Newman defines evangelism as “the verbal proclamation of a very specific message: that Jesus died to atone for sins, that he rose from the dead, and that people must respond with repentance and faith” (21). He then shifts his focus away from evangelism to pre-evangelism, and argues that in our culture there is generally the need for work to... Continue Reading

Certain elements of my attraction to Catholicism were adolescent, like a sixties radical’s attraction to Marx or a contemporary activist’s to intersectionality: I aimed to preserve the core beliefs of my upbringing while fleeing their bourgeois expressions. When I arrived at the University of Chicago, I knew just enough about Calvinism to hold it in... Continue Reading

Out of all of the psalms that we have in the Bible—Psalm 119 is the longest and perhaps the one with the most light. With the lengthy arrangement of 22 stanzas each containing 8 verses—the total of 176 verses are solid gold. While some insist the unnamed author is David, there is good reason to... Continue Reading

I’m mystified because there’s no good reason for faltering in the face of these particular trends because Scripture speaks with clarity against them. Since there is no biblical ambiguity on any of these issues, there is no real cause for a Christian’s confusion.   Lately I have been mystified by—and distressed with—a trend I’ve seen... Continue Reading

Pastors aren’t immune to the rising suicide rates. More than half of pastors have counseled people who were later diagnosed with a mental illness (59 percent), and about a quarter say they’ve experienced some type of mental illness themselves (23 percent). According to LifeWay, 12 percent have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.   A few years before... Continue Reading

We can be sure that God is for us because this God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to the cross for us all. If this is true, Paul affirms, we can be confident He will give... Continue Reading

“It’s chaos here,” Gee Rolle, 44, told the Associated Press Friday in Grand Abaco. The construction worker waited with his wife for a boat that could take them to the capital, Nassau. “The government is trying their best, but at the same time, I don’t think they’re doing a good enough job to evacuate the... Continue Reading

Räsanen is married to a Lutheran pastor, and admits that the thought of resigning her membership of the Finnish Lutheran Church went through her mind at some point in the last weeks. But “as I prayed”, she explains, “I was convinced that now is the time to try to wake up the sleeping ones, not... Continue Reading

Noah’s reluctance to exit the ark without divine bidding was apparently informed by the tremendous episode of judgment and salvation he had just witnessed/experienced. It was clear to Noah that God was no one to be trifled with. It was equally clear that God was a God who kept his promises. The only sensible thing... Continue Reading

Lewis warned about the ambition that would never satisfy. All of us are familiar with this ambition as all of us have given ourselves to a pursuit that does not quench. The Scripture, however, gives us examples of holy ambition. The apostle Paul spoke about his ambition: “My aim is to preach the gospel where... Continue Reading