In Philippians 2:12 we read the startling statement, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.“ This verse has led various professing Christians to take up rather extreme positions. Some insist that Christians must work for their salvation. They say that if we do not work hard enough, we will lose our salvation, or fail to obtain it in the first place. This is a tragic error that overthrows salvation by grace through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9). Others treat this passage like it was a leper, nervous about being defiled by its “borderline heresy” and skeptical of the orthodoxy of any man who dares to quote it. Thankfully, most Christians do not

  INTRODUCTION One of the hotly disputed topics in the evangelical world today is the rapture. Will the church be removed from earth prior to the tribulation? Or will she go through the tribulation and suffer under the God-hating efforts of the antichrist? Intimately associated with this question is the question of the eschatological views of the early church fathers. Did any of them teach a pretribulation rapture? The answer to  this question is a resounding, Yes! Many of them did. The focus of our attention in this article is the Didache, also known as The Teaching of the Twelve. Though some scholars date this document to the early second century, most commonly it is dated to the first century, generally AD 70 to AD 100. This puts it in competition for the earliest Christian

THE RAPTURE DEBATE AND THE EARLY FATHERS One of the most heated debates in the church today is whether the rapture of the church occurs before or after the tribulation. Will the church be on earth during the tribulation? Will she suffer under the antichrist? This controversy involves several intriguing historical questions. For instance, is the pretribulation rapture a recent innovation? Does it have a demonstrable history prior to 1830? Did any of the early church fathers teach a pretribulation rapture? My investigations have convinced me beyond all shadow of doubt that some of the early church fathers did indeed teach a pretribulation rapture. There are numerous clear pretribulation rapture references in the early church fathers, and this body of evidence is growing. Recent research in the untranslated Greek writings of the early church fathers

INTRODUCTION One of the major errors that has raised its head in the church over and over again since the days of the apostles is the gnostic understanding of the new birth. In a nutshell, this view of the new birth is comprised of two basic parts. First of all, the new birth is a transaction made upon the human heart that is little more than a rubber stamp. It doesn’t change the heart in any significant way. The new birth can exist for months or years without presenting any visible evidence. Secondly, the new birth is ministered to man through a salvation form. If you have done the form, you are born again, and you are justified by grace alone. Historically, this understanding of the new birth has been labeled antinomianism. This terminology, however,

Every serious Christian wrestles with thorny doctrinal questions that demand answers. What is the truth? Eternal security or falling away? Sovereignty or free will? Cessationism or non-cessationism? Pretrib or post-trib? There are dozens of questions that demand our time and tax our brains. How do we answer these doctrinal conundrums? Obviously, the correct answer is sola scriptura—the Bible is the ONLY rule of faith and practice since the close of the canon of Scripture in the time of the apostles. The spiritual man searches this book for answers to his doctrinal questions. And he tests potential answers by it. He understands that the word of God gives us the mind of God on every one of these doctrinal questions that we face. But we find a problem here. Despite the fact that the entire conservative

Are you a watchman? Are you watching for the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you watching for the signs of the times that herald his soon coming?  Are you watching for the incursions of the enemy? If so, may this encourage you. If not, may this challenge you. Elite military units often have creeds that express their vision and esprit de corps. In my Ranger days, we learned and recited the Ranger Creed. It was as much a badge of honor as the scroll on our shoulder. Watchmen in the church serve, in many ways, the same roll that special operations units serve in the military.  They are the cutting edge of prophetic understanding, discernment, and earnestly contending for the faith. They are like the men of Issachar who had understanding of