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Theopolis News

2015 Biblical Horizons Conference

This year’s Biblical Horizons conference was another great success and we would like to thank all those who were involved by helping out with the catering or opening up their homes to attendees and speakers. The talks, open-ended as they were, offered a fresh perspective and food for thought on…

by Abi KayJuly 30, 2015
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Children

Training Tools

I find myself often rehearsing conversations with my children. When the house is quiet in the late evening, and I'm standing in front of a pile of soapy dishes, I think about what I am going to say to them in certain situations. When I am driving in the car,…

by Lindsey TollefsonJuly 30, 2015
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Biblical Studies

Cosmic Language, (Part 1)

In Matthew 24:29 , Jesus employs “cosmic language,” signs in the sun, moon and stars, to predict the imminent end of the Old Covenant. His first-century audience would have recognized His allusion to the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 13 and understood His discourse as a condemnation of Jerusalem as…

by Mike BullJuly 28, 2015
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Revelation

Triune God of Israel

The Enthroned One speaks to John (Revelation 21:6): “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” It's a little theology proper. For starters, there's the Greek version of…

by Peter LeithartJuly 23, 2015
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Homosexuality

Stealing a Page from Our Playbook

In reading about how we got into this mess, I came across a very interesting couple of paragraphs that I think the church could learn from if we are going to counter the Obergefell ruling. Prior to 2009, same sex “marriage” had gone to the ballot box thirty-one times in…

by Rich LuskJuly 21, 2015
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Literature

From Garden to Gate of Hell

In my previous essay on Macbeth , I pointed out that Shakespeare rewrote Scottish history to construct a play which points to Adam’s Fall — a man and a woman tempted by devils to steal the throne and become like gods. It is hard to imagine anyone in Shakespeare’s day…

by Ralph Allan SmithJuly 16, 2015

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Romans

Jew and Gentiles Under Sin

Romans 1-2 are like a one-two punch, Paul's prophetic trap to bring his Jewish readers to a shock of repentance. First he gives a blistering indictment of the world. It's dominated by idolatry, sexual perversion, depravity and all unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-32). It's an indictment that every Jew would agree with.…

August 26, 2019
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Romans

Righteousness of God

Nearly every commentator on Romans recognizes that 1:16-17 contains the theme of the letter. Paul boasts of His gospel because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith to faith. Everyone agrees the verses are crucial. But there's little agreement about what the verses mean. In the medieval…

August 21, 2019
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Apostasy

Apostasy Comes First

The day of the Lord has not come, Paul assures the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). It will not come until two things happen: the apostasy and the revelation of the man of lawlessness (v. 3). Paul tells Timothy the same: In the latter days, some will fall away from the…

August 19, 2019
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American CultureSexuality

What Jeffrey Epstein Got Right

This essay was written by Rev. Ralph Smith, a missionary in Tokyo, Japan, and a regular contributor to Theopolis . Jeffrey Epstein called our bluff. Writing in the New York Times , James B. Stewart reports Epstein’s opinion that “criminalizing sex with teenage girls was a cultural aberration and that…

August 14, 2019
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Romans

Gospel of God

Paul introduces himself to the Roman church as an apostle, set apart for the "gospel of God." What is the good news? We don't have to guess because Paul tells us. It's a message rooted in the promises of the prophets in the Scriptures (Romans 1:2). It's about the Son…

August 12, 2019
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AbortionAmerican Culture

Killing in God's Name

The Sixth Word says, “Thou shalt not kill.” But the Bible doesn’t treat all forms of man-slaying equally. It doesn’t prohibit every form of killing. Scripture permits killing animals for food, self-defense (Samson kills a lion), or protection of property (David kills a bear that threatens his flock). Israelites were…

August 7, 2019

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In Medias Res

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