Former cultists will find this so familiar, indeed I remember saying this myself. The message of the gospel of grace - saved by grace, through faith in Christ, works following - is so clear in the Bible. Yet there will always be th...