Essential Theological Video and Audio

Video Scott Adkins – The One: The One Who Saves Dr. R. C. Sproul – The Bible and Apologetics (Part 1) Audio David Wells – The Disappearance of Theology (Part 4b) [Audio clip: view full post to listen] David Wells – The Disappearance of Theology (Part 5a) [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Be …

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Tim Challies – How to Backslide in 9 Easy Steps

A few days ago I shared John Bunyan’s wisdom on why some who profess faith in Christ eventually backslide. Today I want to follow him a little bit farther. Having covered the why, I’ve now drawn from Pilgrim’s Progress instruction on the how. In each case I’ve given my short summary followed by Bunyan’s own …

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Tim Chaffey – The Rise and Fall of Inerrancy in the American Fundamentalist Movement

The Christian fundamentalist movement in America has been maligned, stereotyped, lampooned, and mocked. Fundamentalists have been compared to Muslim terrorists and called right-wing bigots and homophobes. 1 Most fundamentalists would often be the first to declare their imperfections, but these descriptions are typically over the top. Although there may always be some people who fuel …

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Dr. Brian Lee – Osteen: “God Wants to Supersize your Joy” — So what’s wrong with that?

On Sunday night [April 29, 2012], 41,000 fans packed Nationals Stadium in Washington, D.C., to hear a message of hope, inspiration, and encouragement from Joel Osteen. Most paid about $20 (including fees) for the privilege. Osteen sold out the stadium — a feat the Nationals rarely accomplish. But did he have to sell out to …

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Jerry Bergman – The Church Preaches Eugenics: A History of Church Support for Darwinism and Eugenics

Eugenics is the application of Darwinism to produce a ‘superior race’ by the state controlling human reproduction. Those judged more fit are coerced or bribed to produce more children, and those judged less fit are coerced or bribed to produce fewer children by forced sterilization or other means. According to a historian at the American …

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Michael Boling – Unreached People Group: The Muslim Hui of China

INTRODUCTION In the Great Commission outlined in Matthew 28:19, Jesus commanded his disciples and subsequent generations of believers to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The phrase all nations or panta ta ethne in Greek has …

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Alexander Hislop – The Two Babylons

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”–Revelation 17:5 There is this great difference between the works of men and the works of God, that the same minute and searching investigation, which displays the defects and imperfections of the one, brings out …

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Michael Boling – Theodices and the Problem of Evil

INTRODUCTION The problem of evil is an issue that has continually perplexed humanity. Philosophers such as David Hume, John Hume, J. L. Mackie, and Alvin Plantinga, along with theologians such as Augustine have developed theodices in an effort to provide an answer to not only the existence of evil, but also why an omnipotent God …

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Michael Boling – The Various Interpretations of the Song of Solomon

INTRODUCTION Biblical scholars have developed numerous interpretive stances in an effort to comprehend the message of the Song of Solomon, also called the Song of Songs or Canticles. Theologian and author R. K. Harrison noted “few books of the Old Testament have experienced as wide a variety of interpretations as the Song of Songs. The …

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Essential Theological Video and AudioTim Challies – How to Backslide in 9 Easy StepsTim Chaffey – The Rise and Fall of Inerrancy in the American Fundamentalist MovementDr. Brian Lee – Osteen: “God Wants to Supersize your Joy” — So what’s wrong with that?Jerry Bergman – The Church Preaches Eugenics: A History of Church Support for Darwinism and EugenicsMichael Boling – Unreached People Group: The Muslim Hui of ChinaAlexander Hislop – The Two BabylonsMichael Boling – Theodices and the Problem of EvilMichael Boling – The Various Interpretations of the Song of Solomon

May
16

Essential Theological Video and Audio

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Scott Adkins – The One: The One Who Saves

Dr. R. C. Sproul – The Bible and Apologetics (Part 1)

Audio

David Wells – The Disappearance of Theology (Part 4b)

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David Wells – The Disappearance of Theology (Part 5a)

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May
19

Tim Challies – How to Backslide in 9 Easy Steps

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A few days ago I shared John Bunyan’s wisdom on why some who profess faith in Christ eventually backslide. Today I want to follow him a little bit farther. Having covered the why, I’ve now drawn from Pilgrim’s Progress instruction on the how. In each case I’ve given my short summary followed by Bunyan’s own words. Here is how to backslide in nine easy steps:

  1. Stop meditating on the gospel. “They draw off their thoughts, all that they may, from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come.”
  2. Neglect your devotions and stop battling sin. “Then they cast off by degrees private duties, as closet prayer, curbing their lusts, watching, sorrow for sin, and the like.”
  3. Isolate yourself from Christian fellowship. “Then they shun the company of lively and warm Christians.”
  4. Stop going to church. “After that, they grow cold to public duty, as hearing, reading, godly conference, and the like.”

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May
19

Tim Chaffey – The Rise and Fall of Inerrancy in the American Fundamentalist Movement

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The Christian fundamentalist movement in America has been maligned, stereotyped, lampooned, and mocked. Fundamentalists have been compared to Muslim terrorists and called right-wing bigots and homophobes. 1 Most fundamentalists would often be the first to declare their imperfections, but these descriptions are typically over the top. Although there may always be some people who fuel these stereotypes, as properly defined, a Christian fundamentalist is simply a person who holds to the fundamental truths of their faith as revealed clearly in the Bible.

In 1910, five principles were identified by the Presbyterian General Assembly as comprising the fundamentals of the Christian faith. According to this assembly, a fundamentalist is one who believes in the inerrancy of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, His substitutionary atonement, His bodily resurrection, and the authenticity of miracles.2 Some would add a sixth point to this list: the imminent and physical return of Christ to earth.

While each of these points is vitally important to the fundamentalist mind, the first point has risen to the forefront in their ongoing struggle with a secular culture. The doctrine of inerrancy has come to define the movement, and, as such, it deserves special attention. This paper will examine the role inerrancy has served in the fundamentalist movement during the 20th and early 21st centuries.

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May
16

Dr. Brian Lee – Osteen: “God Wants to Supersize your Joy” — So what’s wrong with that?

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On Sunday night [April 29, 2012], 41,000 fans packed Nationals Stadium in Washington, D.C., to hear a message of hope, inspiration, and encouragement from Joel Osteen. Most paid about $20 (including fees) for the privilege.

Osteen sold out the stadium — a feat the Nationals rarely accomplish. But did he have to sell out to do so?

Osteen is the latest embodiment of the American Religion—Revivalism. For centuries now, preachers have known how to fill stadiums or circus tents and send people home with hope in their heart and a skip in their step. Osteen promises you will leave a transformed person—at least until his tour comes around again next year, when you can be transformed again.

Osteen’s message is a positive one for a difficult time. Every one of us has seeds of greatness inside, potential that has not yet been released, buried treasure waiting to be discovered. If you were a car, you would be the fully loaded and totally equipped model—”with pin stripes,” he says, gesturing to his suit.

Before God created you, he planned great things for you. As you stretch your faith, “God is going to show up, and show out, in tremendous ways. … If you don’t step into your destiny and release your gift, then this world will not be as bright as it should be.”

That’s a pretty positive message. What could be wrong with that?

The biggest problem with Osteen’s message about God is that it is really a message about me. God is a potential, a force, a co-pilot, waiting to be tapped and deployed. I may have a net below me, but I am the one that has to take the first steps on the wire:

“Taking steps of faith is imperative to fulfilling your destiny. When I make a move, God will make a move. When I stretch my faith, God will release more of his favor. When I think bigger, God will act bigger.”

God is as big as I think him to be.

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May
16

Jerry Bergman – The Church Preaches Eugenics: A History of Church Support for Darwinism and Eugenics

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Eugenics is the application of Darwinism to produce a ‘superior race’ by the state controlling human
reproduction. Those judged more fit are coerced or bribed to produce more children, and those judged less fit are coerced or bribed to produce fewer children by forced sterilization or other means. According to a historian at the American Ethics and Public Policy Center, Christian Rosen Ph.D., the goal of eugenics was to control evolution from the blind slow process of nature to the intelligent, deliberate and purposeful guidance of evolution by intelligent humans. The most well known example of the application of this policy was in Nazi Germany, but it was also applied in the United States and other countries. The United States passed several laws requiring the sterilization of certain people,
which were upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1927 case of Buck vs Bell.2 These laws also restricted the immigration of ‘inferior races’ such as Jews into the United States. As a result, many Jews perished in the holocaust—many who may have found safety in America. Some even arrived at our shores only to be sent back to Germany to perish in the concentration camps. Eugenics theory relied heavily on not only Darwinism, but also Darwin’s ‘tree of life’ view with its ‘extensive system of branches, representing the ever-increasing complexity of earth’s many species.’ Eugenics was a means to facilitate the further growth of this tree—specifically the advancement and evolution of the
human race or, as eugenicists expressed it, the betterment of mankind.

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May
10

Michael Boling – Unreached People Group: The Muslim Hui of China

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INTRODUCTION

In the Great Commission outlined in Matthew 28:19, Jesus commanded his disciples and subsequent generations of believers to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The phrase all nations or panta ta ethne in Greek has subsumed within it the concept of “ethnic (or ethnolinguistic) groups, and all the “nations” refers to all the ethnolinguistic groups in the world.” The Muslim Hui of China represent a clear example of an ethne that is in dire need of hearing the saving message of the gospel.

Despite encounters in the 7th century with Nestorian Christians and more recent missionary indigenous and Western missionary engagement, the Muslim Hui of China, a population of 10 million people, remains largely unevangelized. The Hui are deeply tied to Islamic faith and practices. Cross-cultural missionary efforts have been limited by past persecution of the Hui by the Han Chinese and foreigners. Efforts to reach the Hui have often focused on altering the Hui’s cultural identity into a more Westernized Christian construct rather than allowing the Hui to maintain their distinct cultural elements thereby utilizing those elements as a bridge of contextualization and evangelization. This forcing of Western ideals on the Hui as well as deeply engrained Muslim proclivities against Judeo-Christian beliefs are contributing factors to the current status of the Hui as an unreached people group.

This paper will examine the historico-cultural, economic, and religious background of the Muslim Hui of China, the missional methodologies utilized to reach them; meanwhile offering critical analysis of those methodologies, alternatively proposing an effective multi-faceted strategy to evangelize the Hui in a culturally relevant framework.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE MUSLIM HUI OF CHINA

The Hui have a population estimated to be around 10 million people scattered throughout the various provinces of China with the highest concentrations of Hui being in the Ningxia, Qinghai, and Gansu provinces. Nearly 20% of the Hui live in the Ningxia Autonomous Region resulting in this area being known as the “Hometown of the Huis.”

But wait, there’s more!

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May
10

Dr. Werner Gitt – The Basic Assumptions of Creationism

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Theories and models of the various creation disciplines are based on the following presuppositions. Assumptions E1 and C1, E2 and C2 . . . E12 and C12 deal with the same topics; their contents, however, are diametrically opposed. The basic assumptions clearly show that these two sets of principles are incompatible.

C1: The basic principle of creation is taken for granted. An understanding of the original creation can only be obtained through a biblical “temper of mind.” Biblical revelations are the key for understanding this world. The Bible is the basic, irreplaceable source of information. It is a fact of creation that we may not extrapolate the currently valid natural laws into the six days of creation. Our present experiences do not allow us to really evaluate something that has just been created.

Examples: All adults were children. But Adam could not have been created as a baby; he was a grown man. He never was a child, and it does not make sense to extrapolate a number of years into his life, just because our present experiences require that every adult should have been a child. Similarly, all the stars were immediately visible in spite of immense distances. Trees were not made as seedlings; they were fully grown and complete. Neither did the birds first have to hatch from their eggs and eventually grow up. The old question of “Which was first—the hen or the egg?” has a clear and unambiguous biblical answer.

C2: Creation is a universal principle, that is, the entire universe and all life on earth originated at creation. According to John 1:1–3, creation encompasses everything from the microcosm to the macrocosm and from inanimate matter to man: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (KJV).

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May
08

Richard Rohlin – The Worshipful Man

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In Living Like a King, Richard Rohlin will be examining the kings of Israel and Judah during the Divided Kingdom period. He’ll look at the good, the bad, and the ugly, and from them we’ll learn together what kind of men we ought – or ought not – to be.

We’ve already spent several posts looking at the damaging consequences of masculinity out of control. What I’d like to do in today’s post is focus on the other side – the opposite. If masculinity out of control is all about self-exaltation and self-importance, then as men we need to be focused on developing the opposite traits. The Biblical example is carefully spelled out for us in Psalm 15, where David gives us a list of the characteristics of the Worshipful Man. Specifically, is the kind of man who is able to stand before God in service and worship.

I think it’s important to note that a godly man is not necessarily a man who possesses great self-control. While that is certainly a by-product of maturity (since it is one of the fruits of the spirit), there are many self-controlled, self-possessed men who do not lead godly, god-honoring lives. At the root of every human dysfunction – at the heart of all of our problems as a species – is the sin, the crime, of selfishness and self-worship.

So by definition, the opposite – the model toward which we must work – is that of cultivating a worshipful spirit. It is an attitude that is concerned with pleasing and focusing on Jesus Christ. Psalm 15 spells it out for us:

A Psalm of David. O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; …in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. — (Psa 15:1-5)

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May
06

Martin Duboisée de Ricquebourg – Theological Case Against Evolution

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We all like science. In fact, we couldn’t live without it. Science has helped us put man on the moon, put the Internet in our pockets, see 14 billion light-years into space, and unveil a universe of microbiological machines within each living cell. Science has given us life-saving vaccines against polio, smallpox and measles. Yet science owes an incredible debt to theology. History repeatedly demonstrates that where men have built their epistemic foundations upon Scripture, their science has flourished. But subsequent to the “Age of Enlightenment” (c. 1650–1800), science has ascended to the throne, happily usurping the Scriptures in every place she can. As Michael Bauman puts it, “Theology, the Queen of the Sciences, has been banished to the back of the bus by her own bigoted descendants.” We need to remember that man is fallible, and as the history of science has repeatedly shown, so is science. One of the most audacious and specious theories to fall under the broad umbrella of ‘science’ in the last 200 years is the notion that everything evolved over billions of years. The theory suffers from innumerable theological, philosophical and scientific problems. But in this article I would ask you to consider the following theological problems created by maintaining an evolutionary account of origins.

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Apr
30

Tim Challies – The Lost Sin of Envy

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A little while ago God did what he sometimes does and rather suddenly made it very clear to me that I had a sin in my life—a prominent sin—that had somehow been hidden to me. It surprised just how prevalent this sin was, how ugly, and how little I knew about it. Once I saw it and once I tried to understand it, I came to see that it may well be a sin you struggle with as well. It is one of those sins we talk about very little and one of those sins that has wormed its way into our culture and into the church. It may just be a lost sin, a sin we’ve forgotten about. Many of us don’t even have a clear category for it anymore. Ancient writers and theologians talked about it a lot, even suggesting that it was the second most serious and second most prevalent of all the sins, and yet today it has almost disappeared from our vocabulary or it has been confused with related sins like jealousy or covetousness. That sin is Envy.

Proverbs says that whoever walks with the wise will be wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm (13:20). What I found out is that Envy has been a friend of mine for a long, long time. I just didn’t realize it until recently. He has infected me with his foolishness. Let me tell you how he’s worked in my life.

Nine years ago I slapped together a little web site so I could share a couple of articles with my parents. The Lord took that site and has done something amazing so that today tens of thousands of people read it every day. Not only that, but I have been able to write books and I have been able to travel all around to teach and preach and so much more. You might think that I would be just thrilled with all that has happened and certainly I should be. And yet I came to see that this really was not the case. Instead I was growing resentful, I was envious of what I didn’t have and of what God hadn’t given me. I came to see that I had made friends with Envy.

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