The following is my interview with Clinton E. Arnold on his excellent book, Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul’s Letters. The book is one of the best I’ve come across on the subject. Arnold is Dean and Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology (Biola University). Enjoy! Instead of asking, “what is your book about,” I’m going to ask the question that’s behind that question. And that unspoken question is, “how are readers going to benefit… Read more

Well, I just wrote a blog post on my laptop. You have the title (above). Guess what happened. As is sometimes the case when I use a laptop (which isn’t the norm), my fingers hit the wrong keys and I end up deleting the entire post. Usually, however, I can use the “Undo” feature and the blog post reappears. This time, no cigar. I pressed “Undo” multiple times and the post never came back. The post is history. I can’t retrieve… Read more

Over the years, I’ve learned to never give unsolicited advice. There have been a few exceptions. But in the main, offering unsolicited advice is a bad idea. What’s been your experience? Read more

Countless books pass through my hands each year. Evangelical publishers send me their new titles routinely. Once in a while, I will interview the authors. Most of the time I don’t. Recently, however, I came across a book where I actually found fresh content that was significantly helpful to my own thinking. Given how much I’ve read over the years, this rarely happens. Most Christian books today simply repeat what others have already written. Here’s the story. While doing my research on my… Read more

Today I interview Tripp York on his controversial book Living on Hope While Living in Babylon. You’ll see that Tripp likes to upset the apple cart. For those of you who are new in the Patheos cyberplasm, like all of my author interviews, this interview is not an endorsement of everything Tripp has written. If you disagree, the comments are open for the next 5 days. Remember to state your objections civilly to Tripp. Our beloved Blog Manger doesn’t approve… Read more

If God has anointed you with a significant ministry, at some point in your life, you will have someone who is obsessed with destroying your life and your work. The testimony of church history witnesses to this. Some in the religious establishment were consumed with killing Jesus, and they eventually did. Paul of Tarsus had some who were so obsessed with him that they took a vow to fast food until he was dead. The next morning some Jews formed… Read more

You’ll never cure lukewarmness by guilting people into being hot. You must give them a stunning revelation of Christ. Read more

These are my top five picks on the subject of ministry. All are classics in their own right. I suspect that most contemporary Christians who are immersed in “pop-Christianity” today have never heard of them. I’m hoping that this post will change that for many. 1. What Shall This Man Do? 2. The School of Christ 3. The Master Plan of Evangelism 4. No Other Foundation 5. The Release of the Spirit Also: here’s my top 100 Christian books of all time list. Read more

For the first time, I shared my views on the ever-controversial issue of homosexuality in the 85th episode of my podcast. What I said was my response to two people’s questions about the subject. If you haven’t heard the episode yet, click Answers to Hot-Boiling Questions. Don’t assume what I believe. Listen to it in its entirety if you haven’t already.  In that podcast episode, I talk about three views on homosexuality among Christians and I end with “the third… Read more

What do all of these people have in common? Find out by clicking the links below. Bono on Jesus John Lennon on Jesus: The Untold Story Alice Cooper on Jesus Justin Bieber on Jesus Read more