God Can Bring Good Out of Evil
Going to the dentist can involve short-term pain that leads to long-term benefits. Similarly, God sometimes purposefully allows us to experience short-term pain because of the long-term benefits that eventually come about. This illustrates how God can bring good out of evil. Perhaps the best modern-day example of how God can bring good out of…
The Fifth Commandment: Not Just for Children
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12; cf. Deuteronomy 5:6). Let’s go deeper on the Fifth Commandment. Let’s start this article by quoting Albert Mohler. He says: “We think we are familiar with this commandment because it has the ring of the familiar.…
Father Forever
By Carey Dean All humanity enters this world as a son or daughter. The deepest part of our soul longs to know and be known by our Creator. Inside our first breath resides a beginning cry of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom….[me.]” Here resides the heart of the advent season. Advent’s fulness is…
Prince of Peace
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) At Christmastime, this verse seems to appear frequently on Christmas cards, wall décor, and church power points, and it can be easy…
Wonderful Counselor
Christmas is a season of awe. It’s a time when we celebrate God’s extravagant display of grace, humility, and wisdom that runs contrary to conventional thinking: the King of Kings coming to dwell with commoners, the Most Holy meeting us in the mundane, Majesty cloaked in meekness, the All-Sovereign swaddled as a helpless newborn. This…
The Christmas Story
Every year my parents would gather our family together, and each night for about a week we would quote, from memory, the Christmas story found in Luke 2. You see, Christmas isn’t about trees and lights and presents and candy and,… well, whatever your favorite tradition is. It’s not even about donating to a charity…
God’s Discipline and Christian Suffering
It may surprise some Christians to learn that some of the pain and suffering we experience during earthly life comes directly from the hand of God. I am referring to divine discipline. Allow me to make a distinction for you. Divine discipline is different from divine punishment. Punishment involves retribution for wrongdoing. It consists in…
Fifth Commandment: Honor your Father and Mother
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12) “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 5:6) What does it…
The Role of Satan and Demons in Human Suffering
Satan is pictured in Scripture as being extremely powerful and influential in the world. He is called the “prince of this world” (John 12:31), “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). He is also said to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9: 20:3). He is portrayed as having power in the governmental realm (Matthew 4:8-9; 2 Corinthians 4:4), the physical realm (Luke 13:11, 16; Acts 10:38), the angelic realm (Jude 9; Ephesians 6:11-12), and the ecclesiastical (church) realm (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).
Not By Might Nor By Power
This past week I have been working on the next article in my series on the Ten Commandments. This week it’s the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” As I’ve been reading, researching, and praying in preparation to write that article, it brought to my mind the years my sister and I cared for our mother in our home.
Topics
