The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?

Does Isaiah 9:10 really contain an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America’s future? Note: This review is an abridged version of a book of the same title. PUBLISHING UPDATE: The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction? is now available for purchase on The Berean Call website and Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle formats. Article available in pdf format at this link. A discussion between Dave James and Jonathan Cahn, moderated by Jimmy DeYoung can be found at this link. The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him. (Proverbs 18:17, NKJV) Moderated discussion

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ABI Ministry Update

Annual ABI Ministry Trip to Ukraine & Hungary Great news! The Lord has provided $2450 of the $2500 that we were hoping to put together for this trip. We are very thankful to Him and to those who have given toward this project. It is a great encouragement – and allows us to continue this very important part of the ABI ministry. So a heart-felt “Thank you” is due all those who generously gave to this project! _______________________ Teaching Ministry in Review (over the last 16 months) I know that one question people often have about the ministry of ABI

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“The Muslim Brotherhood and the Gospel of Christ”

An astonishing guest opinion piece [1. Bob Kubinec, “The Muslim Brotherhood and the Gospel of Christ,” Christianity Today, accessed Feb. 11, 2011, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/februaryweb-only/muslimbrotherhood.html] featured in the February 11 edition of Christianity Today Direct challenges Christians in the West, including “many evangelicals,” to rethink what the author describes as “a deep and abiding prejudice” against the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt (a prejudice which he says evangelicals share with “the U.S. foreign policy community”). The article was written by Bob Kubinec, who is described as “a consultant who lives in Washington, D.C. He has studied and done research on religious and

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The Crisis in Egypt

The attention of the world has been riveted to the images coming out of Egypt over the past week. It reminds me of watching CNN over 20 years ago,  as Bernard Shaw reported live that the Berlin wall had been breached. Even as I write, Fox News is broadcasting live footage of the rapidly changing situation with speculation mounting about which direction the military is going to go—with the anti-Mubarak or with the pro-Mubarak factions. The television screen is filled people running, Molotov cocktails exploding, violence escalating and gunfire ringing out. At this moment, it would be difficult to overstate

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Ministry Trip to S. Korea / Philippines

Support the ministry of ABI by becoming an International Ministry Partner A few weeks ago I posted an ABI blog outlining the tremendous international ministry opportunities the Lord has set before us. I noted that as each trip gets closer I will send additional updates and see if there might be those who would be interested in giving toward one or more of these important missions trips. In order to be able to maintain ABI’s international ministry we need the help of the many friends who receive the ABI updates and who believe in what we are doing. The focus

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Where Should We Meet?

A Theological and Historical Response to the Contemporary Home Church Movement By Paul Barreca Pastor, Faith Bible Church, Vineland, NJ ABI Co-founder A recent Associate Press article highlighted a trend among Christians to leave their churches and worship at home instead. (1) Sometimes called Organic Church, Missional Church or House Church, this movement appeals to many who have grown dissatisfied with the corporate and impersonal nature of many American churches. Propelled by books such as Pagan Christianity (Frank Viola and George Barna), Life After Church (Brian Sanders) and They Like Jesus but Not the Church (Dan Kimball), some Christians urge

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Burning Korans (the right way)

You couldn’t watch or listen to the news for more than a few minutes this week without hearing about the Florida pastor’s plan to burn Korans on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. After it was reported that General Petraus had expressed his concerns that this could very easily put American soldiers and expatriates at risk in Afghanistan and other countries, I wrote an email to Pastor Jones asking him to reconsider his plans – both as a brother in Christ and as a fellow leader in ministry. I don’t know if he actually received or read my email.

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ABI Quick Survey: Mark Galli’s CT article

ABI Quick Survey: What is your opinion of the July 15 CT article by Mark Galli? A couple of days ago, I published a blog (copied below) concerning an article written by Mark Galli for Christianity Today. If you have read the comments following the article on the CT website, you have seen mixed responses from the readers. The majority have been negative, but some have expressed their support, suggesting that his perspective was appropriate and helpful. I hope you will take a moment to participate in our brief survey to express your views (which we will publish in about

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Partnership Opportunities: ABI International

As the ministry of The Alliance for Biblical Integrity continues to develop in the United States, we are also receiving an increasing number of invitations to teach internationally. These represent tremendous opportunities to provide solid biblical instruction to the next generation of leaders as they are trained by other ministries around the world. Unlike those in the U.S., overseas ministries need for guest teachers to come as fully-supported short-term missionaries. Therefore, we are seeking additional strategic partners to join our support team specifically for the international ministries of the ABI. I encourage you to look over the international ministry opportunities

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Homosexuality and the Bible – Part III

(This article is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2 column article format: Click here to download) According to an April, 2009 article on MSNBC, a Washington Post/ABC poll released that month became the first to indicate that the number of Americans supporting same-sex marriages (49%) is now greater than those who oppose it (46%). Although the two numbers are within the typical poll margin-of-error of each other (±3%), there does seem to have been a significant shift in attitudes over the preceding 5-year period, when a Post/ABC poll put the percentage in-favor at just 32% in 2004. Between 1982

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Bruce Waltke’s Comments Create Firestorm

(This article is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2 column article format: Click here to download) Bruce Waltke is one of the most well-known Old Testament scholars in the Reformed tradition of this generation. Known by many as a conservative, his comments made in a recently-released 2009 interview may have created one of the most significant theological firestorms to sweep through the evangelical community in recent memory. (This issue has generated a tremendous number of articles, blogs and comments and because of the sheer volume it has become very difficult to trace everything back to the primary sources for

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Homosexuality and the Bible – Part II

(This article is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2 column article format: Click here to download) Homosexuality and the Believer’s Identity in Christ But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13, NKJV) There are many things that distinguish Christianity from the religions of the world, not the least of which is the believer’s identity in Christ. In other religions,

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Homosexuality and the Bible – Part I

This is the first in a series of articles on the topic of “Homosexuality and the Bible.” However, the series will not necessarily be presented in consecutive blogs. A Faltering Consensus The consensus among conservative evangelicals is that the Bible provides the final and authoritative word on all aspects of life. Historically, there has also been broad consistency in how the Bible has been understood and biblical principles have been applied to a variety of moral issues, including homosexuality. However, this consensus seems to be slowly dissolving in the face of seismic shifts in the views of society toward homosexuality

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In India with The Agape Puppets

This ABI blog is a bit of a departure from most articles – but it does focus on reaching the lost with the gospel in a unique way. This blog features an email from a dear friend, Linda Summer, who is the Director of the Agape Puppet ministry. Linda and her team are currently in India and reaching thousands of Hindu children with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As always, she is accompanied by Sam Shaw (from Northern Ireland), who is the Associate Director for the ministry and his wife, Silvana, who is from Brazil. Linda Summer is a truly

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Those who haven’t heard – in the Amazon

As an introduction to the second survey in this series, I presented a hypothetical situation of an Indian village and a young girl named Ayanna. However, this blog is about a present, real-life situation deep in the Amazon jungle. Yesterday, my dad forwarded an email update from a missionary that very directly touches on the question, “What about those who haven’t heard?” And because of its timeliness and relevance to the issue, I have decided to post it (below) before addressing this question in light of Romans 10 in the next few days. Michael Guerink , is a missionary in

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Life + 150 years

I recently became an adjunct professor for Grace College, teaching part-time in their Associates Degree program in the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Indiana. There are currently 17 men studying Old Testament Survey and 22 in Systematic Theology. This is an amazing ministry opportunity for me personally and fits well with the goals of ABI in making the Word of God accessible to this generation of believers and preparing the next for leadership. From time to time I will be blogging about some of my experiences and observations related to my prison ministry. ______________________ Between classes on Monday evening,

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What about those who haven’t heard? (Part 3)

This is part of a blog series concerning the question of the eternal fate of those who have not heard the gospel by the time of their death. So far, 77 people have participated in the first survey and 41 in the second, follow-up survey (which are part of this blog series). The tabulated results can be seen in the graphs below. Even though these results are not statistically significant due to the low number of respondents, they do seem to show that there is a fairly significant divergence of opinion regarding this issue. And although the results are not

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What about those who haven’t heard? (Part II)

This is a follow-up to the first ABI Quick Survey in this current series on an important theological and practical issue. It is well-known that the way survey questions are framed can have a significant influence on the way people respond. One factor can be when questions are posed in such a way that they seem more real or personal to the respondent – and aren’t just theoretical / hypothetical. This can be particularly true with questions related to difficult theological issues. I hope you will take a moment to read the following scenario and then continue to the second

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Unholy Trinity

The following is an article by John MacArthur, which recently appeared on his Shepherd’s Fellowship website. _______________________ Unholy Trinity Friday, Dec 11, 2009 (By John MacArthur) I don’t watch much television, and when I do I generally avoid the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). For many years TBN has been dominated by faith-healers, full-time fund-raisers, and self-proclaimed prophets spewing heresy. I wrote about the false gospel they proclaim and the phony miracles they pretend to do almost two decades ago in Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992. See especially chapter 12). I had my fill of charismatic televangelism while researching that

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“Dispensationalism must be wrong” – Part II

A visitor posted the following comment on the first blog post concerning popular arguments against dispensationalism. For those of you who are eschatologically expert, I invite you to comment specifically on a Google article entitled “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty,” a photographic version of which is on the “Powered by Christ Ministries” site. Since some have given the impression that that article is full of errors, I would very much like to be informed as to which particular item in it is in fact erroneous. Thanks in advance. Karl The document to which he refers (Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty) was written by Dave

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