Three Ways to Comfort Your Suffering Friend (Job 2:11-13)
I was reading an article by a woman who lost her brother, sister, and her sister’s children in a car crash. Horrific. She was stunned. She walked around as if in a fog, unable to think clearly. Of course, friends offered to help. Several said, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to […]
God or Genie? A Lesson from Job
Job. He was the ideal man— righteous, upright, fearing God, shunning evil, and so concerned with holiness that he made sacrifices for sins that might have been committed by other people (i.e., his children, cf., Job 1:1-2, 5). No wonder God was especially pleased with Job, twice saying that no one else on earth was […]
Dramatic Irony in Job
Have you ever seen a performance of Romeo and Juliet? Near the end of the play, Juliet takes a drug that induces a temporary, but deathlike, sleep, to avoid marrying a man she does not love. To add to the drama, her body is placed in a tomb. To all appearance she seems dead. But […]
Just Let Him Go: Luther on How to Respond to Atheists
I love apologetics. I started witnessing a couple of months after I became a Christian at the age of seventeen. The first group I went to was the local Muslim student association. I remember they gave me a tract alleging that Christians believe in three gods. “We do?” I said. From that moment on, I […]
National Conference 2019 PowerPoints
Here are most of the power-points for the GES National Conference 2019 Bond_GES – Eph. 6 Faul_God’s Wisdom for Marriages Ken Yates Plenary GES 2019 Eph 1 Kenny Hodges Ephesians 3.1-13 GES (1) Lazar_BeRenewed_Eph4_17to24 Lee_GESNational2019_Lee_The Real Illuminatti Lucas_GESNational2019 Lucas NIemela_Pauls Hallelujah Chorus Eph 1 1 14 Thurman_GES Eph 4 WHY Wilkin_Plenary 1 Saved by Grace […]
The Messiah and Eternal Life (John 6:68-69; 11:25-27)
Some people say we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, without necessarily believing in Him for eternal life or any other kind of salvation. By contrast, we argue that when you believe that Jesus is the Christ—i.e., the Savior—you must have some understanding of the kind of salvation He brings. To believe in Jesus […]
Christians Living Differently (Ephesians 4:18-19)
I’ve been thinking a great deal about the doctrine of “separation.” It was, and may still be, a defining feature of the Fundamentalist movement. Sadly, I think that doctrine often took a legalistic form. It became part of what you needed to do to be saved or to prove you “really” believed. That doesn’t mean […]
Asa Mahan’s Assurance of Salvation
Asa Mahan (1799-1889) was an Arminian philosopher and theologian. He was Presbyterian, but at a time when many Presbyterians were becoming Arminian (following the so-called “New Haven Theology”). Mahan was also the first president of Oberlin College (when it was a revivalist school and not the uber-liberal place it is today). Mahan was also co-worker […]
What Is Love? (Ephesians 5:1-3)
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. And do not let sexual immorality, or any impurity, or greed be named among you, as these are not proper among saints (MEV). The Ephesians were […]
The Different Benefits of the Cross: A Short Survey
Calvinists and Arminians debate whether the atonement is limited or unlimited. My question is—what if that’s a false dichotomy? The big assumption made by both Calvinists and Arminians is that the atonement comes as a package of benefits. They claim that if one benefit applies to you, they all do because those benefits come as […]