Tom Schmidt's Blog
Some Thoughts on Predestination 1. The doctrine of predestination is the notion that God freely chooses particular individuals, before the world was created to come to faith in Christ. This is a decision that God makes based on His own free will, pleasure, and design and is not because of any foreseen future human actions […]
Why Pray If God Knows Everything? Some might ask the question, ‘If God is sovereign over everything and the only things that come to pass are those which are the result of His providence, why pray at all? What is the point of prayer when only what God has ordained will come to pass?’ It […]
Check out this funny and helpful satirical video, which shows how the analogies we use to try to explain the Trinity all fail:
My friend Dan Alcantara has written an excellent piece on songwriting, the Bible, and the church. He also wrote a catchy worship song to go along with it! Check it out here.
Here’s the second part of Dan Tsouloufis’ piece “The Unfortunate Reality of Hell” (you can find the first part here): The truth is, the Bible portrays a view of God that should bring us not only awe, but awestruck terror. He is no benevolent deity up in the sky, or a fun-loving grandpa who wants to give us candy and […]
My friend Dan Tsouloufis wrote a helpful piece on hell. Here’s the first part: The Unfortunate Reality of Hell In today’s climate of theological skepticism, there are many misinformed people who assert that the concept of eternal punishment or eternal retribution is not taught in the Bible. Not only is this assertion completely unorthodox, it seems […]
I’m presently working through John Calvin’s Institutes, and ran across a few helpful statements on spiritual warfare: “We must, then, bend our every effort to this goal: that we should not let ourselves be overwhelmed by carelessness or faintheartedness, but on the contrary, with courage rekindled stand our ground in combat. Since this military service […]
I recently completed a review of Jared C. Wilson’s latest book “The Pastor’s Justification” over at the Brave Reviews website. Check it out here.
Jared C. Wilson’s latest book the Pastor’s Justification is filled with memorable one-liners. Here’s some of my favorite: “Good leaders know that emphasizing what they’re for more than what they’re against is vital for fostering forward momentum”(47). “A pastor not interested in theology is like a computer programmer not interested in technology”(55), “Your pastor may […]
Beatitudes Rewritten to Reflect Modern Ministry Practices (Wilson) Considering the topics and interests which are popular at many ministries conferences today, Jared C. Wilson says in his latest book (The Pastor’s Justification) that we should probably “rewrite the Beatitudes” in order to “better suit the modern age’s self-confident church”: “Blessed are the type-A personalities, for […]
