This past weekend I was in Tampa to speak at Bayside Community Church. I flew in on Saturday, arriving a little after noon. That gave me time for lunch and a walk along the bay before supper. I even saw a few dolphins and a sting ray. I had a great supper and then I

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:12).   What does it mean to “lay hold on eternal life”? Don’t believers already have eternal life? So why would we have to

Bob often mentions the name of R. B. Thieme, a pastor from Houston, who had an unusually influential ministry. Bob considers Thieme one of the first Free Grace theologians. Several Thieme-influenced churches, and many Thieme-influenced people, are very friendly to our ministry. So I thought it was about time for me to become familiar with

I grew up in Southern California in the 50s and 60s. Drugs were already becoming a problem when I was a little boy. My parents were concerned that I needed moral instruction to keep me from drugs and bad behavior. So they enrolled me in a religious boy’s club when I was just six. I

I’ve been reading through R. B. Thieme’s Reversionism. (I’ve been reading through Thieme’s booklets for the last couple of months, which are available for free from his ministry’s website, rbthieme.org.) It’s too soon to say whether it is good or not, but I will say the opening paragraph, where he describes the possibility of a

I received a question from someone who has read my book, The Ten Most Misunderstood Words in the Bible. He asks, “In the chapter on Heaven (from which I am teaching this Sunday) you sort of said that if we go up in the rapture, then we won’t see the third heaven (p. 77). If

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; (Hebrews 9:24) Recently I had the opportunity to be in the vicinity of an actual goddess. I was in the city of Kathmandu, Nepal.

“I no longer wish to parent this child. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues. I am returning him.” The flight attendant read the note in disbelief. A seven year old boy had it. His adoptive American mother wrote it. Things didn’t turn out the way she wanted, so she sent little Artyom Savelyev

In Matt 6:19-21 the Lord commanded those who believe in Him to lay up treasure in heaven. But he didn’t just give the command. He explained why it makes a lot of sense for us to obey this command. Remember the reason? Moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal treasure laid up

A Roman Catholic once told me he believed that salvation was by grace, because doing good works is only possible because God makes it possible. God is the ground of our being. So even though works are part of the condition of salvation, salvation is by “grace” because the fact that we exist at all