{ITL}Hardwired{NRM} is a book for every parent who has sent a Christian child off to college or Christian who has friends with tough questions about belief. Beginning with the biblical idea that there is already enough reason to believe in God present in the world He has made, the book shows that everyone already has an intuition for God's existence, an intuition which reveals more than we think. When we look hard about some basic, foundational assumptions with which we carry on our daily lives, we'll discover that those assumptions are "booby-trapped" with traces of God.

The writer notes that he begins where the 1998 book by the imminent scholar R.C. Sproul (Last Days According to Jesus) leaves off - examining the possibility that most if not all prophecy was indeed fulfilled in Jesus' own generation, just as he promised in Luke 21:22, 32. He cites C. S. Lewis's assertion that "the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false."

Subtitled: {ITL}Something You Need to Know About Tattoos, the Implantation of Radio-Frequency Identification Microchips, and the Mark of the Beast{NRM}. The manuscript illustrates how Satan is making the way for the Antichrist to introduce the mark of the beast during the tribulation period. He understands the importance of preparing the minds of people today to be accepting of tattoos and the use of microchip technology. The writer asserts Satan's devious plan for the age to come will include tattooing and the use of radio-frequency microchips for identification purposes. During the tribulation period, people will have to decide if they want to be identified with the man of sin or face a possible death by choosing God's perfect way of redemption in Christ Jesus. The choice must be made.

The writer notes that he begins where the 1998 book by the imminent scholar R.C. Sproul (Last Days According to Jesus) leaves off - examining the possibility that most if not all prophecy was indeed fulfilled in Jesus' own generation, just as he promised in Luke 21:22, 32. He cites C. S. Lewis's assertion that "the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false."

Full title J, WSID? - You Won't Find It On a Bracelet, But It Makes a Lot of Sense: Jesus, What Should I Do? enters the conversation of church growth and personal spirituality. Joseph Barrale draws on an analogy from a clock's pendulum to explain kingdom growth. Like a pendulum the extreme swings in church thought serve to advance overall Kingdom growth. He calls on Christ followers to be tolerant of other true Christ followers even if these extremes seem too far to grasp. Cookie cutter, plug and play methods of church growth and "discipleship" are not always valid forms of true Kingdom growth. This call to personal intimacy with Christ for all believers asserts "it is out of a personal intimacy and obedience to Christ that one will be led to do the thing that God is calling one to do, even if it has been done before or seems too extreme for the others." Obedience to God is better than a sacrificial covering, i.e., Fig Leaf coverings, animal sacrifices or "churchy" good works.

The writer questions critical scholarship on the following issues: Historicity of the Bible from Abraham to Hezekiah, authorship and dating of Isaiah, authorship and dating of Daniel, The Synoptic Solution, Whether Jesus taught in Aramaic or Greek, the nature of the Matthean Logia. This manuscript argues that the currently taught views on these issues are not only wrong but outmoded, and presents evidence to support this position.

This addresses what it means to live for Jesus while using medical science and how death is still great gain for Christians. Jesus has a lot to say about the way we understand and use medical science today, and he provides us with a healthcare model rooted in his redemptive work and compassion that provides a foundation for true eternal healing and hope. It is a model of healthcare that is radically different from the one modern medicine offers. The healing and hope modern medicine offers captivates many Christians today and leads them astray.

Disturbing trends at work on churches in America and then the challenge of going back to the Bible to approach church leadership the way Paul did - as a gardener and a builder constitute part 1. These models are especially useful in urbanized areas among the increasing numbers of the unchurched. Part 2 discusses the inherent tension between the unpredictable Holy Spirit and the routines expected in church organizations and tradition. It distinguishes between church as organization and church as fellowship and shows how the wrong structure can be a barrier to growth. Part 3 presents a new way of understanding congregations by looking at a church's culture in the context of larger social cultures, applying insights from the study of corporate cultures. Part 4 presents four important dimensions for remodeling a congregations' culture. It explores how for Paul the process of becoming more Christ like amounted to receiving the grace-bearing Holy Spirit, how Christians experience God's presence differently according to their spiritual temperaments, how recognizing occasional awakenings beyond conversion add depth to spiritual life, and how sharing more personal faith stories should be basic to a church culture in the future.

Full title J, WSID? - You Won't Find It On a Bracelet, But It Makes a Lot of Sense: Jesus, What Should I Do? ) enters the conversation of church growth and personal spirituality. Joseph Barrale draws on an analogy from a clock's pendulum to explain kingdom growth. Like a pendulum the extreme swings in church thought serve to advance overall kingdom growth. He calls on Christ followers to be tolerant of other true Christ followers even if these extremes seem too far to grasp. Cookie cutter, plug and play methods of church growth and "discipleship" are not always valid forms of true kingdom growth. This call to personal intimacy with Christ for all believers asserts "it is out of a personal intimacy and obedience to Christ that one will be led to do the thing that God is calling one to do, even if it has been done before or seems too extreme for the others." Obedience to God is better than a sacrificial covering, i.e Fig Leaf coverings, animal sacrifices or "churchy" good works.

The authentic Christian message is defined and explained in the first eight chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans. Then, using the nation of Israel, the thesis of the book of Romans is put to the test in Romans 9-11. The history of Israel seems to disprove the Christian gospel and undermine our confidence in God's promise of justification by his grace (Romans 1-4) and God's promise of sanctification by his spirit (Romans 5-8). If God previously made promises to Israel and established an everlasting covenant with that nation but later gave up on Israel, replacing her with the church, what hope can we have that God will keep his promises to justify and sanctify believers today? This is the issue that the Apostle Paul tackles in Romans chapters 9-11. Apparently, these chapters are much more important than we ever thought.

The study begins with the death of the individual and continues through to the biblical teaching on related topics such as the Second Coming and the Millennium. It finishes with a discussion on both hell and the new heaven and new earth. It is based on the author's teaching to pastors in Central and East Africa and is consequently written for those who do not have any theological training or a tertiary education but the writer has found that pastors with a degree in theology also find it informative.

The writer summarizes his thesis: "The New Testament epistles comprise the "bottom line" with regard to specific exhortations for Christian life and service in our day. The question is, how do we delineate between what was meant for the first century and what is normative for our day. Since Jesus, Paul and Peter raised the dead, should we try and do the same? We ask a like question with regard to other issues, such as exorcism, fasting, tongues speaking, healings, Sabbath keeping, and signs and wonders. We take note of the fact that the writers of the epistles seem to ignore, either totally or almost so, matters that seem so important to some contemporary Christian leaders and writers. Some of the issues are not even mentioned in the epistles, while others are mentioned, but not exhorted. Believing that all Scripture is inspired of God, I do not wish to devalue in any way the truths and lessons that can be learned from every part of the Bible. I support my thesis with Bible exposition of relevant passages while including for interest sake some of my experiences as a pastor here and abroad."

The work explores the essential dates of Jesus' life from the perspective of ancient calendars and timekeeping. Here the reader discovers that for early Christians the date of Jesus' birth was part of the larger question of when to celebrate what they understood as the most important event in human history - Jesus' resurrection. This went hand-in-hand with understanding the larger picture-- an incarnational interest not only in Jesus' life but also in the intersection of divine and human history. This manuscript also raises issues of historical and cultural apologia for the Christian faith. One chapter asks whether astronomical factors of imprecision in time measurement constitute an argument for divine origin. Another fulfills the book's primary mission in pinpointing the best "Christian" date for Jesus' birth. Finally the book confronts the issue of whether Christianity in general, and Roman Catholic Church in particular, was the enemy of science during the Enlightenment.

This manuscript was written to answer this question; using only common sense can we find God? The book shows how people can use common sense to find the value and purpose in their lives given them by an infinite and personal God. It focuses on having an infinite being who is the first cause of all things and how that shapes our view of ourselves and the entire world. It starts by looking at the world around us and applies common sense to arrive at a unified field of knowledge that explains a person's existence without gaps in its view. The basis for this book is found in Romans 1:20 which clearly states that the unchanging truth of this world leads us to God. This book is not leading people away from God's word and toward their own understanding but shows that God is simply the truth of all things.

Subtitled: "An introduction into the Bible's guidance to prayer and into the participation in the prayers of the Bible." Most books about prayer focus on personal experience and the miraculous effectiveness of prayer. The sincerity of those reports and the encouragement they might offer cannot be denied. But they may also keep you in the bonds of denial and raise false hope. Therefore a theological reflection on prayer is necessary for pastoral reasons and for reasons of theological accountability. The Bible encourages confident prayer but also offers guidance and the opportunity to participate in the biblical prayers. This submission summarizes the Bible's teachings on prayer. Many contemporary prayers and considerations about prayer seem oddly unconcerned about the addressee. By contrast, this book relates the teaching about prayer to the Trinitarian doctrine of God. Practical considerations are added, including the rich symbolism of the gestures and postures of the body, places and times for prayer; and the relationship of prayer to fasting and charity in the Sermon on the Mount.

While a great deal has been written about Martin Luther King, Jr., as a preacher and civil rights leader, the writer considers that few works have focused on the practical import of King's life and thought to contemporary society. This manuscript also devotes attention to how religious communities can embrace the power and meaning of King's vision, voice, and message.

Subtitled: A Commentary on the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles and an Introduction to Systematic Theology, this work provides a critical resource for church leaders and others interested in reformed theology by explaining the teaching of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion as drafted by English Reformers in the 16th century. With a focus on solid theological teaching, practical application, and spiritual formation, this volume is written for clergy, ministry students, and lay leaders. Essential Truths shows how the Anglican Reformers "got it right" on the central matters of the Christian Faith, and that these teachings are both biblical and relevant for today. This book is designed as an easy-to-find reference on the Articles and as an introduction to the basic themes of systematic theology. The foreword is written by J.I. Packer.

Redeeming the Time explores first and foremost the practice of time measurement and why it was important in the early development of Christianity. Time measurement was already crucial for ancient peoples in understanding themselves, their world, and the cosmos. For early Christians, it had even more value as they sought to schedule the celebration of the most important event in human history -- the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This went hand-in-hand with understanding the larger picture-- an incarnational interest not only in the life of Jesus but also in the intersection of divine and human history. This manuscript also raises some issues of historical and cultural apologia for the Christian faith. For instance, chapter three asks whether astronomical factors of imprecision in time measurement constitute an argument for divine origin. Chapter five raises the question of the best "Christian" date for Jesus' birth. And chapter six counters the perception that Christianity in general, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, were enemies of science during the Enlightenment.

This is an annotated Qur'an similar in form to annotated Bibles. The Palmer translation of the Qur'an (public domain) is on the top of each page with notes that correspond to the verses on the bottom of the page. The notes compare mainstream Islamic though with Christian theology. Included in the text are several short page essays that address important or repeated themes mentioned in the Qur'an such as the Hajj, Jihad, The Last Judgment, the Doctrine of Abrogation, the Doctrine of the Trinity. Moreover, the surahs (chapters) in the Qur'an are arranged chronologically to help the reader follow the historical development of the 114 surahs. (This contrasts the normal arrangement of the Qur'an, which is organized in terms of size: from the longest to the shortest surahs.) I also point out archeological issues, and identify the inclusion of numerous apocryphal documents in the Qur'an. The target audience of The Annotated Qur'an is the Christian who is interested in reading with understanding the entire Qur'an, verse by verse.

This is a study, not of the Apostle Paul's prayers, but of his motivations, practice of prayer -- including what we can be reasonably sure were the content of his prayers for himself, and his instructions relating to prayer. Part III is a new look at the Salutations of his letters as being more than a Christianized greeting but rather as an Apostolic Blessing which creatively and profoundly emphasizes that which is most distinctive in the Christian faith. The appendices include every reference to prayer in Paul's writings, categorized according to content, most with an annotation. This book will appeal to those who are studying the life and writings of Paul and those who are seeking a deeper understanding of prayer.

This is a nonfiction study of the angelic realm, based on scripture, with references from many apocryphal writings throughout the years. Each chapter begins with a hypothesis concerning a special angelic subject, tells the story of that subject matter, and lays out the biblical facts for the student to accept or reject. The writer has taught this angelic study since 1978, and has now put it into a theological study that all Christians can understand

The early 20th century was an era before the current silence and denial surrounding death. From the sermons of mainline Protestant funerals and pastoral manuals, the author's study shows that a hundred years ago Christians still did talk about death, preach about it at funerals, and rely on a variety of images to enhance the power of their message about preparing for an eternal existence. Before Silence and Denial traces the particular themes, ideas, and eventual challenges to the coherent "otherworldly" understanding of human beings as "naturally immortal." The author explores whether or not the cultural shift away from death awareness was culturally inevitable.

The authors argue that the original Christian message was one of moral transformation. That transformation was led by Jesus, attained by following his teachings and example, and rewarded by eternal life. The authors assemble the evidence for this conclusion from the New Testament, the early Church Fathers, and modern scholarship. They seek to present a unique, accessible, and thought-provoking book that draws together the major themes of the New Testament into one coherent view, and gives a needed reminder of its 2000-year-old Christian message.

This book is a short explanation of why Christians believe in Jesus, do some of the things they do, and say some of the things they say. It covers the basics of Christianity. Although it is written for high school age people, anyone at that reading level could read it. Topics include Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, church, some stupid things Christians have done, and the judgment day and eternal life. At the end of the book is a special vocabulary section defining in common terms some words Christians take for granted.

This is a study of 40 (or more) popular fables of Aesop, examined in the light of Judeo-Christian morality. Little is known of the historic figure behind these tales, so emphasis is frequently placed on the age out of which these stories originated. The workings of human nature in Aesop are compared (or contrasted) with the (social and) spiritual dimensions of humanity -- particularly those treated in the Mosaic narratives, also within ancient Hebrew wisdom, and in the parables and epistolary mandates of the New Testament. The goal of this project is to make the casual reader aware of more than merely the bestiary and moral universe of an ancient Greek slave. The brief chapters ultimately intend to reveal a more redemptive view of the human condition, as well as provide an outline of the Christian hope derived from the biblical perspective on the will and ways of God within the human race.

Movies reflect and affect our culture's collective values, dreams, and fears. Since the classic 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, Christ figures have appeared in over 100 sci-fi films (more than any other genre). This book comprehensively analyzes how the Christ figures function mythically inside each film, how they relate to each other, how they transform through the years, how cultural factors may contribute to this evolution, and what this phenomenon may mean to us. Today, after more than half a century, Christ figures are very much alive and well in movies. Indeed, the profusion of them seemingly indicates that, as we face economic, ecological, political and international crises, our society needs Christ figures because they perform, on a psychological and spiritual level, a subtle work of salvation.

The Pre-Trumpets Rapture presents a revision of the prewrath Rapture view, which teaches that the Rapture will occur sometime in the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week, shortly before the sounding of the seven trumpets. Some of the current arguments used to support this position are flawed; this work introduces new arguments that are more carefully thought out and answers objections to the prewrath view that have never been adequately addressed. This work also rebuts the pretribulational and posttribulational Rapture views in a thorough and considerate manner, with frequent use of the biblical languages. Unlike most--if not all other--works of eschatology, this one acknowledges evidence favorable to each Rapture view, rather than just its own.

The manuscript presents material on how precious we are to God, and that the kind of love he shows us is truly transcendent. Consequently, this kind of love and this kind of God go utterly against the grain of what is merely culturally derived. The author shows this in two ways: by argument and by selected examples throughout The Scriptures that show by God's actions how transcendent and trans-cultural his love is and, as a logical result, how precious human beings are as the objects of his love. The writer's intent is to intermingle apologetics and biblical study in a somewhat unusual, yet compelling manner. It is hoped that the fusion of the two will deepen the impact of the work on human hearts, believer and non-believer alike.

Blaise Pascal wrote the Pensees to his restless friends to inspire them to seek God. This guided tour of Pascal's work, plus a biography of Pascal's courageous life, aims to benefit seekers and believers by conveying Pascal's insights into: (1) the miserable condition of humankind without God; (2) the winsome cure that only the Christian faith provides; and (3) the reasons why the Christian faith, despite modern objections, is plausibly true. Pascal masterfully awakens modern people to see that we have a "God-shaped vacuum in our heart," as suggested, for example, by our affinity for diversions and indifference as ways to avoid facing our grimmest problems such as our mortality and our emptiness. Pascal's case for seeking and believing is exactly on target for today's readers because he wrote to ambitious pursuers of career success, to the bored and indifferent, and to intellectual skeptics. The tour includes applications of Pascal's thoughts for living well as a Christian and is intended to help mature the faith of believers to better weather modern doubts and critiques.

Beneath the superstructures of all religions and religious practices are certain core aspirations that all people share. People are motivated by an underlying quest to escape the predicament in which they perceive themselves to be. People of all religions seek a "way of salvation." This work proposes that Christ because of his unique personhood is the relevant fulfillment of the religious quest of humanity. Seven major religions are selected to substantiate such a claim.Those who are committed to Christ have an awesome responsibility to present him in all his fullness, without getting preoccupied with polemical feuds peripheral to what God wants to accomplish in the lives of people.

Having a correct understanding of covenants is key to the unity and understanding of the Bible, but very few contemporary Christians are able to articulate even the most rudiment ideas of its theology. This book seeks to summarize the basics of covenant theology, covering the covenant made with Adam, the subsequent breaking of that covenant by Adam's sin, and all of the Old Testament covenants that served as harbingers to a new and better relationship with God. The promises of these Old Testament Covenants find their fulfillment in the Covenant of Grace made through Jesus Christ. The book is intended to equip ordinary readers with an understanding of these fundamentals without losing them in details of theological terms and complex explanation, using a contemporary writing style for a popular audience.

The writer summarizes, "This monograph focuses on one central theme, the region of the world from which the antichrist must arise. Virtually every respected theologian is vague about the specific nation, though most conservative Evangelicals suggest either a European or Mediterranean region. This project examines the scriptures and proves conclusively that the ancient Roman Empire has already arisen in its final form. It is the nation that serves as the primary broker for a Middle East peace agreement. Peoples of the old Western Roman Empire are the peoples who settled this region of the world, and formed a government different from others, growing exceedingly powerful. Very little outside reference is quoted, but scriptural references abound. It is prophecy from a holistic perspective, an interweaving of Daniel seven and nine; Revelation thirteen, one through eight; and Ezekiel thirty-eight, along with other relevant passages."

This book is about God's various multi-faceted character traits. It is written in a relaxed, narrative style and peppered with anecdotes from the writer's life, as well as excerpts from theological sources. It takes God out of the one-dimensional, black and white image so many have of Him, and paints a vibrant picture of our living God. Gwenn McKone writes of her book, "It is well-researched and documented . . . [but] is anything but scholarly)."

A seminal approach to an understanding of the seven days of creation in Genesis, which accounts for a long age theory on the creation of the universe.

The pure in heart shall see God. This must mean God has a visual form and can be seen, contrary to the view of some theologians and Bible scholars. The book describes the progressive appearances, manifestations, visions, and revelations of God from Genesis to Revelation, ending with descriptions of what believers might anticipate seeing when they are brought to glory and presented to God the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ. The manuscript contains over 1300 Scripture references and quotations. The writer notes, "I have been unable to find any book that addresses the subject of actually seeing the visual glory of God. Many books have been written about seeing Jesus Christ, but not about God the Father. It is incomprehensible that so glorious a subject and hope should have been so neglected in the book world."

The book addresses the need for ordinary Christians to follow the example of the noble minded Bereans and provides motivation for believers to do their own study of the scriptures to verify the teachings they receive at church and over the air-ways. In the main, the book critiques teachings related to the Augustinian view of predestination. This has been approached in a positive manner beginning with the opening chapter which discusses the possibility of knowing God and the scriptural principles by which this may be realized. The remaining chapters present assertions regarding the work and attributes of God, and in this context, address the points of Calvinism which the writer feels fall short of the biblical standard.

How do you begin to convince people to base their lives on the Word of God when they have so many misconceptions about the Bible? In his conversational apologetic, Husting uses personal anecdotes, real-life stories, and analogies from nature to clear up many misconceptions about God and his word and to get readers thinking about the truth. The work is aimed at unbelievers and at the believers who want to answer their questions.

A hybrid brings together two different sources that complement each other, i.e., the dual nature of Jesus. Unidentified as such in the Gospels, we first see it in the Athanasian Creed around 500 AD as "true God" and "true man." In this book these are bifocals for reading the Gospels. Probing the words and deeds of Jesus for true God and true man influences allows us to see more in divinity than water-walking and more in humanity than a physical body for land-walking. Giving the elements in the dual nature each its full weight, we no longer are forced to see wrath and mercy as two faces of God. Mercy is truly of God, but wrath has human sources. The dual nature of Jesus also provides a framework for reassessing the image of divinity associated with the pulpit person, and the image of humanity that sits in the pews. There is more going on in the pews than meets the preacher's eye.

Subtitled: The Spread of Sin and the Curse in Genesis With a Special Focus on the Patriarchal Narratives. This monograph not only demonstrates the thematic unity of Genesis, but it also provides a powerful antidote to a works-based theology. Nearly all scholars divide Genesis into primeval and patriarchal history because of a perceived shift in thematic emphases. In primeval history, the narrator focuses on the origin and spread of sin, as well as God's consequent curse and judgment on humanity. In patriarchal history, however, the spread of sin theme falls off the radar of most scholars. Here, it is generally argued, the narrator shifts the emphasis to God's promise of blessing in the lives of his chosen people, the family of Abraham. But these analyses of the primeval and patriarchal narratives are simplistic and inaccurate. The gospel does not begin at chapter 12; it begins in chapter 3:15 nor do the patriarchal sections omit sin.

This work looks at each of the Moedim (Appointed Times or Feasts) of the Lord as stated in Leviticus 23 and examines them in the light of our Messiah, Jesus. It establishes that not only were all these feasts fulfilled either literally or typologically in his first coming, but they will all be completely fulfilled in his Second Coming. When Jesus rose from the dead, he had to open the minds of his disciples to explain how he fulfilled the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings of the Hebrew scriptures.

How does God interact with and receive art? Why are we universally endowed with a common aesthetic and a desire to create? How should one's faith be expressed in one's art? What should the role of the church be to art and to the artist? What is this thing called art anyway? Written in artist-friendly language, the work seeks to present a practical theology of the arts for those who want a greater understanding of how their faith and their art interact. It invites readers to ponder the theological and philosophical underpinnings of their faith in relationship to their art, but does so in disarming, humorous, and entertaining prose, using the author's own artistic journey as a starting point. The major subjects include the nature of God the artist and our relationship with him; the necessary interactivity between one's faith and art; the personal and yet communal nature of art, and the role of the church to the artist; art as a spiritual discipline; and finally, the calling of the Christ-following artist.

Intrigued with the combination of "faith and love" in the New Testament, the writer has been aware of the need for an exposition of this combination. The Good News is that Jesus never intended Christians to live in their natural strength; the genius of Christianity is the power of the cross. The transformation is not only in ourselves but Jesus has turned the world around for us. In that he has put into effect the New Testament through his death, Jesus delivers us from the Old Law, Hebrews 8:13. Jesus' New Commandment is love by faith.

There is a mystery that has remained hidden since the dawn of time. God chose a single nation to carry that mystery, and clues to solving it were veiled within their festivals, rituals, culture, and sacred writings. Looking toward Judaism and the Jewish nation, we discover that this incredible riddle was ultimately revealed through the person and work of Jesus Christ: Jesus the Jew from Nazareth, the fulfillment and ultimate expression of the Jewish religion and the greatest revelation of the Jewish God to the world.

As an artist, Skee Goedhart desired to visually represent this complex relationship between Christianity’s roots and Judiasm. Over the course of seven years he created a monumental piece of art entitled The Nazarene Cipher and wrote a manuscript to support the many facets of the work. The painting itself stands over thirteen feet tall and six feet wide and features over 180 illustrated panels. The manuscript draws upon two thousand years of church history, theology, Christian symbolism, and art as well as the author’s personal insight and experience.

The central theme of the book follows from only one small word used 4 times in only one chapter of the Bible. “In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God…and the Logos was made flesh… (Jn. 1:1, 14). That’s it! As little in use, you’d think it was an unimportant feature of biblical theology. In fact, as the book attempts to demonstrate, the Logos doctrine is the philosophical core of the entire New Testament revelation of Christ. What’s more to the point, this Big Picture, Grand Idea, is profoundly psychologically and remarkably beautiful.  

After a brief introduction the author surveys the history of the Logos Doctrine in classical philosophy and its influence on the theology of the Church Fathers.  The remainder of the book develops the Logos Doctrine in terms of the psychodynamic features of the biblical plan of salvation.  

Nahum 1:3 says, “Clouds are the dust of His feet.” I decided to look more into the concept of clouds to determine their role in scripture and to determine if clouds could fit into the realm of General Revelation. I have examined each of the 157 references in the Bible referring to clouds, and organized them into several similar groupings. We demonstrate that clouds in scripture most assuredly reveal characteristics of almighty God: the might and power of our loving God (chapter 1), the creative power of God (chapter 2), the mercy and gracious provision of God (chapter 3), and the promise of security by our heavenly Father (chapter 4). It demonstrates His imagination and creativeness in using clouds as transporters (chapter 5 & 8) and His kindness in establishing a way for the frightened Israelites to speak to Him (Chapter 6). Chapters 7 and 10 demonstrate His mercy, His guidance, and His protective power. Chapter 9 reveals His Judgment upon a disobedient world.

I look at my manuscript as a theology book dealing with general revelation, but my wife thinks it would be a good devotional book.

The field of Christian communication sits on a fault line of relevance, where the plate of God’s truth overlaps the plate of life. Communicating the Bible is taking God’s truth spelled out in yesterday’s book and relating it to the lives of today’s audience. The communicator stands “in the gap” between two worlds: the world of the scriptures and the world of today. However, those once-intersecting worlds have drifted apart. Time and change, accelerated by the rapid growth in technology, social transformation, political transition, and religious diversification have eroded the initial crevice into a grand canyon. Today, the query, “How does this truth relate to my needs?” has become the judge and the jury of all our religious experience. The dilemma of relevance gives rise to a paradox of biblical proportions. Is it possible for listeners to feel that the message is relevant without it being biblically relevant? Can a message be biblically relevant while being perceived as irrelevant? Ultimately, how can a biblical communicator have the assurance that the message he or she is communicating is biblically relevant? This book seeks to provide the answer to this question.

No doubt you’ve encountered them at your door, in a park or among friends—people who say they believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible, yet somehow don’t fit into what your church says is true Christianity. They’re sincere, and are very devoted to what they believe. Yet you are told they are members of cults and their teachings are not to be trusted.

Have you ever wondered what’s wrong with them? After all, they say they believe the same things you do. They look like moral, upright people. They quote from the Bible just like your pastor does. Whoever said everybody has to cross their “t’s” and dot their “i’s” the same way you do? After all, we’re all going to end up in the same place, aren’t we?

Or are we?

If you’ve had such an encounter, you’ll want to read this book.

This is not the typical book about cults. It’s been said that the best way to discover counterfeit $100 bill is to know in detail the features of the real thing. The author takes this approach, showing first what the Bible says is essential to salvation and then comparing them to what the cults say.

Many are familiar with Augustine's seminal importance for the Christian faith. No western Christian has had greater impact on the development of the Church and orthodox belief. From the Trinity to original sin, from salvation by grace to the sacraments, from biblical interpretation to theories about the end times, Augustine's writings have largely formed the western consensus on orthodox belief. 

Augustine's most famous book, The Confessions, is the original Christian best-seller from the ancient world. But many readers have found Augustine difficult to comprehend because his assumptions and style are so different than ours.

This guide provides the historical, theological, and literary information you need to interact with the Confessions, one the greatest works of Christian literature. Addressing topics as diverse as sin, friendship, suffering, the problem of evil, mysticism, and marriage, Augustine writes the Confessions primarily to show us how to read the Bible with greater depth and to pray with greater vigor. With summaries and commentary to the narrative sections of the Confessons, this guide will help readers uncover what Augustine was trying to convey in his masterwork. 

The book starts with the true story of the deliverance of a woman who was very seriously demon possessed and spent a long time in a psychiatric hospital, but for many years now has served as a wonderful testimony to the transforming power of Christ. The book offers answers to the needs that arise when seriously damaged people suffering from bondage start a new life in Christ. It provides Biblical truths and principles to equip the minister. The subject won’t be solely viewed from the perspective of the counsellor. You will also read what the person seeking help is going through, and how he could be comforted all along the way.

The book offers an extensive biblical grounding for spiritual deliverance and connects the theoretical with the practical. It presents and engages with theological arguments and contains references to recent scholarship. The subject of deception and counterfeit deliverances are dealt with as well.
Other books mainly promote one specific approach (Gospel -, Truth –, or Power Encounter).  This book does not advocate any single approach, but rather offers a method for finding the right approach given the particular circumstances of each case.

The study of knowledge cannot be overstated in terms of biblical importance. It was at a tree named for knowledge where brokenness first entered the relationship between God and man. Christians are described as the aroma of the knowledge of Christ (II Cor. 2:14).

Knowledge unto Relationship compares the biblical role of knowledge to scientific, philosophical, and theological roles, each treating knowledge differently. This book is also something of a literary work, assembling the ideas of Anselm, Aquinas, Locke and others. It consults more recent authors too, such as William Lane Craig and Peter Kreeft, providing readers a fuller context for grasping the biblical role.

Although its overall emphasis is theological as title suggests, there is a strong apologetic primarily aimed at science minded thinkers in line with the author’s background. We live in an age of science, and the approach the book takes will benefit any who are interested in the classic faith versus reason dialogue. Chapter one opens with interesting commentary on where we are technologically, making mention of the recent discovery of the Higgs boson—a most astounding achievement.

The Tree of Knowledge ‘thematic’ is pursued to a deep level, reviving both literature and lore, following its trajectory forward to an ultimate fulfillment in covenantal relationship. To state the book’s key elements in a nutshell: the biblical aim of knowledge is to set seekers on a path to law (law was central at the tree). The biblical aim of law is love, setting seekers on a path to an everlasting relationship with their God.

Is there a way to understand traditional language about the Trinity that makes sense with respect to both the ordinary use of language and the believer’s experience of the gospel? Books currently available review the history, theology, and philosophy of the doctrine of the Trinity; but when it comes to the moment when a clear depiction is needed of how the language of one God in three persons makes sense, there is an invariable retreat behind an appeal to mystery, a recitation of proposal, and a demand for faith. Though this is helpful to a degree, the student of the Trinity still asks for a more specific way to think about the Trinity that is not open to the charge of illogical nonsense. Trinity and the Three Persons of Communion seeks to answer this question by looking at the meaning and experience of communion. In the end, the Trinity can be understood by asking: Do you ever think about who you are? What happens when God thinks to himself about himself

Imagining God explores missional living through the unique lens of Jesus’ gospel, empowering us to see and join what God is already doing in our world. The heart of the book is a new performance of Gospel that celebrates its holistic breadth for both “souls and systems.” The gospel, as defined in the book, is:

The Good News that God is restoring the wholeness of all creation
through Jesus Christ
who is making peace,
defeating hostility and death,
re-creating a beautiful new world out of the midst of the old
filled with justice, joy and peace
and is inviting us (even me!) to be transformed with it.
This new story is possible here and now! Wanna join?

This language – seeing and joining God already at work – has become normative in missional conversations with far too little study on what God is actually doing in our world. Looking at the gospel through seven lenses (holistic shalom, restoring justice, Jesus’ cross, missional church, transformed humanity, worship, and narrative imagination) brings clarity to God, Christian identity, our world, and well, pretty much everything.

When we meet Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, she won’t admit to knowing anything or anyone; the most she will allow is that she knows of them. This detachment is meant to save her from the pain that vulnerability in a relationship can bring, but also keeps her from being known.

Have we learned to maintain that same detachment with God? Are we only interested in knowing of him, deciding whether or not he exists? When it comes to science, that seems to be the case. Even when we can’t agree on the answer it gives, we agree that’s the only question science can answer about God. But what if science could actually help us know God – know what he is like, what he wants, who he is.

Historically, the people of God have turned to the world around them for metaphors that would help them understand him. Jesus encouraged this approach through his parables and was himself a model to help us know God. After centuries of roughly people-sized science, we now gaze into the astronomically large expanses of space and peer into the infinitesimally small realms of subatomic particles. Maybe, just maybe, what we found there will give us new models to better comprehend an infinite God.

Many Christians now question the lasting value of church, and too many of us have left church altogether. Our faith has not evaporated, but we need something beyond its weekly services, that are often more ceremonial than substantive. The Christian church has stagnated during the past century, and it needs real rejuvenation to truly thrive. This book is for those who either want to supplement your church-going or find a refreshing alternative. It looks at the Bible and Christian doctrines, our self-centeredness in relation to God, our fear of serving others, prayer and miracles, and the difficulties of true forgiveness. Lastly, it describes God’s Holy Mystery in three examples: Nature, near-death experiences and the Shroud of Turin.

Once Every Day Becomes Easter aims to hone the beginnings of a new consensus toward bridging Christianity with science and our own psychology, to revive the truth that we belong to God and not only ourselves, and to work through the personal complexities of forging a muscular faith in our Lord. We may be on the cusp of redefining Christianity in a way not seen since its earliest years after the death of Jesus: God’s facts finally transcending our human beliefs. 

We as humans appear to be hardwired for stories. Whether the stories are in terms of myths or parables, whether they work in terms of metaphor or image, in the end we understand the abstract through narrative. God and our relationship with God, are concepts that stretch our ability to fathom cognitively. On an affective level, we are lost, commonly describing God, for example, in terms of who or what He is not, rather than who He is. The Bible exists culturally and historically bound in story. Jesus taught with stories, as well as many others in the Bible. Even when stories were not used directly, imagery and metaphor were commonly used to draw the ineffable into our own world of familiarity. This book will not seek to tackle the great challenges of Narrative Theology. Rather it seeks a humbler goal-- to encourage people to think and speak of God in terms of stories that resonate with culture. "Godtalk" should be more about parable than proposition, story than statement, and inspiration than information.

The apparent contradictions between the Bible and scienceare well known. However, one might wonder why that should be the case since God reveals himself in both the Bible and the world he created (what scientists study). Why, for example, is there so much evidence for humans living and dying before the time of Adam?

The apparent contradictions between the Bible and theologyare less considered. The doctrine of original sin states that death is the result of Adam’s sin, yet the Bible states that “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent.” The theology that saddles each of us with the penalty for Adam’s sin would not seem to agree with the Bible’s teaching that God is just.

The topics of creation, evolution, the Fall, and original sin raise many such questions, but at their root is the question of evil: Since God has created a good world, why is it full of sin, suffering, and death? As the subtitle says, this book offers an alternative evangelical explanation for the problem of evil that appeals to the inerrant words of Scripture to resolve these questions.

Our culture assumes that there is a conflict between science and Scripture, that the world that we can see and measure is not compatible with what the Bible tells us. But modern physics reveals a very different world, one that is not at all like the world of our experience. Relativity shows us time and space bound together, bending and stretching to form our universe. Quantum mechanics tells us of another world behind the one that we see, an insubstantial world where ‘solid’ matter is only light and shadow in a cloud of possibilities.
Scripture does not fit very well with the world of our experience, but what we experience is only an illusion. The world of modern physics is the true world, a true world that fits very well with the portrayal of Creation in Scripture.
Quantum Genesis presents the basics of modern physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, and particle physics, with an interpretation of Scripture that is compatible with the world of modern physics. At our current level of understanding, there is not necessarily any conflict between science and Scripture. Logically, modern physics supports an implication that we live in a Creation made by God.

In 1991 legacy Christian countries reported belief in a personal devil ranging from 4 percent in the former East Germany to 45 percent in the U.S. Using creation’s structures, ancient Mesopotamian records, and the Bible as data sets, I defend Satan’s reality and track his career from his creation as Lucifer to his second death as Leviathan. His rebellion skewed creation and led God to program death into the physical universe. Leviathan’s reality explains evil in creation and people's separation from God. Humans’ tripartite nature of spirit, mind, and body accommodate the Tree of Life as the spirit/God relationship and the Tree of Knowledge as the mind/Leviathan connection. Satanically-caused psi manipulates natural law, and demons directly synchronize with people’s minds. Examples of illicit use of natural law are levitation, telekinesis, and poltergeist activities. People exhibit mediumistic abilities, NDEs, OBEs, and a menu of psychological manifestations: voices, visions, clairvoyance, ecstasies (glossalalia, laughter, revival kundalini phenomena). The book employs unique theoretical foundations of a sub-quantum cellular automaton, chaos, and complexity. These subsist in every aspect of the physical, moral, and spiritual creation, including Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. At the final judgment, fallen angels and unredeemed humans experience the second death.

Working title; God and E=MC²

Sub-title: How omnipotent is omnipotence?

Could the world’s most famous science equation, E=MC², have more meaning for the Christian than simply the mushroom cloud?  It is postulated here that the equation is inextricably wrapped up with what we say that we sincerely believe about God being omnipotent.   No Christian would  argue that God is not almighty - but how do we come to terms with an equation that states that: omnipotence plus E=MC2 equals omnisubstance – that God is His own raw material out of which He made the universe?  Do we laugh it off as a preposterous notion - or do we look it full in the eye and check whether we really believe that the all mighty God is almighty?

A crtique is provided of contemporary Western postmodern culture, based upon the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. I then use Thomism to attempt a radical explanation of Christ's teaching to Nicodemus regarding the spiritual rebirth, as also for Paul's teaching concerning the redemption of the body ('we will all be changed in the blinking of an eye').

The New Testament gives three reasons for Judas’ betrayal of Jesus: greed, Satan's influence, and the fulfillment of Scripture. Each helps us understand his act of treachery. Yet we now have tools to explore the minds of the lying deceivers among us. Psychology and sociology, together with the Gospel accounts, provide a journey into how a person like Judas Iscariot could hide among Jesus’ closest associates yet emerge to betray his master and commit high treason. Why did Jesus choose him? Did Judas repent? Did he have a choice? His deception had a role in the death of Christ, but God’s transcendent scheme of redemption was undeterred.

Hundreds of books have been written on Judas. None has used the instruments of social science research to explain how someone like Judas could come from a group that Jesus chose and tutored. In this book, the diagnostic tools of psychiatry are applied to the New Testament account of Judas. Researchers report that one in twenty-five people is a sociopath. Given the epidemic of crime in our culture, we need help to identify and deal with antisocial personalities that move among us and at some time have fooled each of us.

Ancient and contemporary works that treat Judas as a hero or even a well-intentioned but mistaken victim are examined.

There are two categories of evil. Natural evil ties to the thousands of life forms that cause death or profound misery. Hookworms, possessing exquisite software in their DNA to defeat and commandeer the blood-clotting cascade and equipped with a mouth that is basically a ring of fangs, infect a billion humans, happily chewing up their intestines. And then there is moral evil. On August 18, 1993, Lewis Lent, serial child murderer and pedophile, captured 12-year-old Sara Anne Wood. He bound her with duct tape, terrorized her, molested her, took her deep into the Adirondack Forest Preserve, and, according to his confession, beat her unconscious with a piece of wood. He said she might not have been dead when he buried her in a shallow grave.

An attempt to reconcile the coexistence of an all-powerful, all-loving God with a planet riddled to the core with natural and moral evil is called a theodicy. Ron Johnson, a friend of the Wood family, spent two decades in search of a credible theodicy. In the end, he formed his own.

It involves the angels—the good ones and the really bad ones.

Many find the distinguishing characteristic of the Millennial Generation to be a search for relationship. God’s desire for relationship with us is the integrating theme of Bible Truths. God created others “in his image and likeness” so he could expand the circle of relationship that had existed eternally within the Trinity. He provided salvation through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so the relationship broken in the Garden of Eden could be restored. His desire for those who accept his invitation to relationship is intimacy with himself—imperfect now but eternally perfect in heaven. In brief chapters and a conversational style, Bible Truths explains, in language that Millennials understand, the provision God has made for relationship with the people he has created.

Do blueprints matter? They do if you want to live in a home that is secure and not in need of constant repair.

Blueprints matter to God! He gave them to Noah to build the Ark. He gave them to Moses to construct the tabernacle. He also gave them to New Covenant believers to establish the five-fold ministry in the local church. 

The ministry leadership team model is God’s blueprint for a successful, thriving New Testament church. It’s what he has provided for the “equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry.” The irony is, we all believe the Bible teaches the five-fold ministry of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher, but we don’t know what that looks like and how it is supposed to function in the local church.

Laying just below the surface in the Book of Acts and the apostolic epistles are the keys to discovering God’s detailed blueprints provided for His New Covenant church. This book is revolutionary. It will challenge your concept of traditional church leadership. You will go through a paradigm shift as we sketch out the blueprints of the five-fold church leadership reformation.  

In contrast to most ‘Last Word’ books, Forsaken NOT! challenges the conventional custom of treating each of Christ’s statements separately from another.  Lenten traditions teach Christians to reflect on each word, one word at a time.  Seldom do believers consider his statements as forming a unified message.

Rather than seeing Jesus’ statements as fragments, Forsaken NOT! focuses on the scriptural context behind them.  Framed by the image of light and darkness, a fresh new window to Christ’s last words unlocks a doorway to biblical meaning.  This is immediately seen in the Cana Wedding where water turned into wine prefigures the Last Supper and Calvary’s cross. What beckons is a journey through the pages of the Bible. Guided by Jesus’ dying words, a narrative is stitched that spans Genesis to Revelation.  The end result is an evocative look at the story behind the cross-words, why the cross is needed, and what the cross accomplishes. 

Forsaken NOT! is comprised of seven sections divided into two parts. This structure models the cross’ literary contour where his seven words are spoken in two divisions: one in the light of day (from the third to the sixth hour), the other after “darkness came over the whole land” (from the sixth to the ninth hour).

Part I examines his first three statements. Spoken in light, their pronouncement of forgiveness anticipates a now forming new community, a congregation based on a new covenant which Jesus initiates less than twenty-four hours from his death. Part II is set in the shadow of darkness; it begins with the most troubling of all his utterances, the word of abandonment. The task of this half is to demonstrate how that dismaying phrase turns into one of victorious proportions.

Pause is taken between Parts I and II where an interlude provides summary comment. Here, discoveries made in Part I are synthesized, thus preparing the reader for the onset of darkness and the theological message behind Jesus’ last four statements.

“What is truth?” That is the question Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, and it is the question we all still ask ourselves today. With so many competing religions and philosophies to choose from, how can we determine what is really true and what is false? Can we? Perhaps we can, if we dare to read the language used to write the universe: mathematics. It is well known that mathematics consistently provides accurate answers to questions about the physical universe, but can it also answer questions about the spiritual universe – about God? This book seeks to answer that question by exploring the philosophical implications of several mathematical principles – principles that are accessible to ordinary people without a degree in mathematics.

With humor and insight, Justin Rossow combines metaphor theory with a real heart for preachers and the preaching task. Rossow takes us on a tour of recent developments in the study of metaphor. His clear presentation makes the theory easy to learn and easy to use: the basic “story” behind any metaphor enables a “situational logic” that shapes how we think, how we believe, and how we live out our lives. Section 2 uses the moves of metaphor to shape sermons. Clear and accessible examples will have you reimagining your preaching in new and refreshingly faithful ways. In the final section of the book, Rossow engages the broader field of preaching theory. The method he has developed over years of presenting the Gospel also enhances sermon structures from other well-known preachers. Whether or not you are familiar with the likes of Wilson’s Four Pages, the Lowry Loop, or Long’s work on genre, you are sure to find Rossow’s broad application helpful in your preaching ministry. An excellent book for preachers looking to add a tool to their bag, or for students looking to learn the art and craft of engaging, memorable, faithful, and formative sermons.

Summary Description – God is not silent; He has spoken. Does He continue to speak? The Bible is the written record of His revelation, but does He continue to speak beyond the pages of His written Word? Does God personally speak to us? If so, how does He speak, and what do we do with that revelation? Can we know for certain we are hearing from God, or might we be mistaken? By examining what God has already revealed in His Word, we may be surprised and challenged to reconsider our assumptions concerning His revelation.

(Self-published title in 2017 Spanish version: Not by Ignorance. The validity of spiritual gifts: a biblical and historical explanation of the doctrine of cessationism)

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” So wrote the apostle Paul to the Corinthian Christians at the beginning of his exposition on this topic in 1 Corinthians 12-14, the passage that remains key in the question of the spiritual gifts –at least as far as the gifts that are at the center of the debate. Looking around at Christianity, and Evangelical Christianity in particular, it seems clear that Paul’s wish is still valid and binding today. The ignorance, confusion, division and debate about spiritual gifts, their validity (at least for some gifts) and importance for the Church and the Christian life are signs that it is so. There are still many believers and churches that continue in ignorance in regard to the biblical doctrine of the spiritual gifts. Many Christians from non-charismatic backgrounds are confused and abandon the cessationist doctrine–or even their church– because they don’t really understand it or why their church holds it. There is a lack of a clear and understandable explanation of the doctrine. In many cases, they changed their minds without doing a complete study of the topic. Many times, the change came after reading a popular book, with an erroneous caricature of cessationism.

The purpose of this book is that we would have a position on the spiritual gifts not by ignorance, but by having studied the topic and having explained clearly the doctrine of cessationism. Even with the abundance of literature available about spiritual gifts, there is a lack of a clear and correct explanation of cessationism. Much of the literature available deals only with certain aspects of the question. There are more books from the non-cessationist position and less from the cessationist position. It's difficult to find clear and correct information on cessationism. The books on each side of the debate usually attack the other side and focus more on criticizing than explaining the doctrine. Many cessationist books are more for scholars or heat up the debate instead of clearing it up. This book tries to improve that with a clear, understandable explanation of cessationism, so there will be less confusion about it.  It’s not a study just for academicians, theologians or scholars; those studies are already out there. It’s written to help the average believer to understand the cessationist position, which I believe is the correct one.

We live in a time when many view the church as a relic of past traditions and cosmologies, often reactionary, mean-spirited, nationalist, and racist. They see those who call themselves Christians reacting in fear to the changes around them, rather than boldly declaring and living out God's compassion and justice. Some, who view themselves as non-believers, point out, often with great clarity, the distance between so-called Christian witness and the teaching of Jesus. This book takes us back to the first followers and to their very human experience of desire, decision, and discipleship. As with these first followers, it calls us to follow Jesus into God's presence and liberating action and, by following, increasingly strip away our false religiosity, misplaced commitments, and idolatries. As we join with others in a community of Jesus’ followers, gathered by Jesus to be sent out, we exercise true, society-altering witness.

This book deals with an important aspect of Christian apologetics, the problem of evil--both the eschatological evils of eternal judgment and eternal punishment and the evils of this life.  An adequate treatment of these issues requires both careful New Testament exegesis and sustained philosophical argument.  I argue that once we become clear about what the New Testament teaches about each of these eschatological evils, a way is opened up to show that it is not improbable that each of these teachings of the New Testament is fully consistent with the perfect goodness of God.  I then argue that the doctrines of eternal judgment and eternal punishment, properly understood, open up an important resource for dealing with the problem that the grave evils of this life create for the Christian doctrine of the perfect goodness of God.

In continuity with two widely received scholarly volumes, Future Israel and Eternal Israel, published by Broadman & Holman, now Biblical Israel completes a trilogy that continues the author's over-riding concern for the ongoing, biblical validity of Israel, its ethnicity, nationality and territory. As with the preceding two volumes, John MacArthur has also agreed to endorse Biblical Israel. A more recent theological system that has embraced replacement theology or supersessionism is identified as Biblical Theology that, for the sake of greater clarity, is nominated as Process Biblical Theology, or PBT according to the definition of Geerhardus Vos and successive similar scholars. This system is appreciative of Israel in the past, yet now regards it as eschatologically passe. In the future the redeemed will simply be regarded as the people of God, sans distinctive Gentile and Jewish identity. Consequently Israel and the Jew are nullified. The PBT hermeneutic imposes Christ upon the OT in a manner that overrides the plain meaning of passages such as Ezek. 36-37; Zech. 14, etc. The promised Land is now the whole world through faulty exegesis of Rom. 4:13. Hence, in an extreme manner it claims that Christ is in all Scripture, and to such a degree that there is a tendency to embrace a form of Christomonism at the cost of biblical trinitarianism. Consequently the PBT homiletic plays down sequential expository ministry and emphasizes a more panoramic view of the Bible, especially the OT, as if looking down upon it to obtain a big picture. In other words, it is reductionist in its theological approach at the expense of the significance of biblical and theological detail. Of course Biblical Israel was submitted to Broadman & Holman and surprisingly rejected, in spite of some pleading re the success of the preceding two volumes and John MacArthur's endorsements, along with promotion at the next Shepherd's Conference. Recently I received a message that "he would love to endorse Biblical Israel." The reason given for rejection was the lack of prospective financial viability. I reject this because of contrary evidence. More likely some reviewer of the text did not agree with the doctrinal critique involved. Future Israel was widely circulated and drew considerable response and reviews. Eternal Israel has a five star rating at Amazon.

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Schroedinger’s Cat. Spooky action at a distance. String theory. Mysteries like these have caused a significant shift in the worldview of scientists, who embrace mysteries of quantum indeterminacy, unseen quarks and bosons, and higher dimensions of reality. Life presents even deeper mysteries: Why does the universe exist? What is the source of purpose, love, freedom, and human consciousness? Why do people suffer and die? Do humans really have free will? Is evil real, and can it be overcome? How might God interact with people in space and time? Does humanity have a future? Throughout history, people have explored these questions in the context of their worldview. Framing the questions in today’s understanding of the mysteries of the cosmos provides new insights into God, reality, and human life. Drawing from quantum physics, mathematics, theology, and the Bible, this book explores mysteries of God and human life in fresh and ground-breaking ways. Unfamiliar scientific and theological concepts are explained in non-technical language, and quotations and personal stories connect abstract ideas to human experience.

A fresh approach to the always contested issue of determinism versus human freedom, based on God’s works in time and space.  The immutable God created this changing world as the very arena in which he chooses to act and reveal himself.  Both the Biblical narrative and man-made theology speak of God in terms both equivocal and univocal.  Scholastic theology focuses primarily on a priori constructs about God’s eternal attributes, plan, and knowledge.  A better theology should define God’s eternal decrees and foreknowledge in light of his acts in the world.  The Biblical account of God’s acts, like pronouncements of judgment and offers of grace, are primary.  God in eternity is best understood in light of the revelation of his acts in time.  The undefinable “intersection” between eternity and time, demonstrated in creation and incarnation, means that foreknowledge depends on real, contingent events in time, not vice-versa.  Ultimately, then, arguments against freedom based on foreknowledge are circular and fallacious.  An exegetical treatment of many Biblical passages supports these implications.

Young people have been leaving the Church in large numbers. They reject a version of Christianity they perceive as intellectually unacceptable, morally objectionable, and spiritually deadening. There are better ways to understand Christianity, but considering alternatives involves a willingness to rethink cherished assumptions. This book provides guidance about doing the kind of rethinking that is needed. Here are a few examples: We can’t view the Bible as a message directly from God. Divine revelation comes to us in the form of writings that are shaped by cultural views of different times and places. Portrayals of God as wrathful and demanding punishment should be rejected in the light of the fuller revelation in Jesus. We need to replace the idea of salvation as a transaction to gain admission to heaven with an understanding of it as a fulfillment God seeks for all people. Rather than viewing the Christian message as primarily about life after death, we need to see that Jesus’s mission was focused on transforming life on earth. In contrast to a message that validates our social position and privileges, we should recognize that Jesus calls for a community organized on principles that challenge norms our culture takes for granted.    

We live in perilous times. The lawlessness and violence of our world adds to anxieties already elevated by COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions. Where do we find reassurance amid the barrage of bad news that we encounter each day that deepens existing fears as the result of relationship struggles and finances? The answer remains the same as it has been for the past two thousand years: it’s the Gospel! Unfortunately, many pastors and teachers today divorce the specifics of biblical prophecy from the proclamation of the Gospel. Vague illusions to eternal life do little to inspire those in the pews or provide comfort for the stress of the coming week. The Triumph of the Redeemed fills this gap by demonstrating how a two-world perspective (see Rom. 8:18, 2 Cor. 4:17-18), based on the solid foundation of premillennialism and the pretribulation Rapture, enables believers to find relief through the biblical specifics of their hope. After describing and demonstrating the importance of such an outlook based on Scripture and my personal experience, I take the reader through a comprehensive scriptural support of the why behind this eternal perspective. The concluding five chapters of the book display the triumph that lies ahead for the redeemed because of their union with Jesus that starts with the Rapture and the receipt of immortal bodies.

The Old Testament prophets played a critical role in revealing God’s plan of salvation. They occupy a significant proportion of the Biblical canon, similar in size to the entire New Testament. Despite this prominent position, they are often overlooked as suitable material for preaching. Most preachers struggle to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of the Old Testament prophetic literature. My book explores “why” and “how” to preach the Old Testament prophetic books to the Church. The first part outlines three key reasons that should lead us to preach the prophets today: the example of Jesus and the New Testament writers, the value of their message for the Church, and the genius of their rhetoric. The second part focuses on how to preach the prophets with hermeneutical precision, theological depth, genre sensitivity, and pastoral pulse.

Coming to the realization that God exists, that God controls the universe, that we have no way to save ourselves from God's wrath because of our sins, and that we need a Savior to pay our sin debt are the afflictions for which all humanity struggles. Piercing the Veil is a comprehensive guide to knowing that God exists, knowing who God is by knowing His attributes, knowing His covenant of grace made with man, knowing His plan of redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ, knowing that the Spirit of God is the guarantee and down payment of our salvation, and knowing God in Jesus Christ in salvation.

Jesus is known for being a Savior, Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, King and Rabbi.  But what about Jesus as a heart donor?  More specifically, the Ultimate Donor?  Using the medical marvel of heart transplantation as a metaphor, Jack Anderson illustrates that God has always been interested in the transformation of the heart (will) of his human creation.  Early in the biblical story we discover that humanity has a diseased sin-sick heart.  God’s prophets declared time after time the importance of a heart change.  The human heart is so sick, in fact, that it needs to be replaced.  Every heart transplant requires the death of a donor.  However, unlike medical transplants, Jesus died only once and for all!  God has made the heart of Christ available to all who accept and confess the grim diagnosis that they have a sin-sick heart.  The Ultimate Donor follows the phases of heart transplantation (diagnosis, transplantation and post-transplant life) to convey that God has given humanity a chance for new life through the death of Jesus.

Seeing the Unseen God is a popular-level, biblical theology of the pursuit to see God—a task the biblical writers tell us is both impossible and essential at the same time. A number of biblical texts teach us that we cannot see God (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; 1 Tim. 6:16) and yet we are called to pursue a sight of him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27) with the eyes of our hearts (Eph. 1:18). This is a devotionally-focused study covering themes such as God's revelation of himself, the dangers and benefits of images of God, spiritual sight and blindness, the biblical theme of light, seeing God in suffering, and more.

Rooted in a fresh examination of the biblical witness and the experience of early Friends, as well as insights from Rene Girard’s mimetic theory (“the scapegoat mechanism,” “non-violent atonement”), this book offers a new and practical perspective on the traditional “Quaker praxis” of conviction, convincement, and conversion.  Conviction is the visceral realization that the world is not as it should be, and that we are complicit in that reality.  Convincement is the life-altering experience of “an unseen order,” the “infinite ocean of light and love,” that is behind and above the dis-order of the world, coupled with the belief that this unseen order can transform the world as it presently is.  Conversion is the lifelong project of moving from a self-centered to a God-centered way of life, requiring vision, discernment, courage, humility, prayer, and the support of one’s spiritual community.  Out of a radical and contemporary reinterpretation of the meaning of Easter within the larger biblical narrative, this new understanding can lead us back to our Quaker roots, renewing our commitment to attend to the movement of the Spirit through the still-relevant experiences of conviction, convincement, and conversion.

Hey God, can I ask you something?” is a Q&A style book designed to provide Biblical answers to some of the general questions primary school aged children ask about God, Jesus, and the authenticity of the Bible.  These include: “Hey God, who are you really?”; “Hey God, how do I talk to you?”; “Excuse me God, was Jesus just make believe or was he a real person”; and “Um, God, what if I’m scared of dying.” “Hey God, can I ask you something?” not only provides elementary aged school aged children with answers grounded in scripture, it’s also an excellent resource for parents, school teachers, and scripture teachers to work through with their kids. Each chapter of “Hey God, can I ask you something?” ends with a quirky ‘Did you know?’ factoid to help further illuminate each chapter. The book also has the option to feature amazing illustrations by professional artist, Tiarne Hookham.