Christmas offers a strange combination of shallow consumerism and sublime celebration. It has a unique position as both cherished Christian holiday and major cultural festivity. Macy’s proclaims good news of great toys for all children who bring their hopes and dreams (and their parents’ credit cards) to SantaLand. Yet Christians for generations have celebrated “Advent” […]
Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude 1:4 We invite you to make the Serious Joy Scholarship a new work of your personal ministry for Jesus […]
It’s so easy to get caught up in the insanity of our times. If you only read the news headlines every day, it’s nearly impossible to keep from being sucked into the hopelessness that fills the lives of so many around the world. We need hope to live, and we need hope to fulfill our […]
My first day at Seminary was not what I expected. There I was, sitting in a small circle with 17 other men and the seminary professors. To my surprise, there was no lecture about Theology, Greek, or Hermeneutics; it was about listening to God’s story in the lives of each of these men with whom […]
I want to take you on a journey back to Jerusalem when Zephaniah spoke the words recorded in Zephaniah 3:1–10. Jerusalem is suppose to be a light post, shining the beauty of the Lord to the nations around them. Just like you use headlights to cut the darkness when you drive at night, so Jerusalem […]
Just last week, we marked the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his famous 95 theses, which marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Throughout the Fall, we at Bethlehem College & Seminary have been reflecting on and, yes, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. However, the very month we celebrated this great anniversary […]
Mark Twain traveled to the Holy Land in 1867 with a group of American evangelicals. His dispatches from the front were first serialized in newspaper columns and then compiled as one of his earlier books, The Innocents Abroad: A New Pilgrims Progress. Twain was a cynic, critic of organized religion, and probably an atheist. For […]
While the five Reformation solas (sola Scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solo Christo, and soli Deo gloria) get top billing in our historical reflections on the eve of the Reformation’s 500th anniversary, perhaps the most significant development of the Reformation is one of its rather hidden fruits. By the sixteenth century, the church had developed […]
You must search in order to find gold. You can either pan for gold on the surface where shallow streams flow, or you can blast the inner walls of a mountain—either way it’s still gold. However, blasting and drilling reap more treasures than a 14-inch gold pan in the river. In the same way, you […]
How to Read the Bible Supernaturally | Piper Q & A | Piper, DeRouchie, and Naselli For Our Instruction: Jesus’ Bible as Christian Scripture How to Do Exegesis and Theology: My Theological Method Q & A | Naselli, DeRouchie, and Bruno