The Christian life is fully dependent on Jesus not just for our redemption, but is fully dependent everyday on Jesus for the power and authority that is necessary to drive and point us to righteousness and a life that is defined by holiness.

In this episode we examined the time period between the Patristic period and the full might of the Roman Catholic Church. We will look closely at the rise of academics as an ecclesiastical focus, superstition and witchcraft, and monastic orders in ways they contributed to the development of Christian demonology.

Contemporary Western Christianity has allowed pervasive lies to infiltrate our churches, our families, and our personal faith that corrupts our reliance on the mercy, grace, and sufficiency of Jesus as our savior and mediator. Much like the Corinthians, we have bought into the ideology that WE have to change ourselves, WE have the power inside of us, and WE are ultimately the masters of our own destiny; whereas the Gospel says Jesus will transform us, empower us, and is our Master and King!

In today's episode we begin our exploration of the philosophical, theological, and epistemological contributions of Augustine of Hippo. We will look at the development of demonology through the lens of the practical philosophies offered to us by Augustine and set the conversation up for a look at how Dante Alighieri will use Augustine's demonology to fuel his satire known as "The Divine Comedy".

In today's episode we explore the development of demonology from Tertullian to Iraneaus, and a little bit of everything else! We track the foundations of our contemporary understanding of "how" demons operate and where we get those origins in church history.    Plus...alot of other fun stuff too!

It is easy for us to fall into the same religious trap that we find Israel falling into over and over again…legalism. The reason is more simple than we could ever imagine; we like being in control and with legalism, our faith is structured to bullet points that we can check off as if it is some spiritual “to-do list.” Christ came to set us free from the tyranny of sin and the tyranny of our corruption of the Law!

Often times we find ourselves reducing the Christian life to nothing more than a discrete form of moralism with theistic overtones. The reality is that the expectation of holiness in the life of a believer is not merely observant, it is for an explicitly outward focused purpose. Everything about our life is meant to be evangelistic, including our devotion to holiness.

What can we take as doctrinal sure and what do we need to consider "opinion"? We go back in time and rely on the church father Origen to help bring the discussion of the development of demonology within the Christian context into the light. 

Forgiveness is hard, but it is even harder when the pain that sin inflicts is targeted towards those we love! The command to forgive is not simply a moral impetus that Christians are supposed to obey, it is much deeper than that because forgiveness is a reflection of the transformational power of the Gospel and the Lordship of Jesus over every domain of our lives.

In this episode, we get back on track (sorta) with our discussion on how the Christian doctrine of Demonology developed after the death of the Apostles around 100 AD. Well, we introduced the topic anyway; then when proceeded to occur was a jump down the rabbit hole and a full on exploration of Wonderland until we got to the castle of the Queen of Hearts with AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Have fun!

One of the benefits and burdens of living the Christian faith in community is that we are called to bear each other’s burdens, which means that at times we must hold others accountable. The “how” and “why” of that accountability matters greatly for the restoration of a fellow believer and the relationship we have with them. (2nd Corinthians 1:23 - 2:4)

This episode of MMCS is devoted to the development of a basic demonology as presented in the Epistles of the New Testament. By looking at the testimonies of Paul, Peter, James, and John we can see how they viewed demons and the devil by pinpointing their evil work in the church and outside of it to the full scale deception of humanity...the deception of the believers and the unbelievers alike!

This discussion deviates from our expected topic of "demonology" to explore our contemporary cultural moment. America finds itself at the crossroads of an ideological and political intersection, and where it goes next can largely be decided by Christians due to the nature of our moment. Today, we discuss some of the elements and variables surrounding our current context as well as some issues and points to avoid.   *We are currently experimenting with mics and recording setups to make this podcast better because we record in a multi-use space; today was not a good setup so we will try something new next week!

Many of us fear going ALL IN for Jesus because we are desperately afraid of what people will think about us, how they will judge us, and that we might fail the Gospel if we ourselves fail. The GOOD NEWS of the Gospel is that even when we fail and ask God to forgive us, His answer is, “YES!” The redemption and restoration offered to us by the God of the “YES!” is a powerful counter-agent to our instability and insecurity!

Today's discussion comes from the book of Acts where we explore the New Testament development of demonology after the ascension of Jesus. We address issues such as names, typology, and the mysticism surrounding the contemporary use of such passages that leads to an almost witchcraft type of approach to spiritual warfare...just with Christian overtones!   Miss you Miles and Martha! Be safe on the road Pike Family, Darren, and Trevor!

It is very easy for us to apply years of study and religious devotion to the message of the Gospel for unbelievers making it needlessly complicated and hard to understand; we are also guilty of doing the same thing for new believers. We need to remember that the beauty of the Gospel for the world and the message of obedience for the church is miraculously simple because of God’s grace.

Today's conversation explores the narrative, historical, cultural, and theological development of demons from the Old Testament into the New Testament. We will address questions like, "why a sudden spike in demonic activity," and, "where did all these demons come from?" This conversation will setup next week's examination of demonology from a New Testament perspective.

A significant factor in our decision to be ALL IN is our connection to the local church. When we disconnect from the local body, we will soon find ourselves disconnecting from Jesus. We were meant to live in a relationship with Jesus that is strengthened and empowered by our relationship with His bride…the local church!

One of the consistent witnesses of Scripture is that we must strengthen our faith and dependency on God while things are relatively “normal” so when the overwhelming times hit us, we are prepared for them and will turn to God instead of running away from Him. Jesus is our only hope in the overwhelming times; therefore, He needs to be our first option…not our last in desperation!

On today's episode of Monday Morning Coffee Study we will be discussing the Old Testament and ancient Jewish mythical development of the idea and existence of demons. The frustrating part of studies like this is that we must ground our exploration in the confession, "we don't know!" So, buckle up and let's talk!