The Thursday series on “Butchered Bible Verses” continues today with Revelation 3:5-6.  One of the reasons for this blog series is that as a pastor, I am constantly reminded that people use Bible verses to further their agenda rather than seeking to study it within its proper context.  It may be an agenda to sin or a doctrinal agenda that they are unwilling to part from, but in the end, they have misquoted and misinterpreted...

One of the blessings of being raised in a Baptist church is the truth that I was taught as a boy from Holy Scripture that once a person is saved by Grace, they cannot lose their salvation.  At my home church in Georgia, we often referred to it as “once saved always saved.”  Unfortunately, many people today reject that grand truth on the basis of poor examples as opposed to biblical proof.  For instance, some folks walk an...

Last year when Karis was only 2 years old, we lived next door to a small farm. In the evenings after I finished my work, we would walk over to the fence and look at the alpacas, goats, and chickens. One evening when we were approaching the fence, a few of the chickens came through the fence into our field, and Karis let out a loud scream and latched onto my leg with all of her might. I picked her up and looked into her eyes and said,...

Ephesians 1:11-14 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the...

In Revelation 22:18-21 – John comes to the close of his revelation – and thereby the close of the New Testament and biblical canon. Often we find controversies surrounding these last words of Holy Writ rather than an echo of the Apostle – “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” The two most common controversial subjects that surround this passage of scripture manifest themselves in the form of two independent questions. They are as...