Evangelism

The Divine Escape from the Bondage of the Will

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD In Matthew 23:37, Jesus laments, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”[i] Some have suggested that this verse offers support for the doctrine of resistible grace. On the surface, this hardly seems surprising since Jesus Himself, in this verse, declares His desire to save the Jews but was prevented...
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God’s Desire for the Salvation of All and the Biblical Reality of Hell

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD At times, the Bible seems to teach that God desires all people to be saved. In his discussion on the coming Day of the Lord (i.e., Judgement Day), Peter writes, “The Lord is…not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).[i] Calling upon the faithful to pray (in context, he is specifically calling on men to pray in the worship service), Paul observes the heart of God “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). Ezekiel, also noting the desi...
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The Gospel of False Hope Among Some Southern Baptists (and Others)

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD Before beginning, it is important to affirm that many Southern Baptists rightfully (and in line with Scripture) declare salvation comes through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ alone. As a person who grew up, professed faith, and received baptism in a Southern Baptist church before eventually earning three degrees from a Southern Baptist seminary, I can certainly attest to this. Even so, a troubling thought frequently visited me in my early years at seminary conce...
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Biblical Proof of Authentic Salvation

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD John MacArthur, in a sermon entitled “The Distinctive Qualities of the True Christian, Part 3” offers five non-proofs of salvation: “a past supposed conversion event,” moral living, “head knowledge,” “religious activity,” and “service in the name of Christ.”[i] Relying on Philippians 3:3, he argues that true Christians long (in their hearts) to glorify, praise, and serve God. They rejoice in Christ and desire to see Him exalted among people. Finally, he contends that ...
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Getting to Heaven among the Many Religious Paths

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD Most people in the world typically imagine some sort of heaven as their future resting place upon their demise. To believe in the existence of such a place, one is required to traverse the line of demarcation between the physical laws of science and venture into the supernatural sphere. Once the journey begins, most simply choose the foolhardiest of options by simply conjuring in their minds the blissful future which they hopes awaits them. Others seek out various rel...
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The Offense of John the Baptist and His Modern-Day Counterparts

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD Whether it be on Facebook, television, or almost any other media source, Americans are inundated by a constant stream of material that is at best frivolous and at worst utterly sin-ridden. When God is mentioned in the positive, He is typically rendered as a loving God who loves all people regardless of their intentions and responses toward Him. Unfortunately, many churches have been caught up in this societal purge of God as He is depicted in His fulness in Scripture....
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The Nature of Christ’s Flesh

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Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX To begin with, flesh in and of itself is not sinful. Sin is disobedience in regard to God’s Law; therefore, it is an action and a rebellion against God (1 John 3:4). It is birthed in the heart of a person whereby their desire is to disobey God. This was Jesus point throughout the Sermon on the Mount. In His sermon, he demonstrates that evil, hate, greed, etc. arise from the heart of a person. it is person inhabiting flesh who is the sinn...
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Is God’s Love Unconditional?

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Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX If God’s love is unconditional, why do we call upon people to repent and believe? Paul in Acts 20:21 makes these two conditions quite clear: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”[i] To this, one could respond that those who express repentance and belief were already chosen by God before having done so. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God ...
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The Exaltation of Self in the Recasting of the Gospel

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD In D. A. Carson’s Prophetic from the Center, he offers a contemporary rendition of the gospel that is pervasive among American Christians: “Ever since the fall, God has been active to reverse the effects of sin. He takes action to limit sin’s damage; he calls out a new nation, the Israelites, to mediate his teaching and his grace to others; he promises that one day he will send the promised Davidic king to overthrow sin and death and all their wretched effects. Thi...
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The Negative Effects of Psychology on the Gospel

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By Mark W. Christy, PhD According to David Wells, the rise of psychology in contemporary Christianity has prostituted the gospel in at least three ways.[i] First, it has given rise to the idea that people are ultimately good. In other words, they have the capacity within themselves to return to perfect wholeness through the tools offered by psychology. With such a view, sin is no longer seen as an obstacle in one’s plight toward self-actualization. Given psychology’s presupposition that huma...
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