Blog | Grace Evangelical Society

God Is Omnipresent

August 23, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - doctrine of God, omnipresence, systematic theology

The ancients thought their gods were limited to certain places. A god was in this tree or city, or only had power over that mountain or river. Outside of his or her particular domain, the god was powerless. By contrast, in Biblical thought, God is omnipresent. That means that, unlike creatures (or pagan gods and goddesses), God is not limited by physical space. Instead,

Peter Kreeft on Free Will

August 22, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Free-will, Peter Kreeft, Total depravity

Peter Kreeft is a prolific Catholic philosopher and apologist. He has written numerous books on apologetics and introductions to philosophy that I greatly enjoyed. What makes Kreeft’s introductions different is their dialogical format. Plato wrote his philosophy in the forms of dialogues, and Kreeft has followed that tradition. In Kreeft’s case, the dialogues occur between Socrates and a great philosopher (e.g., Descartes, Kant, Hume,

Doctrine Matters

August 21, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 2 Tim 3:16, Acts 20:27, doctrine matters, fundamental doctrines, non-fundamental doctrines, What is doctrine

I received a call from a Free Grace friend. He asked, “What is doctrine?” My immediate response was, “Doctrine is anything that is taught in the Bible.” He went on to say that he distinguished between doctrines and tenets. He called doctrines the ten or so fundamentals: the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, His bodily resurrection, His substitutionary death on

Fifteen Characteristics of Life in the Millennium According to Isaiah

August 20, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Eschatology, Millennial kingdom

The Millennial kingdom will begin after the Tribulation. What will life be like? A great deal could be said about it. For starters, here are fifteen characteristics of life in the Millennium, based on three passages from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 2:2-4 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of

Cataracts and Zambia (2 Corinthians 4:4)

August 19, 2019 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - physical sight, spiritual sight, Zambia

From July 11-25 my daughter Kathryn and I were in Zambia to teach the doctrine of Salvation and the book of Romans to two classes at a Bible college. We had a total of 45 students in the two classes. At the same time, at the school medical clinic, two visiting doctors from the US were performing cataract

No Trinity, No Salvation?

August 16, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Salvation, Trinity

Question: Are “Christians” who don’t understand or believe the traditional doctrine of the Trinity really Christians? Answer: That’s a good question. I take it you’re asking whether they have eternal life. The traditional answer would be “No.” I believe the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and historic Protestant Churches would say you have to believe the Trinity to get final salvation. For example, the

Invitations in the Evangelistic Ministries of Jesus and His Apostles

August 15, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - evangelism, invitations, John 11:25-27

When I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, I was required to file weekly reports on how many students I evangelized, what their response was, and how many students I discipled.  I was told if I did not get to the invitation prayer in the Four Spiritual Laws, then I could not count

Giving and Growing

August 14, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - international, Missions, newsletter

We hit two milestones recently. First, my webmaster informed me that the Grace in Focus podcast has been downloaded over 151,000 times. That’s a pretty good number for a show doing serious theology (as opposed to, say, funny cat videos)! And, of course, that doesn’t include our radio audience. I’m encouraged! Second, this month, faithalone.org hit a new record for unique monthly users: 64.9k, up from 19k a year ago. Praise God! I expect those numbers to grow, especially as

Once Saved, Rarely Saved?

August 13, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - antinomianism, Arminianism, Eternal Security, motivations for Christian living, Once saved always saved

Someone sent me a link to a rather extreme Arminian preacher. Most who believe you can lose everlasting life think that people who believe you can’t lose your salvation still have a good chance of making it to heaven by persevering. However, this preacher thinks that the preaching of eternal security makes it very unlikely

How Can Faith Not Produce Good Works?

August 12, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Faith, good works, will

I was recently asked, “I am a little confused as to the relationship between faith and works in the Free Grace understanding. My own understanding is that faith naturally has a corresponding action. It’s not that the action proves or adds anything to salvation, but that grace-born trust in Jesus could not fail to be accompanied