Gospel Living

To read The Journal of Biblical Counseling , visit  http://www.ccef.org/JBC Current Issue (as of this posting): Volume 26 | Number 1 Featured Articles JBC: Renewing Our Mission (From the Editor's Desk) By:  David Powlison Read Online  |  Download Article In the opening editorial, “JBC: Renewing our Mission,” Senior Editor David Powlison reintroduces the Journal of Biblical Counseling  after its four year hiatus. Powlison offers a fruitful way to frame what readers will encounter in the  Journal  by sharing why we are doing what we do, our core commitments, and what we aim to accomplish. Page count: 9 Listening to Prozac . . . and to the Scriptures: A Primer on Psychoactive Medications By:  Mike Emlet Read Online  |  Download Article Michael Emlet’s “Listening to Prozac…and to the Scriptures” updates the answer to a perennial question. What is the re...

Previous parts: Introduction | Act 1 Paul wants to comfort the persecuted believers in Thessalonica, but along the way, he has to write to correct some error within the church.  They had been “shaken in mind or alarmed” (2 The 2:2)—they feared that the Lord had already returned and they had somehow missed it (cf. v. 1).  Why?  Someone had forged a letter from the Apostles and was spreading this vicious rumor (vv. 2–3).   Paul sets them straight on these events, reminding them of what they have already been taught concerning “the day of the Lord” (vv. 1–2). Thus, Paul begins verse one by discussing the coming (little-C) of the Lord.   This  "coming" is the rapture of the church, the “gathering together” we witnessed in the first act of Paul's drama.  Paul explained this while he was still with the fledgling church (v. 5) and repeated it in the first Thessalonian letter.  However, since then, the false teaching that Christ had alread...

I surprised my history students when I said we probably should not have "under God" in the pledge.  Little sayings like "God bless America" and "In God We Trust" can salve our national conscience when we should be on our knees in a pool of tears, pleading for God's mercy. We assume God is for us, when the opposite is probably the case. Let James White explain:

Without warning, an easy-going 6th grader displayed sudden tics, scratched himself and other objects till he bled, yelled, and demanded showers at every sign of contamination.  The source of the obsessive behavior: strep throat .  The lad had to be removed from his normal classroom environment and isolated while doctors worked on the right combination of antibiotics to fight the toxins affecting his mental state. The current story at MSNBC Health made me remember what the doctors said that young man suffered from: he had PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections). Here is a Q&A video from CCEF on identifying OCD in children: