Category: Reflections
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The Gospel: not good advice to be obeyed but good news to be believed
In modern evangelical circles, we often hear a message that sounds deeply pious: “If you want to be saved, you must surrender every area of your life to God. You must put everything on the altar. You must pay the price of discipleship to receive the gift of salvation.” While these sentiments may aim to produce…
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When someone leaves a congregation
When someone leaves a congregation, the instinctive reaction is often defensive and self-protective. The narrative forms quickly and predictably. The person who left is assumed to be at fault. They lacked maturity. They resisted authority. They grew spiritually dry. They did not want to serve. They were unwilling to sacrifice. In short, their departure is…
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The Scroll and the Saviour: Recovering the Treasure of Scripture
Since I became a Christian, I have found one singular source of extreme joy: when God reveals Himself in the Scripture. When I am able to read a passage and connect it to others in the Bible, I experience the miracle of the only God working through time and space, reaching out to show me…
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A reflection on teaching about peace in schools
In recent days, our family faced a decision that many Christian parents around the world will understand: how should we respond when a school promotes an initiative that, although wrapped in the language of peace and civic harmony, relies on ideas, methods, and symbols that are difficult to reconcile with a Christian worldview? In our…
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The Free Gift of Eternal Life
The cynical often says “nothing is really ever free”. But this book, the Bible, speaks of the greatest free gift of all: eternal life.  This is offered by God to all humanity, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have…
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October 7th and the reawakening of an ancient hatred
October the 7th, 2023, was a tragedy for Israel. The unprovoked assault by Hamas, marked by the murder and kidnapping of civilians, shocked the world. In the early hours of that Sabbath morning, coinciding with the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah, over 3,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israeli towns and villages. Under the…
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Repentance and the Kingdom — Why Israel still matters
I’ve written and argued this point several times before, and for me, it really doesn’t take more than a careful reading of Matthew 24 to see that the second coming of Jesus is a Judeo-centric event. It is Jerusalem that He mourns over. It is to Zion that He returns. And it is Israel’s national…
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Why the Rapture Must Be Distinct and Pre-Tribulational
Or else, there’s no Rapture at all. Every now and again, the question of the Rapture comes up—especially with a dear brother of mine who has always struggled to grasp the logic behind it. Though I do not divide over views of the Rapture, nor make it a test of orthodoxy, I do hold a…
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The Burden of Experience and the Simplicity of Faith
The tragedy of our day is that the simple gospel has been increasingly overshadowed by a pernicious emphasis on subjective experience. I have already observed that this error has led to confusion and doubt, particularly concerning the question of baptism and the assurance of salvation. Yet the problem is even broader. It affects the very…
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Don’t look at me, look at Christ!
Reassessing the role of personal testimony for evangelism and personal growth. In contemporary evangelical culture, the use of personal testimony in evangelism has become so commonplace that few pause to consider its theological implications. It is almost assumed that in order to effectively communicate the gospel, one must tell their story—what they used to be…