Welcome! Thank you for visiting my blog! I’m glad you’re here and hope that you will come back often and tell others to come with you.
This site is dedicated to learning about Jesus Christ and His religion which is the pure, unaltered and unfiltered, biblical Christianity one reads about in the New Testament. There is so much religious confusion out there in Christendom due to all the different man-made churches, faiths, sects, cults and denominations which claim to be Christian and yet whose doctrines add to and take away from God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:3-4; Revelation 22:18-19; Proverbs 30:6; Deuteronomy 4:1-2). We need to get back to the Bible and go simply by the doctrine taught by the apostles and prophets which is recorded in the New Testament. That’s what they did way back in the first century AD when the church of Jesus Christ existed before all these man-made churches and denominations started popping up. In fact, when the early Christians strayed from following the will of God proclaimed to them by the Spirit-inspired apostles and prophets and started teaching doctrines which they came up with themselves, you can read in the New Testament of how God rebuked them and told them to repent (cf. Galatians 1:6-10).
Well, our Lord doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). Just as He condemned man straying from His Word in biblical times, He does the same today. The Christianity of the New Testament, the Christianity which came before all of these denominations, cults, and religious sects — pre-denominational Christianity, one could say — is the Christianity which is actually founded by the Son of God and which meets with His approval. This site will explore and tell you about this pre-denominational Christianity, the religion prophesied in the Old Testament and taught in the New.
Here’s some information about me. I’m a husband and father, and thank God for the wonderful family He has given me as a blessing. I’m also an evangelist and minister, a preacher of the gospel, and have been for all of my adult life. I preach for the church of Christ, which is a biblical name commonly used to describe the church one reads about in the New Testament because we strive to penitently follow nothing more than the commands, principles, and examples found in the New Testament. Currently I preach for one of the churches of Christ in Calhoun, GA; I’ve also preached for the Lord’s church in SC and IL. I also serve as the editor for the Carolina Messenger, a religious publication affiliated with churches of Christ. In my spare time I like to read and study American history, particularly the Civil War, World War Two, and presidential biographies. I also like to read fiction, take road trips, play basketball, take long walks with my dog, and play video games.
Thanks again for visiting and reading. My prayer and goal is that this site can help you in your relationship with God.
In Christ,
Jon Mitchell
Blog really looking good. a really good read. Looking forward to reading more in the future. Ken
Thanks, Ken. Appreciate that.
Jon
Great looking site, brother.
Appreciate you saying that, Neal. Just so you know, you and your “Daily Bread” articles on your preacherpollard blog are the inspiration behind my efforts here. So thank you for that. Any advice or feedback you ever feel like giving me is more than welcome. God be with you in the work you’re doing up there in Denver. It was good to see you again at PTP last week.
Jon
Jon, may I have your e-mail address?
Sorry, Stan, but I prefer not to give that out in a public forum.
Hi Jon, I am hoping to e-mail you in order to further our discussions. My e-mail is on my page in the about section. If you would like to e-mail me so I have your e-mail we can continue. Thanks,
-MC
Just sent it to you.
JON,
I just read your comment in response to Rich Little’s blog post regarding the appointing of a new president for Harding. I appreciate your comment and the biblical, solid statements you made. I am in total agreement with what you said, and want you to know that I appreciate your succinct, Bible based response. I look forward to reading articles on your blog. Thank you again,
In Christ,
Roxanne Langley, class of ’91
Thanks for the kind words, Roxanne. I really appreciate it.
Could you help direct me to the blog/comments from Rich Little about Harding’s new president, please? I can’t seem to track it/them down.
I dont know where it is. Sorry.
Hello, Jon. I wanted to know if I could discuss something with you through email. Would that be alright?
I believe the email should be provided to you by the comment. If not, please let me know.
No email was provided.
listen to the podcasts of your sermons. I especially enjoyed the two sermons on slavery.
Thanks, Ernestine. I appreciate your encouragement.
Hi Jon; What are a few good commentaries that you would recommend. I have the Gospel Advocate commentary but it only covers the NT. I also have the College Press commentary but I need something a little deeper. Thank you Tom Ferguson
James Burton Coffman is good. Wayne Jackson wrote an excellent commentary on the entire New Testament, one on each of the OT prophets, and his commentaries on Acts and Timothy and Titus are superb. Keil and Delitchtz are good OT commentaries.
I’d recommend giving the free on-line Bible Hub a try at: http://biblehub.com It has an incredible compilation of Biblestudy aids all in one place; instantly lets you search and find any passagewith just a key word or phrase, from the original languages to hundreds ofdifferent translations, an interlinear breakdown, concordances and crossreferences, maps, and gives you lots of different commentaries of variouslevels of technical scholarship to choose from. Then you could either lay out cash to buy the hard copy ofwhichever one(s) you like best, or just keep using Bible Hub free and haveaccess to all of them literally at your fingertips. You don’t even have to register as auser. The program has always workedquickly and efficiently even when my computer bogs down under other internetsites.
Thanks for the suggestion, and thanks for reading.
Are you interested in publishing an article about widowers as elders? The article discusses whether a widower who is an elder/pastor/bishop in the Church of Christ is to lose his office upon remarriage, and whether a remarried widower is eligible to be appointed to the post. It consists of a text of exactly 5,000 words, and an additional 250 words of footnotes and bibliographic details.
As you know, 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6 require an elder/bishop/pastor in the Church of Christ to be the husband of one wife or married only once. Difficulties concerning what these phrases mean have opened a range of interpretations about the precise qualifications. The proposed article concentrates on whether a widower loses his qualification upon remarriage. It surveys the Restoration websites most readily available on the topic, with a consideration of J. W. McGarvey. Then it examines the works of Christian authors before the middle of the third century, as uniquely positioned to observe interpretations and practices recently descended from the apostles. Next, it critiques the methodology of the websites in formulating and advancing their judgments, and whether they are less likely to be as valuable and reliable as those of ancient church fathers. It concludes that a widower who remarries loses his office, and leaves open the question of celibate widowers.
I’d be interested in reading it. This site is made up primarily of articles which I write, and secondarily of articles I publish as editor of the Carolina Messenger (www.carolinamessenger.wordpress.com). If you’d like, email me the article for consideration for publishing there at carolinamessenger@gmail.com. Thanks!