Since the 1973 movie, The Exorcist, there has been one exorcist movie after the next. There are six installments in the Exorcist franchise. The latest is The Exorcist: Believer in 2023. One exorcist movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, produced by a Biola University graduate is based on the true exorcist tragedy of 24-year-old Anneliese Michel. Two Catholic priests performed 67 exorcism sessions, one or two each week, lasting up to four hours, over ten months in 1975–1976. Anneliese Michel died the next year and her parents and the two priests were found guilty of negligent homicide.
Read moreWhat is Progressive Revelation?
A. J. Jacobs gave what is now a well-known TED talk on My Year of Living the Bible in December 2007. He turned that speech into a book entitled: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. This book was on the NYT bestseller’s list for three months.
A. J. Jacobs, who is an agnostic, did this experiment for one year. Here is the reason for his experiment: “I'm concerned about the rise of religious fundamentalism, and people who say they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls, as high as 45 or 50 percent of America. So, I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally? I decided to take it to its logical conclusion and take everything in the Bible literally, without picking and choosing.”
Here is his first takeaway from one year of seeking to prove the Bible cannot be taken literally: “The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally. This became very, very clear, early on. Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person and stoning adulterers.” God’s chosen people in the OT was the nation of Israel. When Jesus came and offered the kingdom and himself as king to the nation, Israel rejected him. In response, Jesus postponed the kingdom and set aside Israel temporarily. The church today is the people of God not the nation of Israel. While God commanded capital punishment for certain sins in the OT with the nation of Israel, God does not command the church to put to death its members for any sin. God takes sin just as seriously today as He did in the Old Testament. According to 1 Corinthians 5, the church does not stone adulterers in this age but rather the church disciplines them.
Read moreThe Influence on One Life
The influence of Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” is legendary. It has been called the most well-known sermon in American history. Edward’s influence, however, was greater with his family. Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children. For one hour before dinner, Edwards would gather his children together and help them with schoolwork and talk about their day. Edwards wrote, “Every house should be a little church.”
Read moreTwenty-five advanced Soteriological Questions
Question twelve: What are the five articles of the Remonstrance?
In 1609, the Five Arminian Articles or the Remonstrance were written by the followers of Jacob Arminius “in opposition to those parts of the Belgic Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism which stressed what came to be known as the five points of Calvinism, which were later set forth at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619).[1]
Read moreTwenty-Five Advanced Soteriological Questions
The views of the Arminians set forth in the Remonstrance of 1610 were examined and rejected as heretical at a national Synod in Dort, meeting from 1618 to November 13, 1619. Not only did the Synod reject the Remonstrance position but it also set out to present the Calvinistic teaching in regard to the five matters called into question.
Read moreThe Trinity's Part in Our Salvation: ELECTION by God the Father
Do you understand completely this doctrine? If you do, don’t even try to explain it to the rest of us for we would never comprehend your explanation anyway. Only our infinite God would fully grasp this doctrine. Yet, the fact that believers are chosen by God in eternity past can not be denied. Not only is this doctrine difficult to understand, but for some, it is a bitter pill to swallow. Here is how Charles Spurgeon began a Sunday morning sermon at New Park Street Chapel on September 2, 1855 entitled Election:
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