110 results for tag: gospel

The Gospel According to A.I.* by Brad Jersak

The Gospel According to A.I.*  (*Artificial Intelligence) Well, I didn’t see that coming! For decades, science fiction has forecast the possibilities and perils of artificial intelligence, from do-it-all Jetsons maids to Terminator robots arising to wipe out the human race. But in real life, the sheer speed of online A.I. advances today are outpacing our ethics and promise to render my analysis obsolete even before I can blink—a quaint relic from yesterweek. I was relatively early to the game of computer-generated images (and their copyright issues). The basic concept is that you feed a verbal description into one of the many ...

August 2024

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Brad Jersak The Gospel According to A.I. – pg. 2 Greg Albrecht "Divine Appointments?" – pg. 5 Ed Dunn Running the Race – pg. 6

Complete Perfection?  Really? – Greg Albrecht

Question: It is amazing to me that some Christians and their denominations actually believe that human beings can be made perfect in this life, without God’s grace and the blood of Christ. Really? It seems crazy how some people miss the gospel.  What do you think? Response: While the teaching of human perfection is not taught openly that much, because it is so obviously unbiblical, this entirely erroneous dogma is still officially “on the books” in many of the more conservative Protestant denominations. Entire sanctification, as it is also called, seems to have arisen from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, but as the years ...

Spitting Into the Wind – by Greg Albrecht

Call me the "Quester." I've been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there's not much to write home about. God hasn't made it easy for us. I've seen it all and it's nothing but smoke— smoke, and spitting into the wind. Life's a corkscrew that can't be straightened, a minus that won't add up. I said to myself, "I know more and I'm wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I've stockpiled wisdom and knowledge." What I've finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind. Much ...

CWR Video – The Gospel in Chairs – by Brad Jersak

Brad Jersak explains the Gospel in Chairs. https://youtu.be/hVmKc_Jv9CE We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your screen.

March 2024

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: New Birth Through the Resurrection – pg. 1 What's in an Anniversary? – pg. 2 Prophecy Pays: The Gospel Frees – pg. 5 Inside and Out – pg. 6 Sidewalk Wrinkles – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

“Who do you say that I am? No, really!” Brad Jersak

Tim Rice’s musical, Jesus Christ, Superstar, was composed over 50 years ago. Back then, conservative Christians of the brand I was raised in were deeply offended. His script didn’t follow our doctrinal prescriptions and it raised uncomfortable questions about who Jesus of Nazareth was and is. In my view, if faithfully portrayed characters like Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene and Simon the Zealot wrestling with whether this man was more than a teacher or healer… Was he more than a man or was that just the mob letting their hopes get out of control? And if he was their Messiah, why all the missteps that would lead to a cross rather than a ...

What Does Real Estate Have to Do with the Gospel? – Greg Albrecht

Question: Thanks for your interview with Bishara Awad – posted in a blog on October 29.  His comments as a Palestinian Christian, founder and former president of Bethlehem Bible College, are most helpful and eye-opening.  However, I have a question.  You and Bishara both talked about “the land” and how claims to “the land” lead to all kinds of violence, on “both sides.”  But I thought that God promised the land in question to Abraham.  Can you respond a bit more? Response: Thanks for your comments re. the interview I had with Bishara Awad, founder of Bethlehem Bible College… some years ago, but ...

November 2023

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: 60 Years Later... If JFK Could Talk – pg. 1 The Love of Thanksgiving – pg. 2 Should We Fear God? – pg. 5 A Sickness Unto Death – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

CWR video – by Ed Dunn – “The Great Verb Exchange”

Short 2 minute video with Ed Dunn.

August 2023

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Greg Albrecht: 60 years: He Had a Dream – pg. 2 Brad Jersak: BIPOC Faith 60 Years On – pg. 4 Richard Rohr: Envisioning a New World – pg. 7 Greg Albrecht A More Christlike Justice – pg. 8

The Love that Raises Us from Slavery to Friendship with God – Brad Jersak

I recently stumbled upon an interesting quote by a certain George Calciu, which I'll cite and then follow up with an explanation of why it fascinates me: You have avoided choosing Jesus as your friend for too long... but Jesus has chosen you to hear his voice. He did so long ago: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (John 15:16). The choice was made long ago, for Jesus has always loved you, young friend, but now you have responded to his call. In responding you are ordained to go and bear fruit that will remain. To be a prophet of Christ in the world in ...

CWR Video – Incredibly Good News

Short video by Plain Truth Ministries.

March 2023

CLICK HERE to read now (PDF Format) Articles: Come Out of Her and Come to Me! – pg. 1 Confronted by Christ – pg. 2 Which Thief Are You? – pg. 5 Master Potter – pg. 7 Quotes & Connections – pg. 8

The Son of a Preacher Man

What does Jesus mean when he says we will gain our life by losing it (Matthew 16:24-28)? This week we travel back in time to the 1960's, re-living the courageous example of Martin Luther King, Jr. and reflecting on the historically accurate, yet fictional character of Atticus Finch as depicted in To Kill a Mockingbird.   https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR101.mp3

Turn or Burn? Elder Brother Evangelism – Brad Jersak

"Turn or Burn!" How did the good-news invitation of God's love, revealed in the life message of Jesus, become a bad-news ultimatum, distilled crassly by "Turn or Burn" evangelists? Sure, the hellfire evangelists love to prooftext Jesus' own words from Luke 13:5, “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” I'm not at all interested in casting aside Jesus' warnings about humanity's self-destructive trajectories, but somehow they've been twisted as if they are the gospel he preached. That's a gross misrepresentation, and I think I'm beginning to see how that error expanded into an entire pseudo-evangelistic system. A ...

The Gospel According to Pooh-Bear! – by Laura Urista

I am a “Pooh” collector. Not quite a “Pooh-holic” or a “Crazy Pooh lady” – but close! Lots of friends have asked me what made me decide to collect all things “Winnie-the-Pooh” over the years.  It’s a long story, going back over 55 years. It was the summer of 1966 and my family had just moved from a tiny town in North Dakota to a slightly larger town in Texas. My Dad had just become a member of a strict, legalistic church and he was determined that his four school-age children should attend “God’s school” – a private school founded and run by the church he had recently joined. A few months after our move, I ...

The Center of the Gospel – Greg Albrecht

Christianity WITHOUT the religion defines Christ-less religion as any systematic method used to either earn or gain favor with God initially, or to improve and maintain one’s ongoing standing with God on the basis of deeds, involvement, attendance, performances, rituals and ceremonies. One of my favorite authors, Richard Rohr, speaks of the “performance principle” as the absolute foundation of all religion.The “performance principle” is the myth that leads humans to live lives defined by achievement—it is a myth that is rooted in and driven by fear. Fear is the foundational building block of Christ-less religion. The “perfor...

The Good News Banquet Invitation – Brad Jersak

A Pressurized Gospel My earliest Christian formation taught me the urgency of “evangelism,” which in that stream of faith, focused heavily on Jesus’ “great commission,” which included the mandate to “…go and make disciples of all nations,…” (Matthew 28:19). For us, that meant trying to “convert” people—convincing them to “ask Jesus into their hearts” by praying a “sinner’s prayer”—confessing their sinfulness and putting their trust in Christ’s saving work. The urgency came with an ultimatum to pluck souls from the fires of hell before it was too late. Imagine the anxiety a sensitive ...

Spitting Into the Wind

Call me the "Quester." I've been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there's not much to write home about. God hasn't made it easy for us. I've seen it all and it's nothing but smoke— smoke, and spitting into the wind. Life's a corkscrew that can't be straightened, a minus that won't add up. I said to myself, "I know more and I'm wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I've stockpiled wisdom and knowledge." What I've finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind. Much ...