Retracing the steps of our Baptist and Independent forefathers is always an enriching experience. Whether one learns of those brave souls who endured terrible torture and death, or those who languished in prison, or those who fought theological and apologetic battles for the faith, it is always good to be put in remembrance of our […]
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Author: Rick Shrader
Salvation and Godliness
Some people think they see contradictions in all parts of the Bible. Recently I attended a debate at a local school where a Christian apologist debated an agnostic over the validity of the resurrection of Christ. The agnostic (a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, and Princeton Theological Seminary) is a professor of religion […]
Using and Abusing the Bible
I would think that anyone who values straight talk has a hard time of it during national election years. Now, more than ever, politicians are looking for the right buzz word or the right connection to the latest polling data which will up his/her chances of being elected. Every sentence, even every word, is scrutinized […]
The Real Change
In the end times the apostasy of the age will creep into God’s church, sometimes in the form of blatant unbelief, but also in a coldness toward the things of God and a love for the things of the world. While the world takes its downward spiral toward the coming judgment of God, the church […]
Judgment – The Forgotten Prophecy
Jude recorded, And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly […]
Christ the Incarnate Word
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of the Virgin’s womb: Veiled in […]
Preaching and Singing the Gospel
I just read an online article by a young man (by his own description) who went out of his way to criticize most gospel preaching and singing for the last two or three hundred years. He believes that once preaching and singing left the Puritan and/or Reformation tradition, it was down hill from there. Interestingly, […]
The Emerging Church Phenomenon
We have been studying Postmodernism for twenty years. Christian writers and non-Christian writers alike sounded a note of alarm at what the effects of this cultural paradigm shift would be upon the Church. In 1996, James White proposed, “Now a new tidal wave, called by the scholars postmodernity, is sweeping across Western thought, undermining the […]
Is Repentance Necessary?
It is a telling sign of our time that we have to ask ourselves this question. But when every other teaching that makes us uncomfortable is taken away, why should we be surprised when sinners are no longer told they need to repent? This view is being taught today largely by what is called the […]
Those Vision Statements
Using the word “vision” these days is like Mother Hubbard’s dress, it covered everything and touched nothing. But once a certain tool becomes popular, everyone has to have one. In fact, these days if you don’t have a vision statement for what you are doing, you are surely a failure, a follower, or at best […]