Fiction writers like Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) and popular scholars like Bart Ehrman (The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture) have convinced many people the New Testament is unreliable. We are led to believe that Emperor Constantine determined the New Testament canon in the fourth century; that Christian leaders, vying for power, changed the Gospels to suit their personal agendas; and that amateur copyists butchered early New Testament manuscripts. If these charges are true, the Church … [Read more...]
Hoffmann, Van Bebber elected officers of apologetics network
JEFFERSON CITY – Wil Hoffmann, pastor of Rising Son Baptist Church in Auxvasse, and Dave Van Bebber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Buffalo, have been elected officers of the Missouri Baptist Apologetics Network (MBAN). Network members elected Hoffmann president and Van Bebber secretary-treasurer at their meeting Oct. 29 in Branson, held in conjunction with the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting. The new officers serve two-year terms. Hoffmann and Van Bebber will lead the … [Read more...]
Have Jews, Christians corrupted the Bible?
In the previous column, we briefly examined several prophecies Jesus made concerning Himself. We presented the prophecies in the hope that our Muslim friends, who consider Jesus a great prophet but not the Son of God, would consider Jesus’ predictions, and their fulfillment, as evidence of His deity. The traditional Muslim response to the Bible, however, is that Jews and Christians have corrupted it, so it cannot be trusted. However, this claim poses problems that begin with the Qur’an … [Read more...]
Was Jesus more than a prophet?
Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet. In fact, they teach Jesus was one of the greatest of the 124,000 prophets Allah sent to mankind – second only to Muhammad, the final prophet of Islam. The Qur’an mentions Jesus in more than 25 places, always with honor. Jesus is called the son of Mary, the Messiah, a servant of God, a messenger of God, a word from God, and a sign from God. At the same time, the Qur’an denies the deity of Christ, as well as the elements of His saving work on the cross, … [Read more...]
Our glorified bodies
As we learned in the last column, glorification is the means by which God fully reverses the effects of the Fall, purging sin and its stain from the created order. It involves the return of Jesus, the future resurrection and judgment of all people, and the creation of new heavens and a new earth. The glory we experience now as Christ lives in us, and the glory we experience in death as our souls / spirits ascend into heaven, are partial works of glorification. But full glorification for … [Read more...]
The believer’s glorification
This is the 13th in a series of excerpts from the new MBC resource, What Every Christian Should Know About Salvation, available at mobaptist.org/apologetics. Glorification is the final stage in God’s work of salvation. It is the crowning achievement of sanctification, in which Christians are fully conformed to the image of Christ. It is the perfection of the body, rejoined with soul and spirit in resurrection, as well as the restoration of the universe to its original state. Put another … [Read more...]
The sealing of the Holy Spirit
This is the 12th in a series of excerpts from the new MBC resource, What Every Christian Should Know About Salvation, available at www.mobaptist.org/apologetics. When believing sinners entrust their lives to Christ, the Father seals them with the Holy Spirit, placing His divine mark of ownership on them, thus ensuring His everlasting presence and their eternal security. As the Father’s imprint on the surrendered heart, the Spirit reminds followers of Jesus they are secure as coheirs with … [Read more...]
St. Louis author watches over kids like a ‘Mama Bear’
BALLWIN – Thirteen years ago Julie Loos was getting ready to send her oldest son off to middle school. The question came to her: “How will I help him prepare for exposure to different worldviews? Like any good mother, she was watching over her kids carefully and she described herself as “kind of a Mama Bear.” That led her to speak with some folks in her family’s church, First Baptist Church of Ellisville, which is now called the Fellowship of Wildwood. There she learned more about the … [Read more...]
When the Father adopts you
Adoption is an act of God making born-again believers members of His family. The Greek word for adoption stems from two words: huios, meaning “son,” and thesis, meaning “a placing.” Thus, the word huiothesia conveys the idea of “placement into sonship.” This biblical term is meant to include both males and females. From a first-century legal perspective, adoption meant taking a person from another family and making him or her legally a child in a new family. The son’s or daughter’s former … [Read more...]
IMB’s Chitwood: ‘Your state convention helps churches reach your state, our world for Christ’
EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul Chitwood serves as president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board. To learn about the Missouri Baptist Convention's state missions offering, visit https://mobaptist.org/mmo/. To learn about the Cooperative Program, visit https://mobaptist.org/cp. My first international mission trip took place on a farm in central Kentucky. As a new pastor in the community, I found myself interacting often with migrant workers from Central and South … [Read more...]
God’s work of sanctification
Sanctification is the work of God making Christians more like Jesus. As Millard Erickson puts it, “Sanctification is a process by which one’s moral condition is brought into conformity with one’s legal status before God. It is a continuation of what was begun in regeneration, when a newness of life was conferred upon and instilled within the believer. In particular, sanctification is the Holy Spirit’s applying to the life of the believer the work done by Jesus Christ.” Sanctification may … [Read more...]
IMB workers pray for more baptisms of believers they don’t know
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is written by Caroline Anderson, a writer who serves with IMB in Central Asia. SOUTHEAST ASIA—William and Nancy Potter,* IMB workers who serve in Southeast Asia, love hearing about baptisms of people they don’t know. News of strangers being baptized means there has been generational growth of Christians in their area. The “generational growth” — people who lead people, who then lead other people, to Christ — first began 18 years ago when they met Ary Keo* … [Read more...]
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