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?

Hell No, We Won't Go! The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Hell No, We Won't Go! The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

It talks about a great gulf between heaven and hell right, which no one can cross? The rich man is in a place of torment where the flames seem to burn him. Certainly this is a story that God torments people for eternity with flames of fire right? 

Except… that there are elements around this story that teach us that this story has zero to do with an idea called hell.

The Quiet Secret to Global Revolution: Us vs. Them or Just Us

The Quiet Secret to Global Revolution: Us vs. Them or Just Us

In talking with my fellow countrymen, it has become increasingly clear that there are two competing and seemingly irreconcilable mindsets at work in the conflicts being played out around us. On one side, you have people who see the world in terms of “us vs them” in which humanity is divided between those who are on our side and those who are not.  On the other are those who see the world in terms of “just us”, as in there is no “us vs them”, there is only a broad “us” which encompasses all of humanity. “Us vs them” thinkers see our differences as a cause for division, while “just us” thinkers seek to transcend our differences and recognize our deeper, shared humanity.

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).

The Born Conspiracy: Is Everyone Born Again?

The Born Conspiracy: Is Everyone Born Again?

Is it possible that the Church of our day has inadvertently participated in conspiring to hide the truth about Father God and who are his children? Would that be harmful to a person who is told they have to leap over certain thresholds in order for God to accept them? Would you agree that if, and that is if, God is the Father of all, and all humanity was a child of God, it would be wrong to hide it from them?

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There is No Such Thing as Pleading the Blood. The Blood of Jesus is not Magic. It's a Message!

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There is No Such Thing as Pleading the Blood. The Blood of Jesus is not Magic. It's a Message!

I used to know a woman who was born into a satanic ritual abuse family, which intermarried among the groups and purposely infiltrated churches. Her arranged marriage was with a man who pretended to be a pastor, while they performed rituals in the church basement at night.

Let's Have a "Presence" Party: Parousia Day!

Let's Have a "Presence" Party: Parousia Day!

I keep birthday, Christmas, Father's Day or any cards that I receive which are special or funny to me. Since we are moving soon, I needed to clean out my card drawer yesterday and laughed, teared-up, and was thankful for what I found and the people of which it reminded me. I even found a surprise when $10 fell out of a card... a lost little treasure. 

So why do we celebrate holidays anyway? Not for earth-quaking changes in our lives, but because of the little treasures. 

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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.