We sometimes assume that a great disaster will surely bring about revival – but that is not always the case. People don’t always connect the dots from great apostasy to great calamity. In Jeremiah’s day he had a fascinating argument with the exiles in Egypt who had fled from the calamity in Jerusalem. They said that the disaster had come because they had STOPPED offering sacrifices to pagan deities. “But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings…

The doctrine of pacifism is generally, though not exclusively, associated with the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists came out of the Radical Reformation and stressed adult or believer’s baptism (the prefix ana means “again”), communalism and a belief in the purity of the primitive church. Their association with pacifism came about largely as a result of their one experience with political power when in 1533 they gained temporary control of the city of Munster. They persecuted and expelled all…

After every mass shooting we are immediately reminded by media personalities, politicians and even pastors that NOW is not the time to talk about guns. We need to pray, listen, empathize, and eulogize the victims and the first responders. Yes. Absolutely. Let’s do all of those things but then please – PLEASE – after that can this be the time when Christians finally get around to having our long overdue conversation about guns? A lot of people are dying while we try very hard to avoid this…

I find it odd how many Old Testament commentaries will downplay the hope of the resurrection within Old Testament texts. The Apostle Paul clearly understood this to be a foundational belief and expectation of the Old Covenant community: “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by…

Pastor Paul here. The article I wrote a couple of years ago called "What Does The Bible Say About Divorce And Remarriage?" has been one of the most widely read articles on our TGC Canada website - apparently, there are a lot of people going through this or helping a friend through this. In light of that, a while ago I decided to turn it into a podcast episode. If you are helping a friend navigate these issues or if this is something you are wrestling with yourself, this may be helpful for you.…

Jeremiah 34:18-20 is an important passage for understanding covenant imagery in the Bible. If you think back to Genesis 15 when God “cut” a covenant with Abraham, you will remember that a number of animals were cut in two and spread apart to make a pathway of blood. The lesser party was generally to pass through the pathway of blood as a way of proclaiming a self maledictory curse upon themselves: “So shall it be done to me if I break the terms of the covenant.” The Mosaic Covenant put a great…

Acts 21 is one of the most interesting chapters in the New Testament particularly with respect to our understanding of the gift of prophecy. As Luke is narrating Paul’s journey to Jerusalem he mentions this encounter in Caesarea: On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. 10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came…

Prophets in the Old Testament operated outside the established political and social hierarchy. Their job was to speak truth to power. God told Jeremiah: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And…

When should we pray and when should we work? If we try to do something in the strength that God supplies does that indicate a lack of faith? If we pray for God to do something for us that we could do for ourselves does that indicate a lack of gratitude and initiative? These are important questions that every believer wrestles with at some point or another in his or her Christian journey. Thankfully the Bible does seem to address these questions fairly frequently – in fact I ran across a passage…

Acts 10 is a very important chapter in the New Testament for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it shows how God used the Apostle Peter to once and forever break the religious boundary that separated Jews and Gentiles. The food laws were declared null and void the moment God said to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” (Acts 10:13 ESV) Of course, Peter being Peter, the message had to be repeated multiple times, but eventually he understood: “God has shown me that I should not call any…

Does it sometimes feel like you were saved twice? Or maybe even three times? I know the feeling. I made a profession of faith in the summer of 1980 at which point I believe that I was born again. But I also had a profound spiritual experience in the fall of 1990 – an experience that for a while I was tempted to think of as my “true conversion”. That was when I really came to understand that to love Jesus I must also hate sin. That was the time in my life when I became “a follower” and not…

By Rembrandt – 4gE-j88Uz3znNw at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum, Public Domain, Link Sometimes God immerses us in that which we wrongly desire in order to cleanse and purify our affections. In Jeremiah 13 God sends the prophet on a very unusual mission: Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. And the word of the LORD…