The Outer Darkness Is Not the Lake of Fire

by in - , , , ,
A friend asked me if I saw an article by Hampton Keathley IV at the Bible.org website entitled, “The Outer Darkness: Heaven’s Suburb or Hell?” You can see it here.  I’ve known Keathley for a long time. He is a friend and a Free Grace guy.   The expression the outer darkness (or the darkness outside) only occurs three times in
read more

Let’s Have an Argument: The Emerging Church vs Paul

by in - ,
I’m tired of having conversations and dialogues. Let’s have an argument!  Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel have written an excellent overview of the emerging church movement (ECM), The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity. As sociologists, they give an overview of the data they collected about the movement, without offering their own opinions about its theological correctness.  The fourth
read more

Arguments for Salvation by Dying to Self and Walking in His Ways

by in - , , ,
A reader of our website has a problem with our stand that salvation from eternal condemnation is by faith alone, apart from works. She wrote: I enjoyed reading your article on Acts 13:48 since I’m aware of Calvinism and did consider this verse very strong for their support.  As is life in Jesus, we read
read more

Where Did the Early Christians Meet?

by in - ,
Where did the early Christians meet?  Not in “church” buildings. (I put “church” in italics, because believers are the church, not the building.) The early believers were flexible. They met and ministered wherever they could.  1.They met in the Temple (until it was destroyed): So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they
read more

When to Keep Your Mouth Shut (Amos 5:13)

by in
Recently I was reading the OT Book of Amos. I ran across an interesting verse. The prophet says, “Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, For it is an evil time” (Amos 5:13). Amos is saying that there are times when those who are wise do not speak. This occurs when it is “an evil time.”  Amos was a prophet
read more

Lordship Salvation Is Poor Comfort for a Dying Relative

by in - , ,
This past Sunday, our minivan wouldn’t start, so the kids and I walked to a local church, about a mile away. They protested, feeling it was an exceedingly far distance to travel—“Why is this taking so long? Is this Canada?”  Once we got settled in, I found the preacher was teaching through Job. Unfortunately, having recently taught through Job myself,
read more

Why Not Start a Church Bookstore?

by in - , ,
“Churches need to operate their own bookstores to provide sound material to the people,” David Cloud, a Fundamentalist Baptist, argued. “The typical Christian bookstores are not going to carry the type of information that God’s people need today, because they are in the business of making money and do not want to offend potential customers”
read more

The Last Words in Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

by in - , , , , ,
Ecclesiastes is a difficult book. The reason is probably because Solomon was seeking pleasure and wisdom from a humanistic perspective. But by the time he gets to the end of the book, Solomon has clearly shown that from a humanistic perspective, life has no meaning or purpose. It is all vain. Solomon concludes in this way, “Fear God
read more

Bizarro Grace in the Emerging Church Movement

by in -
If you’re familiar with Superman, you might be familiar with one of his enemies, Bizarro.  Bizarro is a doppelgänger of Superman—a broken, inverted, mirror image. For example, Bizarro comes from a square planet called Htrae, where it is a crime to do good. He’s pale and zombie-like. He’s very dumb, speaking a primitive version of English. But he’s powerfully strong.  You get
read more