Articles for tag: Hell

From Despair to Hope

By Victor Knowles The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011. Visitors pass through the divided granite “Mountain of Despair” on their way to the “Stone of Hope.” An inscription on the “Mountain of Despair” reads, “I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness,” a statement King once suggested for how he would like to be remembered. But today we celebrate a different kind of memorial. It is not carved in granite or set in stone. The memorial consists of two extremely perishable elements: unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine. You

Escape Eschatology

By Jim Tune Dispensationalists, especially modern dispensationalists, promote an eschatology that amounts to little more than “escapeatology.” Popular treatments of the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13; Mathew 24; Luke 21) and the book of Revelation present an eschatology that induces a mind-set of escapism. And many Christians are eating it up. Consider the popularity of the Left Behind series of books and movies with their view of eschatology as merely a means of future escape from this world, with a corresponding flight from any present responsibility to this world. Escapeatology views Revelation”s portrayal of the new heaven and earth as a reality in the distant

Heaven on Earth

By Tim Harlow God has promised us overflowing abundance, immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. And that”s now””we don”t have to wait for Heaven. My life”s mantra is “Heaven to Earth, Earth to Heaven.” I have it tattooed on my arm. I would have a longer mantra, but my arm is rather limited. That our mission is to bring Earth to Heaven is a given. That”s why we”re here. The gospel. Anyone who knows me realizes if I get to talk about one thing, it”s going to be the Great Commission. However, Heaven to Earth is a big part of why God

Passover Parallels (Matthew 26:17-19)

By Neal Windham Jesus” last supper was almost surely some sort of Passover meal. It was eaten at night while in Jerusalem, as custom would have it. Our Lord likely explained the meal”s key features, much as Jewish fathers would have done for their own children, though in Jesus” case the symbolism was developed in new and astonishing ways. “This is my body,” he said, “my blood.” More than this, Jesus ended the meal with a hymn, as was also customary at Passover, and celebrated it with his new “family,” the disciples, a Passover tradition dating to the time of

What to Give the Person Who Has Everything

By Daniel Schantz The stubborn conundrum of Christmas is, “What will I get for everyone on my list?” Males, for example, are oblivious of female needs. That explains why your husband got you a new chain saw and some radial tires for Christmas last year. Some people just give everyone the same thing, like a homemade fruitcake, but one has to wonder if there is not some symbolic meaning behind all those fruits and nuts. Without a doubt, the hardest person to buy for is the one who has everything, like your boss, who drives a Lamborghini and gave Super

Gateway to Hope

By Mark S. Krause In Dante Alighieri”s Divine Comedy, he pictures the gateway leading into the Inferno (Hell) as being inscribed with these words: Through me the way to the city of woe, Through me the way to everlasting pain, Through me the way among the lost . . . Abandon all hope, you who enter here.1 When the church gathers, some come who have had their hopes crushed in the last week. A job may have been lost. Perhaps a home or a relationship has been lost. Various ones might have lost a battle for good health, a loved

The Eyes of Jesus

By Danny R. Von Kanel “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things” (Mark 6:34). The essence of love””our Lord Jesus Christ””showed compassion toward people. Can we have such compassion? The answer is an unequivocal YES! Use these tools to nurture compassion and see others through Christ”s eyes. Recognize people as sheep without a shepherd. As we wrestle with the lost condition of humanity, God will quicken our spirits concerning their need of a shepherd (Mark 6:34). Jesus said he

The Color of Christmas

By Daniel Schantz “[White] is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. . . . God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously . . . as when he paints in white.” “”G.K. Chesterton, from his essay “A Piece of Chalk,” 1905   Although the traditional colors of Christmas are red and green, no color expresses the spiritual essence of Christmas quite like the color white.   Grace “Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). Snow is the perfect

Lesson for September 23, 2012: Faith Inspires Gratitude (Hebrews 12:14-29)

This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. ______ By Sam E. Stone The supremacy of the new covenant over the old is the theme of today”s text. Thomas Hewitt explained, “The author”s aim in this is to show that higher privileges carry with them greater responsibilities.” He makes his point by contrasting two mountains, Mount Sinai (also called Mount Horeb) and Mount Zion, explaining what each site means.   Mountain of Terror Hebrews 12:18-21 The role of Mount Sinai in Old Testament history is unparalleled. It was here

Sitting Pretty

By Daniel Schantz The wooden pew is a kind of symbol of the church in the past century. For a preacher”s son who grew up in the 1950s, the church pew provided me with stability, discipline, and plenty of fuel for a child”s imagination. Stability Almost everything in those old churches was made of wood. Wood was warm, smooth, pretty, and as stable as an anvil. Children sat with their parents during worship in those days before graded worship, a practice that many churches are reviving today. The first thing a child learned in church is that God is forgiving. The second

Love Wins

Two Books about Hell

LeRoy Lawson considers Rob Bell’s Love Wins alongside Brian Jones’s Hell Is Real, examining their contrasting views of Heaven, Hell, God’s nature, salvation, and the urgency of evangelism.

personal evangelism

You Need to Chill

Brian Jones challenges Christians to share their faith with urgency without becoming pushy or obnoxious, arguing that effective personal evangelism requires patience, relationships, teamwork, and trust in God.

A Book Like No Other

By Ward Patterson For 65 hours one October several years ago, students at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, read the Bible aloud at a crossing in the heart of the university campus. Standing under a tent and reading into a microphone in 30-minute shifts, they read from Genesis to Revelation. Erica Wothen, a senior student and member of His House Christian Fellowship, led more than 200 students in the event. Erica said, “We came together to read the Word. We didn”t worry about what we would say or do. We just read and watched God move.” God”s Word

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