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Posts published by “Andrew Isker”

Who Are God’s Chosen People?

Who Are God’s Chosen People?

By Andrew Isker on February 23, 2024
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by Pastor Andrew Isker

“We must give eleventy gazillion dollars to Israel because ‘they are God’s Chosen People’ and ‘those who bless you I will bless’” is a refrain Christians have been told their entire lives. There is no single theological issue that is the cause of greater confusion among Christians than what the status of Israel is in the New Covenant. 

Christians are in the New Covenant. Most Christians understand this. But the confusion begins when we consider the Old Covenant. What was the point of the Old Covenant? 

When God made a Covenant with Abraham and then developed it further with his descendants under Moses, what was the purpose of it? 

How is the New Covenant made in Jesus’s blood so radically different? 

These are questions that were sorted out throughout the New Testament. And despite much of the New Testament dealing with this issue, and millennia of Christian tradition extrapolating from it, confusion reigns today.

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To The Jew First And Also To The Greek

To The Jew First And Also To The Greek

By Andrew Isker on February 20, 2024
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by Pastor Andrew Isker

Introduction

The pattern of New Testament missionary preaching is laid out in Acts 13. Paul and Barnabas go to the synagogue first, they preach to the Jewish diaspora, and there the New Creation and New Covenant break into and break apart the Old Creation and Old Covenant. Some Jews believe, but the majority reject Paul’s preaching, but their rejection of Christ is set against and actually drives the preaching of Christ to the Greeks who, despite not having all the advantages of the Jews, believe anyway. The belief of the Greeks drives the Jews who reject Christ into envy and rage against Paul and Barnabas, driving them out of the city.

This, here, is the major conflict throughout the entire New Testament in a microcosm. The Old Creation rejects the New Creation and provokes the gospel going out to and saving the other peoples of the world. Just as God used Israel’s rejection of Christ to bring about the salvation of the world in Christ’s crucifixion, God is using Israel’s rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of the Gentiles.

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AI As The Information War Superweapon

AI As The Information War Superweapon

By Andrew Isker on January 16, 2024
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Many people, even those who do not fall prey to mainstream narratives, do not know what to make of AI. When the subject of AI comes up, most people assume it is uncanny valley images of people with three thumbs and eleven fingers or that it is a demonic computer entity which will become self-aware and nuke the world. In the case of the latter, popular culture certainly doesn’t help, with movies like Terminator, I, Robot or the most recent Mission Impossible.

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The Old Temple Versus The New Temple

The Old Temple Versus The New Temple

By Andrew Isker on December 21, 2023
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by Pastor Andrew Isker

Introduction

Can you think of the boldest stand you have ever taken in your life? A time when you knew you were right, where you stood publicly for something true and just and everyone else around you opposed you? Do you remember what that felt like? That is the kind of boldness that went with the apostles everywhere they went, particularly in Jerusalem and Judea. So far, since Pentecost, we have seen miraculous signs by the Holy Spirit, and nearly everyone encountering Him has repented. But now, the gospel faces opposition. Now there are enemies with teeth like knives and a serpent’s sting ready to pounce. Now we see the war in the heavenly places manifest itself on earth. And still, Christ’s church, filled with the Holy Spirit, remains bold.

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Israel’s Second Chance

Israel’s Second Chance

By Andrew Isker on December 7, 2023
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by Pastor Andrew Isker

Introduction

In each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), as Jesus preached against the wicked and perverse generation in Israel, He made a statement that has puzzled many Christians even to this day. “Blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, that will not be forgiven.” Many people hear this and are terrified, “what if I committed the unforgivable sin? What if I have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit? How do I know my sins can be forgiven or not?”

If blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an unbeliever speaking against the work of the Holy Spirit on earth, no one who doesn’t believe in Jesus could ever be forgiven. So, surely that is not it. But then what does this mean? What is this sin? 

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Pentecost Was The Greater Crossing of the Jordan

Pentecost Was The Greater Crossing of the Jordan

By Andrew Isker on November 29, 2023
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The Christian Story Takes Israel’s History and Fulfills It

by Pastor Andrew Isker

Introduction

The Day of Pentecost is one of the greatest events in the entire Bible. There is a reason that the church throughout the world has celebrated it yearly for the better part of two thousand years. It is the event that establishes the authority of the church of Jesus Christ, laid on the foundation of the apostles and Christ the chief cornerstone. It is from this event that the army of God goes forth into the new and greater promised land—the entire world—to conquer.

It is not random that the narrative structure of the Book of Acts parallels the conquest of Joshua.—what you must understand is the New Testament deliberately takes the history of Israel and shows that something even greater has come in Jesus Christ.    

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It’s Never Over

It’s Never Over

By Andrew Isker on November 23, 2023
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by Pastor Andrew Isker

A Handful of Christians with the Entire World Against Them Changed History

The holiday of Thanksgiving is one of the last remaining aspects of traditional America that has survived the cultural revolution. For most Americans it is simply a part of normal life: a day off, a day to eat turkey, stuffing, and cranberries, a day to watch football and spend time with family. But the holiday itself has its origins in the Puritan founding of America, and this alone is reason for the ongoing cultural revolution to seek its destruction.

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The Conquest of the Apostles

The Conquest of the Apostles

By Andrew Isker on November 21, 2023
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The Book of Acts as the New Testament Book of Joshua

by Pastor Andrew Isker

Introduction

The Book of Acts or the Acts of the Apostles is the second book of Luke’s Gospel. Some people sort of treat it like an appendix to the gospel; “the really important stuff happened in the gospels, this is story of what happened afterward.” When I was younger, that attitude made me wonder, “why didn’t everything just end right at the Resurrection and Ascension? Why did history keep going? Why was there another 30 plus years pictured here in the Bible? Why has there been nearly another 2000 years?” History does not stop with Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. A new world with a new history begins.

This book is a book of conquest. The army of God marching out to conquer the world. And we will soon see just how much it intentionally parallels the Book of Joshua, where God’s people entered the Land of Promise and put it to sword and fire. Here, the army of God, sets out to take the new Land of Promise—the entire world.

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Abortion is the Sacrament of Trashworld

Abortion is the Sacrament of Trashworld

By Andrew Isker on November 8, 2023
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by Pastor Andrew Isker

This week the State of Ohio voted by a nearly ten-point margin to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right. Ohio is not a far-left blue state like California or New York, it is a conservative red state that Donald Trump won by almost the same margin in 2020. The results of this ballot amendment have shocked many in the pro-life movement.

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