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

Read more

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.

Read more

Glenn Beck’s “Black-Robed Regiment”

Should we be concerned about Glenn Beck’s 8/28 “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington? I have watched Glenn Beck almost every day since he has been in the 5 o’clock slot on the FoxNews channel and I agree with virtually everything that he says about the fact that we have been witnessing the decline of the principles and values upon which this country was founded. I tend to agree with much of his analysis as to why and how this has happened. I also agree that returning the Constitution to its rightful place in the legislative and judicial realms of government,

Read more

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

Read more

Christianity Today: God – the “Divine Drama Queen”

Christianity Today Senior Managing Editor Mark Galli’s recent article sparks controversy. Christianity Today’s identification as “A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction” will almost certainly be called into question once again by many readers because of a July 15 article by Mark Galli in which he calls God “such a drama queen.” He reduces God to being little more than a totally-out-of-control diva: “So  what we have, for better or worse, is a melodramatic God. He yells and  throws dishes, and walks off in a huff, slamming the door behind him—and  then he turns around and gives his life for us.” The

Read more

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

Read more

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

Read more

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,

Read more

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

Read more

Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey

This video is from a service at MorningStar Ministries (founded by Rick Joyner) in Fort Mill, South Carolina. A Google search on “Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey” quickly shows that although recently posted, it has received a lot of attention across the internet. It marks just one of the latest in a long string of “manifestations of the Holy Spirit”  – which are clearly neither biblical, nor the work of the Holy Spirit, whatever the real explanation. (Note: I am working on a higher quality video that I hope to post in the near future.) MorningStar is a fairly well-known Charismatic

Read more

Eroticizing the Eucharist

This article is by guest contributor Larry DeBruyn, pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana and the author of the blog, “Guarding His Flock.” ——————————— T.D. Jakes and Communion at “A Table Set for Two.” “Brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:17-18, KJV) In the Upper Room and to memorialize His upcoming death, the Lord Jesus took the common but symbolic elements of

Read more

What About Those Who Haven’t Heard? An Exposition of Romans 10

During his 30-year career, the Apostle Paul personally carried the gospel to some of the most important and populous cities along the central corridor of the Roman Empire, including Rome itself. But this work was no easy task. Paul endured incredible hardship and continually put his life on the line for the sake of the gospel, facing death time and again (2 Corinthians 11:23-28), until finally he was executed in Rome for the message he preached. History tells us that most of the other apostles met similar fates. And through the centuries, countless others have given everything in order to

Read more

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

Read more

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

Read more

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

Read more

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

Read more

“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

Read more

Pondering the Incarnation: Was Christ really tempted?

Over the years Karen and I have engaged in a lot of ministry through the internet by interacting in a number of forums. It has been an amazing opportunity to share the gospel and other biblical truth about a wide range of topics. Over the last couple of days I have been involved in some discussions over at Grace Centered Christian Forums (note: this is not an endorsement of this website because I haven’t yet fully investigated their theological positions). One of the questions that was posted a couple of hours ago was related to the temptation that Christ experienced.

Read more

Manhattan Declaration: Conclusions

(An article combining this post and the previous one on the Manhattan Declaration is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) This is the third and final post in a series concerning the Manhattan Declaration. I would encourage you to read the first two posts so you will have the context for understanding my final conclusions. Please take a moment to complete the ABI Manhattan Declaration Survey . . . The Nature of the Manhattan Declaration The Manhattan Declaration addresses issues that are a part of the current public debate and symptomatic of the

Read more

Manhattan Declaration: A Response – Part I

(An article combining this post and the previous one on the Manhattan Declaration is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) . A week ago today, the Manhattan Declaration was released by Chuck Colson and almost 150 other signers at the National Press Conference. Since then there have been countless blogs and articles written about the 4700-word document and the response has been quite mixed. Predictably, it has been denounced by liberals of all stripes who support the LGBT agenda and who advocate “a woman’s right to choose.” But neither has it been received

Read more