The Tulip Driven Life

By: Thomas F. Booher In my rough estimations, I would bet there are between 35-45 million non-Reformed Evangelicals that attend church weekly and would be willing to listen to biblical teaching, even Calvinism so long as it was presented carefully. There's probably another 35-45 million Evangelicals that wouldn't care to listen. The side that would be less likely to listen is far more likely to vote for Trump. Given that Obama won the 2012 election by about 5 million votes, it should be apparent that if Evangelicals were voting in accord with Christian and biblical principles, they would have chosen Cruz (or another candidate) in a landslide over Trump. Instead they have propelled Trump to the nomination. Consider that Cruz himself said that half of born again Christians do not vote. I've read that only half who identify as "born again" are registered to vote, and of that half only half of them actually make it to the polls. So it's quite possible th...

By: Thomas F. Booher Without the gospel, we are lost. Without the gospel, we have nothing. I can think of no greater truth than the truth of the cross. I can think of no greater need than a recovery of the truth of the cross in our churches. As American culture continues to slip and slide into secularism, as unbelievers increasingly overthrow their consciences, the Christian church will be seen as the most peculiar institution in existence. This means you and I will be seen as the most peculiar people in our land. This is a scary thing, perhaps, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. When persecution comes, and Christ promises that it will come, we have opportunity to stand firm and faithfully. We have the privilege and duty to speak the truth, to shine light into the darkness. But our own light has been partially eclipsed by the darkness of the world. Obviously, light cannot be dimmed by darkness, for darkness is the absence of light. Yet we Christians too often fear the darknes...

By: Thomas F. Booher I do hope the final book in The Bright Empires Series takes a step back to what the Bible actually says. (As a side note, I went through this book and highlighted new words or words I hardly ever use, and nearly every page  had something highlighted on account of this alone. That shows you how strong Mr. Lawhead's vocabulary is.) But now back to the main point of this post.  I've found it very interesting that in The Shadow Lamp we have an apparent contradiction over God's sovereignty. Consider: 1. On p. 351 we see a character praising God for His "All-Wise Providence" in sparing his life when he could have easily drowned in the rapids of a flash flood. 2. On p. 358 Gianni expresses a belief in "the supreme sovereignty of God and His ongoing work to bring His creation to its ultimate fruition in unity with Him." However, before this, note also that Gianni said: 1. Human beings are literally stardust that were born ...

Reformation Bible College God’s Ignoble Gambit: How Free Will Destroys the Cross Doctrine of Christ By Thomas Booher Sanford, Florida May 2012             No matter how you dice it, the fall of man necessitated the death of Christ if God were to provide salvation. While the argument over the means of receiving salvation has often centered on free will versus election, most have opted to take some route through the Bible that has God allowing man to fall of his own free will, hoping to get God off the hook for the entrance of evil into humanity. If He creates man with the ability to choose obedience or disobedience, the choice itself is entirely up to man. This allegedly keeps God free of the charge of being an evil architect. Closer inspection will reveal that it is when God is not the first cause of evil’s existence that His goodness is lost. It i...

Passion 2012 has just wrapped up. It really is an interesting conference because it manages to draw all stripes of Christians from a broad theological spectrum. Notice, I did not say multiple religions or those with differing views on the essential nature of Christ and God. I believe all the speakers, musicians, and most of the students were genuine beleivers who were genuinely passionate for the things of God, to some degree or another. And people of various theological persuasions, which were represented at Passion, will be together in heaven worshiping God as well. To gather with other believers who don't share all the same convictions as I do yet are still genuinely passionate for Christ and living for Him was refreshing and encouraging, and on the other hand reminded me how important good theology actually is. Having said all that, much of Passion this year felt a bit like a pep rally, more so than last year. There is a place for that- I am not saying it is wrong- but I was ...

This is a slight modification of a blog post I put on Facebook about a year and a half ago. This was based on seeing the first two Twilight films. I never saw the third one. I am considering seeing the fourth to write another blog post, since, in this film, Bella and Edward get married as I understand. I want to see how Stephanie Meyer, being a Mormon, handles that.  The author of The Twilight Saga, Stephenie Meyers, is a practicing Mormon (but she does drink diet coke). I've done a little bit of research on her and in one of her interviews she says that Twilight is about free will, that we all have choices to make, we have the power to choose the actions we take.  In one article Meyers said: "It's about keeping yourself free of addictions," she explains, sitting on a huge couch in her living room. "We have free will, which is a huge gift from God. If you tie that up with something like, I don't know, cocaine, then you don't really have a lot of ...