Snow Falls Slowly (or, I want patience, RIGHT now)

Other than when a blizzard viciously whips the snow around trees and homes, snow usually falls slowly, taking its time to reach its destination. Gravity pulls it down from the clouds, and the air resists its downward trip, producing a meandering, apparently casual, journey to join other unique creations assembled together on the ground, homes,…

Read More

The Missing Gospel at Funeral Services

Several years ago I wrote an article for P&D about the ministry of funerals for unbelievers. In this article I would like to focus on a growing, and disturbing, tendency at funerals. Our small town (population ~18,000) has three funeral homes. Over the thirty years my wife and I have lived here I have officiated…

Read More

FrontLine: The Authority and Sufficiency of the Bible

March/April 2021 | VOLUME 31 | NUMBER 2 In this issue the theme before us is the sufficiency of Scripture. Does the Bible really contain everything necessary for believers to navigate the challenges inherent in being human? People have wrestled through this issue since Christianity began. The New Testament contains the history of those who…

Read More

Resources on Manhood and Womanhood

This week our theme came to be the roles of men and women in our various relationships, especially concerning ordination to Christian ministry. Recent controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention gave the impetus for these articles. Here are our contributions for this week: Ordination of Women: Some Issues Just Won’t Go Away by Jeff Straub…

Read More

Jonathan Edwards And Female Preachers

Does the Bible allow women to be pastors and preachers? The recent ordination of three women to pastoral ministry at Saddleback Church in California makes the issue a topic of discussion once again. The discussion particularly roils the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), since Saddleback considers itself an SBC church. The SBC clearly disapproves of female…

Read More

Book Review: Daily Devotionals by Stewart Custer

Stewart Custer, well-known professor at Bob Jones University and pastor at Trinity Bible Church, was the most prolific Bible faculty author at BJU, producing small booklets, commentaries, Bible study helps, a Greek synonym study, and his beautiful color book on the Holy Land, with pictures he took himself on his many tours of the region.…

Read More

Cultural Accommodation, the Growing Danger for Christian Education

Christian colleges face a growing danger from the tsunami-like changes in Western countries. The danger comes from the moral changes in the wider public and from the personal problems students now bring with them to college. Let me give some examples. An Evangelical Christian college near where I live has almost 2,000 students. 60% of…

Read More

The Antichrists

“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (1 John 4:3) “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord…

Read More

A Christmas Lament for a World Adrift

lament, n.: an expression of grief or sorrow; a formal expression of sorrow or mourning1 For many people, Christian or not, Christmas is a time to raise money for your group or cause, help people who need food or clothes or gifts, to see family and friends, and, of course, it has something to do…

Read More

The Legacy of Billy Graham

“Billy Graham was perhaps the most significant religious figure of the 20th century, and the organizations and the movement he helped spawn continue to shape the 21st.” (This is the opening sentence of Christianity Today’s special issue about Graham.) Christianity Today’s coverage of Graham’s funeral emphasized the ecumenical character of the event: “Up until Billy…

Read More