From the Editor Sep/Oct 2020
At sundown September 18, our Jewish friends will celebrate Rosh Hashanah. This first of the High Holy Days initiates a new year on the Jewish calendar…
THEOLOGY
Inside View Sep/Oct 2020
The Bible teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7). It also warns us not to be wise in our own eyes but to fear God (3:7)…
From Moses to Jesus
Eclectic is how I would describe my mother’s taste in furniture. Nothing really matched when I was growing up. Furniture was not her thing…
Life Under the Sun Eccl. 1-3
How do we find meaning in life? That is a question people around the world ask themselves. Even Israel’s King Solomon, the wisest, richest man who ever lived, asked it…
No Satisfaction Eccl. 4-6
In the 1960s, the English rock group The Rolling Stones shot to stardom with a song titled “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” This thought easily could…
Q: How does God see time? 2 Peter 3:1–9
The apostle Peter faced corrupt, willfully ignorant teachers who argued that since the world’s creation, God had never intervened…
Why??? Eccl. 7-9
In 1969 singer Peggy Lee had a hit song titled “Is That All There Is?” The woman in the song reflects back over her life, which is filled with disappointments…
When the Grinders Cease Eccl. 10-12
Have you ever met someone who claims to be an existentialist? I have, and it was an encounter I’ll never forget…
How Do You Know God Loves You?
How do you know if someone really loves you? Some people may say they love you, but if they don’t show it, you may doubt…
Steadfast in Service
Timothy was a young leader in the Ephesian church when the apostle Paul wrote the epistle of 2 Timothy to encourage his “son” in the faith…
Building on Jesus
In October 2018, a massive Category 5 hurricane side-swiped the Hawaiian Islands. Named Walaka, it was one of the most intense hurricanes ever recorded in…
Four Good Reasons Why Premillennialism Matters
Premillennialism is less popular than it used to be. But it’s essential to…
Enter the Greeks
On December 17, 2019, 16 leaders of The United Methodist Church signed the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation…
Plato Versus the Bible
At first glance, Plato’s theory of forms seems to have positive traits. It attempts to satisfy the seeking heart’s cry, “There has to be more to life than this!”…
Joint Heirs With Jesus!
I have often heard the dispensational, premillennial view of the Bible criticized as too pessimistic and being all about Israel to the point that it denigrates the church…
Until He Comes
Many people are bewildered about what is happening in the world today. Why is abortion so prevalent? Why is there so much murder and mayhem?..
Thankful for Everything
Memory is a wonderful gift from God. Some people say the human mind can store as many as 600 memories a second…
The Heart Attack
“We have no pulse.” Those were the words my wife heard as the paramedics transported me to the hospital. The events of that evening were nothing short of miraculous…
Jewish World Update Jul/Aug 2020
The Danish Contemporary Bible 2020, the first Danish translation in more than 20 years, has removed the word Israel…
Introduction to the Second Epistle of Timothy
The final words of someone facing death usually hold great significance…
From the Editor Mar/Apr 2020
Do you believe in miracles? It’s a simple question, but the answer has far-reaching implications. Two people groups we’d expect to believe in miracles are…
Frame, Reframe: The Battle for Truth
I witnessed an attempt to reframe theology during our Canadian Friends of Israel Prophecy Conference…
Elisha: God’s Miracle Man
Elijah and Elisha were among Israel’s most important prophets. Some people confuse them, but they were extremely different men…
Important Events & Miracles
God performed 28 miracles through Elisha that affected people, prophecy, and politics and are recorded in the book of 2 Kings…
Q: Why Did Elisha Curse Youths for Mocking Him?
After performing a miracle in Jericho, the prophet Elisha went to Bethel…
A Great Woman, A Great Miracle
Some people spend a lifetime trying to acquire a great name or leave a great legacy. There is a special woman in the Bible…
Portrait of Grace
She was merely a little Jewish girl. Yet God in His sovereignty positioned her where her faith and grace would touch the highest echelons of military power…
Chariots of Fire
WAR. The very word conjures up horrific images of mass destruction, fleeing innocents, pain, and suffering. But another dimension of warfare exists…
He Is Risen, Indeed!
The apostle Paul believed in the resurrection, not because he was a Christian, but because he was a Jew. Faith in the reality of revival from the dead was part of his training…
Disciplining the Disorderly
A church is like a family. All members need love, and sometimes someone needs discipline. This fact was especially…
Q: What Does Romans 8:28 Mean?
Many Christians are confused about the apostle Paul’s statement, “And we know that all things work together for good…
Paul’s Emphasis on Prayer
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, often called the prince of preachers, had much to say about his prayer life…
Tomorrow’s Unknown Twins
Tomorrow is unpredictable. No one knows what it will bring. The ups, downs, twists, and turns of life…
Yes, Zuzu, There Is a Heaven
Each December my family and I look forward to the beautiful decorations, wonderful Christmas carols, and the many…
Q: What is the meaning of Revelation 1:7?
The apostle John wrote, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him…
Life After This Life
Few subjects pique our interest more than the afterlife. What happens to us when we die? Many people speculate they’ll have a more fulfilling existence beyond…
Home to Eden
When you arrive in heaven, Saint Peter will greet you at the pearly gates with your eternal itinerary. You’ll receive your wings and a halo, take a seat on your white fluffy cloud…
From the Editor Sep/Oct 2019
Over the years I’ve had many people tell me doctrine isn’t important. What matters, they say, is that you love Jesus. I’ll never dispute the importance of loving Jesus. But the apostle Paul spent…
Inside View Sep/Oct 2019
As long as we believe Jesus is the Savior of the world, does it really matter what else we believe? After all, didn’t Jesus come to save mankind from its sins, and isn’t that fact the basic essence of the Bible?…
Where Was God When…?
Why doesn’t God always intervene to prevent terrible tragedies? If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “Where were You, Lord?” you’re in good company…
God & Creation
We believe God is one being in three coequal, coeternal persons. This short statement expresses the Christian definition of the Trinity, or the triunity of the Godhead…
Q: What Does ‘The Apple of God’s Eye’ Mean?
People often use the phrase the apple of my eye to express how precious a loved one is in their sight…
Jesus & the Word
We believe Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and was born to a virgin. The virgin birth is a crucial doctrine of the Christian faith…
Leave the Light On for Me
For more than 30 years, a motel chain in the United States has offered a warm welcome to its customers by telling them, “We’ll leave the light on for you”…
The Restrainer of Evil
While establishing the church in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul personally instructed believers concerning future prophecy…
The Battle for Biblical Truth
Modern Israel is a miracle. When Mark Twain visited there in the 1800s, he left thinking it was the most miserable place on the face of the earth…
Q: What is the sin leading to death?
The apostle John told Christians, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him…
What’s in a Name?
When Moses encountered God for the first time, he asked Him, “When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you..
The Great Deception
It’s easy to become discouraged and misled by false reports. That’s why it is so important to be able to discern between truth and error…
An Appeal for Spontaneity
In the short, handwritten note from the apostle Paul to his friend Philemon, we step into a captivating story of grace and divine providence…
The Other-Worldly War
Being a Christian has never been easy. We find ourselves at odds with the world. More often than not, our values, ethics, and morals directly conflict with those held by the majority. The reality is that…
Incontestable
Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the heartbeat of Christianity. Though most denominations have theological differences, one core truth binds the whole lot together: the belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ…
Comforting the Persecuted
The apostle Paul made a practice of visiting churches he had planted and providing pastoral care and counsel. But sometimes opposition to him and his ministry made the task impossible…
From Bitterness to Joy
Everybody loves a good story. God made us that way so He could instruct us in truth and illustrate it through the people whose lives are recorded in the Bible. Their stories show us, rather than tell us, how to live…
The Gold-Box Idol
During the closing period of the judges, the Israelites embraced wicked beliefs in their worship and view of God. God had confirmed Samuel as His spokesman and true prophet, but the Israelites refused to obey….
Q: What does it mean a ‘distressing spirit’ from the Lord troubled Saul?
When Saul was anointed king of Israel, the prophet Samuel predicted the Spirit of God would come on Saul, giving him the needed skill and wisdom to rule the nation…
A Hearing Heart
I have many fond memories of my mother from my childhood, but there is one memory that is far from fond. I still get a knot in the pit of my stomach when I think about it. When I was around 11 years old, we were…
‘Bring Up Samuel for Me’
Disobedience to God can drastically change a person’s life. King Saul’s disobedience dramatically altered both his life and his kingship. As a consequence for transgressing into the priestly office…
Samuel’s Big Disappointment
The expectation of great potential can be exciting. It certainly is for athletes and professional sports teams, as each new season dawns. Many a manager has left training camp saying to himself…
Samuel & David
Much is written about David in the Bible. At the mention of his name, some people immediately think of the courageous teenager who slew Goliath using a slingshot and a stone. Others remember a tender young shepherd who penned Psalm 23…
Why Would God Harden a Heart?
Exodus 4:21 records a statement God made to Moses: “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will…”
Introduction: The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
One of the apostle Paul’s earliest ministries was in the city of Thessalonica. Because his heart was to “the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16), he preached the gospel first in the…
O Jewish Town of Bethlehem
This Christmas season, as we gather in our churches to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and sing the carols of Christmas, we no doubt will sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” one of the most beloved hymns of all time…
A Night in the Fields
Birth announcements are exciting. Parents share the news first with family, then with close friends, and later with the community. In the first century, however, it was unthinkable to send birth announcements to the poor and to those who held lower-class occupations, like shepherds…
The Incredible Incarnation
I have some Christian friends who do not celebrate Christmas. They object to the many pagan traditions that have crept into the holiday and argue that Jesus was not even born on December 25. I don’t disagree. They are quite correct…
Q: What is the Unpardonable Sin?
According to Jesus, the unpardonable sin is “blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit” (Mt. 12:31). However, it is important to study the context of Matthew 12:22–32 to understand what this means…
Our Wonderful God of Christmas
For more than 50 years, Charles M. Schulz’s animated classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, has touched millions of television viewers. In it, Charlie complains, “I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy…
The Tyrant Who Tried to Kill Jesus
King Herod was a complex man. He was a brilliant builder and politician, yet a ruthless and brutal tyrant. He makes a brief appearance in Scripture as the cold-blooded killer of baby boys in Bethlehem and surrounding areas…
Divine Affirmation
“Who were those people? What just happened?” Mary and Joseph may have asked themselves these questions following their brief encounter with Simeon and Anna at the Temple in Jerusalem. They had gone there to…
The Men from the East
The story of the wise men, or magi, is one of the most interesting and captivating accounts recorded in the Bible. Countless Christmas cards, carols, and plays present the story of their journey to see Jesus, the one “born King of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2)…
How Do We Know the Exodus Happened?
“The actual evidence concerning the Exodus resembles the evidence for the unicorn,” declared Pennsylvania State University Jewish Studies Professor Baruch Halpern.1 The ancient Israelites created…
God is Faithful
Paul’s concluding words in this epistle are extremely important. He revisited prominent themes of prayer, sanctification, the Lord’s faithfulness, spiritual commitment, and preparedness for the Rapture of the church…
Villain of the Ages
Many people want to know about leaders on the world scene—the men and women whose faces they see regularly online and on television. What are these people really like? Are they kind, caring, and patriotic? Or are they cold, calculating, and self-serving?
The Ultimate Con
If you had visited “Dr.” Malachi Love-Robinson in his medical offices in Florida a few years ago, you would have met a nice-looking young man sporting a white lab coat, stethoscope draped around his neck, who would have examined you with…
The Final War Against Israel
Horrifying pictures of the Holocaust of World War II continue to shock people even today. After 75 years, film footage still reminds us of Satan’s relentless and barbaric attempts to eradicate world Jewry. Throughout history, demonically inspired, hate-filled fanatics…
Consumed and Destroyed
Years ago, my boss at the office where I worked asked me about the Antichrist: “Does the Bible teach that the Antichrist will be destroyed? Or does he win in the end?” His question came following the release of The Omen in 1976, a movie that revolves around…
Q: How should time-related terms in the book of Revelation be interpreted?
These words refer to prophecies related to Christ’s Second Coming, and they often leave people perplexed. It has been 2,000 years since the apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, and these prophecies have not been fulfilled…
Church Life
The apostle Paul often addressed the church as a family. He called members brothers and sisters and encouraged them to love one another. To function properly, a church—like a family—must have structure, order, respect for its members…
The Divine Distribution
When God confirmed a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1), He issued a divine proclamation: He vowed to give all the land He was promising Abraham to both Abraham and his descendants forever (13:15). God bequeathed the land through…
The Best is Yet to Come
Leon Uris’s novel Exodus, about the founding of the State of Israel, captivated the world when it came out in 1958. It became an international sensation, rising quickly to number one on The New York Times best-seller list and staying there for eight months…
The Power Behind the Throne
From the time God created the world, Satan has wanted to rule it. In ancient days, one of Satan’s strongholds was the Phoenician city-state of Tyre, which dates back to around 2700 BC…
Q: Who are the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2?
“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (vv. 1–2)…
The Christian’s Life
“At the Rapture,” wrote Bible scholar John F. Walvoord, “Christians will see their loved ones who died and preceded them to heaven. It will also end their earthly problems, and they will be forever with the Lord.”1 For these reasons, the Rapture has been a…
Inside View May/Jun 2018
Nowadays, trying to discern between truth and fake news is a full-time job. Such is also the case with the distinction between Israel and the church. I believe God’s Word clearly teaches Israel is not the church, and the church is not Israel…
Q: What does Christ “coming in His Kingdom” mean…(Mt. 16:28)?
This statement was fulfilled at the Lord’s transfiguration, when He gave three of His disciples a foretaste of His glory and power in advance of His Second Coming…
The Day of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 5:1–3: In 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, we saw that Christians (both dead and living) will be raptured to be with Christ when He appears to receive His church. But what about those left behind?…
From the Editor Mar/Apr 2018
A minister once told me about a church that was having difficulty finding a pastor. Its doctrine was identical to that of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. The church used…
Errant or Inerrant? That is the Question.
For centuries conservative biblical scholars have believed in the inerrancy of Scripture. Such theologians as Augustine (354–430), Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), Martin Luther (1483–1546)…
The Changing Face of Dispensationalism
A student recently came to my office and told me he had been to a conference with pastors from mainline churches. When he mentioned he was taking a course on Dispensationalism…
Redefining the Gospel
When our children were young, my wife and I would take them every October 31 to the storage shed behind our house. They each brought a sheet of paper on which they had written…
Navigating the Current Theological Fog
As a child, I loved to play with silly putty. I would make putty pancakes and press them onto newspapers so the words would appear on the putty. Then I’d remove the putty…
Our Blessed Hope
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18: When Paul established the Thessalonian church, he taught believers there about Jesus Christ’s imminent return. They were told, “wait for His Son from heaven…
The Rapture
When the word Rapture is mentioned, responses differ. Some people know it refers to Christ coming to take the church to heaven. Others incorrectly associate the rapture with Christ’s Second Coming. Still others have no idea…
Gone?
Rapture, Antichrist, and Tribulation are words Josiah Hesse associates with his apocalyptic upbringing—an upbringing he says was built on “the urgency of avoiding hell.” In his article “Apocalyptic upbringing: how I recovered from…
When Is It?
Christ’s premillennial Second Coming to Earth is evident even from a casual reading of the Scriptures. The Bible, taken at face value, clearly states the Messiah will return to establish His worldwide, earthly Kingdom, headquartered in Jerusalem .
Q: What does the phrase Israel of God mean?
Israel of God refers to Jewish people who received Christ as their Savior and consequently belong to the church. It does not refer to the entire church. The phrase appears in Galatians 6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision…
What We’re Spared
Think of the worst disasters in history. They’re nothing compared to what lies ahead—but not for the bride of Christ. “Husband Charged With Domestic Violence.” It’s an all-too-familiar headline. Sometimes the offender is a celebrity…
Coming for His Bride
Townspeople lined the street as the handsome young bridegroom rode slowly by on a donkey. He looked like a king—dressed all in white, with a gold cloth wrapped around his waist. A white, Bedouin-style cloth covered his head; and he wore sandals (more like slippers) decorated in splendid, ornamental lace.
A Life That Pleases God
1 Thessalonians 4:9–12: How to live a life that pleases God is the overriding theme of the first 12 verses of 1 Thessalonians 4. Verses 1–8 speak about sexual purity, and verses 9–12 provide practical instruction on how to maintain right relationships with…
The Unbroken Line
Even the most unlikely situation can become a vehicle for God’s grace, as it did with Tamar. The story of Tamar as recorded in Genesis 38 is both sordid and tragic. Many readers consider the narrative indecent, and some even suggest it should never…