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Since temptation is the front porch of the devil’s strategy to undermine and destroy faith, we need to learn how to handle it strategically. Lead us not into temptation From the time of Adam’s fall, temptation is the common experience of all humanity. Ever since Eden the lust of the eyes, the lust of the
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It’s a perennial dialogue: how do the various religions interrelate? Was Jesus merely a Jewish rabbi, a forerunner of Muhammad, a Hindu avatar, a Buddhist bodhisattva, a crypto-gnostic, or a Sufi in disguise? Or are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religious traditions all diverse paths to a similar goal? These questions tend
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God can either give or withhold talent, and so art is another field where God gives no account of himself. Especially in the sphere of art, each and every one of us lived in deep dependence on God’s government over all things. The Lord our God gives one person this talent, and the other that
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The Western world has changed dramatically during the latter half of the twentieth century. Biblical interpretation has not avoided these major changes, though the affects have been largely overlooked. According to Douglas Estes in Literary Approaches to the Bible, “the interpretation of the Bible underwent a notable shift such as has happened only occasionally over
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Probably more than in most other biblical books, Jeremiah presents God as one having deep feelings, emotions, and passions (pathos). Yahweh shows his love and affection for Israel and the peoples of the earth, but he also shows his deep anger and wrath for all the moral degradation and flaunting of his law. This is
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A lot about the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, and its middle school reminds me of growing up. When I watch the show I can see old neighborhoods and the store where we bought baseball cards, the kind that came with chewing gum that was essentially sliced granite. I relive the bike rides to
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You and I are not God. Therefore when Jesus says that his disciples (and their successors in the pastoral office) will do greater works than he (John 14:12), he obviously doesn’t mean that they will do divine works under their own power. Rather, as fully authorized servants of Christ, his ministers are endowed and equipped
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Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him (Matthew 5:1). Matthew is an orderly writer, so it is important to note carefully how he begins his account of Jesus’ ministry. He tells us that after John the Baptizer has been arrested, Jesus begins to
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The Book of Hebrews is a strange book. Hebrews has intimidated readers over the centuries. It expects a knowledge of the Old Testament that many do not have. It seems to have a negative view of the Old Testament (see Heb 10). It gives six terrifying warnings that seem to indicate believers can lose their
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A familiar trope in contemporary evangelical Christianity posits two kinds of knowledge: the kind that resides in the “head,” on one hand, and the kind found in the “heart,” on the other. According to this line of thinking, one can dispassionately acknowledge the truth of certain facts but fail to allow those facts to ignite
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