Nathan E. Lewis

I am reading Daniel Radosh’s “Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture,” published in 2008 by Simon & Shuster. Radosh describes himself on page 2 as a “liberal New York Jew in my middle-thirties. Half-way through the book, I am wondering, “how does he see the problems of the evangelical/fundamentalist movement so clearly?” I am also asking, “Why do I agree more with a liberal New York Jew in his middle-thirties, than I do with many of my evangelical, fundamentalist family and friends?” Please do not tell anyone that I am recommending that you read this book, because I am not doing so. If you are an evangelical Christian in the mainstream of Christian pop culture, then you will be disgusted, if not offended, by Radosh’s presentation of Christian pop culture. You will think that he is bitter, critical, doesn’t understand the church and is bereft of the Holy Spirit. But I am writing to tell you that part of common grace is God allowing a liberal New York Jew to yell out, “The emperor’s naked!” Here is a man who does not embrace the gospel but he knows that a large segment of the church has at least blurred the gospel and is interested and vested in that which is not the gospel. It’s chilling. Continue reading »

The Incarnation of the Son of God
Four Talks by Nathan E. Lewis
Reformed Youth Movement Camp
Suttle Lake, Oregon
June 16-20, 2008

Table of Contents
Talk One: The History of the Incarnation
Talk Two: The Science of the Incarnation
Talk Three: The Gospel of the Incarnation
Talk Four: The Theology of the Incarnation
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The main story of the Bible is God redeeming his people. The following paragraphs outline the whole of the Bible showing how every bit of scripture points to Jesus Christ.
The Age of Adam: Adam is the one man who failed God, so the one man, Jesus Christ, came to represent all of us in his perfect obedience to God All of us who are united to Adam by natural birth, must be united to Jesus Christ for redemption and spiritual birth.

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The Power of the Gospel
I Corinthians 1:18 -2:5

Members of the Corinthian Church were engaged in the culture of their day. David Jackman, in the introduction to his book, Let’s Study I Corinthians, identifies four “buzz words” from Corinthian culture impacting the Church. These “buzz words” were factors in the division of the Church. The first “buzz word” is “knowledge.” The second, “wisdom,” the third, “power,” and the fourth, “spiritual.” As Paul addresses the lack of unity in the Church, he addresses these four parts of the Corinthian’s cultural awareness.
Actually, these four parts of Corinthian culture are shared by our present day culture. Knowledge is highly valued by us. Our culture accumulates knowledge and dispenses it at high volume and rate. Continue reading »

Last night, Frank LeClerg and I visited the elders’ meeting of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Newberg, Oregon. For two years now, this church has allowed us to use their facilities to launch Chehalem Valley Presbyterian Church. As one of our ministers, Eric Costa, says, “That Seventh Day Adventist Church building in Newberg is the best church building in our presybtery!” Frank and I thought it a good idea to visit the elders’ meeting to express our gratitude to this church for her generosity and willingness to work with us. If you are an evangelical Christian of any sort, then you most likely have been taught that the Seventh Day Adventists are legalists, who don’t get the gospel, who are wholly dedicated to practicing the Mosaic laws and thus, a Christian cult. For the past two years we have been discovering something quite different from what we have been taught. Continue reading »

This was John Calvin’s personal seal: “My heart I offer to You, promptly and sincerely.” And so, he must not have denied human action, reducing human beings to robots. Continue reading »

I opened my snail mail to read a four-page hand-written letter from Terry, a prisoner in a state prison, requesting that I correspond with him for the final three years of his 33 year sentence. He’s thinking now about getting out and he needs real contacts, undoubtedly. He may even need to show the parole board some proof of connections, or perhaps, he has attended a class on what to do to prepare to get out of prison after rotting for 22 years. The reason he offers for contacting me, a stranger, after all these years in prison is that he recently has professed faith in Christ Jesus. Continue reading »

Jesus said, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” Every once in awhile I become painfully aware of the log in my own eye. It is old growth. It’s roots go deep, strangling my rods and cones. Not only am I thus blind to my own faults but I am unable to see what God is doing around me as clearly as I ought. Jesus also said, “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.” If I am going to restore my sight, that’s about the only solution available. For me to unroot my old growth, I will have to destroy my eye. And so, I am hoping for divine intervention. I am looking to Jesus to heal my sight. “I can see clearly now my log is gone…” I should probalby leave such singing to Weird Al.

In October of 2006 Charles Carl Roberts IV walked out of his house and entered the nearby Amish school. In the school building, on his cell, he called his wife, who was at a Mom’s In Touch meeting praying for the children of the community, to tell her that he was not coming home. He shot 10 schoolgirls killing them and then he shot himself. The reaction of the Amish community was a genuine and immediate forgiveness, a remarkable presentation of the gospel while the entire world looked on in shock.
Bettie Mitchell, founder and director of Good Samaritan Ministries, powerfully points to the gospel of forgiveness in the midst of this tragedy. Continue reading »