The God-man is bleeding
I spoke to a man recently who came from a Charismatic background. He was looking for evidence of the Spirit in the form of healings and miracles. Then I watched a movie. A typical Christian movie. It was full of signs and miracles and changed lives, but not even one time did they explain the gospel that rescues sinners. Not once! So I sat down to write... The religious world in our day is infatuated
The prayer of a seventeen year old Quaker girl
I stumbled across this prayer one morning during my devotional time. It caused me to think about the way I pray. I found myself asking questions like, “Do I see myself as God sees me?”, “Do I appreciate what God has done for me?”, and “Do I want to let God remove these proud tendencies from?” Sadly, I couldn’t answer these questions correctly. This prayer challenged me to think carefully as to how to pray
Lessons from a shopping mall
I remember walking into a shopping mall for the very first time and was overtaken by the size of the mall and the variety of shops that lay before me. I remember feeling very lost and very alone. This feeling was alleviated somewhat when I saw the blessed directory. Like all good directories, this directory helped give me bearings in regards to where I was and showed me exactly where I needed to go. It
Our help in time of need
Over the last two weeks I’ve found that human reasoning and efforts fail. Especially when trying to resolve spiritual problems which are deep seated in the lives of people. It has been brought to my attention that in times like these, when all human reasoning and efforts fail and crumble to the ground, God is the only help! How glad would it make God if we depended wholly upon Him, truly seeking His way and
The virgin birth and other tabloid headlines
Of all the doctrines of Scripture, there is none quite so intriguing as the virgin birth. I mean, this is tabloid material! "ALIENS ABDUCT KEVIN RUDD" "ORPHANED ELEPHANT RAISED BY PORCUPINE" "ELVIS SIGHTED IN PARIS" "VIRGIN HAS BABY" Incredible! ... true. Unbelievable! ... true. Beyond the bounds of reason! ... true. A kingpin reality of the gospel ... absolutely true. As it was spoken It was predicted thousands of years ago... "A virgin [n. 1.
Self image and the image of God
Ok. So Genesis is the place to be if we want to understand a right self image (1:27). So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Three points about self image flow naturally from the text. 1. God created you. You were God's idea. He made you, and he did it because he wanted to. You're not an accident. You're not
The power of self image
In recent decades, popular psychology has sold the idea that man's problem is that his self esteem is too low. And Christians have bought it. In fact, many Christians have made it their gospel. But have we Fundamentalists over-reacted? First, I think of Joe Zichterman's statement when he left Fundamentalism that spiritually abused people should listen to Joel Osteen 24/7 for a week just to de-tox. While we can probably agree that this is overstatement
Using Scripture like Satan does
Satan uses Scripture. He even had the nerve to use it against Jesus at the temptation of Christ. Let's have a quick look at how Satan used Scripture in Matthew 4:6: Satan used Scripture to make his own point. Satan used Scripture out of context and proportion. Satan used only the Scripture that seemed to support his point. Sadly, I have heard preachers do each of these things. I suspect at times I've done each
A view of God
Exodus 8:10 "Be it according to thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none unto the LORD our God.” In recent times I have been reading through A.W. Tozer’s book “The Knowledge of the Holy”, it has been a deeply moving read to say the least. In his introduction, Tozer confronts the church’s view of the church, he writes: The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of
Taste testing
Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him! In my short period of time on this earth, I have discovered that life is a learning curve! We as humans learn much through experience, whether or not the experience is good or bad. More specifically we learn through our senses: what we hear, see, touch, taste, and smell. It’s through these senses we discern right