Yeah, Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss. "We won't get fooled again." That was the message that Pete Townsend of the rock band, The Who, was trying to convey in his hit song from 1971. The song expresses the disillusionment and frustration when efforts to elicit change go unheeded. God expresses the same emotions when his heartfelt efforts to convince his chosen people, the nation of Israel, to abide by their covenant--that is, to obey him and to love him as they ought

This is the final post of the series on the five points of Calvinism. If you are unfamiliar with Calvinism/Reformed theology, I recommend this overview: Post 90 - Calvinism: a Primer. "They Went Out From Us" When my wife and I left the Reformed/Calvinistic church we were attending, we knew that there would be some people from that church who would likely be saying the same things about us that they said about others who left before us: They went out from us, but they were not

If you are unfamiliar with Calvinism/Reformed theology, I recommend this overview: Post 90 - Calvinism: a Primer. Here is part of an actual conversation with a Calvinist: Calvinist: "I don't know why God chose me. I only know that it wasn't because of who I am or anything I've done or will ever do." Me: "So, it was... random?" Calvinist: (Gasps) "Oh, no! We just don't know why God chooses some and not others. It's a mystery." Me: "But you were somehow favored, special?" Ca

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. --Luke 2:10 Good news of great joy for all people was coming. That's the message that was conveyed by the angel to the shepherds in the field at the birth of Jesus. That's the hope on which Christianity stands. That's the gospel. Although it's likely that at the time, the shepherds didn't fully understand what was entailed in the "good news of great joy", an

"Depart from me, I never knew you." --Matthew 7:23 "Depart from me, I never chose you." --Calvinism 101 There is no denying that a doctrine of divine, unconditional election is biblical. Throughout both Old- and New Testaments we find people being chosen by God in what appears to be an unconditional selection--that is, a choosing of people not based on any quality revealed in the person and not based on God's foresight of anything the person will do. God's "purpose of electi

"God is always previous -Friedrich von Hugel The quote above—“God is always previous”—is an expression of the biblical truth that God has made the first move to provide every human being with sufficient grace (we can call that “prevenient grace”, if you like) to know him and to respond to him, so that "people are without excuse" (Rom 1:20). Even John Calvin could not deny that every human being has been graciously seeded from birth with a bit of God himself: “Men of sound ju

First, I want to make clear that, although I vehemently disagree with many of their propositions, I have never doubted the sincerity or the noble intent of any of the respected expositors of Calvinism. I’m convinced that they sincerely believe that their viewpoint is the most true-to-the-Bible exposition of some of the most misunderstood and perplexing concepts presented in Scripture. In last month's post, I presented the five basic tenets of Calvinism, often referred to as

Although I have been writing and speaking out against Reformed theology/Calvinism for a number of years, it occurs to me that I've never really explained what Calvinism is and why I believe it proposes an unbiblical god and an unbiblical gospel. Today's post is a simple overview of Calvinism. In the posts that follow, we'll be taking a critical look at what Scripture has to teach about each of the five Reformed tenets. A Brief History Much of what is now referred to as Calvin

I have a confession. I was a fan of "Stranger Things", the TV series which recently released Season 5, but I won't be watching the new episodes. While the first couple of seasons were quite engaging--well-written, well-acted, suspenseful and intriguing--unfortunately "wokeism" infected the more recent seasons and, in my opinion, tarnished an otherwise masterful science fiction series. Turns out, I wasn't the only Christian to enjoy "Stranger Things". Michael Heiser, a well-

This post was originally issued in 2021 but since we are inundated with headshaking, mind-numbing, faith-challenging world events every year, we can never get enough encouragement and comfort from the good news that comes with the birth of Jesus. So, I thought I would make this Christmas message an annual reminder of the wonder we should all feel at this glorious time of year. The Want of Wonder G.K. Chesterton once lamented, “The world will never starve for want of wonders,

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? If you are a Christian who believes in the Creator-God, the answer to that age-old question should be clear. Yet that dilemma has been posed for centuries as a true mystery. Another dilemma that has been posed for centuries but should be quite clear to every Bible-reading Christian is this: Which comes first: faith or regeneration? Before you say, "Who cares?", let me point out that the reason this is of significant personal consequ

What do God, Jesus and Albert Einstein have in common? Well... we'll get to that. I know this is a bit of a departure from the usual topics presented on these pages, but for this post I wanted to share a personal story--a story of grace through the eyes of a young boy that I hope will touch you in some way. The Diagnosis Our son was five years old when he was diagnosed with Type 1, insulin-dependent diabetes. One morning, after eating a hearty breakfast, Johnny brushed his t

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) Columbo For those old enough to remember the old crime drama Columbo from the 1970s, Lieutenant Columbo was a homicide detective who would stroll around a crime scene in a rumpled overcoat, unshaven, smoking a cigar, mumbling to

In his book, Modeling God , J.G. Lenhart undertakes a bit of risky business by attempting to "model" God. He claims his goal is to...

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1 ) In the construction industry, there is a running joke...

In the last post I proposed that Voddie Baucham's view of babies as "vipers in diapers" was his way of expressing his belief in the unbiblical doctrine of original sin which proposes that all babies are born as evil, God-haters, guilty of Adam's sin. By contrast, the Bible reveals that God sees babies as innocent and that each person is only held responsible for his own sin. We were also reminded that we are image-bearers of God who imbued each of us with a part of himself.

Last month we looked at a very sad and troubling quote from John Piper in which he lamented that God may not have chosen his children for salvation because, per his mistaken theology, God predetermined everyone's eternal state before they were even born. Piper justified such a cruel, capricious theology by stating, "the potter has absolute rights over the clay." His unfortunate misunderstanding of the character of God was a denial of the clear biblical teaching that "the LOR

In last month's blog I listed three anti-Christian quotes from well-known skeptics--quotes that reveal a lack of spiritual understanding by some very intelligent, influential people. Their hostility toward all things religious is really evidence of the spiritual battle we are waging every day in this world. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against... the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12 ESV) As I opined in the last post, I don't bel

In the last post I presented some of my favorite Christian quotes from some truly inspired and inspirational Christian thinkers. If you didn't catch the blog last month, here is a link: Post 78 - Wisdom & Insight: Some of My Favorite Quotes Sadly, in a world that is (temporarily) governed by the "prince of the power of the air"(Eph 2:2), the "god of this age" (2 Cor 4:4), the "ruler of this world" (John 14:30), many things are said that reflect an unfortunate ignorance of th

One motivation for creating a blog is the opportunity for the blogger--under the guise of informing/teaching/enlightening--to pontificate...