Articles
Articles from Sola 5 Pastors
An MRI and the Mercy of God
This past week I had my first (and, I hope, my last) MRI. It wasn’t quite as bad as I had anticipated, but close enough that I am committed to taking better care of my health! The radiologist was very kind and very thorough in her explanation of what was about to...
How to Be Religious
Being religious isn’t usually thought of as a good thing. In fact, for many people the word “religion” is a negative term. You will even hear Christians who say, “I am not religious. I have a relationship.” And, some will go so far as to say, “Jesus hates religion.”...
Every Dark Shadow
It seems that we live in a world of memes. According to Merriam-Webster, a meme, strictly speaking, is “any idea, behaviour, style, or usage that spreads from one person to another within a culture.” Most people have come to associate the word, however, with a...
Dr Death and the Promise of Life
While driving to my office recently, I noticed a leaflet attached to the middle of a stop sign. It read, “Same Day Abortions” and included a phone number along with the name of the doctor. The leaflet was weathered, so I couldn’t make out the name of the doctor. I’ll...
Seven Lies I Once Believed about Missions
The work of missions is one of the most important that any church can engage in. It is the responsibility of every Christian. We are either supposed to go into the mission field or we should be supporting those who have gone with our prayers and our finances. This is...
Big Brother is Watching You: Elder Rule an Orwellian Nightmare?
The following article is abridged and repurposed, with express permission of the author, from the Cripplegate blog. The original article can be read here. The article originally appeared as a chapter in Things that Go Bump in the Church by Mike Abendroth, Clint Archer...
Bible Texts Prosperity Preachers Wish Did Not Exist
Every so often, when engaged in discussion on the subject of the prosperity gospel, I hear voices sympathetic to this doctrinal poison say, “But surely God does not want us to be poor, does he?” This is viewed as a trump card, as if there is no middle ground between...
Sincerely Amused
It’s a supreme irony, or perhaps a sad blindness, that the present generation is supposedly in love with “authenticity,” “sincerity,” and “keeping it real.” After all, we’ve been doing everything but that for nearly a century. As Neil Postman pointed out in Amusing...
Holy Hatred: One Who Sows Discord Among Brothers
In our ongoing consideration of the seven things that God hates, we have considered “haughty eyes,” “a lying tongue,” “hands that shed innocent blood,” “a heart that devises wicked plans,” “feet that make haste to run to evil” and “a false witness who breathes out...