Applied Theology
What could be more obvious than the fact that Christians must take care of the outcast, the poor, and the prisoners? Ministries of mercy like feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and clothing the scantily clad are services expected by Christ of His followers. As Matthew 25 makes plain, the righteous will engage in... Continue Reading →
D. A. Carson is a great blessing to the Christian church! He recently published another very important book titled The Intolerance of Tolerance.[1] In this significant work, Carson details the shift in meaning the word tolerance has undergone over the last century. Building from the work of S. D. Gaede, Carson distinguishes between the “Old... Continue Reading →
Muslim gunmen raid three Christian villages in Kaduna state. *Story from Morning Star News March 16, 2014 By Our Nigeria Correspondent - MANCHOK, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim herdsmen armed with guns and machetes on Friday night (March 14) launched attacks on three villages in Kaduna state, killing more than 100 Christians and destroying homes, sources said. Scores of... Continue Reading →
Psalm 2 famously states, “Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way” (2:12, NKJV). But there is more than one way to kiss the son. Luke 22 tells the story of Jesus’s arrest. Jesus was handed over to his captors by a kiss from Judas Iscariot: “Jesus said to him,... Continue Reading →
Since my friend Don Whitney posted a Tweet about this incident in Somalia, I have been unable to stop thinking about the sober reality of Christian faith. The world hated Jesus Christ when He ministered among men. And the world hates him still. There is a robust theological heritage in Christianity which asserts that humans... Continue Reading →
George Jones once asked through the lyrics of a country song, “Who’s gonna fill their shoes?” Released in 1985, the song pays homage to country music legends like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Patsy Cline. For a country music purist, the question is a pertinent one. However, many upstarts have volunteered to fill... Continue Reading →
The news story from North Korea this week is making its way around the blogosphere and through social media outposts, and I am very glad that folks are realizing more and more that Christians are the most persecuted group of people on planet earth. Thank you, Lori Stanley Roeleveld, for your recent post concerning the... Continue Reading →
In Nigeria, the situation is grim for Christians. In particular, Christians in the northern tier of Nigeria live in constant fear of bombings, execution, or torturous violence at the hands of Boko Haram, a militant Islamic terrorist organization. Recently, President Goodluck Jonathan spoke against the violence but insisted that this violence was not Christian persecution,... Continue Reading →
Not long ago, I posted a couple of articles concerning why Christian persecution is such a neglected topic both among Christians and non-Christians alike. I'm sure those articles had a negative tone about them because it is difficult to understand why so many people neglect such an important Christian priority. Yet, as Christians, our message... Continue Reading →
Last week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom met to offer a report to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. Commissioner Elliott Abrams offered a compelling plea for Congress to take up the cause of persecuted Christians around the world. By following this link, you can view video testimonies from the... Continue Reading →
If you want to find out about the extent persecution is affecting Christians around the world, you certainly can. There are a number of ministries and agencies tracking persecution around the world. But the research varies dramatically from one source to the next. Accurate research on persecution is not easy to obtain for several reasons.... Continue Reading →
So our friends and family back east—especially in Kentucky—are experiencing one of the toughest winters on record. Even now, there is snow on top of ice on top of snow. Out here in California, we are experiencing a drought, although we got a few sprinkles overnight (and snow in the mountains). And, so far, the... Continue Reading →
More than five decades ago, Eberhard Bethge, a close friend and biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, lamented the manner in which Protestants neglected the study of martyrs. He offered two basic reasons for such neglect: Protestants deplore the martyr worship present in part of the Catholic tradition. And Protestants are a bit squeamish emotionally when it... Continue Reading →
Do you know any bad prison stories? If you’ve ever seen The Shawshank Redemption, then you have heard of at least one bad prison. My guess is that you know of several others, too. Ever heard of Alcatraz, that eerie, isolated mass of prison rock sitting about a mile and a half offshore in San... Continue Reading →
Books abound on church growth strategy. There are books to grow your church from the inside out. Other books teach church growth from the outside in. One book wants you to grow your church by learning from unchurched Americans. Another book says Christians just need to become contagious (in a good way, of course). Each... Continue Reading →
Gregory C. Cochran 