Theology and Culture
Chuck Crisco
The Garden of Eden Mythology

Is it true or myth? Literal or not? This is an important question as it still affects us thousands of years later in culture wars over science, history and religion. It figures into patriarchal society and the reduced status of women. It is the affirmation that all humans are sinful and need a savior. So this is no unimportant question.

The Garden of Eden Mythology
Grace, Interpreting Revelation
Chuck Crisco
Now Series: Religion Can't Wipe Away Your Tears

Are we to think that God wipes away tears once we get to heaven, but we have to die to experience it? 

Actually, the teaching that God will wipe away our tears isn't a promise about heaven. It is a promise for now, that extends into the afterlife.

Now Series: Religion Can't Wipe Away Your Tears
Destiny
Chuck Crisco
Releasing Your Inner Awesome: Believe in Your ...

What do beliefs have to do with our dreams? The truth is that our hearts believe tens of thousands of things about innumerable subjects. Beliefs are the fabric of our experiences, and the filter for the glorious desires within you. 

Releasing Your Inner Awesome: Believe in Your Dream
Destiny
Chuck Crisco
Love: The Secret to Dreams Coming True

I believe that God has given us the power to access, activate and achieve our dreams. Of course there are lots of methods and programs to help us reach those goals, but I wondered if it was less complicated. 

And I found that it was. 

Yes, we do need to learn how to steward our hearts into those dreams. But I wanted to know what the common denominator was in getting our heart's desires. Was it prayer? Was it having enough faith? Was it being smart enough? Was it just luck? Or was it an arbitrary God who blessed some but not others?

Love: The Secret to Dreams Coming True
Grace, Hell?, Destiny
Chuck Crisco
Does God Give Second Chances After Death?

Does God give "second chances" after death? Without understanding the resurrection and the judgment, one can't give a definitive answer.

Does God Give Second Chances After Death?

General Eschatology

Enjoy the New Jerusalem Now?

Enjoy the New Jerusalem Now?

The New Jerusalem, a quasi natural-spiritual city that will float down out of the heavens above at the end of the world? A city that is made out of gems and silver and streets of gold?

Well, can I encourage you to rethink that just a bit? Of course there is a heaven if we are talking about "in his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures evermore" (Ps. 16:11). But the New Jerusalem was never about going to heaven. It was simply a synonym for how everyone would belong to the community of the presence of God on earth. 

Did Paul Promise Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord?

Did Paul Promise Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord?

2 Thessalonians 1:9 (AKJV), "who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power..."

Is this verse about hell?

No. Who are the ones Paul is speaking of? They are the ones who have been persecuting the Thessalonians. Do you know who that is? It was the apostate-unbelieving Jews (1 Thess. 2:14-16; Acts 17:1-5).

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Why You Will Never Be Blotted Out

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Why You Will Never Be Blotted Out

Most of us were taught that the book of life is the book that you get written into when you believe in Jesus right? There was a song, “There’s a new name, written down in glory, and its mine, oh yes its mine. And the white robed angels sing the story, A sinner has come home!” Can I get an amen?

But verses like this in Revelation made us believe that if we mess it up, God will erase our name. It gives rise to speculation of eternal IN-security. So which is it? Names being written or blotted out of the book of life was a distinctively Jewish old covenant concept that had to do with the Law, not the new covenant. 

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How Saved Are We? The Truth About the Word "Saved"!

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How Saved Are We? The Truth About the Word "Saved"!

"You need to get saved!" thundered the fiery evangelist as sweat fell from his furrowed brow and uncontrolled spit leaped from his lips as he pounded the pulpit.

"You need to get saved!" wrote the angry man on Facebook to the one with which he vehemently disagreed. Of course it was followed by him saying "go to hell" in the next breath to the same person who denied his theology of hell.

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Exposing the "Depart From Me" Myth of Matthew 7:21-23

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Exposing the "Depart From Me" Myth of Matthew 7:21-23

This has to be one of the most confusing, fearful passages in the New Testament. It is used to scare the "hell" out of saints, and used as a threat against charismatics of all kinds. Some have gone so far to say that any gifts of the Spirit today would actually be demonic and rejected by God. But what does it really mean? Is Jesus talking about going to heaven? Is he saying that only those who perfectly do God's will, are permitted go to heaven? Is this a works salvation after all?

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Abide in the Vine or Go to Hell?

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Abide in the Vine or Go to Hell?

Did Jesus threaten to throw you into the fires of hell if you don't abide in the vine? Abide in the vine or go to hell! Stay "in Christ" or burn? Did you put yourself in Christ to begin with? 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus..."

That is really the implication of John 15:1-6 if we don't understand it. Many Christians and unfortunately pastors too, have misinterpreted this passage and placed a weight of fear on believers that they were never intended to carry. 

Are You Sure No One Knows the Day or the Hour?

Are You Sure No One Knows the Day or the Hour?

Troubled times come throughout history, and unfortunately in recent history it is commonplace for some Christians to shout, "the sky is falling" and run for cover instead of being salt and light to the world. Other camps, in an attempt to be wise and in order to quell a premature cry of "wolf" will turn to the other and say, "Yes, but remember, no one knows the day or the hour."  I'm thankful for this latter group's attempt at calm, but is that really true? 

What's Your View of the Resurrection?

What's Your View of the Resurrection?

Did you ever really think about the resurrection? I mean the concept that one day your spirit will leave the perfect bliss of being in the eternal, incomprehensible joy of God’s presence in heaven, and suddenly come back to earth where the molecules of billions of people from all of history are reassembled into physical, albeit new, form? Suddenly graves will break open to the terrifying stares of unsuspecting people. It is called the resurrection, or at least a version of how the story goes.

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Men Who Stare at (Sheep) and Goats: Is This Judgment Past?

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Men Who Stare at (Sheep) and Goats: Is This Judgment Past?

Sheep and goats are apparently in vogue again, if movie titles are any indication. Whether it is Shaun the Sheep in his debut CG movie, or the horror movie, "Black Sheep: There are 40 Million Sheep in New Zealand and They're Pissed Off!" sheep and goats are becoming center stage. Let's not forget George Clooney's not-so-break-away hit, "Men Who Stare at Goats." Clooney's character is a psychic working for the government who can causes goats to pass out by using his powers. 

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Can a Rich Man Enter the Kingdom?

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Can a Rich Man Enter the Kingdom?

Does the story of the rich young ruler teach that you are not to possess wealth?

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Will Jerusalem Be Surrounded in the Last Days?

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Will Jerusalem Be Surrounded in the Last Days?

Will Jerusalem be surrounded by the nations of the earth in a future last days? The prophet Zechariah would not think so. Is there prophecy left to be fulfilled in the book of Zechariah? Some believe very strongly that there is, particularly in chapter 14. But I believe that it is very simple to demonstrate that it has ALL been fulfilled and there is no future event where the nations of the earth rise up against Jerusalem... at least not from a promise from Scripture. 

Spiritual Myth-Busters: America in Eschatology?

Spiritual Myth-Busters: America in Eschatology?

When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree by the river of truth, and tell the whole world "No, You Move."   -    Steve Rogers- Captain America

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Only A Few Will Be Saved?

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Only A Few Will Be Saved?

Want a shocking perspective?!! Did Jesus lie when he said that the gospel was only for a very few? Or is there more to the story? Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are FEW who find it.” 

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How Does ISIS Fit in God's Plans?

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How Does ISIS Fit in God's Plans?

A recent article (February 16, 2015) by CNN by Peter Bergen, CNN Security Analyst was called Why Does ISIS Keep Making Enemies.  It is the question that many people are asking. Why far-reaching offenses toward even their closest allies like al Qaeda?

The answer, according to Bergen, is simple. It is an attempt to draw the whole world into their end time apocalypse. He writes, 

Spiritual Myth-Busters: As a Thief in the Night?

Spiritual Myth-Busters: As a Thief in the Night?

As the TV show Mythbusters does, I want to explore and test the proposition that believers in Jesus Christ should expect him to come like a thief in the night. Is that really true? We are told to expect him at any moment, to watch and pray, and to be ready! Does the Bible really teach that to us, in our generation? Are we supposed to "stay on our toes" in anticipation of a secret sudden rapture? 

Spiritual Myth-Busters: Is God Separating the Wheat and the Tares?

Spiritual Myth-Busters: Is God Separating the Wheat and the Tares?

Judgement day is near. The end of the world will come soon. Tribulation will be in full swing. Harvesting angels will bring in the "last days" harvest of souls before its too late. Even now it is happening as the wheat and tares are easily discernible. ISIS, radical Islam and a back-slidden culture are sure signs we are near the end. Right? 

Wrong.