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How Seeing the Kingdom Assures Us We’re Born of the Spirit
It’s a curious fact that even those who claim to follow Jesus have almost no concept of the number one thing he taught–the kingdom of God. Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming God’s kingdom had now arrived. The subject of the kingdom dominated his teaching for three and a half years. When he rose from… Continue reading
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A Ridiculous Revelation of God
Can you imagine anything more ridiculous than the almighty God having a lamb-like nature? And yet that’s exactly what we must conclude if, in fact, Jesus reveals the nature of God. He not only died as the lamb of God, he lived as the lamb of God to show us what God is like. This… Continue reading
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Final Judgment: A Remarkable Dream
Shortly after I became a Christian, I had a dream so striking it grips me as strongly today as it did then, almost fifty years ago. In a previous post, we saw that virtually all peoples have seen the world haunted by a numinous presence. However, not all people have seen that presence as good.… Continue reading
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Can the Preaching of the Evangelical Gospel Stunt Spiritual Growth?
Being a Christian was not all I thought it would be. Something was missing. I can illustrate what I lacked by something that struck me while watching the TV series, The Chosen. In this episode, Jesus sent out his disciples on a mission to preach the gospel to the “lost sheep of Israel” (Mat. 10:5-15;… Continue reading
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Primal Desire or Emotional Deadness?
In a recent post we noted that throughout history almost all human beings have conceived of a mysterious, awe-inspiring Presence pervading our world–almost all, not everyone. The dominant worldview of Western countries is a notable exception. Scientism teaches us nothing exists beyond what the five senses can reach. Life just happened by chance. There is… Continue reading
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Look at the Cross, Look at the Angels
Two verses before John 3:16, the best known verse of the Bible, Jesus says he will be like the snake Moses lifted up (John 3:14). Jesus alludes here to the Old Testament story where the Israelites were bitten by snakes because of their disobedience. God tells Moses to make a bronze snake, put it up… Continue reading
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Is the Universe Cold and Dead, or Haunted by a Mysterious Presence?
What do you make of the fact that human beings have never considered themselves to be alone? No matter what corner of the earth we look to, no matter how far back in time we go, all people groups tell us a mysterious, awe-inspiring, frightful, yet fascinating Presence pervades our world. So concludes Rudolph Otto’s,… Continue reading
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If God is Love, Why Can Pain be So Excruciating and So Terrifying?
In my last post, we considered “the problem of pain” as it’s sometimes called. “How can there be so much suffering, evil and pain in a world created and ruled by a loving God?” We saw love must be freely given, that is, we must have free will to choose to love or not. And… Continue reading
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Why is There so Much Suffering if God is in Absolute Control, or is He?
“While everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.” Recently, in the middle of the night, Lee Strobel’s interview of Charles Templeton came to mind. Templeton was a Canadian journalist in the 60’s and 70’s, well known for his atheism. He had been a preacher, at one time the pulpit partner… Continue reading
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Loving the Person We See: Part 2
When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them only one restriction which concerned the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And there was only one restriction concerning it. They were free to enjoy its beauty, to sit under its shade, play on it or whatever they liked.… Continue reading