Latest Blog Posts
Recommended Reading: Graciousness, John Crotts
Reading should be shared as all joys ought to be shared. Those joys also include self-discovery and self-improvement. But, let’s not get carried away with the focus on self since it is God who changes us internally. Graciousness exposed my own ungraciousness quietly, gently — well, sometimes not so gently. For the past few months
Creation Science: My Vision of Its Future
The organizers of the International Conference on Creationism 2023 assigned me this topic as the keynote address on opening night at Cedarville University. My paper included more examples than I used during the address since my allotted time would not allow the fuller presentation. My twofold plea to biblical creationists, creation societies, and creationist ministries
Creation: Critical to Biblical Faith
The Master’s University invited me to speak in chapel on February 21, 2024 as part of the 30th Creation Summit. For that chapel I chose to address the student body and faculty on the topic of biblical faith as related to biblical creation. My text: Hebrews 11:1–3. You can watch the chapel session at this
From Greeley to Heaven: Stephen Ong (1949–2023)
On November 28 Stephen Ross Ong graduated to heaven from Greeley, CO. Horace Greeley (for whom the Colorado city was named) had said, “Go West, young man,” and Stephen lived out that advice by leaving his Indiana birthplace for Colorado. After a life filled with service for his Savior, Stephen’s life journey has now taken
Q & A: Free will in Heaven?
While reading Benjamin Warfield’s critique of perfectionism and the attendant descriptions of both justification and sanctification, I received a question from a friend whose son had asked if we will have a free will in Heaven. Since my mind was already engaged in the topic of how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives, it
A Pilgrim’s Look Ahead
Leaping from 2022 into the unknown territory of 2023 could be likened to an airline pilot’s anxiety when faced with the necessity of landing a 747 safely in the Alaskan bush. Or, it can be likened to the proverbial “leap in the dark.” Taking leaps of faith challenges all of us as Christians. We know
Christmas Meditation
Something Special For me the Christmas season has special meaning on two different levels: the spiritual and the familial. Every year celebrates two corresponding realities: the love of my Savior and the love of my wife. My final Christmas separated from my Savior took place in 1961. And, my final Christmas separated from the woman
A Biblical Worldview
Many people today feel like they are adrift in a deep and expansive sea of competing worldviews. They are searching for truth and meaning for their lives. Too often, however, they ignore the greatest treasure they have access to for building their own worldview — the Bible. In his book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Crossway,
Biblical Covenants
Introductory Comments Current discussion on the topics of biblical covenants swirls through theological circles like a Martian dust storm. Two types of theological particulates cloud the atmosphere and blot out light. Both covenantalism, on one hand, and dispensationalism, on the other hand, contribute to the tempest. Simultaneously, movements have taken place from both sides of
The Supremacy of Scripture
High up on the list of some of my life’s greatest ministry privileges has been the opportunity to serve at Placerita Bible Church for twenty-four years as a lay elder. During that time I have been allowed to share the pulpit ministry many times. Reformation Sunday 2021 (October 31) was the most recent such opportunity.