To many, the Trinity is especially hard to understand in the Old Testament, particularly when we look at the Shema, which says “our God is One.” How can that key belief support the idea of the Trinity? [Read more…]
The One Substance of the Trinity, Understanding the Trinity, part Two
In the first lesson, on the Trinity, we looked at how the members of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are uncreated, co-equal, and eternal persons. In this lesson we look at what makes them ONE God and that is their attributes or substance. [Read more…]
The Three Persons of the Trinity, Understanding the Trinity, Part One
In contrast to views the widely held, but totally incorrect view that the Trinity is “like ice, water, and steam” which is, in reality, the ancient heresy of Modalism that has God morphing into various forms as God the Father in the Old Testament becoming God the Son in the New Testament, and becoming God the Holy Spirit today, this lesson will demonstrate how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are uncreated, co-equal, and eternal persons. [Read more…]
Why I created the Bibleverse—Between now and heaven, how to live in the in-between time
The launching of the Bibleverse is more than a way to get devotional thoughts, Bible studies, and practical ways to help your church create effective communications. At its core it is my attempt to equip you to fight the good fight of faith during this in-between time of Jesus’ resurrection and our being with Him. [Read more…]
A NEW Resource—the Bibleverse—guerilla fighter resources, to help you fully fulfill the Great Commission
I’ve put together a group of resources to help you to advance the Kingdom of God and fully fulfill the Great Commission. Here is why I did this, how it can help you, and what the Bibleverse consists of, and how to get to the resources. [Read more…]
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger—I’d forgotten the impact of this book
Ron Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger died this week.
In reading about his death, I was reminded of the impact his book had on me when I read it in the ’70s and how I have become a coward in sharing what I believe in this area. The news of his death was a timely challenge to me because of a situation that happened recently at a church event.
What happened is that I found myself reacting strongly (silently) to a comment about someone who had significant money spending it on themselves.
“They made the money, they deserve to do whatever they want,” was the comment of the person seated next to me. Though as I said, I had a strong emotional reaction to what she said, I changed the subject and started babbling about something else.
I thought about it later and realized it was an episode of moral cowardice where I didn’t have the energy to say what I was really thinking and to say it calmly and discuss it thoughtfully. [Read more…]
Why do bad things happen to Christians? especially when we are trying so hard to do what’s right. . . . . .
In our previous lesson on the Prophet Micah we talked about what God requires of us and His requirements are summarized in Micah 6:8 which tells us we are to “Do justice, Love mercy, and Walk humbly with our God.” [Read more…]
The Incredible Implications of God’s View of Time
Though it sounds complex, the topic of this lesson has important and practical implications for how you live day-to-day.
Let me explain—as this lesson shows, God’s view of time, seeing and knowing all that is past, present, and future is what enables us to understand prophecy and trust that what He promised in the past He will fulfill in the future just as He made promises in the past in the Old Testament that He fulfilled in the New Testament. [Read more…]
Christian salvation, a podcast, video, and infographic with verses to explain it
What does it mean to be a Christian? What is Christian salvation all about?
This infographic and the verses included with it explain the meaning of what Christian salvation is all about. [Read more…]
Organizations that fulfill the challenge of the book of Amos and Matt. 25
I recently did a lesson on the book of Amos. The book is both a scathing inditement of the religiously active, but morally bankrupt Israel of the prophet’s day and a challenge to all of us to be sure that our lives reflect the compassion and justice of God. To make the challenges of the book practical, I promised a list of organizations like this that do the work of justice and mercy Amos challenges us to do. [Read more…]
Infographic–God’s view of Time, essential to our understanding of prophecy and much of the Bible
God is the ultimate author of the Bible, though He inspired human writers to put His message into the form we have it. Because of that, and because it is written from His viewpoint, how He talks about time can sometimes be confusing to us because He is outside of time and sees the past, present, and future simultaneously.
I created this infographic and the short video that goes with it, to help you visualize it (though admittedly, we may never fully understand it).
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Click on the chart to download the pdf.
Why understanding God’s view of time is useful as we read through the Bible
It is important however to attempt to understand it or at least accept it for the prophecy in the Bible to make sense. If God is outside of time it is not hard to imagine that He can speak confidently about future events. He can then inspire the writers of scripture to write about them accurately hundreds, sometimes thousands of years before they happen.
If you don’t understand God’s view of time and accept the reality that He is outside of it and can speak in this way, then you are forced into the anti-supernaturalist explanation that all of prophecy was written after the fact.
When looked at objectively, this view becomes tortured and ultimately rather goofy. Instead of accepting that various prophets, with clear time stamps of their writing and thousands of years of tradition, spoke when the Bible said they did, and that they could correctly foretell the future because the God outside of time spoke through them, those who don’t believe that lump all the prophets into some vague, anonymous group who somehow wrote all these books sometime, somewhere (with no historical verification of any of this) after the Babylonian captivity.
They are still left with over 300 prophecies about Jesus that he specifically fulfilled. [Read more…]
The dangers of predicting when Jesus will return
One thing we know for certain is that Jesus is coming back. Just as we anticipate the arrival of a dearly-loved family member who has been away and is coming home, we eagerly look forward to His return and so it is only natural that we want to know when it will take place. [Read more…]
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