Bible Secrets Revealed?: A Response to the New History Channel Series (Part 5)
The latest episode is entitled, “Mysterious Prophecies,” focuses on the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah.
In the end, this particular episode of Bible Secrets Revealed is marked by a pretty consistent theme, namely an attempt to find a naturalistic explanation for the Bible’s supernatural claims. OT prophecies, we are told, don’t really predict Christ; they are just texts which are manipulated by early Christians. Promises of eternal life, we are told, cannot really be... Continue Reading
Evolution and the Secular Worldview—The Fury of the Elites on Display
The fact that millions upon millions of Americans do not accept evolution embarrasses the elites of the secular establishment.
What is really on display in this column, and in so much of the mainstream media, is amazement and frustration in the face of the fact that so many Americans still reject evolution. Why is that such an issue? Because evolution is central to the secular project. The secular worldview requires evolution, and the “denialists”... Continue Reading
A Weak Gospel Creates Weak Families
If they have more programs, more laws and even more prayer and Bible but have no Gospel, what has the Church wrought?
The solution to the family crisis is not homeschooling or family-integrated churches. These activities considered in and of themselves are not wrong. But to the extent that these methods are stressed at the expense of the Message of the Gospel, they become a problem. True family integration is not mere physical proximity or only moral... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor in 2014
Contrary to what some might suppose, ministers of the Gospel desperately need the prayers of the saints.
Pastors need the saints’ prayers because they are ever the object of the flaming arrows of the evil one. In addition, the world is eager to run them over at any opportunity. As one of my seminary professors so illustratively put it, “Ministers have a bull’s eye on their back and footprints up their chest.”... Continue Reading
Alone Again?
We are not all alone, though we will sometimes experience emotions of that sort
Our raw emotions were such that we often needed words of encouragement and support, and constant prayers on our behalf. During the worst weeks, we never experienced a single day without receiving a card in the mail, not to mention all of the electronic communication and support. We were never alone, nor could we imagine... Continue Reading
IRD Predicts Top Church News of 2014
Predictions on what religious news stories have potential to make headlines in the coming year
Religious Left groups will target denominations that ordain only male pastors. Not content with women’s ordination in some churches, the Religious Left will target the Southern Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church in America and others — presumably including Roman Catholicism — for a perceived injustice. Below are Institute on Religion and Democracy’s predictions for what religious news... Continue Reading
The Fall of the Republic
In eerie and haunting ways, Americans at this very moment are living through a repetition of Rome’s republican decay
At this point, “Kershner’s First Law” (named for the late economist Howard E. Kershner) kicked in: “When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare.” Eventually the central government bailed... Continue Reading
The Science of Sound: Whitefield’s Massive Crowds
Measuring the sizes of George Whitefield’s audiences
The ideal acoustic conditions probably were fragile with any crowd of such a large size, but it seems possible that on certain occasions [Whitefield] may have been able to reach 50,000 people, at least for short periods of time. However, the majority of his large crowds were reported at 20,000 to 30,000, and these were... Continue Reading
The Folly of Men Arming Women in Combat
Allowing women into combat is shameful for the president who allows it.
For thousands of years of military wisdom and noble instincts that reasoning would have been unintelligible. Of course, there are women of valor. But for a male commander-in-chief to say that since they are willing to die in combat, therefore we should arm them for it, is a non-sequitur, and a shame on the president’s... Continue Reading
DNA Discovery Illustrates Creation’s Complexity
New discovery point to intelligent design.
The fact that DNA contains two separate sets of instructions that cannot interfere with each other reveals something greater than just random chance, intelligent design advocates argue. “Usually one thinks of a spy or prisoner of war who can conceal a second message with meaning B in a message with meaning A as showing unusual... Continue Reading