CWR Blog
Christianity Without The Religion BLOG hosted by Brad Jersak.
Do You Know Who You Are?
Is Christianity a smooth, comfortable and secure road taking us to a blissful and serene future? Is it the smooth level paved road that we'd prefer, or is it more like a bumpy roller coaster?
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0253.mp3
The 1,000 Year Millennium? – Greg Albrecht
Question:
Your perspective on the "1000 year reign" would be appreciated.
Response:
In chapter 11 of my book “Revelation Revolution” I devote several pages to this topic.
In summary to what I have written there, along with some additional perspectives, here are some general thoughts about the “millennium” –
The majority of Christians who are now alive do not subscribe to a literal period of time – 1,000 years as we know time – at the “end” of an age of human history before or ushering in the eternity of the Kingdom of ...
Turning the Corner on 2024 – by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from January 2025:
We made it! We made it through another madcap, tumultuous, challenging and wild roller coaster ride of a year. We made it through 2024! Or, more correctly, by God’s grace we made it. We made it because our Risen Lord empowered and enabled us, living his life in us.
There is great news as we begin this New Year of 2025! God is still in love with you. He cannot love you any more than he already has, because he has loved you, still does and always will… to the MAX! God is absolutely head-over-heels in love with ...
A Good God Who Doesn’t Always Heal? Brad Jersak
In A More Christlike God, I describe the self-revelation of God in Christ, who is self-giving, radically forgiving, and co-suffering Love. That image of God is cruciform, uncontrolling, but still deeply caring.
So how do we hang onto the image of God as a loving heavenly Parent when (1) Jesus told us to pray with boldness and faith, but (2) many of those prayers seem to go unanswered? What gives?
What follows is a dialogue with a friend about these complex and difficult issues:
AF: Hi Bradley:
I have a nagging subject that I found myself questioning ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 28, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“The Cross of Christ stands as the crowning, never-to-be surpassed monument to the power of God’s love – when Jesus, out of his love for us, gave us the ultimate gift – himself. The Cross of Christ is the vertical love of God meeting the hatred of our horizontal world – and triumphing over it.
The Cross of Christ is the presence of God in the most ugly, foul and reprehensible evils that will ever occur in the horizontal dimension experienced on our planet earth, taking on his shoulders all the perversion and ...
You Are Forgiven
Are you troubled by whether or not your sins are forgiven? John the Baptist said of Jesus, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Yet we wonder, will God always forgive us? What does it take for us to have absolute assurance that we are forgiven?
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0256.mp3
Confessing “Jesus is Lord” – Brad Jersak
Confessing “Jesus is Lord”
The Bible makes four profound claims about confessing “Jesus is Lord” that defy doctrinal certitude but function to invite faith.
Romans 10:9 — Those who confess “Jesus is Lord” will be saved.
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
1 Corinthians 12:3 — No one can confess “Jesus is Lord” except by the Spirit.
“No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 7:21 ...
January 2025 Plain Truth Magazine
The January 2025 Plain Truth magazine is now available:
CLICK HERE to read:
Articles:
God's Master Stroke for the New Year – pg. 1
It's All on Rails – pg. 2
Sunsets and Seasons of Life – pg. 5
"Rise Up and Walk!" – pg. 6
Mercy Drops – pg. 7
Quotes & Connections – pg. 8
If you have found our magazines helpful, please consider subscribing (free online). And if you'd like to help us help others, please consider sharing it with others and hitting the "GIVE NOW" button below.
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 26, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“If Jesus had come as a health-and-wealth preacher, then people would have followed him, hoping to improve their physical status in life. He wouldn’t have been despised and rejected – he would have been celebrated.
If Jesus had come predicting the end time, holding huge prophecy crusades, writing a string of best-selling ‘left-behind’ novels, then he would have sold out amphitheaters and stadiums. He wouldn’t have been despised and rejected – he would have been a best-selling author and speaker.
If Jesus ...
More Than Conquerors
Jesus threatened the religion of the Pharisees by healing a man who had been born blind. The man who Jesus healed ran into the buzz-saw of religion, complete with inquisition. Jesus was teaching us that we're more than conquerors through him -- not through religion.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/PTR0248.mp3
He’s All In – Greg Albrecht
The word story painted in the first chapter of the book of Job speaks of Satan showing up at God’s house for a visit. Details are not provided, but we get the idea that Lucifer did not bring flowers.
It didn’t take long before the Prince of Darkness started to condemn Job, one of God’s servants. Reading this story the other day, I was thinking of another way we might imagine the Evil One visiting our heavenly Father—but this visit wound up on the cutting room floor when the final version of the Bible was edited.
...
Merry Christ-Centered Christmas
It’s possible to have the experience of Christmas, without coming to know its spiritual implications and significance. Join us for Christmas as we ponder a Christ-centered Christmas.
January 2025
CLICK HERE to read now
(PDF Format)
Articles:
God's Master Stroke for the New Year – pg. 1
It's All on Rails – pg. 2
Sunsets and Seasons of Life – pg. 5
"Rise Up and Walk!" – pg. 6
Mercy Drops – pg. 7
Quotes & Connections – pg. 8
Advent Hope – Beyond Wishful Thinking – Brad Jersak
In modern culture, the word hope is normally used as a subjective, psychological state of feeling hopeful—and measured on a scale from hopelessness to confidence. It can be used as an adjective for optimism or, more negatively, wishful thinking. Today, “I hope so” can even be a euphemism for “I doubt it.”
To a great degree, that inner sense of hope that good things are coming is crucial to our mental and spiritual health. On the other hand, we know from hard experience that attaching ourselves to outcomes is also ...
The First Noel – Michael North
From CWR/PTM - Enjoy this Christmas song by Michael North.
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
December 24, 2024 - Quote for the Day:
“… when Jesus was born, he was born far from the doors of any cathedral or temple made with human hands – far from any mega-church campus. The place where Jesus was born had more in common with places today where homeless people fill shopping carts with redeemable containers and poor day laborers wait for someone to hire them… When Mary gave birth, she gave birth to Jesus in a barnyard, and laid him in a feeding trough designed to feed animals. This scene was not a beautiful hospital birthing room – Jesus was not ...
The Light Enters Our Darkness
Join us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, as we give thanks for who Jesus is and how he, the Light of the world, is with us now and forever!
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR410.mp3
“Turn the Other Cheek” – a Response to Brad Jersak by Grant Corriveau
Hi Brad,
I just read your article “Turn the Other Cheek.” When I first read Wink's analysis of these commands ("turn the other cheek," etc..), I realized he was speculating and I also wondered about the implied, all-too-human struggle therein to remain “in control.” I could see that his explanation was about how to ’triumph’ within the situation on some level and that this attitude was not actually Christlike or 'cruciform.’ You’ve clarified all this wonderfully. Thanks.
Wink's concepts around attempting to beat the oppressor at his own game ...
He Set Aside the Privileges of Deity
The birth of Jesus cannot fully be appreciated or experienced apart from the immense mystery of what God in the person of Jesus did in what is often called, in theological terms, the incarnation.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR462.mp3
I Am Alive For Ever and Ever – by Greg Albrecht
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I Am Alive for Ever and Ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."—Revelation 1:17-18
You know, almost every time that God came to someone in the Bible to tell them he wanted them to fulfill a certain responsibility, he received a similar response. Moses said he wasn't fit for the job because he had a speech impediment. Jonah of course ran away in the opposite direction. ...
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