

Dealing With Loss: A Hero Named Larry
I have always appreciated the old hymn “It is Well With My Soul.” The melody is hauntingly beautiful. The words are especially touching, as they were written while Spafford was crossing the Atlantic when he was near the place where his four daughters died after the...
Review of Integrating Exegesis and Exposition, by Rubén de Rus
By Rubén de Rus, published at Resources for Ministry/Recursos Ministeriales. There are many books in the Christian market that cover exegetical issues and many others that cover biblical exposition. But there are few books in the market that provide readers with a...
The Impact of Redacted Dominionism on Birth Control and Killing Animals
The common interpretation that the Genesis creation account grants humankind a lasting and comprehensive dominion over creation has been critiqued as being destructively man-centered.[1] To such critics anthropocentrism seems not to offer much promise for a positive,...
“The most effective leadership, management, and efficiency models share traits common with each other, and traits that are ultimately traceable to the pages of the Bible. While these models are often not intentionally rooted in Biblical concepts by those that promote the models, the models illustrate how applying Biblical principles can set a trajectory of success in enterprise and in life. Led By a Lion is designed to introduce some of these leadership, management, and efficiency models, but goes a step further in identifying the Biblical genesis of many of the core traits that fuel the success of these models.”
The Daniel 9 Prophetic Calendar
Daniel chapter nine finds Daniel examining the prophet Jeremiah’s declarations of a seventy-year exile (Jer. 25:14, 29:10), and responding humbly to the Lord in prayer, as the time of the exile was drawing to a close. The personal humility that Daniel demonstrates in...
Racism Is a Symptom That Can Be Overcome
In 1946 Democratic Senator Theodore Bilbo wrote a tragic book entitled Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization, which argued for purity of the races. He suggested that both black and white should wish to maintain segregation in order to protect their distinct...
10 Lessons on Teaching: From Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Part 2
In the first article we looked at the first five of ten lessons learned from fifteen students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who wrote a response to published essays in the New York Times and Slate, which focused on approaches to lecturing. Now we...
“This approach has the advantage of seeking to view all knowledge through the lens of Scripture, and to subject all knowledge to the authority of Scripture. It encourages science and research within the field of psychology. It offers a Biblical balance of description and prescription. Of course, if the Bible is unreliable, then the refractive power of Scripture is distortive rather than corrective, but the epistemological premise of this approach is that God’s word is authoritative and sufficient for our understanding, for our equipping, and for our practice. There are many extra-biblical resources that we can employ, but in seeking out how and when to do that, we mustn’t lose sight of the one reliable constant that God has provided for us – the Bible.” –Chapter 9
10 Lessons on Teaching: From Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Part 1
Recently at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, fifteen students in a writing course taught by Professor Catherine Prendergast wrote a response to published essays in the New York Times and Slate, which focused on approaches to lecturing. The response of...
Christmas Thanks and Joy to the World, in Good Times and in Bad
I’m sitting at my desk, writing thoughtfully, with Christmas music in the background. I am able to focus on the writing until Julie Andrews’ Joy to the World begins with its introductory repetitions: “Joy to the…Joy to the…Joy to the…Joy to the…” I realize after a few...
“Wheaton Tiff” Highlights Differences Between Islam and Christianity, Invites Higher-Ed Integrity
The Bible’s claims are hard to miss that there is one God who exists in three persons (Deut 6:4, Is 48:12, 16, Mt 28:19, Jn 1:1, 8:56-59, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3, Rev 22:13). The biblical claims especially revolve around assertions that Jesus Christ is divine, and not...
“The Green Tree is an exceptional work…provides a vital tool for every Bible interpreter…Just as the root system is the foundation of a tree and directly impacts the health of a tree, hermeneutic method is at the root of one’s worldview. This illustration demonstrates that the hermeneutic method that an interpreter of the Bible employs will significantly affect the outcome. The tree will either be healthy, or it will not be healthy…The authors provide a unique examination of Revelation, Genesis, and Job that demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is derived from within Scripture, something that other hermeneutical methods fail to demonstrate. This is perhaps the most crucial principle demonstrated in The Green Tree, and it effectively demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is also the Biblical hermeneutic.” – Andrew Friend (Amazon Review)
Gifted makes Amazon’s Hot New Releases list for Kindle (Christian Theology/Pneumatology)
Thank you to all the supportive readers who helped the Kindle version of Gifted: Understanding the Holy Spirit and Unwrapping Spiritual Gifts reach #22 on Amazon's Kindle Best Sellers (for Christian Theology/Pneumatology) yesterday, and put it on Amazon's "Hot New...
10 New Testament Evidences for the Divinity of Jesus Christ
#1: The Word John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.“ Jesus was in the beginning (He had no beginning), He was with God, and He was God. The grammatical structure of the passage supports the idea that Jesus was the...
Interview with Grace Theology Press
Christopher Cone interviewed by Todd Mathis of Grace Theology Press, November 2015: Tell our audience a little about your ministry. I serve in a few different roles. I am at Southern California Seminary (which is connected to Shadow Mountain Community Church...
An Election Day Reminder: Balancing the Present and Future
Election Day gives us a sense that we can have some influence over world events. As world events remind us of the frailty of society and of our own lives, attentions are easily drawn to the future. But our attention should not be drawn simply to the great big things...
The Church at Ephesus as a Case Study in Safeguarding the Institution From Worldview Drift
Presented to the TRACS National Conference, Dallas, TX, October 29, 2015 [gview...
Tomorrowland Not a George Clooney Environmental Critique
From my guest article at patheos.com: Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland was initially panned as “George Clooney’s global warming shaming,” but it has much greater aspirations than simply an environmental agenda piece. Roger Ebert recognized a broader ambition when he termed...

Biblical Organizational Principles Applied: Safeguarding the Organization
Can you safeguard the organization and guarantee it doesn’t depart from core values? The Biblical example of the church at Ephesus says “no.” The church at Ephesus apparently got its start during Paul’s third missionary journey (Acts 18:21ff) and was influenced early...

Why I Am Not A Calvinist…Or an Arminian, Part 3
The Calvinism/Arminianism debate considers three essential issues: (1) The degree of God’s activity in human salvation, (2) the degree of human culpability, and (3) the degree of human activity in salvation. Historically Calvin placed strongest emphasis on God’s...

Which Comes First, Metaphysics or Epistemology?
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and seeks to answer the question of how we can have knowledge and certainty. Metaphysics is the study of reality and responds to questions regarding whether there is anything beyond the physical or natural. While I have often...

Is the Messiah Given to the Gentiles as a Covenant?
Question: In Isaiah 42:6, doesn’t the phrase “I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations” (NASB) indicate that the Messiah was given to the Gentiles as a covenant, and thus the New Covenant is also extended to the Gentiles and the church...