John Shore recently authored a commentary for Patheos entitled, “What Christianity Without Hell Looks Like.” Patheos is a website providing information about various religions. Reprinted in TIME Ideas and complete with a photo of a dove soaring in the sunlight, the article’s main point is that Christianity without hell “would allow Christians to point upward to God’s love.” Shore is a popular Christian blogger and author, yet his column features a string of shockingly bad theological … [Read more...]
Mohler: Newsweek on the Bible — So Misrepresented It’s a Sin
Newsweek magazine decided to greet the start of 2015 with a massive cover story on the Bible. For decades now, major news magazines have tended to feature cover articles timed for Christmas and Easter, taking an opportunity to consider some major question about Christianity and the modern world. Leading the journalistic pack for years, both TIME andNewsweek dedicated cover article after article, following a rather predictable format. In the main, scholars or leaders from very liberal … [Read more...]
Homosexuality: A gospel issue
It is a gospel issue. We must understand in no uncertain terms that to capitulate on the issue of same-sex marriage or “Gay Rights” legislation as has been proposed in Springfield is to abandon the gospel. This is not a civil rights issue. This is not discrimination. This is not bigotry or religious fanaticism. The acceptance of homosexuality as a legitimate alternative lifestyle is a rejection of the gospel. The Bible teaches very clearly that God created everyone and everything that … [Read more...]
Bible’s Christmas accounts ‘complementary’
NASHVILLE (BP) – A historian named Julius Africanus was among the first Christians to wonder why the stories of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke differ slightly. Around the year 200, Julius apparently sought Jesus' living relatives to ask them why the genealogies of Christ in the two Gospels aren't exactly the same. Was one of the accounts in error? Jesus' ancient relatives explained, according to the third-century church historian Eusebius, that the lineage of Joseph, Jesus' adoptive … [Read more...]
Original sin and the Imago Dei
In Colonial days students learned to read from The New England Primer, which featured a number of Christian maxims such as, “In Adam’s Fall, we sinned all.” This statement, like others in the Primer, incorporated biblical truths into basic education. From childhood, students came to understand that all human beings are sinful and fallen creatures. While many schools today abandon these truths in favor of relativism, syncretism, and multiculturalism, many Christian parents instill in their … [Read more...]
What you should know about Chrislam
Christians sharing the gospel in Muslim-dominated countries take incredible risks. And converts from Islam to Christianity are routinely banished, imprisoned or murdered. So, how do Christian missionaries teach Muslims about Jesus when Islam denies His deity and death on the cross? And how do new converts from Islam to Christianity worship Jesus without inviting severe persecution? One answer is Chrislam, the bringing together of Christianity and Islam. Proponents of Chrislam say that … [Read more...]
What does the Word-Faith movement teach?
This is the second in a five-part series on the Prosperity Gospel. The central teaching of the errant Word-Faith movement is that God wills your prosperity and health; therefore, to be a Christian in poverty or ill health is to be outside the will of God. There is great diversity within the Word-Faith movement, but below are doctrines that most prosperity teachers embrace. Please keep in mind that these are false doctrines, which we address in future columns. For a more in-depth … [Read more...]
Jimmy Carter’s comments are compromising, convoluted
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Former President Jimmy Carter, in a recent speech here, made two important points – one of which was ridiculous and the other quite correct, but not rightly applied. In the first case, Mr. Carter affirmed gay civil rights and same-sex marriage by saying Jesus Christ never discriminated against anyone. As a Sunday School teacher for most of his adult life, it seems Mr. Carter would know a little more about Jesus than that. Jesus had clear moral standards which he … [Read more...]
What is the Word-Faith movement?
This is the first in a five-part series on the Prosperity Gospel. Does God want me rich? Can my words create reality? Are human beings little gods? Almost without exception, leaders of today’s Word-Faith movement answer these questions with a resounding, “Yes!” While elements of the Word-Faith movement are as old as first-century false teachings, the so-called Prosperity Gospel has borrowed from the more recent “mind sciences” and radical Pentecostalism to become a leading form of … [Read more...]
Mohler: Evangelicals should expect persecution
LOUISVILLE (SBTS) – “Opposition from the world is an opportunity to witness,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, during a special Heritage Week chapel service, Oct. 15. “The opportunity of greatest Christian witness is not when we think the world loves us, but when the world quite openly hates us.” Preaching from John 15:18-27, Mohler said, “This passage is, of course, not completely unfamiliar to us as evangelical Christians in the United … [Read more...]
Bible & generational curses
Many Christians struggling with addictive behaviors, bad relationships, or dire circumstances wonder if they are victims of generational curses. In other words, they worry that God is punishing them for the sins of their ancestors. Prosperity preachers like Joel Osteen lend credence to this notion. “The things you struggle with – they didn’t just happen to show up,” he says in a video message. “Somebody in your family line opened the door… . It will continue until somebody rises up and … [Read more...]
Mohler: Osteen message ‘aims for so little’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) – The evangelical world, joined by no shortage of secular observers, has been abuzz about the latest soundbite of note from the Pastors Osteen – this time offered by Victoria Osteen as her husband Joel beamed in the background. In her message, Victoria Osteen tells their massive congregation to realize that their devotion to God is not really about God, but about themselves. “I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- …
- 33
- Next Page »