There are over 2.3 Billion Christians in the world today, according to most polls. In the USA, approximately 65% of Americans identify as Christians, or approximately 167 Million who claim to follow Jesus. Christianity is the world’s largest religious group. So, that means that if every one of those who claim to follow the Prince of Peace would put His words into practice and love their enemies, lay down their weapons, and refuse to fight [as Jesus famously predicted His... Read more
Last night, as we were sitting around the fireplace, reflecting back on the year that was, my wife, Wendy, found this little wire balloon with the word “Hope” inside of it. Our youngest son had found it on a walk a few weeks earlier and picked it up off the ground. It ended up on the fireplace near a few logs and sat there, unnoticed, until a few hours before the New Year began. To be honest, I think... Read more
Most Christians break one of the biggest rules of Biblical interpretation: Basing all of your theology on a single verse of scripture. That verse is Hebrews 9:22: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Many take this to mean that God’s requirement for forgiveness is the shedding of blood. But, before we address that error, let’s take a look at that assumption. Does the Scripture support... Read more
Most Christians – if you ask them – will strongly deny that they believe in Virgin Sacrifice. But, if you start asking them a few specific questions about their theology, you’ll see that they actually DO embrace this theology. For example: Ask them if they believe that Jesus was innocent and sinless. Most will say “Yes.” Ask them if they think Jesus ever had sex with a woman. Most will say, “No!” Ask them if they believe that Jesus had... Read more
There you go again, loving sinners more than God does. It’s getting kinda annoying, to be honest. I know God is awesome, but come on. God is not THAT awesome. Sure, God is love, blah, blah, blah. I get that. We all get that. But, you forget that God is also a God of wrath and justice. There’s plenty of wrath and justice just oozing out of God right now. Lots of it. In fact, you should probably just meditate... Read more
Every time. Every single time I try to teach people that God is love and that God responds to our failures with mercy and forgiveness, someone will always try to say, “But God is also a God of Wrath and Justice!” Every time. But, as I’ve already mentioned, there are zero verses that say “God IS wrath”, but there are lots that teach us that “God IS Love,” and the book of Revelation even mocks the idea of God’s wrath... Read more
Ok, I know this one is a stretch, but stay with me here. The Magi who came from the East following the star of Bethlehem were disciples of Daniel, the Old Testament Prophet. How do we know this? Because we read that Daniel stayed behind when the Babylonian/Persian captivity was over. We also know that Daniel was leading a school of mystics during the reign of Nebuchadnezzer and continued to teach disciples under the Persian rulers. This is why those... Read more
Even though Jesus was not born on December 25th, this is the time of year that many people celebrate the birth of Christ by going into debt to purchase expense gifts that [somehow] demonstrate their love for friends and family. This is not a post about the evils of commercialism or materialism. Promise. Instead, I want to take some time to consider the implication of the Incarnation of Christ, which is supposed to be what everyone is celebrating this time... Read more
Whenever I read the surveys from Christianity Today, or Baptist News, or The Christian Post about how young people are leaving the American Church in droves, or how politics in the pulpit is driving the next generation away from the faith, or how Evangelicals are slowly growing older and more irrelevant to their communities, I must confess I give a little cheer. Why? Because all of these signs point to one inevitable conclusion: The Evangelical Christian Church is a dinosaur... Read more
There is more of Christ in the world right now than there was when Jesus walked the earth almost two-thousand years ago. Don’t believe me? It’s true. Jesus, who promised never to leave us or forsake us, poured out his Spirit on all flesh – men and women, young and old, Jew and Gentile – and he even made a startling statement before he went away: “It is better for you if I go away…” [John 16:7] But most... Read more
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