Have you noticed these days how faith--the very means of our salvation, upon which Luther's Protestant Reformation was built--is often casually dropped from the process of salvation? The omission, we find, is intentional. It is also contradictory. Those who preach that we are saved by grace alone and who leave out "through faith” seem afraid we will discover that there is, after all, a condition of salvation. If there is a condition to salvation, then free will is invo

Is faith a work? Of course not, most self-respecting, healthy people will answer. Why would you ask that? Thank you. I agree. Is faith a gift? Well, now, that's a tough one. I always thought faith was the single proof of righteousness, my required response to grace, so I guess not. But then, again, didn't the disciples ask the Lord to increase their faith? And didn't the father of a suffering boy ask the Lord to help his unbelief? Now you've got me all confused. I

"All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" If you can relate to the days of hymnals, you might have opened one in which "All Hail the Power of...

Can you imagine polling people on the street and asking them if they have sinned today? If they don't attack you first, chances are, the ones who say "yes" will claim to be Christians. In fact, I have frequently heard Christians say that they sin every day. What do they mean? Is this a transparent and humble confession of sin, or is it a boastful and entitled profession of sin? Of course, this is an extremely broad topic, and truth gets lost in the complexity. We mig

Introduction: Too often we hear preachers today thunder out the message--that is, if they preach with authority at all--that salvation is by grace alone , misquoting Ephesians 2:8-9 with no qualms. But I always want to shout back, "What have you done with 'through faith ?'" Yes, what have they done with it? And, even when they do include "through faith," what have they done with faith ? Like so many things these days, salvation, grace , and faith don't mean what the

The Spirit of our Age We live in a day of lawlessness that has been allowed to redefine true salvation. The spirit of the age has infected the gospel with antinomianism, cleverly disguising it as “grace.” It has also mislabeled obedience as "legalism," going even so far as to call faith and repentance "works." But obedience has no more to do with legalism than antinomianism has to do with grace. In order to return to a biblical view of salvation, we must expose the fals

Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle Introduction The most disheartening thing about trying to have a constructive conversation these days is that almost nobody knows how to do it. We think we do, but we don't. We are in such terrible shape socially, intellectually, and spiritually that we argue even about what effective communication should look like. Those who mistake "free speech" for free thought compound the problem. Yes, you are free to scream me down, but that doesn't

Introduction: As this highly acclaimed film series created by Dallas Jenkins continues to gain popularity around the globe, it also continues to garner serious controversy. We can ignore this controversy and give The Chosen's producer the benefit of the doubt, or we can test all things as Scripture commands us to do and wonder whether statements like this one--that "Dallas Jenkins has become the face of Jesus for millions of viewers worldwide"--pose a serious threat to

Arthur Lucas Junior High School, Durand, Michigan Arthur Lucas Junior High School in Durand, Michigan--built in 1920, only two years after the close of World War I and not quite a decade before the Great Depression--was closed as a school in 1996, to be ungraciously abandoned after serving as a great hall of learning for 76 years. Apparently, it was later sold to be converted into apartments. Other than driving past one time a few years after we moved away from Durand, I h

Southside Elementary School in Sanford, Florida I love old schools. In my opinion, there's nothing like them, and I take it personally when a magnificent building of my enchanted past has been repurposed for such an inglorious fate as public apartments or an assisted living facility. But that's exactly what happened to two beloved schools of mine that I always wanted to reenter one day and that I have subconsciously revisited in my thoughts all these years. Of course, I k