When a warring nation seeks to offset the power of their enemy through a battle of attrition, they often flood their enemy’s economy with false currency—rendering the opposing currency useless. Satan has a similar strategy in mind: he seeks to dilute God’s Word and render it ineffective for bringing down strongholds and tearing-down arguments. Yet God’s unadulterated Word will bring power and authority back to His Church.

Jesus, Peter and Paul all warned of a time when ravenous wolves would infiltrate the church and bring apostasy. Toward the end of the second century of the church, this descent towards fragmentation began. Through the introduction of Neo-Platonic thinking, the power of the Spirit was diluted, leaving the Church powerless. Yet God has a plan of restoration for His Church to bring back the promised power given at Pentecost.

When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, he came laden with natural kingdom expectations in the hopes that Jesus would be the leader of the Jews. Jesus’ counterintuitive response still baffles Christians to this day. Was Jesus merely trying to set up another institution of man ruled by the same forces of fear and death or did He have something truly revolutionary in mind?

 As Christians, our goal is to see the Lord build His house, His temple, in our time. This is not a physical brick or stone building but rather a house of relationships, a house composed of God’s people. This building requires a foundation, already laid by the apostles of the Lord and which no man can replace. Undergirding that foundation is the bedrock substrate—an even more fundamental truth. To understand

Based on “Evangelism: The Good, the Bad, the Abominable” by Blair Adams While few would disagree that evangelism is central to God’s purpose, most would acknowledge that not all forms of evangelism are equally effective. One recent study, for example, reported on a crusade that produced 600 decisions for Christ. But when a follow-up was done just three months later, the results weren’t nearly as encouraging. How many had continued

Preface  In this paper, I view Christianity’s history through Biblical metaphors that depict the Body of Christ as a temple, a bride and a kingdom. I will initially rely mainly on the construction metaphor, God’s building of His corporate temple (Eph. 2:19-22)—reviewing what founded, strengthened, supported and upheld this “structure” in contrast to what undermined, eroded and dismantled it. Further, it seems relevant to contemplate, as many have, Christianity’s odyssey