Many years ago, in the middle of a theological argument about what is required for the saving of a man’s soul, I formulated another of what I call Dart’s Laws. This one is, simply stated: …
The Minor Prophets #12 - Hosea
At times, when you read the prophets, there’s an almost melancholy sense—a sadness, a blues, as it were—because you realize that God didn’t want things to go the way they were going. The Book of …
The Minor Prophets #11 - Hosea
The whole idea behind sin offerings in the Bible is for a man to acknowledge his sin and to recognize that there is a price to be paid for it. Now, God didn’t make a …
The Minor Prophets #10 - Hosea
It’s painful watching history repeat itself. It’s even more painful to realize you can’t do much to head it off. But there’s nothing new under the sun, and the prophets of old must have felt …
The Minor Prophets #9 - Hosea
I remember a time when I thought all those references in the Bible—and the prophecies in particular—to adultery and harlotry were talking about spiritual adultery. The idea was that Israel was married to God, she …
Judgments
View PostThe Book of Deuteronomy #2
Get up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge …
The New Calvinism
Let me tell you an obvious fact you may never have thought of: You hold a set of ideas, some of which are contrary to what your church actually believes. And you are probably unaware …
The Minor Prophets #8 - Hosea
Unfortunately, the Biblical prophets don’t write their story like history. I say unfortunately, but that’s strictly from a 20th-century point of view. It’s probably because we aren’t really quite on the right wavelength. Instead, the …
The Minor Prophets #7 - Hosea
I have always said that whenever you see a prophet coming down the road it is almost certainly bad news. Because God doesn’t send us a prophet to tell us how well we are doing. …
The Minor Prophets #6 - Hosea
The Old Testament prophets pose a singular problem for the reader. This is because they are prophets, not seers like Nostradamus. They aren’t there to tell you when things are going to happen off in …
The Minor Prophets #5 - Amos
I’ve been reading the Biblical prophets for a long time now. In all that time, the thing that strikes me the most about these prophets is how real they were. These aren’t just old Hebrew …
The Book of Deuteronomy #1
The Lord our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, You have dwelt long enough in this mount: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all …
50 Days to Pentecost
The listeners to our one station in the British Isles will know Pentecost as Whitsunday (White Sunday, that is.) from the custom of the newly-baptized wearing white. I was surprised on a visit to London …
The Minor Prophets #4 - Amos
In the days of the Old Testament prophets, the gate of the city was like the county courthouse used to be. It was where the courts were but also where most business was conducted. It …
The Minor Prophets #3 - Amos
Therefore flight shall perish before the swift, and the strong will not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he that is swift of …
The Minor Prophets #2 - Amos
When men forget God their society heads for ruin. And so, at critical junctures, here comes a prophet to call us to our senses. That’s the good news—the prophet comes. The bad news is that …
The Minor Prophets #1 - Amos
I can’t help wondering why Christians don’t read the Old Testament more than they do. Of course, I guess I could raise the same question regarding the New Testament. Some Christians just don’t read their …
Only 120?
View PostThe Book of Ruth
One of the first questions the scholars tend to ask is, Who wrote this book and when was it written? The Talmud refers to Samuel as the author of Ruth, but scholars, generally speaking, say: …