

Special Thanks to Southern California Seminary and Calvary Bible College and Seminary
How does one make a choice between amazing and fantastic? That is the challenge with which my family and I have been faced in recent days, as we considered where God would have us serve in higher-education ministry. Nearly two years ago my family and I had the...
Design for a Healthy Church, and the Four Legs of Outreach
The ultimate purpose of the church – as individual members and as a corporate body – is to glorify God (1 Cor 10:31, Eph 1:6, 12, 14; Col 3:17). The recipe for achieving that goal includes four major prescriptions: (1) Bible teaching, (2) fellowship, (3) praise and...
Helpful Bible Study Solution for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad: e–Sword
e–Sword is outstanding, free Bible study software, that bills itself as, “a fast and effective way to study the Bible…feature rich and user friendly with more capabilities than you would expect in a free Bible app. The fact that e-Sword is free is just one of the...
“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.”
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...
“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
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...
“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)
New Book Announcement: Introduction à l’herméneutique et à la méthode d’étude biblique
Available now, from Publications Chrétiennes is a new book by Dr. Christopher Cone –Introduction à l'herméneutique et à la méthode d'étude biblique, the French translation of Prolegomena on Biblical Hermeneutics and Method. ISBN#978-2-89082-259-7 Pages: 268 pages...
Principles of Teaching: The key to effective illustrating
Every good craftsman has a toolbox – perhaps more than one. When there is a job to be done, a skilled craftsman does not assess the job primarily based on what tools can be used to get the job done. Instead, the focus is on what tools are needed in order to get the...
Dr. Gary Gilley’s Review of Redacted Dominionism
Redacted Dominionism, A Biblical Approach to Grounding Environmental Responsibility,by Christopher Cone (Eugene, Oregon: WIPF & Stock, 2012)Paper, pp. 122, $17.00. Available at Amazon ($12.60). Review by Dr. Gary Gilley, initially in Journal of...
Worship and the Presence of God
A common theme in contemporary Christian worship music is the idea of coming into the presence of God to worship Him in a deep and meaningful way. Songs that emphasize this concept challenge believers to pause from their normal daily life in order to do something...
Methodological and Hermeneutic Bases for the Distinction Between Israel and the Church
Five Methodological and Hermeneutical Bases for the Distinction Between Israel and the Church Presented to the Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics, Summit University, September 16, 2015 [gview...
Are Christians Supposed to Judge Others?
Jesus says in Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, that you may not be judged.” From this statement one might conclude that judging is prohibited, but in the next verse the context helps the reader understand that the passage is not a prohibition. Rather it is a warning: “For...

Thoughts on the Creation Evolution Debate Between Ken Ham and Bill Nye
I appreciated that both Ken Ham and Bill Nye were willing to engage in a dialogue, as I think such discussions – including this one – help to clarify and test positions. I personally found the two men enjoyable to listen to, and I thought both presented their cases...

Hopelessness, Drugs, and The Deceptive Promise of the Altered State
I haven’t seen many of his films, but even a small sampling shows Philip Seymour Hoffman to be an extraordinary actor with undeniable skill. Sadly, we learn that Hoffman is gone, apparently falling prey to a drug habit that he couldn’t shake. My deepest condolences to...

Answering Richard Dawkins, Part 2
Dawkins Argument #2: There are of course gaps in the fossil record. In the case of the Turbellaria, a large, flourishing and beautiful group of free-living flatworms, the fossil record is one big gap – there are no fossils – and not even a Young Earth Creationist...

Answering Richard Dawkins
I appreciate Dr. Richard Dawkins’ impassioned arguments against creationism, as he challenges his listeners and readers to think through their positions and to offer sound reasons for their conclusions. My focus here is not to argue against his atheism, but is to...