Listening to People of Grace (Luke 6:45)
In Luke 6, the Lord gives a sermon called the Sermon on the Plain. In it, He refers to a tree that produces good fruit and a tree that produces bad fruit (6:43). Even though many think He is talking about how we recognize a believer, that is not the case. Instead, the Lord refers […]
Does God Elect People to Salvation?
According to Calvinists, the elect is one of the most important expressions in the Bible even though it occurs only seven times in the NT (Matt 24:24; Mark 13:22; Rom 11:7; Col 3:12; 1 Tim 5:21; 2 Tim 2:10; and 2 John 1). Without the definite article, the words elect or election occur another sixteen […]
The Resurrection and Good Works (Mark 12:23)
As an Army chaplain, I heard a wide spectrum of theological perspectives. For example, I worked with chaplains who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. One was even a Southern Baptist. He once said in a sermon that the only resurrection we will ever see is the smile on a child’s face. […]
Did You Know That GES Is Everywhere?
One day it hit me that the letter series GES often occurs in English words. I started making a list. Then I asked my phone and found out that there’s a scrabble dictionary that lists words that end with, start with, or contain certain combinations of letters. There are about 200 nine-letter words that end […]
Different Responses to the Word (Proverbs 1:22)
In Prov 1:22, Wisdom is personified as a woman. She cries out for people to listen and pleads with them to hear God’s Word. The wise are those who do so. But three types of people do not. They are the simple, the fool, and the scorner–also referred to as a mocker. The simple person […]
What Difference Does It Make If Demons Aren’t Fallen Angels?
Introduction The word demons is widely understood to be another name for fallen angels. For example, Gotquestions.org gives a popular explanation, writing: While the Bible does not specifically say what happened to the souls of the Nephilim when they were killed, it is unlikely that God would destroy the Nephilim in the Flood only to […]
Final Salvation: Can We Put It to Bed?
When I was a chaplain, the Army sent me to study at an Evangelical seminary for a year. Later, some of the school faculty wrote a book in which they discussed “final salvation.” Other theologians promoted the book. I use the word salvation here to mean salvation from the lake of fire. Some heavy-hitting theologians […]
The Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 According to N.T. Wright
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain (1 Cor 15:1-2). The salvation discussed in 1 Cor 15:2 has confused […]
Getting Dressed Up
In the military, we had different uniforms for different occasions. For the most formal events, we wore “dress blues,” the military equivalent of a tuxedo. Other uniforms, such as the ones we wore every day to work, were not appropriate at those events. If you wore your dress blues, it meant you were going to […]
Training Time for Reigning Time
I often heard Dr. R. (Dr. Earl Radmacher) say, “This life is training time for reigning time.” Once we believe in Jesus for everlasting life, we are eternally secure. The issue then becomes how full our lives will be now and forever. Will we reign with Him in the life to come? God uses all […]