Jesus’s Remarkable Example of Prayer
by Brad Bell Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles. (Luke 6:12-13, NKJ) Jesus prayed […]
Nazarenes on Faith
by Shawn Lazar The Beacon Dictionary of Theology is written from the perspective of the Wesleyan Holiness tradition, specifically the Church of the Nazarene. We spend an awful amount of time critiquing Calvinism from a Free Grace perspective, and many of our readers have asked we do the same for Arminianism or Wesleyanism, since they, […]
Worldviews and Myth
by Brad Bell Worldviews answer fundamental questions about life, death, the universe, who we are, why we are here, etc… Such questions include who am I? how did we get here? why does the world exist? what is the purpose of life? why is there death? Is there life after death? Worldviews are communicated, passed […]
A Great Opportunity to Proclaim the Gospel
by Bob Wilkin, originally published in the March-April 2003 Newsletter of the Grace Evangelical Society In June of last year something odd happened in Loxley, Alabama. Pastor Orlando Bethel was preaching a funeral for a man who had died of prostate cancer. Pastor Bethel had a tough task, for the man who died had not […]
The Real Santa
When you think of Santa Claus, how do you picture him? If you grew up in America, familiar with the ubiquitous Coca-Cola Christmas advertising campaign, you probably picture a rotund, jolly old man, with a long flowing beard, and penchant for red velour clothing. But if you had lived 300 years ago, the image of […]
Another Christmas Lesson
At Christmas time we all hear many different lessons on the meaning of Christmas. Many times these lessons come from everyday life and have no basis in the Bible. But sometimes we learn things about Christmas straight from the Word of God. Recently I had such an experience. In Luke, an angel by the name […]
Spend Less than You Make
by Bob Wilkin My parents were young adults in the Depression. My oldest sister, Roberta, was born in 1938, near the end of the Depression. My parents taught me an important principle: spend less money than you make. While in seminary Sharon and I followed the financial teachings and budgeting advice of Larry Burkett. His […]
Christianity for the Emotionally Damaged
by Bob Wilkin When I was a student at DTS, Dr. Walvoord, then the President, commented in chapel about the problem the seminary had of students who had major moral problems. A student had been arrested that week and it was widely known on campus. Dr. Walvoord said something close to this: We give extensive […]
Sexual Sins and the Body of Christ: Dealing with Immorality in the Church Without Altering the Gospel or Undermining Assurance
by Bob Wilkin, excerpted from the June/July 1988 Newsletter of the Grace Evangelical Society Sexual immorality is rampant today. The seventies and eighties have been an era of free sex. Unfortunately, the problem of sexual immorality did not bypass the body of Christ. Studies show that sexual immorality (e.g., premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality, incest, lusting […]
Cut the Cord
by Shawn Lazar “Hey,” my kids yelled as I turned off the TV. “We were watching that!” “Not anymore. This show is teaching bad things and we’re not going to watch it.” I was talking about Supergirl. Up until this Saturday, my kids and I had enjoyed catching up on past episodes, and watching Supergirl […]