Archives For Evangelicalism

May 8, 2013

The Conquest of Canaan: God’s Mercy and Justice

by Wyatt Graham

If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, most likely you will have struggled through how to understand Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. Even if you haven’t, I can almost guarantee that you have spoken with someone who calls God evil and vindictive for his “genocide” of whole people groups. In many ways, I can sympathize with this accusation. The Bible does appear to portray God’s judgment of Canaanites in harsh terms. Consider Deuteronomy 20:16–18:

16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.    Continue Reading…

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April 25, 2013

Our Fundamentalist Future

by Nathan Busenitz

 The year was 1878. Modernism was on the rise, and its attack on the church was full scale. In response, a group of conservative Bible scholars established a set of fourteen doctrinal principles to outline what they believed was the essence of biblical Christianity. Known as the “Niagara Creed” (because it was associated with the Niagara Bible Conference of 1883–1897), these principles laid the foundation for a movement that would later be called fundamentalism.

On the broader front, the dispensational organizers of the Niagara Bible Conference were joined by non-dispensationalists like B.B. Warfield and J. Gresham Machen in their fight against modernism. In 1910, the fourteen-point Niagara Creed was distilled into “five fundamentals” by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. These five fundamentals were as follows:

1. The inerrancy of Scripture

2. The virgin birth and deity of Jesus Christ

3. The substitutionary atonement through God’s grace and human faith

4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ

5. The authenticity of Christ’s miracles (or later, by others, the imminent return of Jesus Christ)

It was also in 1910 that a wealthy Presbyterian layman, named Lyman Stewart, funded the publication of twelve pamphlets entitled The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth. These pamphlets, which together consisted of 90 essays written by 64 authors from several denominations, were published between 1910 and 1915. The articles themselves expanded on the five fundamentals, and strengthened the fundamentalist stance against modernism. Continue Reading…

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April 23, 2013

Is it Unloving to Call Out Fal$e Teacher$?

by George Lawson

shai linneShai Linne is no stranger to those who love Christian Hip-Hop music (he’s been my personal favorite for years).   He is not even a stranger to those who don’t love Christian Hip-Hop, although I’m convinced that Shai is on Phil Johnson’s playlist (see Phil Johnson’s GTY post here).   But now he is apparently no stranger to Paula White Ministries either.

Shai Linne’s new album “Lyrical Theology” features the pre-release single “Fal$e Teacher$”, which calls out 12 well known prosperity preachers.   So who made the list?  Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Fred Price, Kenneth Copland, Robert Tilton, Eddie Long, Juanita Bynum, and Paul Crouch are all identified as false teachers (each of whom we could spend an entire post on).   Continue Reading…

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April 19, 2013

Yet Another Tragedy?

by Wyatt Graham

Most Americans remember where they sat, what they were doing, and how it was that they heard about the deadliest attack ever perpetrated on American soil. Indeed, as this Canadian can testify, the shock which the United States of America felt on this day rippled out and gripped the whole world in disbelief and grief.

This terrorist attack against the United States of America made many ask, “Why would God allow this to happen?” It became a time of national soul-searching and questioning, and it is a question that when taken to God’s Word should drive you to the Gospel, to Jesus Christ himself.

Into the fray of political pundits who spouted various theories and accusations, John MacArthur characteristically stepped in and answered with the authority of God’s own Word. It was during this time that he wrote Terrorism, Jihad and Bible, because he believed that the Bible ultimately answers the question of why God could allow such evil to happen.

In light of the horrific bombing in Boston, I was reminded of the need for this book. It answers the difficult questions that arise when confronted with terrorism:

  • “Why do evil things happen in the world?”
  • “Why would someone commit these heinous acts?”
  • “Where was God in all this?”
  • “Is there hope?”

Let’s look at how Terrrorism, Jihad, and the Bible answers those questions:

Continue Reading…

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April 18, 2013

Should We Boycott Starbucks?

by Nathan Busenitz

StarbucksI was asked that question last week, as a result of some controversial statements made last month by the coffee company’s CEO in which he publicly supported gay marriage.

If I were a coffee snob, I probably would have answered that we should boycott Starbucks because they burn their beans. But I’m not a coffee snob. And I knew that wasn’t really the heart behind the question.

My actual response went something like this:

If your conscience is pricked by drinking Starbucks coffee, then you should not drink Starbucks coffee. That is a decision that you ought to make in your own heart before the Lord. But if other believers choose not to join you in your boycott (because they don’t share that same personal conviction), you should not judge them for responding differently than you do.

While it is not an exact parallel, the situation regarding food offered to idols (addressed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 8-9) provides us with principles that apply to these types of situations.

In our day, the issue involves purchasing coffee from a twenty-first century company that publicly supports gay marriage. In Paul’s day, the controversy centered around buying food from first-century vendors who had openly offered it to idols in the local pagan temple. Though the specifics are clearly different, both situations raise a similar moral question: Are believers at liberty to purchase food (or coffee) from an openly anti-Christian source?

Paul’s response to the first-century dilemma is instructive for us today. It provides principles for thinking through issues (like the Starbucks controversy) that involve both conscience and Christian liberty. Continue Reading…

in Evangelicalism, Shepherding with 41 Comments
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April 12, 2013

Satan Loves to Swing the Pendulum

by Mike Riccardi

Edwards PortraitIn the 1730s and 40s, New England and others of the colonies were in the midst of that great dispensation of God’s grace that we call The Great Awakening. Through the itinerant preaching of George Whitefield and the theological ministry of Jonathan Edwards, large numbers were coming under the conviction of sin and turning to God in repentance and faith in Christ.

Yet in the thick of these revivals many of those who professed Christ would be so caught up with themselves emotionally that the display of “affections” became to be the marker of spiritual maturity. If you were powerfully affected by the truth of spiritual things, you could be assured that your state before God was acceptable.

In response to this, others began to become suspicious of such displays of religious affections, recognizing that they can be easily fabricated and resembled mere “swoonings.” The pendulum had swung, and the trend became to deny the importance of affections altogether, and rather emphasized reason and judgment only.

Continue Reading…

in Evangelicalism, History with 13 Comments
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