Gospel Living

Holy Land Devotional Booklet: A Spiritual Journey by United Methodist Church (U.S.) My rating: 3 of 5 stars Walking the reader through individual aspects of the Holy Land, the authors try to draw out spiritual principles and appropriate reflections. Focusing on a few areas of Palestine rather than many, it represents a great idea for walking the uninitiated through the path of the children of Israel into the Promised Land and their settled locales as a nation. The book goes far in achieving this purpose, but not quite far enough. First, there is surprisingly little data as to the locations highlighted in the book. For example, while there is a map on page ii, Mt. Nebo and Petra, the focus of the first five devotionals, are not marked on it or anywhere else. Jerusalem appears on that early map, but no map or diagram directs readers to the locations of the nine devotionals dedicated to the city. Illustrations accompany each devotional but vary in ability to help readers visual...

At last year's Shepherd's Conference, Todd Friel asked this question of Al Mohler.  As we begin to feel the heat of the 2016 Presidential Election, we should consider his response:

If Newsweek's yuletide drive-by on the Bible (a sloppy bit of journalism dismantled by James White ) is any reminder, it is that the world will continue its attacks of the trustworthiness of God's Word. Yet, fewer Christian institutions defend Scripture against such fallacious attacks.  It seems that every year, Evangelical scholarship becomes more willing to allow such questions to go unanswered, even promoting them in classrooms as valid inquiries. Can a believer have confidence that what God spoke is inerrant?  If you're a pastor or Christian leader who needs to build his confidence in the Bible or disciple others in the same, this conference is for you. Unfortunately, registration is already closed.  However, you can follow the conference online live and for free at https://www.shepherdsconference.org/.  Be sure to follow the conference on Twitter for updates and possible openings at https://twitter.com/shepconf.  As always, after t...

Did Isaac marry a three-year-old?  If you've never pondered this question, it's because nothing in the straightforward reading of the text would suggest that Rebekah was a toddler or that their marriage was arranged. Even so, a couple of verses out of context could be used by skeptics to prove anything.  While perusing the web for a related topic, however, I found a thread stating that the Bible isn't against the raping of children .  The cited evidence was this issue, the claim being that Isaac engaged in pedophilia. The question comes from the fact that Genesis 22:23 announces the birth of Rebekah after the binding of Isaac.  Tradition states that Isaac was then thirty-seven, and Scripture says that the two wed when Isaac was forty (Gn 25:20).  Hence, Isaac robbed the cradle. The whole theory is fraught with assumptions, the primary being that Scripture never records a age marker for Rebekah.  Further complicating the matter, however, is Jewis...

Working at the jail, I find myself cleaning and recycling used Bibles.  We check for the usual: contraband or information written in the Bibles that would cause issues if recirculated. One Bible has a reference to "The Blessing Explosion," something that appears Word-of-Faith in origin (names like Creflo Dollar and Jerry Savelle top the Google results). Next to that is the list of verses in support for tongues-speaking: Mt 3:16 Mt 28:19 Jn 20:22 Acts 1:8 Acts 2:4 Acts 19:6 Luke 11:13 Mk 16:16-18 That seems like an impressive list, but a quick glance at each of the verses reveals that most do not refer to tongues.  Whittling away the excess, we are left with these verses: Acts 2:4 Acts 19:6 Acts 2:4 occurs on Pentecost, when the Apostles began proclaiming the works of God in the various or languages represented in the crowd (vv. 6-11).  The peoples, in amazement, hear the Word of God in their own διάλεκτος , their own " way of speaking ," fr...

We ventured into a Family Bookstore a couple of days ago to pick up an extra Bible and some books for a small group study.  While the kind clerk rang us up, she described a program for troops to receive teaching from top Bible teachers.  So, there's that awkward moment: I told her that I couldn't recommend anyone to listen to half the teachers on the advertised list. "Uh-oh" and a moment of silence followed. Perry Noble, pastor of the multi-site NewSpring Church in South Carolina, prominently featured with the other teachers. Fumbling the ball on what Noble and other like-minded pastors call "Superbowl Sunday," a.k.a. Christmas, Noble taught a mix of semi-Pelagian theology and legalism in calling people to embrace the "promises" known as the Ten Commandments.  How?  Noble is under the false impression that the word "command" doesn't exist in Hebrew, and that we could understand the Decalogue to be "the Ten Promises" to ev...

Two great posts on Christmas exist on the Glory Books blog  Check them out: Investigating the Necessity of Christmas by Eric Weathers  White as Snow Christmas: Is Forgiveness Easy? by Issa Haddad