At 2:30 a.m., on November 19, 2002, I stood on our deck gazing up at the night sky. Above me was the Leonid meteor shower, the finest display of celestial fireworks until the year 2096. For someone who has enjoyed meteor showers since he was a kid, this was the celestial event of a lifetime. There was only one problem: clouds covered the Oregon sky. Of the hundreds of streaking meteors above me, I couldn’t see a single one. I... Read more
“What is the meaning of it, Watson?” said Holmes solemnly as he laid down the paper. “What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.” (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box”) Sherlock Holmes... Read more
Several years ago I shared on my blog about Christopher Yuan’s story of God’s grace, and his deliverance from homosexual sin. I got to meet him, and his parents Leon and Angelia Yuan, when we were both speaking in 2017 at an apologetics conference, and greatly enjoyed having breakfast with Christopher and hearing his testimony. Here’s a brief synopsis of his story: Christopher once lived as an openly gay young man. But after being sentenced for drug dealing and finding he had... Read more
When I taught a theology of Heaven class, I was asked, “How accessible will Jesus be to us on the New Earth?” Here’s the video of my answer, and below is an edited transcript, with some added thoughts: If indeed Jesus is the eternally incarnate son of God and still has His resurrection body, doesn’t that mean He can only be at one place at one time on Earth? When Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi, He was not also in Jerusalem healing the... Read more
A writer friend was at an event many years ago when he witnessed the following: He was standing near a woman confined to a wheelchair. Suddenly a well-known woman, who had written and spoken extensively about her gift of healing, marched up to the lady in the wheelchair, dramatically laid hands on her head, and prayed loudly that God would heal her, claiming God’s promises to do so. The healer’s entourage enthusiastically agreed with the prayer, some praying in tongues.... Read more
As we start a new year, it’s common to ponder where we’ve been and where we’re headed. It’s also a very good idea to take a long look at who we’ve become and line it up with who God says we should be. If you dream of living the “good life” I urge you to put checking your definition against Scripture at the top of your goals this year. Socrates said, “Not life, but a good life, is to be... Read more
A few years ago, my friend Greg Laurie (senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship), along with Ellen Vaughn, wrote a book called Jesus Revolution: How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today. Rarely have I read a book so entertaining, informative, and spiritually significant. I relived many formative historical events of the 60s and 70s—Jesus transformed my life when I was an unchurched fifteen year old about to start my sophomore year of high school. Now the... Read more
“To die will be an awfully big adventure,” says Peter Pan. But it will be a wonderful, big adventure only for those who are covered by the blood of Christ. Those who die without Jesus will experience a horrifying tragedy. Of course, dying is not the real adventure. Death is merely the doorway to eternal life. The adventure is what comes after death—being in the presence of Christ. Just before he was hanged by the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer prayed aloud, “Oh, God,... Read more
G. K. Chesterton has been widely credited with saying, “Jesus promised His disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.” It might be argued that most Western Christians aren’t any of these three . . . but least of all “absurdly happy.” We tend to perceive Christianity as being about tradition and morality, not happiness. I make no apology for believing in morality. But some Christians, in the name of moral obligation, wear frowns,... Read more
My life has been shaped by all kinds of writings that have pointed me to God’s Book. As an author, I love writing different books to reach more people in more ways, by God’s grace, with the life-changing truths of His Word. I wrote 50 Days of Heaven by selecting the material most suitable from my book Heaven for a devotional, then rewriting it in a different style. Why write different sized books on one subject? Because they’re designed to reach different audiences with... Read more
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