Category: In the Line of Fire

It is high time the English-speaking church recovers the long-lost letter of Jacob. For 500 years, we have wrongly called this the letter of James, despite the fact that the Greek does not say James, but rather Jacob (as in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), and despite the fact that in every other language, the letter…

The news line on Drudge Report immediately got my attention: “Girl Born Without Eyes or Nose.” But when I clicked on the link, expecting to read about a just-born, severely handicapped baby, I found a very different story—a story about a courageous teenager with an amazing attitude toward life. One simple quote from her said…

The Bible is not only the world’s most widely distributed book (by the billions), it is also the world’s most widely banned book. That’s because it is not just an eclectic assortment of ancient religious traditions. Rather, it is the ultimate threat to the status quo of prideful, human kingdom-building, the ultimate collection of divinely inspired revolutionary writings. With that in mind, here are seven biblical principles…

It was John Newton, the former slave trader and the author of “Amazing Grace,” who penned the famous words, “How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.” I can relate to that personally, and that’s one reason I’m so jealous for the unadulterated grace of God, for grace without mixture, grace without…

You knew it had to happen sometime. A husband discovers that he and his wife have the same sperm donor father. (Both of them were raised by lesbian parents.) That means he married his half-sister, who is now the mother of their three children. What should they do? Although the story has not, to my…

Hyper-grace teachers frequently emphasize that they do not condone sinful living and that God’s true grace will produce a holy life, and I believe they sincerely mean this. One hyper-grace author even states at the beginning of his book, “We are not propagating immorality, because if we truly believe in God and love Him there…

According to a major study carried out by a New Zealand university over a period of more than 20 years, “Children who watch excessive amounts of television are more likely to have criminal convictions and show aggressive personality traits as adults.” Is that really a surprise? The study, which was just published in the journal…

The biblical message of grace is wonderful, glorious and life-transforming. We can’t live without it for one second of our lives. But there is a message being preached today in the name of a new grace reformation, mixing powerful truth with dangerous error. I call it hyper-grace. One of the foundational doctrines of the hyper-grace…

Republican leaders have capitulated, pro-family pundits have caved, and gay activists have announced that their struggle for equality is just about over. Is it time for biblical conservatives to throw in the towel? What a ridiculous thought. Why in the world would we do that? I’m fully aware that: Newt Gingrich recently announced his belief that same-sex…

If there’s anyone in the body of Christ who should be an example of purity of heart and purity of life, it is the worship leader, the man or woman who leads God’s people into his holy presence. Yet it is increasingly common to hear about worship leaders getting drunk after church services and dropping…

Chris Culliver, the San Francisco 49ers player who bad-mouthed gays last week, will soon begin LGBT sensitivity training. When do the public figures who bad-mouth conservative Christians begin their sensitivity training? Back in 2007, basketball player Tim Hardaway received an avalanche of criticism when he said during a radio interview, “I hate gay people. I…

I was at the grocery store the other day when I was unexpectedly confronted with an adult-oriented magazine located right next to the vitamin section. I immediately had to look away from the front cover, which featured a scantily clad, seductively posed, sex symbol. Yet it was only a few weeks ago that I read…