Category: theology

  • Bach sacred cantata – Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172

    Bach wrote this cantata, while in Weimar, on May 20, 1714, for Pentecost Sunday. The libretto is based on John 14:23–31. It is one of my very favorite Bach cantatas! The work is in six movements, and scored for four vocal soloists, four-part choir, three trumpets, timpani, oboe, bassoon and a string orchestra of two…

  • Johnny Cash – Hurt

    I love Johnny Cash. He is an American original. He is the king of outlaw country music, the Man in Black. Cash had a career spanning nearly 50 years. He was a versatile artist who did pop., rockabilly, folk, gospel and rock, in addition to country music. This crossover appeal earned him the rare honor…

  • The Closing of the Evangelical Mind?

    “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” So begins Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, published nearly 30 years ago in 1994. What Noll calls “an epistle from a wounded lover” landed as a bombshell in the 1990s that has continued to reverberate in the…

  • 25 qualities of unbelief and faith

    The following is “25 qualities of unbelief and faith” by John Bunyan. Faith believeth the Word of God; but unbelief questioneth the certainty of the same (Ps. 106:24). Faith believeth the Word, because it is true; but unbelief doubteth thereof, because it is true (1 Tim 4:3; John 8:45). Faith sees more in a promise…

  • The Pre-Trib Rapture is biblical

    The New Testament speaks of our Lord’s return as imminent, meaning that it could happen at any moment. Other events may occur before an imminent event, but nothing else must take place before it happens. Imminency passages instruct believers to look, watch, and wait for His coming (1 Cor. 1:7; Phil. 3:20; 1 Thes. 1:10;…

  • Russia to become majority Catholic?

    Today, March 25th, at approximately 1:30pm EST, Pope Francis will say a special prayer consecrating the whole world, but particularly and explicitly Ukraine and Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart. The official title of the prayer is The Solemnity of the Annunciation, for the Celebration of Penance and the Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the…

  • Outrageous Western anti-Putin and anti-Russia hatred

    There seems to be no limit to the West’s hatred for Russian President Vladimir Putin! This Christian psychologist, Dr. James Dobson, is taking a cue from CBN founder Pat Robertson who years ago called for the death of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in 2005. Dobson, in a recent monthly newsletter to his ministry supporters, has…

  • Problems in Roman Catholic Theology

    As a Reformed Protestant, it should be no surprise that I have numerous problems with Roman Catholic theology. We actually agree on some things, such as the Real Presence of Christ in communion. Roman Catholics describe this process as transubstantiation whereas I prefer to keep it a mystery and eschew the outdated Aristotelian categories of…

  • Mental illness and America

    Sadly, in our American society, even though it’s the 21st century, there is still a strong and harsh stigma for people suffering from mental illness. In the minds of many people the mentally ill are freaks, perverts, are very dangerous, and they feel the mentally ill should be locked away in mental hospitals to “protect”…

  • A St. Patrick’s Day Poem

    On this day so full of mirthI think of Christianity in Ireland’s birth Brave Patrick forged the wayPreaching the Gospel to the pagans, a bold new foray The Celtic cross stands strongWith shamrock in bloom we sing this song Modernism and secularism – Satan’s wileIs attacking the faith in the Emerald Isle But God’s Word…