Anthony Costello has a BA from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN and two Masters Degrees from Talbot School of Theology, Biola University in Christian Apologetics and Theology. Anthony's areas of focus are Apologetics and Systematic Theology. He has published in both academic journals and magazines and co-authored two chapters in Evidence that Demands a Verdict, edited by Josh and Sean McDowell. He is a US Army and Afghanistan Veteran.
However, if it were not done and not done thoroughly, the corrupting effect of the fungus or mold could spread to other parts of the house, to household items, to the family clothing and to the very bodies of the Israelites living there. So it is when sin and death have entered into the world; everything is vulnerable to its impurities.
The Christian soldier fights not just for today or even for the next hundred years, or as long as the life of a nation may last. The Christian soldier, like Cornelius, fights for eternity. For it is for the eternal that he has been called to duty.
For these rationalist Christians, however, Christian enthusiasts who became too confident in the “direct action” of God in human affairs were often seen as a dangerous lot.
When asked what the meaning of the Christian life was, the great reformer, Martin Luther, did not respond the way many might today.
To embrace emotional pain in its fullness, yet to not lose ultimate faith in God or ultimate hope in His plan, is the existential core of the Christian life.
How can we worship at such a time? How might we pray when the morning does not bring us joy, but fear?
I see three domains of existence in which the Christ-sufferer – the one who suffers “with Christ”– should recognize in order to survive and even thrive within the storm: Spiritual Surroundings, Spiritual Times, and Spiritual Attitudes.
In the last few years there has been a handful of what might be called: celebrity Christian deconversion stories.
In the end God will choose Who He chooses, and it is not always the most palatable character to our sensibilities.
