Harbinger's Lamp

Collection

Held to the Light

Hard questions, tested by Scripture

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”1 Thessalonians 5:21

Some questions divide Christians: between churches, and in the public square. These studies set each one beside Scripture and let the text speak. Every reader brings a lens, so start there.

Start here

Lens

Whose Lens Are You Reading Through?

Everyone reads Scripture through a lens. Learn to see yours, test what you’ve heard, and hear the other side fairly before you open the hard questions.

Questions

Dialogue

Should There Be a Pope?

Catholic and Protestant challenge each other on the papacy, each side answering in its own terms, with the common ground and the dividing line set out at the end.

Search the Scriptures

The Sinner's Prayer

Is the sinner's prayer found in Scripture? Search the conversions in Acts and the letters, and see what those who were saved were told to do.

Search the Scriptures

Once Saved, Always Saved

Can a true believer fall away and be lost? Search the passages on both sides and read what each one says.

Hard Question

Does the Bible Approve of Slavery?

What the law of Moses allowed and forbade, what the apostles told servants and masters, the texts American preachers used wrongly, and the voices that answered them.

Churches

62 churches in 11 families, and 4 movements, each set out from where it began. See them on The Line and the Branches →

When each family of churches began, from the church of the New Testament to today

The church of the New TestamentAD 30

  1. Divided at the councils
  2. Later splits from Rome and Orthodoxy
  3. Dissent and Reformation
  4. The English free churches
  5. Methodist and Holiness
  6. Pentecostal and charismatic
  7. The Restoration Movement
  8. Advent, Sabbath and the Law
  9. Added scripture or revelation
  10. A living apostle, prophet or messiah
  11. Churches born in Africa and Asia
  1. Movements

Divided at the councils

From 431 · 4 churches

  1. 431The Assyrian Church of the East
  2. 451The Roman Catholic Church
  3. 451The Eastern Orthodox Church
  4. 451The Oriental Orthodox Churches

Later splits from Rome and Orthodoxy

From 1596 · 6 churches

  1. 1596The Eastern Catholic Churches
  2. 1666The Old Believers
  3. 1765The Molokans
  4. 1786The Doukhobors
  5. 1870The Old Catholic Churches
  6. 1889The Mar Thoma Syrian Church

Dissent and Reformation

From 1173 · 6 churches

  1. 1173The Waldensians
  2. 1457The Moravian Church
  3. 1517The Lutheran Churches
  4. 1523The Reformed and Presbyterian Churches
  5. 1525The Anabaptists
  6. 1534The Anglican Communion

The English free churches

From 1580 · 5 churches

  1. 1580The Congregational Churches
  2. 1609The Baptists
  3. 1652The Quakers (Religious Society of Friends)
  4. 1827The Plymouth Brethren
  5. 1961The Unitarian Universalist Association

Methodist and Holiness

From 1738 · 4 churches

  1. 1738The Methodists
  2. 1843The Holiness Churches
  3. 1865The Salvation Army
  4. 1897The Two by Twos

Pentecostal and charismatic

From 1901 · 8 churches

  1. 1901The Pentecostals
  2. 1907The Church of God in Christ
  3. 1916The Oneness Pentecostals
  4. 1917The True Jesus Church
  5. 1952The Redeemed Christian Church of God
  6. 1961The Non-denominational Churches
  7. 1977The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
  8. The Message Churches (William Branham)

The Restoration Movement

From 1848 · 6 churches

  1. 1848The Christadelphians
  2. 1889The Churches of Christ
  3. 1889The Church of Christ
  4. 1906The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
  5. 1968The Christian Churches and Churches of Christ
  6. 1979The International Churches of Christ

Advent, Sabbath and the Law

From 1844 · 4 churches

  1. 1844The Seventh-day Adventist Church
  2. 1870Jehovah's Witnesses
  3. 1915Messianic Jewish Congregations
  4. 1934The Churches of God in the Armstrong Tradition

Added scripture or revelation

From 1747 · 7 churches

  1. 1747The Shakers
  2. 1787The New Church (Swedenborgian)
  3. 1830The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  4. 1860Community of Christ
  5. 1879Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist)
  6. 1889Unity
  7. 1935The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

A living apostle, prophet or messiah

From 1863 · 7 churches

  1. 1863The New Apostolic Church
  2. 1914Iglesia ni Cristo
  3. 1926La Luz del Mundo
  4. 1954The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
  5. 1964The World Mission Society Church of God
  6. 1984Shincheonji Church of Jesus
  7. 1985The Kingdom of Jesus Christ

Churches born in Africa and Asia

From 1921 · 5 churches

  1. 1921The Kimbanguist Church
  2. 1922The Local Churches
  3. 1924The Zion Christian Church
  4. 1947The Celestial Church of Christ
  5. 1951The Three-Self Church in China

Movements

From 1933 · 4 movements

Teachings that run across many churches, with no membership roll or governing body.

  1. 1933The Independent Fundamental Baptists
  2. The Word of Faith Movement
  3. The New Apostolic Reformation
  4. The Hebrew Roots Movement