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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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. …
Due to the amount of information I desired to communicate about Beth-shean / Scythopolis, this site required two posts. Post #15 covered Old Testament Beth-Shean and this post covers New Testament Scythopolis. Scythopolis During the Greek period Beth-shean became known as Scythopolis (and, later, Nysa Scythopolis), one of the ten cities of the Decapolis. In …
For six and a half years we worked our way through the Psalter psalm by psalm (Psalm 1 through Psalm 150). After reading each psalm at the start of our Sunday morning class, we then prayed sentence prayers based upon that psalm. Then, as I taught through the Hebrew Psalter in seminary courses exegeting each …
Caesarea Philippi / Banias Continuing our visits to the jewels of northern Israel, we come to Caesarea Philippi (known also as Banias/Banyas and Paneas) on the shoulder of Mt. Hermon east of Tel Dan along highway 99. The site sits about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at about 1,700 feet higher …
Tel Dan No site in Israel combines all the elements that Tel Dan displays: a delightful walk through the forest along the rushing waters of a source for the Jordan River, a high place notorious in the Old Testament, an example of a gateway containing both a judgment seat and massebot, and a Middle Bronze …
One of the newest books to come into my possession in 2020 (thanks to my good colleagues at Zondervan) is Karin Spiecker Stetina’s How to Read Theology for All Its Worth (Zondervan Academic, 2020). Yes, its title purposefully associates the volume’s intended audience with its predecessor, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: …
