The little Baptist church I first attended while still young in Christ had this kind, elderly gentleman attending for an extended time. He had this cane inlaid with turquoise. He had a couple rings and a bolo tie of turquoise and silver. See, he had been living out in the desert. I forget where… New Mexico or Arizona… and he was a linguist. He’d spent a number of years a professor of ancient Greek. Now, this was very intimidating for the pastor. Our pastor was still attending Bible College. He was at Biola, which was still good at the time. In fact, the pastor was a protege of Dr. John…

In Psalm One as we read: Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;Psa 1:2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.Psa 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.Psa 1:4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.Psa 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the…

Jesus is presented subtly, as are the Father and the Spirit, in Genesis 1:1 with the unique name “God” which in the Hebrew is ‘Elohim.’ What is unique is that, with the suffix ‘im’ which in Hebrew denotes plurality (think “seraph” versus “seraphim” and “cherub” versus “cherubim”). In Hebrew the name ‘Elohim’ is known as a uni (meaning single) plural noun. Somehow single yet plural. This is our first clue that God is more complex than meets the eye. Then with the phrase, “Let us make man in our image…” (Gen. 1:26) we see that plurality confirmed, though not yet defined, upon the page. By Genesis 3:8 we read of…

Leaders, Divorce and Remarriage Ask a dozen people about about divorce and remarriage in the Bible and you are likely to get a dozen answers. Ask a dozen people about it among church leaders and you might get twenty answers. It sounds funny, but because of the confusion, when you begin raising scripture verses, there will be some equivocation and back-pedaling. The confusion has been compounded over the years by way of less than stellar translations of a particular phrase found in 1 Timothy 3 (and Titus chapter 1). Add to this the fact that you can go back in time to a few historians to see what early churches…

It strikes me that God wished to have a people to love, wherein love would freely and eagerly be returned. Now, he could have programed us to give love responses, but that’s like those dolls with the string in the back. It is not genuine. On the other hand, free will means man will choose, but will be selfish and always choose self over God. Well, there you have a problem. Pride and selfishness will keep us separate from God. Even if He did just go ahead and forgive us and take us into Heaven (which we know is impossible, but even if) then we would not love Him then…

by David Reynolds It’s all about the Multiverse these days to the extent that one would be hard put to name very many recent feature films that do not tout the concept. There are in fact many franchises that utilize the concept as a plot ploy, a cheap two-dollar wrench to get a writer’s characters out of trouble; or into trouble. But not only fiction puts forth numerous theories. It could be argued that every major and minor scientific publication is now obligated to address the theory if for no other reason than to quell the wave of inquiry that comes by way of email and raised hands. The theory…

Before or After Judgment? In the New Testament the very first time we read of the thief in the night is in Christ’s Olivet Discourse. Yes, it is a warning to those caught unprepared and Jesus used the illustration as an example of how his coming will be “as were the days of Noah” in Matthew 24:36-44. Those who hold a Rapture view will often use the phrase to describe Christ’s coming to take away his church where we “will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). In the latter verse, “caught up” is the Greek word ‘harpazo’…

It’s About Jesus! Many miss a fine point concerning the Feast Days and get distracted arguing whether they are for the Jews only, or are they also for church… Really both are wrong. Amir Tsarfati misses this point too, thus erroneously saying none of that can be about Rapture because Rapture is a church thing. Well, if he were correct that would be true. In Leviticus 23 the Lord says, “These are MY Feast Days…” It is not about either Israel or the church directly, but about GOD! Like much of the Old Testament, these point to Messiah Jesus. He is fulfilling Each One ON the very day of each…

As an odd approach to the hotly debated subject of what the Fig Tree Parable means (sometimes called the Fig Tree Prophecy or Generation) I thought rather than simply camping out in the Olivet Discourse, it would be instructive to pull back and broaden our focus to include the Old Testament. Crazy, right? Well, not so much. The Old Testament demonstrably informs the New Testament as well as the reverse. This should not even be a subject for debate considering The Author of the one is the same Author of the other. But I digress. In Matthew 24:34 Jesus said that “This generation shall not pass till all these things…