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The Devil Made Me Do It
In 1985, Richard Ramirez, a Satanist, killed fourteen Californians. Ramirez claimed evil spirits made him mutilate the elderly, women, and children. His savagery even terrified his trial judge. What do we make of this monstrosity? Or of racially motivated violence, where even Christians misappropriate Scripture to deny the basic human dignity of those they deem inferior to them? The testimonies of Christ and the apostles give evidence that demons work by seducing us with pride, greed, and lust. But can we hold demonized humans responsible for the sins committed under demonic influence? Who bears ultimate responsibility for 9/11 or the Nazi genocide of Jews? Satan, or those who commited the…
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A False god to Bring You Comfort in “The Shack” (“The Shack” Review, part 2)
“True worship must worship God as He exists, not as we wish Him to be. The essence of idolatry is the making of images of God. An image is a shadow, a false representation. We may not bow before a statue or a figure, but if we make an image of god in our mind that is not in accord with God’s revelation of himself, then we are not worshipping in truth….” writes James R. White. “If we love Him and worship Him as He deserves, we will not dare to ‘edit’ Him to fit our desires.”[1] “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew…
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Fake News Isn’t New
Fake news isn’t new. It’s been going on for years. You can find several examples in the Bible even. In fact, fake news is sprinkled throughout the books of Ezra and Nehemiah—always with the purpose of discouragement to stop or distract God’s people from doing the work He gave them to do. Ezra 4:16, 22 — a letter to King Artaxerxes from those who had power over Judah before the exiles and their leaders returned to the land to rebuild. “We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates…Why let this threat grow, to the detriment…
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Is Peter Insulting Women? Part 2
Go here for part I. In the apostle Peter’s first epistle he writes some words that can trip up the twenty-first-century reader. Both his instruction to wives and to husbands can make us say, “Whoa! What?” After telling wives to have gentle, quiet spirits, Peter adds an example: “Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear (1 Pet. 3:1–6). He goes on to tell the husbands to live with their wives “according to knowledge” because—and here’s the kicker—she is the “weaker vessel” (v. 7). Are today’s wives to call their husbands “master”? Are women…
