Tag: Idolatry

By micoots
07/12/2016 0

What I’ve Learned from Being Isolated and Allergic to Everything

I believe in a blessing I don’t understand
I’ve seen rain fall on wicked and the just
Rain is no measure of his faithfulness
He withholds no good thing from us
No good thing from us, no good thing from us

I will open my hands, will open my heart
I am nodding my head an emphatic yes
To all that you have for me

Almost six years ago, I was sitting in a quiet park in New Zealand, iPod in hand, listening to this song by Sara Groves. I was surrounded by evidences of stunning natural beauty—vibrant t..

By micoots
06/12/2016 0

Lord, Deliver Me from Distraction

Since the fall of man, people have had trouble staying focused, but we live today in an age of unprecedented distraction. Since you’re already reading this on some electronic device, I don’t need to elaborate.

Lots of experts are talking about the negative effects this is having on us. Many of us feel it: the buzzing brain, the attention atrophy, the diminishing tolerance for reading, especially reading books.

We’re becoming conditioned to distraction, and it’s harming our ability to listen..

By micoots
30/11/2016 0

Is Faith Without Works Dead, Or Just Sleepy?

Steve Holmes and Alan Jacobs are two of the most thoughtful, insightful evangelical theologians around today. When they line up together on an issue, and you don’t, it’s usually safe to assume they are right and you are wrong. (Fortunately, since one is very Anglican and the other very Baptist, this doesn’t happen as often as you might think.)

Recently they’ve both written articles arguing that, although they hold to the traditional view of sexual ethics, holding to the revisionist view doesn’t..

By micoots
29/11/2016 0

From Shame to Sin (Review)

“When Christianity emerged in the Roman Empire during the first century it did so as a persecuted minority known for its distinctive sexual ethic. Harper argues, in fact, that it was their views of sex more than anything else that distinguished Christians in the ancient world.”

The West is jettisoning the Christian understanding of human sexuality at an alarming speed. It is doing so, to a significant extent, without any meaningful understanding of how Christianity shaped western sexuality in t..

By micoots
29/11/2016 0

Christian certitude: A disaster waiting to happen

Do you love your faith so little that you have never battled a single fear lest your faith should not be true? Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth.

– George MacDonald

In my spiritual memoir, Water To Wine, part of the story I tell involves my own journey away from cheap certitude toward an authentic faith. It is a phenomenon of modernity that c..

By micoots
29/11/2016 0

How to Read the Major Prophets Devotionally

Some things are easier to read than others. When we open a newspaper or a website or a novel, we normally know intuitively what’s going on. We don’t have to labor to understand what the author is trying to say or what literary devices he’s using to communicate his message. But when we try to read the prophetic books of the Old Testament, we’re often waist-deep in a mix of unfamiliar genres with rules and conventions we don’t understand. Add in a few thousand years and a vast cultural difference,..

By micoots
28/11/2016 0

Does The Bible List The Names Of Demons?

Does the Bible list the names of demons? If so, what do they mean?

Sacrificing to Demons
Did you realize that when the ancient pagans sacrificed to their “gods,” they were literally making sacrifices to demons? That’s what the Bible teaches about who these sacrifices are actually for. As incredible as it sounds, God connects sacrificing to pagan gods to actually sacrificing to fallen angels or demons. Demons are about 1/3rd of the angels that rebelled with Lucifer or Satan, and became totally c..

By micoots
26/11/2016 0

Sin Will Never Make You Happy

Carved in the bark of every tree in the garden of God are the words, “If it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Three words are branded into the flesh of every Christian: “You . . . have . . . died” (Colossians 3:3). And the heartfelt confession of every believer is, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).

But what does this mean? Who died when I became a Christian? Answer: my “flesh” died. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh” (Galatians 5:24). But wha..

By micoots
24/11/2016 0

Millions Will Eat, But Miss the Point

One evening after dinner several years ago, I sat at our kitchen table savoring a delicious piece of apple pie.

Our son Samuel was playing nearby. Feeling generous and benevolent, I approached him with a forkful behind my back and asked him to open his mouth and close his eyes. Inserting the pie, I waited eagerly for his reaction.

He chewed, then scrunched up his face and began crying. Shocked, I asked him what was wrong. Between sobs, he whimpered, “I wanted ice cream!”

Desire Diminishe..

By micoots
23/11/2016 0

Kevin Giles — The ETS Response to Grudem and Ware

The Nicene and Reformed doctrine of the Trinity.
(A paper given by Kevin Giles at the plenary forum on the Trinity at the Evangelical Theological Society annual conference, 15th November, 2016 at San Antonia. The other speakers were Dr Bruce Ware, Dr Millard Erickson and Dr Wayne Grudem; Dr Sam Storms presided.)
Kevin Giles
Thank you, Dr Storms, for your welcome. It is a huge honor to be invited to give the introductory address at this ETS plenary forum on the Trinity.
In putting my case this a..