First: An Observation. A casual observer who reads Joseph Smith’s “search for truth” as noted at BYU Studies, is met with an obvious question: “Joseph Smith (1805–1844) inhabited a visionary world and belonged to a visionary family. At about age twelve, he began to worry about his soul and started searching the Bible. As he…
Category: Christianity
Joey Sampaga: The Divine Divider & The Coming Fire, Luke 12:49-59
Delivered by Pastor Joey | East Valley International Church | Gilbert, Arizona Text: Luke 12:49-59 (ESV) Abstract and summary of the pastor’s sermon: The Divine Divinity and the Coming Fire — Luke 12:49–59 This sermon, preached through the Gospel of Luke, dismantles the culture’s soft, romanticized portrait of Jesus and replaces it with the Christ…
EVIC Sunday School – Lesson 2: How the Bible Was Made and Preserved
Lesson 2 The Journey of How the Bible Was Made and Preserved Lesson 2 of our six-week study is designed to deepen confidence in the Bible by tracing the remarkable path it traveled to reach modern hands. This Bible study traces how the Old Testament was formed through prophetic authority, translated into Greek as the…
Examining the LDS ‘17 Points of the True Church’
An essay in Christian apologetics: A Traditional Christian Response to a Mormon Missionary Tract ❖ ❖ ❖ Introduction: A List That Has Outlived Its Origin Few Latter-day Saint apologetic instruments have enjoyed the quiet longevity of the so-called ‘17 Points of the True Church.’ For more than half a century, the list has circulated on…
Protected: Delivering the Gospel Message to Our LDS Friends
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Begging the Question for a Restored Church: An Apologetic Audit of the LDS Great Apostasy Doctrine
Drawing Lines Around the Truth: How Latter-day Saint Apologetic Method Predetermines Its Conclusions on Early Christian History and the Great Apostasy ❦ ❦ ❦ Introduction: A Compass Set Before the Pencil Among the rarer pleasures of a long career spent reading apologetic literature is the discovery of an argument that cannot lose. Not an argument…
The Real Jesus in a Marketplace of Counterfeits: A Pastoral Plea for Biblical Truth
Why Truth Matters — and Why We Must Share the Gospel Now More Than Ever ❦ ❦ ❦ Introduction: A Journalist, a Sunset, and the Question Beneath the Question On the morning of May 12, 2026, a producer at The New York Times sat down with her colleague Lauren Jackson, host of the paper’s Believing…
EVIC Sunday School: How the Bible Was Made and Preserved
Lesson 1 The Journey of How the Bible Was Made and Preserved The lesson opens a six-week study designed to deepen confidence in the Bible by tracing the remarkable path it traveled to reach modern hands. Pastor Joey reminds the class that Scripture did not fall from the sky, leather-bound and gilt-edged — it came…
Joey Sampaga: Waiting & Working for the Master’s Return, Luke 12:35-48
Delivered by Pastor Joey | East Valley International Church | Gilbert, Arizona Text: Luke 12:35-48 (ESV) Abstract and summary of the pastor’s sermon: Setting the Stage: From Worry to Watchfulness Pastor Joey opens by connecting this sermon to the previous study on worry and anxiety from Luke 12. He reminds the congregation that while life…
The Same Pattern, A New Zip Code: Reading the Mark Driscoll Story Theologically.
AI-generated image: In the house of God, the highest calling is not to be feared like a gladiator but trusted like a shepherd. The pastor who gathers applause by force may win a crowd for a season, yet only the one who walks in humility, truth, and self-giving love will leave a lasting mark on…







