Pastor Gabe's Old Blog

Permit me to begin by plugging my book 25 Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says, which came out on Christmas Day at Amazon.com. Yes, I'm such an expert marketer, I released a book on Christmas Day instead of well beforehand, which would have been smarter. You can click here to order it in print, or click here to download it to your Kindle. In the book, I address in greater detail some of the things I'm going to respond to here in this blog. On Saturday a week ago, The New York Times published an interview between Pulitzer prize winner Nicholas Kristof and apologist William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig is a world-renowned theologian, scholar, and an expert debater. He's the founder of the ministry Reasonable Faith, giving a defense of biblical Christianity. The first question asked of Craig was if it's reasonable to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, and other theological questions follow. I present the article in full with Kristof's questions and Craig...

Hey, Pastor Gabe We are looking for your "Jesus Calling" responses and can't find them for some reason. Can you help? Rob, FL Sure thing. In fact, I'll share everything I've written after reading through Jesus Calling,  the flagship title of Sarah Young's bestselling devotional series. Publisher Thomas Nelson recently rolled out their latest title, Jesus Calling for Christmas , joining others in the series like Jesus Calling Morning and Evening, Jesus Calling for Kids, Jesus Calling for Little Ones, Jesus Calling Bible Storybook, Jesus Calling for Graduates, Jesus Calling for Athletes, Jesus Calling Devotional Bible, and Jesus Calling: Deluxe Edition with teal imitation leather. Spin-offs and sequels have included Jesus Always, Jesus Today, Jesus Lives, and an assortment of Jesus Delicious candy bars. A Tale as Big as a Kite At the start of the year, I posted a blog about the book God Calling by Two Listeners, Sarah Young's chief inspira...

Dear Pastor Gabe I had a suggestion [for a video]. I have spoken out about yoga and other things that have invaded the church. More often than not, I get lots of disagreement with my standpoint and the views of good preachers and Bible teachers.  Inevitably I hear some form of the phrase “it's about our hearts” or our intentions. I heard Voddie Baucham preach several years ago about how that is rubbish. He brought up the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:7. I just thought this might be a great topic for WWUTT to cover. Praying for your ministry. In Christ, Cherry Thank you for your e-mail, Cherry! This may come as a surprise considering how strict I get accused of being: When it comes to yoga, I'm a little more permissive than most. Yoga is exercise. Though this particular kind of exercise has origins in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Janism, the stretches and poses common to yoga are not inherently pagan. There are many every-day traditions with pagan origins we ...

This week, a friend of mine e-mailed me the United Methodist Church's "Plan of Salvation." Okay, so they're not calling it that. It's called The One Church Plan (OCP) concerning how the church will save itself from division over the hotly contested issue of homosexuality. They will do this by accepting homosexuality and dividing the church. Really. The intention is to split into two different denominations -- the Connectional Conference consisting of Methodist churches that approve homosexual clergy and conduct same-sex "marriages"; and the Traditional Conference consisting of churches that still teach what the Bible says about human sexuality. Supposedly this division will save the UMC from division. The United Methodist denomination has leaned liberal for quite some time. It was over 60 years ago that they accepted the appointment of women into the clergy, contrary to biblical instruction  and what the denomination's founder, John Wesley,...

I'll be Frank, you be Surely (Shirley?). I did not care for Vice President Mike Pence's speech at the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas yesterday. When he came to the platform, I stood to applaud, and likewise when he stepped down. It's proper etiquette -- he's the Vice President of the United States. But his speech didn't belong at the SBC annual meeting. Oh, the speech had its high points. He quoted from the Bible a few times and shared his faith in Christ. He thanked the convention for their prayers and hard work. He spoke about the massacre at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX last November and referenced their pastor who was in attendance. We stood and applauded Pastor Pomeroy. That was a touching moment. Otherwise, Vice President Pence's address was a Stump-for-Trump speech: President Trump is the greatest this and no other president in history has ever done that . Yes, we even heard that he wants to "Make America Great Again....

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Since returning from vacation a month ago, I have a suitcase sitting on the floor at the foot of our bed that hasn't been put away yet. There's only a pair of jeans inside, which I don't care to wear because it's been so hot. It would be easy to put the jeans in a drawer and store the suitcase back in my closet, but I never think about putting it away -- until I stub my toe on the suitcase in the middle of the night. I don't know what it is about stubbing your toes that elicits such a unique sensation of pain. Maybe it's just me but there's a sp...

Last week, Andy Stanley said something controversial about the Bible that would drop him into the category of a theological liberal. This week, he's doing interviews to clarify his statement, tell pastors why they need to listen to him, and throw academics under the bus for taking him out of context and not giving him a call. This has been Stanley's pattern for over a decade. Less than two years ago, Stanley taught that in order to reach today's Millennials with the Bible, we shouldn't use much Bible . His argument was so rough, he had to write 7,500 words to clarify it (almost the length of two sermons) and reminded everyone whose son he was in order to distill the accusation that he had eschewed the inerrancy, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture. In the next refrain of his ongoing movement to diminish the importance of Scripture, Stanley has told Christians that they need to "unhitch" the Old Testament from their faith. Owen Strachen at Midwester...