God's Hope for God's World
PMT 2018-027 by John Stonestreet
What was once unthinkable has become unquestionable. And so, every Christian must know how to engage this transgender moment.
Imagine this scenario: Your 17-year-old daughter tells you she’s trapped in the wrong body, is really a boy, and wants hormone therapy to begin the process of transitioning. As her parent, you love your daughter, but you disagree. You want to look at other options to help her. Continue reading
PMT 2018-025 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
Postmillennialism expects salvation to overwhelm the world bringing in a long era of righteousness, peace, and prosperity. Thus, postmillennialism is not simply interested in the gospel alone, but in the gospel and what it can accomplish. The gospel can and does change lives. One of the big moral challenges facing the Church today is the homosexual movement.
The Scriptures universally condemn homosexual conduct as a reprehensible (e.g., Gen. 19:5; Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:24, 26–28; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:8–11; Jude 7). [1] Yet, some scholars argue that the only clear, definitive proscriptions (rather than historical descriptions) against such are found in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. These show that they involve temporary, old covenant ritual laws. Continue reading
PMT 2018-024 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
Perhaps one more study from Exodus might be helpful in encouraging our reaching out to all creation with God’s salvation. Let us consider the tabernacle and its reflection of creation. Worship and creation belong together, because created the world to bring him glory.
God’s people in God’s world
We must understand that Israel is the continuation of the redemptive seed line begun in Genesis (Gen. 4:26) with Seth and who as a people dominate the Old Testament revelatory record. That seed line continues from Seth through Noah (Gen. 5:4–32) to Shem (Gen. 10:26), then is narrowed to Abraham (Gen. 11:10–12:3). Abraham’s family will carry the redemptive seed through the Old Testament all the way to the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:1; Luke 3:36–38), the Savior (Matt. 1:21) who is “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Continue reading
PMT 2018-022 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
Postmillennialism goes against the pessimistic expectations of contemporary Christianity. Christians have adopted Woody Allen’s view of life: “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
This is because we take our eyes off of God and his great power. We are like the Israelites who feared entering the land. We declare that “we are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us” (Num. 13:31). We need to gain a renewed sense of the glory and power of God. Continue reading
PMW 2018-021 by Lita Cosner (Creation Ministries, Intl.)
Gentry note: In 1897 Mark Twain was reported to have died, to which he supposedly responded: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” This response can be applied to the claim that Christianity in America is dead. Lita Cosner’s article makes some encouraging observations for us in this regard.
Lita Cosner article:
We’re used to hearing that religion is dying in America, secularization is inevitable, and that young people are leaving the faith in droves. But a new Harvard research study has great news for Christians. Previous research typically focuses on the massive increase in the proportion of people who claim atheism or ‘no religion’. But these reports generally don’t address where the decline is happening. This new research demonstrates that the decline is in ‘moderate’ religion. So it turns out that ‘religion’ isn’t dying, but the differentiation between believer and unbeliever is becoming clearer. Continue reading
PMW2018-020 by Keaton Halley (Creation Ministries, Intl.)
Gentry note: This is an excellent article on an important culture topic which greatly impacts one’s worldview. Sadly many Christians are succumbing to the liberal agenda for our culture, even in an area historically opposed to biblical norms.
Article by Keaton Halley
Three reasons that abandoning God’s design for marriage is bad for society.
Even now that same-sex marriage has become widely accepted in many countries, Christians cannot surrender. We must continue to lovingly and graciously stand for the truth. Also, if we want to be effective, we must learn to articulate the reasons why gay marriage not only violates God’s moral standard, but actually harms society. Indeed, a faulty view of marriage will create many victims, as we highlight in response to today’s question.
[M]y question is what do you think about gay marriage and adoption?
PMW 2018-018 by Robert A. J. Gagnon
Gentry note: The postmillennial hope looks primarily to the worldwide dominion of spirituality and morality. Though these will give rise to political stability, judicial justice, and economic prosperity, spiritual and moral issues must always remain at the foundation to our hope. This article by Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon speaks to an important issue regarding homosexual practice, which must be distinguished from the more modern idea of homosexuality (i.e., a homosexual “condition.”). Dr. Gagnon is a leading conservative, evangelical voice against homosexual practice as normative.
Gagnon article:
Is Homosexual Practice No Worse Than Any Other Sin?
In my work on the Bible and homosexual practice I often encounter the argument that (1) no sin is any worse than any other sin; therefore (2) homosexual practice is no worse than any other sin. Usually the comparison is then made with sins for which accommodations are often made by Christians (like gluttony or remarriage after divorce), rather than with sins for which no accommodation is made (like incest or murder), as a way of either shutting up Christian opposition to homosexual practice altogether or contending that self-affirming participants in homosexual practice will still “go to heaven.” Even many evangelicals who neither support homosexual practice nor extend a pass from God’s judgment to those who persist unrepentantly in it subscribe to these two views. Continue reading
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