Don’t We Enter the Kingdom by Grace Through Faith? In this passage Paul seems to contradict Eph 2:8-9, where he reminded the believers in Ephesus: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But when speaking

On May 8th the Dallas Morning News ran an article (Section A, p. 6) about the man who until that time had been the current President of the 4,100 member Evangelical Theological Society, Francis “Frank” Beckwith. The article said he returned to his Catholic roots on April 29th. On Saturday, May 5th, he announced his

At a recent conference during a question and answer session a man said that he was born again one year before he believed in heaven and life after death. He said he believed Jesus forgave his sins in this life, so he is now convinced he was born again at that time even though he

By Chaplain Larry Addler Editor’s note: Larry is a corporate chaplain at Tyson Foods, Inc. in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. He and his family live in Le Mars, Iowa, also known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and served for 12 years as a missionary

Pay Attention to Both Cs While misinterpreting Scripture is always bad, the worst problems come when someone misunderstands what God says about what we must do to have everlasting life. If a person misunderstands what we might call the saving message, then he remains lost and is bound for eternal separation from God. The biblical

by Dr. Mike Halsey Pastor, County Line Church Hampton, GA On a recent vacation I did something I’ve never voluntarily done before: I visited a church of a denomination which I have never been to before. After entering the beautiful building and going through a labyrinth of halls, I found the spacious, attractive, well-lit auditorium

At the 2005 Annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Valley Forge, PA, famed Old Testament scholar Dr. Walter Kaiser explained Gen 15:6. He said that it teaches that Abraham did not merely believe in God generally, but that he specifically believed God’s promise that the Messiah would come through his (Abraham’s) body (Message

My Old View Nearly three years ago I wrote a Grace in Focus newsletter article (May-June 2004) on Acts 13:48 and the controversial phrase, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (NKJV). Calvinists typically use this verse to prove unconditional election. In that article I questioned whether the verse was about election. I

by Nate Purtzer* I recently had a healthy discussion about the gospel with a pastor who respectfully disagreed with several Free Grace beliefs. Near the beginning of the conversation, he asked: “Do you seriously think that one can believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life and not have any change in his life?” The question

Many of our names come from Greek words that have Christian significance. For example, Christopher comes from two Greek words that mean Christ bearer or one who bears [the name of] Christ. Gregory comes from a Greek verb, gregoreo, that means to watch or to be watchful. The Lord Jesus introduced this concept of being