JOEL 2 GENERATION

UPDATED – FALL 2023  – Having originally written this after the Paris and San Bernardino Islamic terrorist attacks in 2015, I subsequently updated it in the wake of the Orlando, Florida and Nice, France terrorist attacks in 2016. I updated this document again after the terrorist attack in Belgium on May 29 th , 2018. And now with the horrific event that happened last month on October 7 th , I am once again updating it after an estimated 1200+ Israelis (and others) were killed by Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) militants in yet another terrorist attack. I want to say before I continue that I love Muslims and having lived and worked with them for over 30 years, I can attest that the vast majority are not violent. Most Muslims are NOT radical and don’t use or advocate violence (that is despite what the Islamic religious texts below teach and/or advocate). I also love the truth and the truth is that Islamic violence is firmly rooted in the historic Islamic faith. Whereas Christianity began a...

We live in interesting times where there is much confusion as to what constitutes "truth". In the culture, you will hear people talking about "my truth" vs. "your truth". As if all truth is equally valid or as if there are in fact 'many truths'.  I saw this today as I came across the story of a university that was revoking the charter of a pro-Palestinian campus group called the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) due to their support of Hamas. To justify their actions, the university's statement said,  "The National SJP has called on its chapters to engage in conduct that supports Hamas in its call for the violent elimination of Israel and the Jewish people".  Like Hamas, this campus group's sentiments clearly include the destruction of the State of Israel and the wiping out of the Jewish people. Hate groups are of course allowed to exist in a society that constitutionally guarantees the freedom of speech or the freedom of ex...

One of the greatest theological questions that has ever faced the church (or should I say "the church since the 5th century"?) is, "What did the Apostle Paul mean when he penned Romans 7?"  Was Paul talking about his present struggle with sin in the passage or was he referring to either his life before Christ or the life of someone else outside of Christ? For many years of my Christian life, I sided with St. Augustine (who actually changed his position) and the Protestant Reformers that Paul was talking about his current life struggle with sin.  And due to that "tradition", many Christian leaders today continue to teach that the Apostle Paul was simply being honest in his ongoing battle with sin. It seems so humble of him and teachers will argue provides a great example for us.  HOWEVER, was that the way Paul intended his chapter to be interpreted? The ENTIRE EARLY CHURCH for over 300 years with a single, uniform voice (whenever they addressed this passage...