When I was younger, I remember singing songs in Church about freedom. We sang, “I’m free to dance, free to sing, and free to run.” While the songs were fun to sing, I also thought the lyrics were a little silly. After all, I really don’t need Christ to be able to dance, or sing, […]
“Transgender” does not mean “extra gay.” TQ+ concerns primarily gender identity. Transgender people would generally say that their gender doesn’t match the body they were born in. As a result, trans people typically change how they […]
“LGBTQ+” is a politically charged acronym. As a result, many Christians feel the need to talk about it, but are afraid to discuss or ask questions about the topic. Nevertheless, if Christians are to disciple one another well, we must address such questions. In part 1 of this post, I focus on the LGB part […]
Our society is conflicted about death. If there is a rash of suicides among young people who chose to take their own life, we talk about the need for suicide prevention. But if someone is sick, one might say they are courageous in deciding to end their life through MAID (medical assistance in dying). While […]
Some people believe the myth that those who are really Spirit-filled will always experience victory. This belief is a cousin to the idea that if you have enough faith you will always experience health and wealth. Just as faith doesn’t guarantee a life free of […]
Depending on how much exposure people have had to the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, they might associate the words Spirit-filled with people who claim to be inspired by the Spirit to bark like dogs, scream, or […]
This post is part of a periodic series on “Current Pentecostal Scholarship.” In today’s video, I interview Dr. E. Janet Warren about various biblical depictions of how we encounter evil and what implications these have for Christian life as well as for pastors and counselors. You might also be interested in these posts: Demons Have No […]
People around here love Christmas. Well maybe not the grumpy local atheist who argues that the city should take “Merry Christmas” off of the city buses. But I suspect that even he likes the “Happy Holidays.” Regardless of how we refer to the season, I think people love the holidays because Christmas gets to the meaning of life and, for at least a short time, it gives […]
In a previous post I wrote that Christians should not be declaring and decreeing things over their lives. While I did give some specific examples of the types of declarations I had in mind, some people responded to me rightly noting that there are some cases where Christians can legitimately declare certain biblical truths over their lives. I agree. I am, nevertheless, concerned that […]
A couple weeks ago I was a guest lecturer for a course on the Holy Spirit at Carey Graduate School in Auckland, New Zealand. The professor had invited me to share on the topic of the Holy Spirit and Leadership. But if you’ve read many books on the Holy Spirit, you will know that they don’t include chapters on leadership.