Countless myths have been attached to the pro-life movement. One example is the oft-repeated statement, “Pro-lifers don’t really care about pregnant women, or about children once they’re born.” A television reporter, with cameras rolling, once approached me at a pro-life event and asked for my response to that accusation. I said, “Well, my wife and I opened our home to a pregnant girl and paid her expenses while she lived with us. We supported her when she decided to give... Read more
What if you could ask God any question you wanted about money and get an answer? The truth is, you won’t know until you try. Start with these seven questions, and see where God leads you from there. The Bible is full of teachings about money, because money tends to wrestle for first place in our hearts. But God knows our hearts, and if we ask Him, He will guide us. Consider all you’ve been given by praying through the... Read more
If we recognize God’s sovereignty even over Satan’s work, it changes our perspective about our lives and suffering. Satan and God intend the same suffering for entirely different purposes, but God’s purpose triumphs. Satan sought Job’s ruin and loss of faith; God sought Job’s refining and faith-building. The very thing Satan intended for Job’s destruction, God intended for his betterment and ultimate reward (though certainly at a terrible cost). Second Corinthians 12:7 gives us a striking picture. We see God... Read more
Forty-five years ago when I was in Bible college, we used to pray for Nepal, a country that was synonymous with the most closed and unreached and unlikely place for Christians to be. Someone who had lived there for many years came and spoke to us about how very few people were followers of Jesus. He urged us to pray for believers there. The very small number of Christians made it seem incredible that a Christian book would ever be... Read more
In his book The Eclipse of Heaven, theology professor A. J. Conyers argues that until recently the doctrine of Heaven was enormously important to the church. Belief in Heaven was not just a nice auxiliary sentiment. It was a central, life-sustaining conviction. Sadly, even for countless Christians, that is no longer true. Heaven has fallen off our radar screens. How can we set our hearts on Heaven when we have an impoverished theology of Heaven? How can we expect our children... Read more
A reader recently asked a great question on my Facebook page: “Could you please define God’s sovereignty as compared to His providence?” In my book hand in Hand: The Beauty of God’s Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice, I say this: Arminian theologian Jack Cottrell says, “The sovereignty of God may be concisely summed up as absolute Lordship. It is the same as the concept of kingdom or kingship or dominion.” Calvinist theologian A. A. Hodge defined God’s sovereignty as “His absolute right to govern and... Read more
One of the ministries EPM has long supported is MedSend, a group that funds qualified healthcare professionals to serve the physical and spiritual needs of people around the world. Our friend John Brose was one of EPM’s original supporters since our beginning in 1990. Dr. Brose was a member of our church, a beloved physician, and a former missionary physician to Burundi who served on the board and was vitally involved with MedSend. He often talked to me about this important ministry and... Read more
A reader recently sent me a link on Facebook with some pictures that put earth in perspective in the universe. Below are a few of the images. Seeing this brings me back to gazing into the sky night after night as a boy. And how God used it, and my study of the wonders of the universe, to prepare my heart to meet Him: The universe is vast, yet God is said to have created it with His fingers. Effortless. No big... Read more
Here at EPM, we love the ministry of Prison Fellowship. I loved their founder, Chuck Colson, one of the most brilliant and Christ-loving men I’ve ever known. If you’re older you’re familiar with who he was, Richard Nixon’s “Hatchet Man,” a scholar, Marine, attorney, and assistant to the President of the United States. He was one of the small group of powerful men at the center of the Watergate Scandal, and while in prison he came to faith in Christ. If... Read more
In addition to the challenges that come with COVID-19, our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world continue to suffer persecution, sometimes very severe, for following Jesus. Each year Open Doors USA releases their World Watch List Report, which lists the 50 places around the world where it costs the most to be a Christian. They say, Around the world, more than 340 million Christians live in places where they experience high levels of persecution, just for following Jesus. That’s 1... Read more
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