I hadn’t given this passage much thought in the past. Then I got an email asking who hunts souls and what that is talking about. Ezekiel 13:18-23 talks about false prophetesses who “hunt for souls.” These false prophetesses were involved in occult practices. The word occult means hidden or secret. They used magic charms (vv […]

Bible Study Fellowship has been going through the book of Romans. They are currently in Romans 9-11, and they are taking a very Calvinistic position. I’m told they have taken the view that in these chapters, Paul is teaching about individual election to eternal life, where God chooses some individuals for eternal life, but not […]

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God… (Mark 1:14). Recently, I was looking at the first chapter of Mark. It starts with the ministry of John the Baptist. John brought the nation of Israel good news. God was offering them the kingdom […]

Recently our church completed reading through the four Gospels. I noticed as I read that the word gospel is used in the four Gospels in a way that is different than how it is used in Christian-speak today. For example, did you know that the word gospel does not appear in the text of the […]

I am reading a book on universal salvation by Kalen Fristad, a United Methodist minister. It hasn’t started well. Here is a bad quote on the definition of belief: Salvation is what this book is all about. I believe salvation is best defined in the words of Jesus where he says, “For God so loved […]

  I received the following email question that I think is super: A Calvinist friend said that if saving faith isn’t a gift, then it would seem to give a man who exercises faith a right to boast, because somehow he wasn’t as dead in his sins as his unbelieving neighbor. He also said we […]

So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully (Luke 19:6). Clearly, we can learn from the people we read about in the Scriptures. There are good examples for us to follow, and then there are bad examples. An example of the latter is the Jews at Kadesh Barnea. We are told specifically […]

Have you heard the expression, “A God-shaped hole”? The idea is that you cannot be a complete human being without God. If God is not in your life, you’ll have a vacuum you cannot fill. But the God-shaped hole isn’t the only one that people have. Genesis 2:18 hints at another: Then the LORD God […]

In the January-February 2018 issue of Grace in Focus Magazine, I wrote an article about the value in repeating clear evangelistic verses over and over again. I just received a helpful question about that article that gives me a chance to explain further what I mean. D from Colorado writes: It seems to me that […]