By Shawn Lazar Who’s that?” “Black Widow,” I explained to my wife. “What can she do?” “Martial arts.” “And?” “And she’s good with weapons.” “That’s it?” “Yeah, pretty much.” “But she’s fighting hundreds of robots,” my wife noted. “I know.” “So Hulk is super strong, Iron Man has his suit, Thor has all kinds of

Who Is the Elder Brother? Q: After reading Luke 15 over and over, I’m still sure the prodigal son is a believer returning to fellowship with Christ. But the identity of the elder son honestly confuses me. First, Jesus is telling the parable to the Pharisees who looked to their own self-righteousness. Could the elder

While I was teaching a ladies’ Bible study, the subject of repentance came up, and it became apparent that many assumed that repentance was a condition of eternal salvation—an idea I strongly denied. So I wanted to put down on paper why that was not true, and why believing in Jesus is the one and

Introduction It all began on a bleak and blustery midwinter night in early 1958. A young preacher in Philipsburg, PA was burning the midnight oil. During a study break he happened to pick up and browse through the current issue of Life magazine that had been buried under a stack of books piled high on

I noticed something today in studying Matt 18:6-14. I completely agree with Bob Wilkin in his book The Ten Most Misunderstood Words in the Bible (p. 68) that this section is about believers. I was really struck with the similarity of Matt 18:14 and John 6:39. Each of those verses speak of the will of

What does it mean to be assured of my salvation?” That’s a question I often get asked. People want to have assurance, but they’re often confused about it. What is assurance? How can you have it? What is it based on? And is there a difference between genuine and false assurance? If so, what? These

A few years ago I was one of four authors, including Tom Schreiner, James D. G. Dunn, and Michael Barber, for a book called Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment. In my portion of the book one of the things I discussed was this parable (pp. 36-37). A reader brought

God’s True Tabernacle What is the difference between true and false religion? On the surface they may have some similiarities. But God approves of one and abhors the other, because God has commanded one and has not commanded the other, no matter how similar they may be. The difference between true and false religion is

By Allen Michael Rea Up until a year or so ago I was an avid Lordship Salvation pastor. In fact, I was a card-carrying MacArthurite. I studied theology at a small Baptist college where my OT professor was an Open Theist, my NT professor was a typical Baptist, and my theology professor was a five-point

This morning I put in a few hours of activity which should earn me some points in the father-of-the-year contest: I drove my son and some of his classmates on a school field trip to go fishing. Fishing with over twenty fourth graders is not really fishing: It is baiting hooks, helping them cast, pulling