Blog – Page 156 – Grace Evangelical Society

Three Kinds of Separation from False Teachers

November 6, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - doctrine of separation, Gretta Vosper, separation, United Church of Canada

The United Church of Canada is an ultra-liberal denomination in an already liberal Canadian religious environment. During my undergraduate studies, I attended classes at a United Church seminary, and I can say from my conversations with seminarians of that denomination that they were barely Christian. Theist, yes, but Christian, no (for the most part). I

Should Women Cover Their Heads When Praying or Teaching? (1 Corinthians 11:4-16)

November 5, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog

My recent blog (see here) attempted to harmonize 1 Cor 11:5 with 1 Cor 14:34 (and with 1 Tim 2:11-12). I suggested that in the meeting of the local church, women are to be silent. Women can pray and teach outside of the church meeting, but not in church. This led to some excellent questions:

Oswald Chambers on Salvation By Faith

November 4, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - death of Christ, Faith, Oswald Chambers

The October 28 devotion in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest risks leaving people in the dark about what he meant. I think Chambers is making an important point about the basis of our salvation, but he does it in a potentially confusing way: I am not saved by believing—I simply realize I am

Keith Giles on God’s Wrath

November 1, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Keith Giles, Law and Gospel, Martin Luther, preaching, wrath

I was reading up on house churches when I stumbled across this post from Keith Giles (whom I am not familiar with, but who has written about “organic churches”). He argues that wrath is not one of the attributes of God. That’s clearly wrong. Wrath is definitely one of the attributes of God. If God

The Overcomer Won’t Be Hurt by the Second Death (Revelation 2:11)

October 31, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - hurt by the second death, Litotes, Overcomers, Revelation 2:11, understatement

I recently wrote a blog on the NT concept of overcomers (see here). That blog led to this question: The problem with this logic is that Revelation 2:11 does not make sense if only victorious Christians are overcomers. I need you to address this verse specifically: “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what

A Free Grace Response to John Owen’s Conundrum

October 30, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Arminians, atonement, Calvinism, John Owen

This past spring was one of the wettest on record. That might be why we had tons of flies around the house. As the kids ran in and out of the house, flies would get in, so we set an electric bug zapper on a kitchen counter to deal with the problem. One day, my

Beware of How You Harmonize 1 Cor 11:5 and 1 Cor 14:34

October 29, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 1 Corinthians 11:5, 1 Corinthians 14:34, women speaking in church

I just came across an article entitled “What Paul Really Says about Women in Ministry” It is at the Assemblies of God website. You can see their article here. The author, George Wood, argues for the egalitarian position, which is the view that men and women, while having differences, are to have equal teaching and

Watchman Nee on the Eternality of Eternal Life

October 28, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Watchman Nee

Charles Ryrie famously said that if eternal life could be lost, it has the wrong name. He wasn’t the first to make that point. Watchman Nee, the well-known Chinese theologian (whom I consider to be an early proponent of Free Grace theology), said the same thing way back in 1937: The Bible shows us that

Evangelical Leaders Who Deny Certainty of Salvation

October 25, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - absolute certainty, Assurance, Eternal Security, Evangelical leaders who deny the possibility of certainty, Perseverance

Dr. John Niemelä called today and asked me if I had a list of quotes from Evangelicals who deny absolute assurance. Well, I didn’t have the list, but I did have many such quotes. So, I’ve pulled them together for this blog. Robert Peterson: Protestants do not claim the ‘absolute’ certainty that Rome rejects. The

“No Pure Gospel”?

October 24, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - epistemology, truth

“There’s no pure gospel in the world.” Recently, I took a class at an Evangelical seminary when someone made that statement. He continued: “In fact, I’d be really afraid if someone thought that he had the pure gospel!” It was not clear what he meant by “pure gospel.” Did he mean “no one really knows