With All the Gospel Confusion, Its Amazing Anyone Gets Saved
by Steve Smitter* Before I came to faith in Christ, God spared my life no less than 15 times. Otherwise, I would have died prematurely and gone to hell. On 13 different occasions I was arrested for various crimes I committed. I spent several years in prison. This came as no surprise to those who […]
The Current Justification Controversy in the OPC
Mark W. Evans is a minister in the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) denomination. He recently wrote an article decrying the establishing of an ecclesiastic relationship between the BPC and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) denomination. At the 68th general synod of the BPC in August of 2004 the delegates narrowly voted to form this alliance. […]
Clarifying the Confusion of the Sinner’s Prayer
by Jeremy Myers A man came into my study this week struggling with sin, salvation, and a sense of God’s presence in his life. He told me he was saved but he had never seen God work in his life. While I could have pointed out that God is at work in the lives of […]
Evangelizing Children Without Trivializing the Gospel
by Jessica Wempe Picture a wee bitty person that fits in your shirt pocket. Recite a magical prayer and this little person will whisk all your worries away. Got the picture? If so, you have some idea of the confusion we unwittingly bring upon our children. The Grace movement promotes a clear gospel message, but […]
Present Faith: The Basis of Assurance
This is an excerpt from Bob’s book on Assurance entitled Secure and Sure. Have you ever met someone who was looking to some past experience as the basis of their assurance? They prayed some prayer and put the date in their Bible. They walked an aisle after a particularly moving sermon. They made a commitment […]
God’s Word: The Source of Assurance
This is an excerpt from Bob’s upcoming book on Assurance entitled Secure and Sure. In our postmodern culture people who claim to be certain about anything are viewed with no small amount of skepticism. The only certainty today, it seems, is that you can’t be certain! All but the most unreasonable, however, will acknowledge that […]
Live and Let Die (Romans 8:13)
by René Lopez Live and Let Die is the title of one of the most famous James Bond (007) movies. As every Bond-enthusiast knows, those movies are filled with espionage, international intrigue, death, and of course ultimate victory for the good guy, James Bond, who always lives to fight crime another day. At the beginning […]
Certainty: The Definition of Assurance
Life today, more than ever, is uncertain. Terrorist attacks that were only distant threats a few short years ago are now the subject of the daily news. The economic climate of the world is in constant flux and increasingly tenuous. Political regimes come and go with frightening regularity. Indeed nothing seems certain these days. The […]
Good People Go To Heaven…Don’t They?
A Review of How Good Is Good Enough? by Andy Stanley by Brian Stone Have you ever had problems explaining how the notion “only good people go to heaven” is logically and biblically incorrect? In his new book, How Good Is Good Enough?, Andy Stanley points out, “Smart, educated, accomplished men and women from just […]
As Many As Were Devoted to Eternal Life Believed
There’s a verse in Acts which is extremely well known to five-point Calvinists. It reads, “And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). It seems to say that only those appointed to eternal life are able to believe in Jesus and gain eternal life. Hence all others are doomed to […]