You may have never heard of the Red Hat Virus. But beware - it's insidious and highly contagious. Trust me. I'm not talking about computers either. Moreover this has nothing to do with Red Hat Linux. You can get this virus from the internet without it secretly downloading to your PC. It isn't a Trojan. You can … [Read more...]
Israel Punching Bag
The corporation I once worked for drummed into us the inevitability of change: "Get used to it." They meant company re-structures. Some things never change, though. Israel will always be a punching bag. Maybe it was because it was around the time of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. But I was seeing an … [Read more...]
Elephant in a Canal
As I was scrolling through twitter my attention was drawn to a video of an elephant trapped in a narrow water canal. It was desperately trying to climb the steep bank in order to rejoin his family. There was a large crowd of people trying to help him climb up. They dropped a rope to which they tied several tires. … [Read more...]
How Far the Tribulation?
How far are we from the tribulation? Well, as I've often pointed out in the past, there's a large body of difference and debate among premillennialists regarding what "the Tribulation" means. This is a theme which has been on my mind for a while now. So, I'll begin by briefly re-iterating what I think. First of all, … [Read more...]
Discernment Ministry Bullies
Don't get me wrong, we all need discernment. I have a love-hate relationship with certain Discernment Ministries. By their very nature they look for fires to put out. Sadly, in their zeal, they sometimes end up being spiritual bullies. In some cases they end up as a vigilante, heresy-hunter industry, rather than a … [Read more...]
What is Justification?
What is Justification? How or when are Christians justified? Is there any difference between Justification and Sanctification? Is there any relationship between the two? These terms and their relationship to each other have confused me in the past. I'm not a theologian or a Bible teacher. I've drawn the following … [Read more...]
Israel Replacement Eschatology
Israel Replacement Eschatology - it kinda sounds awkward and goofy, doesn't it? We know about Replacement Theology and its manifestations. This is different. In the former, prophecies about Israel get re-imagined and woven into the larger organism of the church. I've moaned before about the Reformers not … [Read more...]
Adoption into the Family of God
The other day the topic of our adoption into the family of God came to my attention from several sources. One came via a sermon by Ian Hamilton, in which he cited J. I. Packer's book Knowing God. Hamilton regarded chapter 19, Sons of God, as one of his favorites. Some time later I was reading Mike Reeves' book … [Read more...]
The Devil Goes to Church
Not only is Satan alive and well on Planet Earth, but the Devil goes to Church. My apologies to Hal Lindsey for stealing his line, it was too good to pass up. The concept of Satan and his minions running around causing havoc is generally treated with ridicule in our post-modern society. This is definitely true in … [Read more...]
Pilgrims in a Foreign World
Have you ever gone back to an old childhood neighborhood? Most of us have likely done that. Once, on a whim, I visited my old school. I was eight or nine when we moved. It looked smaller than I expected. Of course, I was a grown up now. There was a time when we could play on the grassy median strip of the adjacent … [Read more...]
