By John Fast

Numbers and popularity equal a successful ministry, or so says the thinking which dominates most of the church today. The same criterion used to measure success in business is used to measure the success of a church. The same marketing tools are used. The over-arching goal is to attract people, Read more »

By John Fast

For most people, even non-Christians, Christmas is a time of fond memories, the observance of family traditions, family gatherings, parties, favorite decorations, and all the other trappings that have come to be associated with the holiday. For some it will include extra church activities, dramas, children’s programs, and musical performances. Some will make their yearly nostalgic pilgrimage to a church service, just for old times’ sake. Read more »

By John Fast

In the 1970’s the environmental community was warning us that the earth was headed for another Ice Age, the polar ice caps were growing, and if we didn’t all change the way we lived posthaste there would be catastrophic consequences for mankind. Documentaries such as The Weather Machine (1974) produced for the BBC featured leading experts portending Read more »

By John Fast

1 Timothy 4:2 – “…seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron”

In this passage the Apostle Paul is describing the character of false teachers in Ephesus whom Timothy must confront and command to stop spreading their “strange doctrines” (1 Tm 1:3, 4). It is their seared conscience that permits them to be not only hypocrites who simply pretend to be Read more »

By John Fast

            All true Christians have had the experience of bumping up against some Scriptural truth that runs totally contrary to our accustomed way of thinking and which threatens some long held and cherished assumption, presupposition, or denominational dogma. In my years as a Christian I have had to jettison much erroneous theology picked up from the denomination in which I was raised Read more »