Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 164
June 8, 2015
Eternity Set in Our Hearts
Thornton Wilder, the late great American playwright and novelist, wrote the play "Our Town" in 1937, which won a 1938 Pulitzer Prize. In the play, a character says, “I don’t care what they say with their mouths—everybody knows that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses, and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even stars...everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings...There’s something way down deep that’s eternal in every human being.”
This corresponds with what Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us: that God “has also set eternity in the human heart.” Look around you at all those people walking the streets, working in offices, standing in lines, sitting in restaurants. Their eyes are filled with needs, hopes, longings. The world tells them they’re just molecules and DNA, time plus chance. But their hearts cry out for eternal realities, for what will last, what really matters.
They search for something, anything, to fill the raging emptiness within. Satan offers them anesthetics that temporarily dull the pain, but they wear off. The promise of fulfillment is always broken. So they go right on searching in all the wrong places. They turn to drugs, sex, money, and power for the same reason they turn to religion and self-help seminars. Their instincts tell them “something’s missing, there has to be more.”
And they’re absolutely right. Something is missing.
The first thing missing is the person we were made for—Jesus. Haggai 2:7 refers to Messiah as “the desired of all nations,” the Person that all people of all cultures long for.
But there’s something else missing. Every human heart yearns not only for a person, but a place. The place we were made for. The place made for us.
In Revelation 7:12, Jesus makes a great promise to those who obey him: “I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem which is coming down out of heaven from God, and I will also write on him my new name.” Jesus says he will put on us the name of the person and the name of the place (heaven) for which we were made.
We spend our lives longing for this person and this place. Just as people restlessly move from relationship to relationship seeking the person they were made for, they move from location to location seeking the place they were made for. Somewhere new and better. A bigger house. A different city. The suburbs. A new neighborhood—safer, nicer, with better schools. That dream house in the country. That idyllic mountain chalet. That perfect beach cottage.
People are made for the eternal and therefore cannot be ultimately satisfied by the temporal. We long for a future world of justice, purity and joy—and a King who will bring all of those. We therefore cannot be happy with the present world of injustice, impurity and suffering.
True joy comes in anticipating, and living now in light of, the world yet to come and that world’s King, who made us for Himself.
June 5, 2015
How Can Millions of People All Be with Jesus in Heaven and Receive Personal Attention?
After the first edition of my book Heaven, this question was one of the most frequently asked. It’s worth considering.
Though it’s possible we may cover vast distances at immense speeds in God’s new universe, I don’t believe we’ll be capable of being two places at once. Why? Because we’ll still be finite. Only God is infinite.
Because the resurrected Christ is both man and God, the issue of whether He can be in more than one place at the same time involves a paradox not only in the future, but also in the present.
On the one hand, Jesus is a man, and man is finite and limited to one location. On the other hand, Jesus is God, and God is infinite and omnipresent. In a sense, then, one of these truths has to yield somewhat to the other. I suggest that perhaps Christ’s humanity defined the extent of His presence in His first coming and life on Earth (humanity thereby trumping deity by limiting omnipresence). But Christ’s deity may well define the extent of His presence in His second coming and life on the New Earth (deity thereby trumping the normal human inability to be in two places at once). Jesus has and always will have a single resurrected body, in keeping with His humanity. Yet that body glorified may allow Him a far greater expression of His divine attributes than during His life and ministry here on Earth.
Since we can accurately say that Jesus’ functioning as a man does not prohibit Him from being God, we must also say that Jesus’ functioning as God does not prohibit Him from being a man. So, although we cannot conceive exactly how it could happen, I believe it’s entirely possible that Jesus could in the future remaina man while fully exercising the attributes of God, including, at least in some sense, omnipresence.
Don't we already see that now? Where is Christ? At the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2). Just before dying, Stephen saw Him there (Acts 7:55). Jesus will remain there until He returns to the earth. In terms of His human body, Christ is in one location, and only one.
But despite His fixed location at God’s right hand, Jesus is here now, with each of us, just as He promised to be (Matthew 28:20). He dwells in our hearts, living within us (Ephesians 3:17; Galatians 2:20). If even now, in this sin-stained world, He indwells those who are saints and yet sinners, how much more will He be able to indwell us in the world to come when no sin shall separate us from him? That indwelling will in no way be obscured by sin.
On the New Earth, isn’t it likely we might regularly hear Him speak to us directly as He dwells in and with us, wherever we are? Prayer might be an unhindered two-way conversation, whether we are hundreds of miles away in another part of the New Jerusalem, thousands of miles away on another part of the New Earth, or thousands of light years away in the new universe.
Consider the promise that when Christ returns “every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). How is that physically possible? By the projection of His image? But every eye will see Him, not merely His image. Will He be in more than one place at one time?
If God took on human form any number of times, as recorded in Scripture, couldn’t Christ choose to take on a form to manifest Himself to us at a distant place? If He did that, might He not take on a temporary form very similar in appearance to His actual physical form, which may at that moment be sitting on the throne in the New Jerusalem? Might Jesus appear to us and walk with us in a temporary but tangible form that is an expression of His real body? Or might the one body of Jesus be simultaneously present with His people in a million places?
Might we walk with Jesus (not just spiritually, but also physically) while millions of others are also walking with Him? Might we not be able to touch His hand or embrace Him or spend a long afternoon privately conversing with Him—not just with His spirit, but His whole person?
It may defy our logic, but God is capable of doing far more than we imagine. Being with Christ is the very heart of Heaven, so we should be confident that we will have unhindered access to Him.
June 3, 2015
Finding Forgiveness and Freedom after Abortion
Millions of women and men, both in society and in the church, are suffering under the guilt of abortion. If you’re a woman who’s had an abortion, or advised another to have one, this blog is for you. If you’re a man who’s been involved in an abortion decision—whether it concerned your girlfriend, wife, daughter, or anyone—it’s also for you.
It’s counterproductive to try to eliminate guilt feelings without dealing with guilt’s cause. Only by denying reality can you avoid guilt feelings. You need a permanent solution to your guilt problem, a solution based on reality, not pretense.
The good news is that God loves you and desires to forgive you for your abortion, whether or not you knew what you were doing. But before the good news can be appreciated, we must know the bad news. The bad news is that there’s true moral guilt, and all of us are guilty of many moral offenses against God, of which abortion is only one. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Sin is falling short of God’s holy standards. It separates us from a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2). “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Jesus died on the cross as the only one worthy to pay the penalty for our sins demanded by God’s holiness (2 Corinthians 5:21). He rose from the grave, defeating sin and conquering death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54-57).
When Christ died on the cross for us, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word translated “it is finished” was written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant “paid in full.”
Because of Christ’s work on the cross on our behalf, God freely offers us forgiveness.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Salvation is a gift: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift is not dependent on our merit or effort, but solely on Christ’s sacrifice for us. God offers us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life, but it’s not automatically ours. In order to have the gift, we must choose to accept it.
You may think, “But I don’t deserve forgiveness after all I’ve done.” That’s exactly right. None of us deserves forgiveness. If we deserved it, we wouldn’t need it. That’s the point of grace.
Once forgiven, we can look forward to spending eternity with Christ and our spiritual family (John 14:1-3; Revelation 20:11-22:6). You can look forward to being reunited in Heaven with your loved ones covered by Christ’s blood, including the child you lost through abortion (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
God doesn’t want you to go through life punishing yourself for your abortion or for any other wrong you have done. Your part is to accept Christ’s atonement, not to repeat it. No matter what you’ve done, no sin is beyond the reach of God’s grace. He has seen us at our worst and still loves us. There are no limits to His forgiving grace. And there is no freedom like the freedom of forgiveness.
Joining a group for post-abortion healing can help you immensely. You may have bitterness toward men who used and abused you and forgiveness issues towards those who helped you with your abortion decision (see Matthew 6:14-15). There are post-abortion Bible studies designed for women, and others for men. Many online resources can help you find the support group you need. (See www.healinghearts.org and http://afterabortion.org/help-healing/; call 1-888-486-HOPE for free confidential advice.)
You need to become part of a therapeutic community, a family of Christians called a church. (If you’re already in a church, share your abortion experience with someone to get the specific help you need.) You may feel self-conscious around Christians because of your past. You shouldn’t. A true Christ-centered church isn’t a showcase for saints but a hospital for sinners. The people you’re joining are just as human and imperfect as you. Most church people aren’t self-righteous. Those who are should be pitied because they don’t understand God’s grace.
A good church will teach the truths of the Bible, and will provide love, acceptance, and support for you. If you cannot find such a church in your area, contact EPM and we’ll gladly do what we can to help you.
A healthy step you can take is to reach out to women experiencing unwelcome pregnancies. God can eventually use your experience to equip you to help others and to share with them God’s love. My wife and I have a number of good friends who’ve had abortions. Through their caring prolife efforts they’ve given to other women the help they wish someone had given them. Telling their stories has not only saved children’s lives, and mothers from the pain of abortion, but has helped bring healing to them. It can do the same for you.
June 1, 2015
Are All Sins Equal?
When I first became a Christian I was repeatedly taught “All sins are alike to God.” While there is some truth in this, there is also much untruth. All sin is bad, of course—all sin crucified Jesus. But is all sin the same to God?
In her latest video, EPM’s Julia Stager offers a very balanced and biblical perspective on whether or not the Bible presents all sins as equal. In my opinion, her insights are on target. I think we can all benefit from them.
On a related subject, in this blog I address the question of whether sexual sins in general, or homosexual sins in particular, are worse than other sins.
I want to say a heartfelt thanks to Julia for saying “yes” when I asked her to start recording these videos. I think she has done an amazing job. Check out the videos she’s already done. You could base a series of discussions and Bible studies around these videos, or show them in a church or small group. I think they’re outstanding. (Thanks, Julia, for being a faithful student of God’s Word!)
May 29, 2015
For the follower of Jesus, is generosity optional or mandatory?
Generosity is optional in the sense that God gives us the freedom to choose, to do as we wish. It’s mandatory in that Jesus commands it and expects it of us. But I think it’s best to have a paradigm shift, to think of it as pure privilege with incredible rewards, both now and later. It’s less a “have to” than a “get to.” The benefits so far outweigh the costs that it’s a no-brainer. Jesus said “it is more blessed [makarios, ‘happy-making’] to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
Once you’ve tasted the pure waters of a mountain stream you won’t want to go back to drinking from a mud puddle. Nobody says on a mountain hike, “Okay, you have to drink now; it’s mandatory.” Nobody says when you get to Niagara Falls or stand in front of Michelangelo’s statue of David in Florence, “You have to look at it”—where else would you look? Nobody says when they open the doors to Disneyland, “Okay, kids, brace yourselves, we have to walk in now.” After praying at a Thanksgiving meal, the host never says, “Okay, it’s mandatory that you eat now.”
You’d be foolish not to do what will bring you delight. The trick is that those who’ve not known the joy of giving believe Satan’s lie that giving means parting with happiness, rather than finding it. They’re like the kid who won’t gaze into the Grand Canyon because he’s playing a video game or seeing what his friends are doing on Facebook. Veteran givers know that the joys of investing in God’s work to reach others for Christ and care for the needy brings a purity of joy and satisfaction that nothing you can order on Amazon or buy at the car lot possibly can.
C. S. Lewis said, “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
photo credit: Waterfall at Virginia Water via photopin (license)
May 27, 2015
Will There Be Sex in Heaven?
Sexual relations existed before the Fall and were not the product of sin and the Curse; they were God’s original and perfect design. Because the lifting of the Curse will normally restore what God originally made, we would expect sex to be part of that. However, Christ appears to have made it clear that people in Heaven wouldn’t be married to each other (though some claim it only means there won’t be new marriages, while old marriages will continue):
When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:30)
Because sex was designed to be part of a marriage relationship, marriage and sex logically belong together. Because we’re told that humans won’t be married to each other, and sex is intended for marriage, then logically, it seems to me, it means we won’t be engaging in sex.
There’s a different sort of continuity between earthly marriage and the marriage of Christ to his church, so there may also be some way in which the intimacy and pleasure we now know as sex will be fulfilled in some higher form we don’t now understand. If we won’t have sex and if in Heaven there’s no frustration of desire, then obviously we won’t desire sex. What we will desire and always enjoy is the best part of sex—what sex was always pointing to—deep and transcendent relational intimacy.
“When that day comes,” says the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’ . . . I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord.” (Hosea 2:16, 19-20)
His unfailing love . . . is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. (Psalm 103:11)
In an interview with Pastor Todd Wagner, I share more thoughts related to this question.
photo credit: -30 : a few rings? to rule them all! via photopin (license)
May 25, 2015
Atheism���s Foundation for Morality Is Built on Culture���s Shifting Sands
Many years ago I took a sequence of college philosophy classes from a likable atheist. I found the ethics course most interesting. Every time it came to the question of why the professor believed something to be right or wrong, he could say only that it “seemed” to him to be best, it “seemed” to him to help the most people. In other words, it always boiled down to his personal preference. Thirty of us sat in that ethics class, all with our own personal preferences, many fluxing with the current of popular culture.
I have talked with individuals whose ethics have evolved over time, who now believe that any consensual sex between adults is moral. Adultery is consensual sex. So is it moral? Well, yes, some convince themselves, so long as they commit adultery with a person they genuinely love. But how moral is this same adultery in the eyes of the betrayed spouse? Such hopeless subjectivity is no moral framework at all.
Choosing moral behaviors because they make you feel happy can make sense, in a Bertrand Russell/Sam Harris sort of way, but what if it makes you feel happy to torture animals or kill Jews or steal from your employer?
“You misunderstand,” someone says. “We atheists do not base our morality on personal preferences, but on the judgments of society as a whole, on what benefits the most people.” But how does this help the argument? What if in our class of thirty students, sixteen of us really wanted to kill the professor? Would that be good? Or what if the majority of an entire nation thought it best to liquidate one portion of that population—would that be good? Or what if 51 percent of the world’s population decided to obliterate the continent of North America? Would that be good?
Nor does it help to claim the authority of some group of “elites” who supposedly have a finer moral sense. History teaches us that elite groups tend to call good whatever it is they’re inclined to do.
If there is no God who created us for an eternal purpose, and no God who will judge us; if there is no God who has revealed his standards and no God who informs our consciences—then surely any morality we forge on our own will ultimately amount to a mirror image of our own subjective opinions that will change with the times.
To say that the Holocaust or child abuse is wrong is a moral judgment. But such a judgment has no meaning without a standard to measure it against. Why are the Holocaust and child abuse wrong? Because they involve suffering? Because other people have said they are wrong? Feeling it or saying it doesn’t make it so.
William Lane Craig says in Reasonable Faith, “If God does not exist, then life is objectively meaningless; but man cannot live consistently and happily knowing that life is meaningless; so in order to be happy he pretends that life has meaning.... In a universe without God, good and evil do not exist—there is only the bare valueless fact of existence, and there is no one to say that you are right and I am wrong.”
We have only one basis for good moral judgments: the existence of objective standards based on unchanging reference points outside ourselves. Personal opinion falls far short.
After all, Nazis and rapists have their opinions too.
photo credit (via photopin, license)
May 22, 2015
My Novel ���Edge of Eternity���: Some Have Enjoyed It, Others���Haven���t
Edge of Eternity was my third novel. Unlike my others, the story takes place in an imaginary world, which allowed me to depict invisible spiritual realities in visible ways.
Over the years I’ve noticed that the response to the book has generally landed in two extremes—some readers love it and others…not so much. :) Several readers have written to say they’ve read it over and over. For instance this one: “Edge of Eternity is without a doubt the most incredible fiction book I've ever read. It changed my life. I've read it over a dozen times, given another dozen copies as gifts, and ran a book study group comparing it to what the Bible actually says. Every time I read it, I find more and more details that send me researching and thinking and pondering.”
A reader who enjoyed Edge of Eternity wrote, “I finished reading this book two days ago and the vivid images burned in my mind from the book are still quite fresh. I felt as though I had just gotten off a roller coaster when I put the book down. The book just drew me in. I was on the planet Thuros walking alongside Nick Seagrave (the main character).”
Someone else wrote, “I sit here with tears in my eyes having just finished Edge of Eternity. Thank you for writing it. I appreciate the chance it has given me to pick up my guide book, forget what I think, and read what I should. The challenge of course will be the doing. Thank you for the glimpse.”
In contrast to these glowing reports, one guy asked me, “Were you smoking dope when you wrote that book?” Another wrote, “It's kind of like Pilgrim's Progress on an acid trip.” A reviewer said, “This book was like a bad dream.” Some who usually like my fiction encouraged me to get back to the sort of stories I told in Deadline and Dominion (and later Deception)!
But the other reports of lives changed by the book keep coming. One of my favorites was told me not long ago by a young man who was carpooling back to college with a few fellow students, when the driver turned on the Edge of Eternity audiobook. The passengers had no choice but to listen. By the time they arrived, the story had touched this young man deeply, and though he said nothing to the others in the car, when he was alone he placed his faith in Christ. He now works for a missions organization, spreading the gospel all over the world.
So what do I hope readers will take away from this book? I hope Edge of Eternity will help people see Christ in a fresh and powerful way and trust Him in areas where we don't see the results or rewards. We all need to be reminded of God's sovereignty and the tangible reality of Heaven as our home. Through writing this book, the reality of my citizenship in Heaven hit home to me—and the reality of hell, too, and the fact that we all have one chance to live life on this earth.
I believe we all have moments, if we stop and pay attention, where we can sense being on the edge of eternity. And we know in those moments that we're not made for this world, but for another world—where we'll see the King at last.
Edge of Eternity may not be for you…or it may be just for you. There’s one way to find out…
May 20, 2015
The Sovereignty of God: What Does It Mean?
Early this year, our friend Rakel Thurman shared a great message on God’s sovereignty at our church’s Bible study for women. Nanci and I love and appreciate Rakel, an amazing woman with a heart for the whole world and a contagious exuberance for God and His kingdom. We got to know Rakel and her family while staying with them in Egypt in 1988, and then some years later staying with them in Cyprus.
Rakel came to faith at a missions conference in Sweden in her early 20s and has since ministered in France, Lebanon, Egypt, and Cyprus, as well as the US and Sweden. She and her American husband Pat will celebrate 42 years of marriage this year.
Rakel is well qualified to address this topic. She came to a deeper and very personal understanding of the sovereignty of God in September 1996 when her second son Jonathan (one of two children) was killed in an automobile accident on the first day of his junior year in high school. (When the Thurmans moved to our area Jonathan attended Barlow, the same high school as our daughters, and died while our daughter Angela, also a junior, was in the hospital for a surgery.)
From her heartbreaking loss of Jonathan, Rakel came away “with the understanding that there actually is Someone, apart from me, who is in control, and not just in control, but in perfect control…of everything.”
I encourage you to listen to this message from a woman who loves Jesus, has experienced deep suffering, and has learned what it means to rest in God’s sovereignty.
(My thanks to Karen Coleman, EPM staff, for her help in compiling Rakel’s biographical information.)
photo credit: Rabindranath Tagore via photopin (license)
May 18, 2015
Read Through the May 14 #AskAlcorn Twitter Chat
Thanks to those who joined me last week for #AskAlcorn! The EPM staff has put together a recap of the questions and answers. (If Twitter is your thing, I invite you to give me a follow. You can also join me on Facebook, where I regularly post thoughts, Christ-centered quotes, Scriptures, and the occasional pictures of my grandkids and our dog Maggie.)
I’m live until 1 pm PT answering questions on Twitter. Ask yours with hashtag #AskAlcorn and follow along at http://t.co/nBzrSL5UcG
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Ruth Boyd @aggiemom0407
How would you quantify 'few' and 'many' in Matt 7:13-14. i.e., "How narrow is the gate if there is a great 'multitude' in Heaven? #AskAlcorn
@aggiemom0407 A paradox. Numbers are relative. Compared to all humanity, few, but I'm confident there will be countless millions #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
belacious @bellow001
@randyalcorn why do believers stand before God to be "judged" if we r guaranteed eternal life in heaven already? #AskAlcorn
.@belacious This is a judgment of our works, not our sins, resulting in a gain or loss of eternal rewards. http://t.co/vkK46sWhoB #AskAlcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Thomas P Denhart @thomas_denhart
@randyalcorn #AskAlcorn what is the best way we can help our country see Abortion is wrong? And make it illegal? I saw the 180 movie.
.@thomas_denhart @randyalcorn has a great article about three ways we all can make a prolife impact here: http://t.co/DrlCWzOCg8 #askalcorn
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
Thomas P Denhart @thomas_denhart
Hey @randyalcorn #AskAlcorn What is your view on CPR, on the elderly, or on the sick. Took CPR class, learned a lot, DNR or try to restart?
.@thomas_denhart #askalcorn Discretionary decision. We shouldn't play God by ending lives early, but allowing death to happen is an option.
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Neil Horner @neilhchorner
@epmorg @randyalcorn how do we, the church, best help people in continual financial crisis/struggle when they ask for money? #AskAlcorn
.@neilhchorner Takes compassion and discernment to know why in crisis and how best to help. More thoughts: http://t.co/Bchad6rfJv #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Jaci Greggs @jacigreggs
#AskAlcorn what was the most surprising response you've received to a book?
.@jacigreggs #askalcorn when a guy read my fantasy novel Edge of Eternity, he asked "when you wrote this were you smoking dope?" I wasn't.
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
B. Tyler Ellis @BTylerEllis
#AskAlcorn When will you write the next installment in the Deadline/Dominion/Deception series? Will it start will a “D” too? @RandyAlcorn
.@BTylerEllis Not sure of timing, but Lord willing there may be 1 or more other Ollie stories. Yes with D title. Suggestions? #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Scott McLean @Scottinthe503
@randyalcorn In raising daughters, do you have any tips of what helped to guide them towards the Lord? #AskAlcorn
.@scottinthe503 Love daughters with all your heart, listen to them, respect them, ask their input, give them honor, defend them #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Thomas P Denhart @thomas_denhart
@randyalcorn #AskAlcorn I teach a Sunday school class of teen boys, how can I show them the reality of heaven and hell? And need for Jesus!
.@thomas_denhart @randyalcorn's graphic novel, Eternity, is a great tool for teens, especially boys: https://t.co/F6BtKwnFbF #askalcorn
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
Addison Witt @addisonwitt
@randyalcorn What is the one thing you are looking forward to most on the New Earth other than meeting God himself? #AskAlcorn
.@addisonwitt Being free of sin, never wanting again to sin, being totally happy in Jesus always, exploring God's New Universe #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Zachary Biesecker @ESVRocks
@randyalcorn #askalcorn what influenced you to write Safely Home? In light of it, is China gov. Still persecuting Christians or not as much?
.@ESVRocks Still persecution, lots in some areas, far less in others Wanted to deal with Christian persecution, God's view. #AskAlcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
.@ESVRocks Zach: what's your favorite translation? :) #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
RT @ESVRocks The esv translation I prefer to call it the elect standard version! ;) God chose it before the world began #AskAlcorn @ESVDaily
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
B. Tyler Ellis @BTylerEllis
#AskAlcorn: If the New Earth restores God’s original intent before the Fall, why change marriage instead of restoring it too? @RandyAlcorn
.@BTylerEllis God usually doesn’t replace original, but when does it’s w/ something better. All married to Christ. #AskAlcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
.@BTylerEllis Also on marriage, it is a model of Christ's love, so when we are married to Him it will have fulfilled its purpose #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Cheryl L. Stansberry @InspiredHome6
@randyalcorn Will you be writing more novels? #AskAlcorn
jbergland @jbergland
Please, please, please! @randyalcorn #AskAlcorn I look to see if there an Alcorn new novel when I go to a bkstore.
.@jbergland @jonedaniels @InspiredHome6 YES! @randyalcorn has a few novels in the works! #askalcorn
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
Todd Conard @TCinNC
What might Hebrews 12:6 look like in practical terms? Haven't heard examples in sermons. #AskAlcorn
.@TCinNC #askalcorn God disciplines us in different ways, but one way is letting us experience the natural consequences of bad decisions.
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Jeremy West @jeremypaulwest
What is the hardest job you've had and what did God teach you? @randyalcorn #AskAlcorn
.@jeremypaulwest Hardest job was working in a chemical plant where amonia kept spilling out of vats. Learned to trust and to run #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
@jeremypaulwest Also, at 19 I was held up at gunpoint working in 7-11, Gun inches from my face. Learned awareness of mortality. #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
David Qaoud @DavidQaoud
@randyalcorn What is your #1 biggest concern of Christian leaders for the next generation? #askalcorn
.@DavidQaoud That they would be not only full of grace but full of TRUTH, and see that the way to reach the world isn't to be it #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Thomas P Denhart @thomas_denhart
#AskAlcorn What happens to a Christian after they die in this age? My gma went home apr. 19th, wonder what she's doing now. I miss her.
.@thomas_denhart when Christians die they go into the presence of Jesus, which is better by far! Phil 1:23 http://t.co/BXTEe182qI #askalcorn
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
Eddie Schmidt @eddieschmidt
@randyalcorn - What's your biggest struggle with the Christian faith? #AskAlcorn
.@eddieschmidt my big personal struggle is engaging in long times of prayer; I do constant quick prayers throughout day, but... #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
WORSHIP FULLY @worship_fully
@randyalcorn Favorite sports team (pro, college, amateur, etc)? #AskAlcorn
.@worship_fully Seattle Seahawks, since 1976, QB Zorn and WR Largent; have since met both, two great followers of Jesus #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Jean @jeanost
#AskAlcorn Is there any chance you could come back to England in the future?
.@jeanost Nanci and I love England. Have stayed in Oxford four times, love Cambridge too. no plans to come back, but hope we do #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Ruth Boyd @aggiemom0407
What would you tell a child who asks if 'grampa' is in Heaven when (as far as you know) he was not a believer when he passed? #AskAlcorn
.@aggiemom0407 Be honest that you don't know, say it is always possible God did a work of grace in their life just before died #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Jessica Schafer @JecaSchafer
#AskAlcorn what is your favorite CS Lewis book?
.@JecaSchafer Favorite Lewis nonfiction Mere Christianity, favorite fiction Perelandra #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Steven Richards @StevenRichardsM
@randyalcorn how can we equip the disciple and reach out to the outsiders in churches, both at the same time? #askalcorn
.@StevenRichardsM By centering on the Gospel in its narrowest form, personal salvation, and its widest form, affecting all life #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Noah Lane Kephart @NoahKephart
#AskAlcorn Outside of your own pastor, who's preaching do you enjoy most/challenges you most?
.@NoahKephart @johnpiper and @timkellernyc are among them #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
J. Javier Valdez @JJavierValdez
@randyalcorn If they made a movie about #deadline - who wold you want to play #Ollie Chandler #askalcorn
.@JJavierValdez @randyalcorn says Powers Boothe would be his choice for Ollie Chandler pic.twitter.com/Nu8eZ0HxgM
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
taylor teel @teeljon
#AskAlcorn what's the best way to handle a funeral for someone who adamantly denied Christ, yet people want to say he's in a better place?
.@teeljon Because of rich man & Lazarus in Luke 16, I say that if that person were here with us today he would want gospel shared #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Nicolás Moreno @NicolasMoreno87
#AskAlcorn Is there a possibility if you can visit Santiago, Chile?
.@NicolasMoreno87 Would be an honor to come to Chile, but no plans to do so. Thanks #askalcorn
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Thanks to all who joined #AskAlcorn! @epmorg staff will post recap on my blog soon. See http://t.co/qoXRYeWo6O for more answers to questions
— Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) May 14, 2015
Thanks for joining the #askalcorn chat! Use code 20CHAT for 20% off @randyalcorn's books through EPM's store! http://t.co/87MTpVUkj9
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
#askalcorn code 20CHAT expires 5/17
— EPM (@epmorg) May 14, 2015
