Category: Biblical Truth

Reformation Day — Celebrate the Five Solas

Several years ago I couldn’t have told you that there were Five Solas of the Reformation, much less what they were. I’d certainly never heard of Reformation Day, or that it was even something that Christians could, or should, celebrate.

Thankfully, through our family’s homeschooling journey, the Lord has been gracious in putting individuals in my life who have been able to teach me so much, enabling me to bring up my son with a far greater knowledge regarding theology and Biblical history than I had when I was growing up. I had never heard of anyone actually celebrating Martin Luther’s igniting of the flame of the Reformation, but in recent years, we began celebrating it in our own family.

Part of celebrating the Reformation, of course, is knowing and remembering what the contributions of the Reformers, by God’s Providential Hand, has meant, and continues to mean, for the Church.

It could be said that their various contributions over a span of several decades can be summed up in the Five Solas, which mark a return to the core tenets of the Christian faith that by the 16th century had become quite obscured, or corrupted altogether over many centuries by Roman authority and “church tradition.”

So, what are the Five Solas, and why should Christians still care about them today? Continue reading “Reformation Day — Celebrate the Five Solas”

Did you decide to be “born again?”

Born again.

The mere phrase causes many to giggle, or perhaps just look at the self-identified “born again Christian” a little, well, differently. Sadly, this happens even within the Church at large.

Yes, the term “born again Christian” is often used, typically refering someone who, as an adult, or perhaps a teenager, came to understand and believe the Gospel message, repented of their sins and believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Others who have been raised in the Church their whole lives and yet have never had that “born again” experience might not feel that they need to be “born again,” as they feel as though they’ve been Christians their whole lives, that they’re in Church every Sunday, so being “born again” is just for sinners who repent and come to believe in Jesus. Continue reading “Did you decide to be “born again?””

Reformation: The Sufficiency of God’s Grace

In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul is telling us about the “thorn” in his flesh, a messenger from Satan that would torment him to keep him from becoming conceited from the “surpassing greatness of the revelations” he was receiving from the Lord. He said:

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor 12:8-9)

One over-arching theme of the Reformation was a simple, but crucial, fact:

God’s grace is sufficient to save.

The teachings of the Roman Church at the time leading up to, and including the Reformation, greatly focused on works, treating the Christian faith much in the same way the Pharisees had treated their own ideas of righteousness and justification — as though it were some checklist to be completed. Continue reading “Reformation: The Sufficiency of God’s Grace”

An Anecdotal Illustration of the Quickening of the Spirit

This anecdote was posted as part of a casual thread on Facebook.  

It all began with Pastor Bud Powell posting the following Scripture verse: 

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Cor 4:3-4) 

 Mr. Tim Naab replied with this true story, which is such a beautiful illustration of spiritual blindness, and being awakened, or made alive in Christ through regeneration. It is reproduced here with the generous permission of Mr. Naab. Continue reading “An Anecdotal Illustration of the Quickening of the Spirit”