In the New Testament, the Greek word for "authority" is sometimes translated as "power." Even though there is a separate Greek word for power, the concepts of power and authority are so intimately connected in the Western mind, that modern translators often view them as synonyms. But translations aside, there is a biblical distinction that should be made between authority and power.
Full Story » Paul Hill, convicted of murdering abortionist John Britton and his bodyguard in 1994, considered himself to be a twentieth-century John Brown. Brown, if you recall, was the self-appointed avenger of God who was fond of quoting Hebrews 9:22: “All things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission” (KJV). If it took the blood of Americans to purge the sin of slavery from the land, so be it, Brown argued. For his actions, Brown was regarded as a hero by many in the anti-slavery movement of his time.
Full Story » I believe that a preacher of the Gospel should know something about everything. Not be a know-it-all, but know something about it all. He should ably extract knowledge from every area and facet of life and use it in his message in an organic and fluid manner. If he cannot, he can only prove himself drone and drudger: competent to do busy work but not to teach.
Are these strong words? Yes. But not my opinion only. George Herbert, in his terse and powerful classic The Country Parson, writes of the parson’s knowledge (Chapter IV):
Full Story » American Vision gets its fair share of feedback from readers like you. A concern that is often raised by letter and email writers goes something like this: “Why is your ministry so negative? Shouldn’t we be trying to unite Christians and work together instead of bickering over theological differences that don’t really matter? Let’s just preach the gospel and worry about the other stuff in heaven…” Although each one words it a bit differently, this is the essence of it. In other words, “Can’t we all just get along?”
The short answer is no, we can’t. Not yet anyway. The main problem with a question like this is that underneath the question is a statement. A statement that basically says that the Bible is only about saving people from hell. Christianity then, becomes nothing more than a one-way ticket through the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13-14). Few there be that find it, but it won’t be for a lack of witnessing and leaving tracts with the tip for the waiter. While we appreciate the zeal attached to such a view, it is completely short-sighted and bears no resemblance to the gospel of the New Testament.
Full Story » There is an interesting passage in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that has stuck in my mind ever since I first read it. If you have never read this short story, you should. It takes about an hour to read and it is a masterwork of flowing prose; the words seem to almost fall off the page. Aspiring writers should certainly read this story for an example of powerful writing, but I would also recommend that non-writers read it to get a sense of how much popular literature has degraded since Irving wrote his story in 1820.
Full Story » Teaching what to think, rather than how to think has become the new “normal” in our modern world of postmodernism. While postmodernism would have us believe that the concept of “absolute truth” is a quaint and naïve holdover from the 19th century, very few people ever live this way. It may be one thing to say it, but it is a different thing entirely to actually exist in a world of relativism. We tend to surround ourselves with people who believe the same basic things as we do.
Full Story » For a few months now I have been working with a group of producers in the development of the film Collision: Is Christianity Good for the World (Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson). This is one of the most unique debate presentations I have ever seen. While I have participated in traditional talking-head debates, I found the approach taken by award winning music video director Darren Doane in Collision to be so compelling that it might end up changing the way debates are produced. On March 20 and 21, Collision was shown to a group of Christians and atheists at the Christian Book Expo held in Dallas, Texas.
Full Story » There is no doubt that Francis A. Schaeffer broadened the appeal for biblical world-and-life view Christianity with his popular writing style and activist philosophy. Schaeffer’s popularity was extensive enough that he was recognized by the secular media as the “Guru of Fundamentalism.” Schaeffer filled the intellectual gap that resided in much of fundamentalism. In a sense, he carried on the tradition of his early mentor, J. Gresham Machen. Prior to 1968, little was known of Francis Schaeffer. He had isolated himself from American evangelicalism by ministering to the roaming discards of society who were trekking through Europe hoping to find answers to life’s most perplexing problems.
Full Story » “Calvinism is back,” so says David Van Biema in the March 22, 2009 issue of Time magazine. Calvinism is listed as one of “10 ideas changing the world Right now.” It’s third on the list. When most people hear the word “Calvinism,” they bite down only on the gristle of predestination and then spit out the whole piece of meat. There is much more to Calvinism that is obscured by the misapplied aversion to particular redemption. As a student at Reformed Theological Seminary in the 1970s, I was taught that certain cultural applications flowed from a consistent application of Calvinism. Calvinism is synonymous with a comprehensive biblical world-and-life view. Simply put, I was told that the Bible applies to every area of life. To be a Calvinist is to make biblical application to issues beyond personal salvation (Heb. 5:11-14).
Full Story » You may have read that “the latest American Religious Identification Survey shows that the number of those who believe in no religion at all has almost doubled in the last 18 years, rising from 8 percent to 15 percent since 1990.” Then there’s the article that appeared on the Christian Science Monitor site by Michael Spencer about a coming “evangelical collapse.” Spencer opens the article with these dire conclusions:
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