We all know the old song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” And he does. The problem is that often we let that thought overshadow the reality of the spiritual battle going on for our soul. We expect smooth sailing, a love-filled path. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present ...  Read More

In Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Dante encounters the gates of Hell as he travels. Above the entrance he sees these words for those entering this tragic place: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.It is an apt description of the environment of Hell. Yet once we reach the gates of this place, we are pretty much already beyond hope. The decisions we’ve made, the life we’ve lived, the faith we’ve p...  Read More

Last week in my Cross Point article I talked about believing like Satan, and that such belief, a mental assent belief, is not enough. Real belief, real faith, is defined by the actions we take.  To say we have made Jesus Lord through faith, but then to refuse to obey him, contradicts faith. We referenced Jesus saying, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and yet do not do what I tell you?”And I made t...  Read More

One of the favorite Bible verses of many people is John 3:16, where it says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”Through the years I’ve had many friends and acquaintances who take this verse, and a few others like it, and propose a doctrine of salvation that says, “All you’ve got to do is believe.”  If you me...  Read More

I remember well our time in Petra back in 2018.  While visiting the library in Jordan, we were delighted that John and Eileen Richardson wanted to take this 2-day side trip.  It required us to get up before daylight, take a cab to the bus station, get in a crowded bus with a wide variety of people and ride over a very rough highway on the 6-hour journey to Wadi Musa, the town above the Petra compl...  Read More

I’m a child of the 60’s.  I don’t say that with pride.  Oh, there are good things about it, but many not so good things.  It was a rebellious time for teenagers and college-age kids.  Partly because of the Vietnam War that escalated during this decade.  But also because the “greatest generation” of our parents (the World War II crowd), after growing up with little and then sacrificing during the w...  Read More

You’ve been in such conversations. Talking to someone about an individual who has done questionable things, who has never followed through with expected actions for a Christian believer (repentance, baptism, church participation, Bible study, revised personal habits, etc.), and now they have died. Trying to make the best of a bad situation we say, “They didn’t live a very good life, but God knows ...  Read More

Maybe you’ve heard such a declaration. Maybe you’ve made such a declaration. You’ve had experiences that make you push back from “organized religion” or from the church, but you still want Jesus to be friendly to you. So, you make the statement: “I want a relationship with Jesus, but I’m not interested in the church.” For many, even if they haven’t formally made this statement, they live in a way ...  Read More

This is a complicated subject.  It takes some thought to wrap your head around it.  Worth the effort, I think, because I believe we often take a too casual approach that becomes unrealistic.  The simple question is asked: Is God in control?  Our quick response is almost always: Yes!  And I believe that response is true, in the big picture, but maybe not always true in the minute detail of our worl...  Read More

In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem entitled “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” he tells the story of a man on a ship that is driven south by a storm and eventually reaches the icy waters of the Antarctic.  An albatross appears and leads the ship out of the poor situation.  The albatross is fed and praised by the ship’s crew, but the mariner shoots the bird.  Eventually they get into mist and snow, t...  Read More

“Whole tracts of our religion are bare of spiritual passion, or spiritual depth.  Modern Christianity speaks the language of our humane civilization; it does not speak the language of Christ.  The age, and much of the church, believes in civilization and is interested in the Gospel, instead of believing in the Gospel and being interested in civilization” (P.T. Forsyth)Again, borrowing from Charles...  Read More

3rd in 4-part seriesPicture this.  Politicians who cry out against government spending, but who previously passed a statute allowing them to get a raise automatically.  A day after the raise takes place, they take a symbolic vote against the same thing.  They are then able to go to their constituents and tell them they voted against the raise they had already automatically received!  It happened i...  Read More