Thoughts on Conversion, by Mike Ivey

By Mike Ivey In most instances, a Bible student’s understanding of conversion falls into one of two categories. Some believe conversion relates exclusively to the new birth; that in all cases conversion is an immediate and exclusive effect of regeneration. Others believe it has a number of facets or principles including conversion in the new…

Resurrection Week Meditations

In the sense of a traditional “blog” entry, allow me to share my personal meditations and study from the past week. If you caught the entry from last Sunday, you know I had an interaction with a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses on my front lawn in which I basically “preached” them to the curb and…

Quote – Purpose of the Gospel

Below is an excerpt from The Autobiography of Elder Wilson Thompson, Chapter 26. “They denied that the preaching of the gospel had any power to convert the dead sinner, or to give him life, and declared that man in nature was dead in trespasses and sins, and that as no means could be used to give…

Justification By Faith: Historical Versus Biblical

By Joseph R Holder Is our eternal justification solely by the merits and grace of Jesus Christ? If so, where does justification by faith come into the picture? In this edition of Gospel Gleanings, Elder Joe Holder examines the concept in light of scripture, rather than Reformed or Arminian tradition. ~Editor Gospel Gleanings: July 8, 2007…

The Effectual Call and the Gospel Call

By Matt Jordan The Effectual Call and The Gospel Call The effectual call is a call to eternal salvation; the gospel call is a call to repentance and faith. The effectual call is a call to sonship; the gospel call is a call to discipleship. God speaks directly in the effectual call; God speaks through…

Which version of the Bible should I use?

By Josh Winslett For English speaking people, my preference and strong conviction is the King James (Authorized) Version. Here are some reasons why: Because it is a translation and not paraphrased. One of the today’s most popular versions, the NIV, is 10% paraphrased. In other words, 10% are in mans words and not Gods. There…

The Extent of the Gospel

By David Pyles This post concerns the question of whether all of the elect will hear the gospel. I contend they will not, yet at the same time, I contend that we have no authority to offer the hope of eternal life to anyone who has not heard the gospel and believed it. First let…

Philip, The Pattern for Evangelism

By David Wise Philip is the only man in scripture who is specifically denoted by the Holy Spirit as an evangelist – “Philip the evangelist” (Acts 21:8). Paul tells the ordained minister Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5), and he also denotes “evangelists” as one of the four ministerial offices in the New Testament…