Passion 4 Him

[This article is primarily for parents wondering about or wrestling with the issue of Harry Potter and a biblical worldview. For further information, please read my articles on the Harry Potter books under the Articles section in the Table of Contents]. (See: http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles.html)   There is fantasy and good story telling in the Harry Potter books. At the same time, the stories are infused with references to actual occult practices, [†] some of which I once studied and practiced. But since these practices are mixed in with fantasy, readers may think these practices are fantasy, too. The hero of the book is a wizard who attends a school, Hogwarts, where he is learning how to use his powers through studying and learning occult arts such as divination, casting spells, astrology, magical potions, and others. He is not a figure of contemporary pagan religions (such as Wicca), nor is he an imaginary wizard, but he is presented as a rea...

Halloween has origins in Celtic and pagan rituals when people believed that Samhain (the Celtic name for Halloween, pronounced 'sow-ain') was a time when the veil between this world and the next was thinnest; therefore, communication and contact with spirits or the spiritual realm was strongest. Rosemary Guiley states that Samhain "celebrates the beginning of winter, marked by death, and the beginning of the Celtic New Year.....(....)....Samhain is a time for taking inventory of life and getting rid of weaknesses and what is no longer desired," [__The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft__, 2nd ed., (NY, NY: Checkmark Books/Facts on File, p. 356)]. Halloween is one of the eight sacred or special days of celebration for many in the Pagan community. However, there is no evidence that any group uses this day as a day of sacrificing animals or people, and Christians therefore should not assume this nor believe wild stories about such practices, nor sho...

“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” - Romans 7:7 God’s holy standard exposes man’s rebellious heart. So far in Romans, Paul has told us what the law can’t do: it can’t save us (3—5) or sanctify us (6). At this point the apostle anticipates and answers a question that naturally arises: What, then, was the purpose of the law? Was it evil? In the next few days we’re going to consider three important purposes the law served. First, the law reveals sin. Sin is a violation of God’s righteous standard ( 1 John 3:4 ); if no such standard existed, there would be no sin. In Romans 3:20 Paul said that “through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Romans 4:15 adds, “Where there is no law, neither is there violation,” and Romans 5:...

Have you ever heard someone tell you that you should follow your heart ? That phrase is very descriptive of the worldly philosophy which says, “ let your heart guide you .” No matter how major the decision we have to make in life, we are encouraged to do what we “feel” our heart tells us to do. We are told that we are being “untrue to ourselves” if we do not follow the yearnings of our hearts. Even in Christianity we are told that God speaks directly to our hearts, giving us direction for life. Are we instructed by God to follow our hearts? What does the Bible have to say on this subject?    I believe Jeremiah describes our heart best: Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? The Bible is replete with passages warning us of the evil of our own hearts.   Eccl 9:3 ...The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join ...

  True Christianity stands in stark contrast to every other religion ever known. It did not take even the casual listener long to realize that the teaching and conduct of Jesus were poles apart from that of the scribes and Pharisees. They argued complex matters of the law, split religious hairs, and attempted to instruct the people in theological dogma that enslaved them in legalistic observances. In contrast, Jesus spoke with an authority that left no room for debate, even while it set men free. Moreover, the freedom He offered to all men was not based upon their ability to achieve it under His inspiration, but upon who He claimed to be what He would personally do for them that they could not possibly do for themselves.   Startling promises about an unearthly dimension of existence fell continually from the lips of our Lord. In referring to heaven, Jesus used a term previously unknown: He called it "my Father's house." There He had dwelt in eternity past, there He would...

Depending upon who you ask today, the question "What is Truth" will get you very different answers and, perhaps, lead to even more questions. Here are some current thoughts on truth: There is No Absolute Truth. But wait a minute! This statement is making an absolute claim to truth. It defeats its own claim. Truth is Relative. Does that include the statement that truth is relative? It would have to, making this statement invalid since no claim to truth can be made by this statement, including the claim that truth is relative. You have Your Truth and I have My Truth. And if your truth and my truth are in conflict, what do we have? Can there be conflicting truths? If so, then how do you determine what is valid? If my truth is that there is no God, and your truth is that there is a God, does that really effect whether there is a God or not? Saying that we each have our own truth may make us comfortable but we would have to not care about truth to say this, becau...

Question: I’ve been told that Jesus died for my sins. What does that mean exactly? How could the death of Jesus help me get to heaven? What does the death of Christ save me from? Answer: One way to understand the meaning of the death of Jesus is to imagine a courtroom scene in which we are on trial for our sins and God is the judge. Our sins against God are capital crimes. God Himself is our judge, and according to divine law our crimes deserve the death penalty. Death , in a spiritual sense, means eternal separation from God in unending torment. That’s a very serious judgment. By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve and offered us His righteousness. When we trust Christ for our salvation, essentially we are making a trade. By faith, we trade our sin and its accompanying death penalty for His righteousness and life. In theological terms, this is called “substitutionary atonement.” Christ died on the cross as our substitute. Without Him, w...

Israel is the major topic of the Bible. The word “Israel” occurs 2,565 times in 2,293 verses. More than enough prophecies have already been fulfilled in Israel’s unique history to prove that “the God of Israel” (203 times) is the true God. In Zechariah 12:2-3 , He declares: Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. This is an amazing prophecy not only that Jerusalem, which was then in ruins, would become a burden to the whole world, but that all of Israel’s neighbors would be united against her. They have fought one another in the past. Yet today, for the first time in history, “all the people round about” are united by Islam to destroy Israel. For more than 5...

Those who are familiar with my ministry know that I am committed to expository preaching. It is my unshakable conviction that the proclamation of God’s Word should always be the heart and the focus of the church’s ministry ( 2 Tim. 4:2 ). And proper biblical preaching should be systematic, expositional, theological, and God-centered. Such preaching is in short supply these days. There are plenty of gifted communicators in the modern evangelical movement, but today’s sermons tend to be short, shallow, topical homilies that massage people’s egos and focus on fairly insipid subjects like human relationships, "successful" living, emotional issues, and other practical but worldly—and not definitively biblical—themes. These messages are lightweight and without substance, cheap and synthetic, leaving little more than an ephemeral impression on the minds of the hearers. Some time ago I hosted a discussion at the Expositors’ Institute, an annual small-group colloquiu...

In the beginning, God created, among other things, the perfect marriage. He did this by fashioning one of Adam’s ribs into the perfect mate for him. The couple began their new life in a dream home, a virtual masterpiece created by the supreme Architect of all time. In their pre-sin existence, Adam and Eve perfectly complemented and satisfied each other. And yet there was more to their marital bliss than the absence of the contaminating influences of sin. The idyllic couple lived in close intimacy with God Himself, Whose presence permeated the Garden. In fact, this personal relationship was the primary aspect of the Lord’s plan. It was only after Adam and Eve indulged in sin that their fellowship with the Lord was broken. Once sin entered mankind, marital relationships would forever be marred by selfishness. Hence, the majority of couples enter the relationship with a selfish viewpoint. For example, a young man first notices a girl’s body and immediately thinks, “Wow! No...

THE SADDEST DAY IN HUMAN HISTORY WILL BE THE DAY FOLLOWING THE RAPTURE OF THE SAINTS OF GOD! Once it sinks into the minds of a multiplied number of “Left Behind” individuals that Jesus has literally come to get the prepared saints and gone back to Heaven, it will be a traumatic moment of heartbreak and regrets. Some will commit suicide; some will go and kill preachers that did not preach the truth, while many will fall on their faces in sad and soul-searching repentance. The idea of an Antichrist and the number 666 is understood by millions of people. Most ot these do not live a surrendered life to Jesus Christ. Many people are religious, but show no evidence of being truly “born again.” Even among the religious of our day, the “fear of God” is almost totally absent. There is a kind of religious facade that has come to characterize this present generation. Preaching the words of God, like Billy Sunday and D. L. Moody, etc., ...