THE TWENTIETH DAY OF FEBRUARY IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN Last Sunday, the jihadist group calling itself ISIS (The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) martyred 21 young Egyptian Christians working in Libya, one of Egypt's four next-door neighbor states. Ramez Atallah, a leader in gospel outreach worldwide, is general director of the Bible Society of Egypt. Within days of the executions, Atallah published an article in the Society's Newsletter titled "A MESSAGE SIGNED WITH BLOOD," which he addressed to fellow-Christians everywhere as "THE NATION OF THE CROSS." In the … [Read more...]
afterlife discussion has nine lives
A recent gracEmail titled "Boy Who Told Fibs About Heaven" told of 16-year-old Alex Malarkey's announcement that his book, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven (co-written with dad, Kevin), was untrue. Alex never went to heaven, he now says, but rather as a six-year-old made up the whole story to get attention. The gracEmail noted three major elements in Alex's story that contradict biblical teaching--always a clear warning for discerning readers. The gracEmail generated double the usual number of responses, including one from Mark Albrecht of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mark is a delightful … [Read more...]
God, the gospel, and the nations’ obedience
When God chose Israel as his special people and covenant partner, it was his intention through them ultimately to bless the world. "By your descendants," God promised Abraham, "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). God blessed Israel so that, through Israel, all nations would be blessed. The chosen people prayed: "May God . . . bless us, that thy . . . [saving power] may be known . . . among all nations" (Psalm 67:1-2). Israelites who rightly understood their role as God's chosen people gladly invited other human beings everywhere to worship Israel's God, saying: "Praise … [Read more...]
SCRIPTURE AT ITS BEST: SATURATION
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "I want to grow in my relationship with God, but I'm now struggling with where the Bible fits into the equation. How do I approach scripture to apply it to my faith journey?" * * * The best place for learning how to approach scripture is Scripture itself. The 39 books that we call the "Old Testament" were regarded as sacred writings by the Jews before there were any Christians, and also from the first by Christians, who then were all Jews, and who eventually added 27 more books of their own that we call the "New Testament." If we can identify how New … [Read more...]
WHY MUSLIMS HATE THE WEST (2)
"So what if Muslims hate my country?" I ask myself. Should we do anything differently for that reason? As one Christian citizen of the U.S., desiring to think with "the mind of Christ" but not presumptuous enough to suppose that I always do, I raise some questions for further thought. For example, do we too easily go along with the immorality that characterizes contemporary American culture? Must Muslims be the voice of conscience for our country? I certainly do not want the Muslim (or non-Muslim) world to associate the media-promoted life of sex, drugs and booze -- or even of materialism, … [Read more...]
JEWS & SALVATION
"Judaism has lost favor with God," someone writes. "To say that it is still a path to God makes a liar of Jesus and therefore of God." * * * While it is certainly true that no one will be saved except through the atonement Jesus has accomplished, that does not prevent God from saving many people by Jesus' atonement who lacked personal conscious awareness of that atonement in this life. Most Christians would place in that category all faithful Jews before Jesus, faithful Gentiles before Jesus, and babies and small children who die -- both before Christ and since. Can we not allow that a … [Read more...]
BUDDHISTS AND COMMON GRACE
A gracEmail subscriber asks, "I have a Buddhist friend who does not believe in God as I do, or in the necessity of Jesus for salvation. I see what look like fruit of the Spirit in her life which makes me want to find some kind of reconciliation between my beliefs and hers. Any thoughts?" * * * Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17), and God has not left any people-group totally without knowledge of himself. That includes the peoples of Japan, India, Hawaii and other places where Buddhism is prominently represented. Paul refers to this universal self-witness of God at least twice in his … [Read more...]
BUDDHA NOT SO OLD
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "My husband was witnessing to a co-worker today who said that the Buddhist Bible was written before any other Bible. He asked how anyone can convince a Buddhist to believe in anything else but their own Bible since it precedes all others. Can you offer any suggestion on how we can deal with this when trying to share Christ?" * * * Your husband's co-worker is a tad confused. Prince Siddhartha, the Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism, lived in India from approximately 563-483 B.C., which made him a contemporary of the later prophets of the Old Testament. … [Read more...]
CHOPRA, ARISTOTLE OR JESUS?
A midsouthern Bible professor summarizes author-guru Deepak Chopra's message as "Don't trust the intellect; go to the heart," then asks whether the same mindset infects much contemporary Christian thinking. * * * Chopra is indeed one of today's most prominent purveyors and popularizers of New Age, Hindu-oriented, "Eastern" mysticism. As such, he preaches distrust of the intellect, so that the "heart" swallows up everything else. You are surely correct that Christians in any age are always susceptible to the tossing waves and swirling winds of their own intellectual environment. For that … [Read more...]
WHY MUSLIMS HATE THE WEST (1)
It is astounding to realize that millions of Middle-Eastern Muslims hate the West (and the USA in particular). I am not talking about the terrorists -- barbarian savages who launch suicidal attacks on innocent men, women and children. I am speaking of day laborers and artisans, mothers and school-children, regular people sometimes referred to as "the Arab street." Political correctness says they hate us because they disagree with our democracy, our capitalism, our cherished freedoms -- often summed up as our "way of life." That is a comfortable answer, to be sure, but it is also wrong. In … [Read more...]