Who Is The Israel Of God? – Part 5

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So why all the fuss over who Israel is today? Isn’t this just quibbling over a minor doctrinal understanding? Does it really make any difference what position you take? I said at the beginning that the doctrine of supersessionism has profoundly affected much of the church’s view of the Jews, end-times prophecy, and theology. Here are some of the effects of the Church taking on itself the role of the new Israel: When the Church called itself the new Israel, it started following the patterns of Israel’s worship in the Old Testament. Israel was divided into twelve tribes, of which only one had rights to temple service, of which only a part had the priesthood, of which only one was … Continue reading →

Who Is The Israel Of God? – Part 4

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We’ve seen the evidence to know God is not done with Israel. Now let’s look at the scriptures used to promote replacement theology to see how they’ve been misinterpreted. I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, … – Jeremiah 3:8 Taken by itself, this verse appears to say that God was done with the northern ten tribes of Israel. Once you’re divorced, you’ve cut all ties with your spouse. However, God did not cut all ties… “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man’s, will he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that … Continue reading →

Who Is The Israel Of God? – Part 3

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Now let’s see what the New Testament says about the people of Israel. All of the epistles were written after Jesus was rejected by His people. Yet, even that was not enough for God to reject them. Paul writes in his epistle to the Romans: I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. … Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. … I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has … Continue reading →

Who Is The Israel Of God? – Part 2

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One of the most important foundations of Bible interpretation is: No scripture contradicts other scripture. If it’s all inspired by God, it must all agree with itself. This means you cannot set one set of verses against another set of verses to see which wins out because all of the Bible agrees with itself. If one passage seems to contradict another passage, you can be sure you have a wrong understanding of one or both passages. If something does not make sense, you must be open to the possibility that a doctrine you believe in may be wrong. It’s not enough to have select proof-texts to support what you believe. You must look at all of scripture to determine if … Continue reading →

Who Is the Israel of God? – Part 1

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If you lived five-hundred years ago, you would have thought the earth to be at the center of the universe. It would have been hard to convince you otherwise, for we don’t sense the earth moving beneath our feet, but we do see the sun, moon, stars and planets spin across the sky. While various cultures around the world followed the geocentric model, it was Claudius Ptolemy (100 – 170 A.D.) who formally explained the motion of the planets as a combination of their orbit around the earth, plus a mysterious epicycle to explain why the planets backtracked at times in the sky. His theory prevailed for over 1200 years, not just because it felt true, but because it worked: … Continue reading →

Act Out Of Character

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23 If I were to define the most recognizable trait of someone who walks in the Spirit, it is this: Those who walk in the Spirit act out of character. Someone can be very unloving in nature, but when she walks in the spirit, she truly loves in an unconditional way. Someone can be of a melancholy disposition, or in a depressing situation, but he can have joy in his heart in spite of circumstances when he walks in the Spirit. A naturally impatient person puts up uncomplainingly to delays when he walks in the Spirit. … Continue reading →

Just published: Fifty-Five Questions for Skeptics

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I have just published my third book at Amazon.com. It’s called Fifty-Five Questions for Skeptics, and it was written for atheists and agnostics who don’t believe in the God of the Bible or the reliability of the Bible, and who distrust anything a Christian would say to them. Most apologetic books that reach out to skeptics present a lot of good evidence for God, but much of the information fed to the reader comes from second or third-hand sources. I expect the typical hard-core atheist doubts much of what is presented in those books. This book is different. It does not require the reader to believe anything I say. Instead, it dares the skeptical reader to investigate the evidence for … Continue reading →

New page: Satan’s Power of Suggestion

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When it comes to spiritual warfare, I think it’s very important to know your enemy and the weapons he uses. Some years ago I wrote of three ways that Satan tries to get at us: Deception, Distraction, and Discouragement. Satan lies to us, he tries to get our eyes on worldly things, and he gets us to lose hope. Since then I’ve become aware of other weapons he uses, one of the most subtle and powerful of which is his power of suggestion. Satan doesn’t force us to disobey God, and he doesn’t always directly suggest we sin, but he does plant ideas in our heads to indirectly lead us to sin. We fall for his suggestions all the time. … Continue reading →

Heavenly Regrets

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…And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. – Revelation 7:17 (VW) By the end of the movie Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler had saved many Jews from the Nazis. He had risked his life and spent most of what he had to save the lives of 1100 Jews. But when he received a gold ring from those he saved in appreciation of his efforts, he realized to his sorrow he had it in his power to save a few more. He could have spent his money more wisely, he could have sold his car, he could have sold his Nazi lapel to save more Jews. In a time of great joy, he was sorrowful. I see this as … Continue reading →

Fifty-Five Questions

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Years ago, when I was building my apologetics library, I bought a short book by Bill Cetnar called “Questions for Jehovah Witnesses.” It contains photocopies of pages from various Watchtower publications, with questions for the Jehovah Witness to answer. If you’ve ever had visits from these people, you know you can’t teach them anything from the Bible. They just won’t listen. They’ll only accept what their organization teaches. But they do like to answer questions. For this reason, the approach used in this book works very well. Atheists are also like Jehovah Witnesses: you can’t teach them anything from the Bible. But many atheists are willing to research evidence, so I put together a short book that uses a similar … Continue reading →