How Christ’s birth gets around God’s curse
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

How Christ’s birth gets around God’s curse

A Christmas conundrum: How can Jesus be the promised Seed of David and Heir of his kingdom when God permanently cut off David’s royal line at Jeconiah? The Lord’s creative and wonderful solution: the virgin birth.

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How ‘Peace on earth’ distorts the meaning of Christmas
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

How ‘Peace on earth’ distorts the meaning of Christmas

The ubiquitous Christmas phrase “Peace on earth” may be derived from Scripture, but it’s a difference in wording that’s significant enough to obscure the good tidings of great joy that the angels proclaimed the night Jesus was born.

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Fear. Hell. Hate. Division. The hard sayings of Jesus
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

Fear. Hell. Hate. Division. The hard sayings of Jesus

In a four-chapter stretch in Luke, Jesus says several things that would shock the “winsome” sensibilities of those who think Christians should try not to offend anyone in order to attract as many people as possible. Was He being unwise, religious and divisive?

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Are everybody’s sins already forgiven? Why people go to hell
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

Are everybody’s sins already forgiven? Why people go to hell

One issue in the debate over the extent of the atonement is the question of why unbelievers go to hell. Is it the penalty for our sins, or are everybody’s sins already forgiven and we can still refuse eternal life? The Bible seems to land pretty hard on one of those options.

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The tone police: How God wants us to talk and act
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

The tone police: How God wants us to talk and act

Some Christians don't think our tone is a big deal, or that it's too subjective to debate. But the Bible disproves both of those claims; God cares greatly about our tone, and His word has a lot to say about it.

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We want power and winning. God wants losers.
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

We want power and winning. God wants losers.

Many Christians long for the church to have the world's power and strength. They want "winning." But in 1 Corinthians 1, God tells us what kind of Christians He's looking for: weak, lowly and foolish.

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From Babel to heaven: A brief history of the nations
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

From Babel to heaven: A brief history of the nations

Yes, God created the nations. No, we shouldn't just ignore our nationality. But in Christ, from all nations He created a new nation, one without borders, that finds its identity in Him, a unity that transcends earthly nations.

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Who hated Jesus? More than just the Pharisees
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

Who hated Jesus? More than just the Pharisees

Ever hear people say things like we need to be more like Jesus so that more people will like us, because only the Pharisees hated Him? That’s not what we see in Scripture, including the words of Jesus Himself.

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‘The Physics of Heaven’: Bethel’s New Age book
Keith Kraska Keith Kraska

‘The Physics of Heaven’: Bethel’s New Age book

It’s been a year since Living and Powerful published its five-part review of “The Physics of Heaven,” in which authors from Bethel Church urge Christians to relate to God the way New Agers do. Here are links to all five parts, plus some more resources.

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