Fourth Year Ministries

Q: It seems in recent years, Yoga has come to our country and spread like wildfire. We can now get Christian Yoga Dvd's, and Zondervan's National Pastor's Conference has included Yoga. Churches are also having Yoga nights as a form of exercise/relaxation. I have many strong Christian friends who participate in Yoga. They claim they only do the stretching and do not add any of the spiritual elements. When we really look at what Yoga is, can we separate the stretching from the spiritual elements? In the past, Christians began participating in Martial Arts and removed the so-called spiritual parts. We have also taken pagan holidays, removed the pagan ideas, and turned them into Christian Holidays. Again, I am wondering can this also be done with Yoga? A: This is a really great question. It's one that genuinely professing Christians hold very different opinions and positions on. Some have fully embraced "Christian Yoga" while other Christian leaders l

Q: How do you reconcile the teaching on salvation by grace through faith alone with the passages that seem to indicate judgment based on good vs. bad deeds? Is this a contradiction? A: Various attempts have been made on this blog to address similar questions. A look at the Judgment Seat of Christ examined some of these passages that the Questioner is referring to. We landed on the conclusion that salvation is a free gift of God. By grace through faith alone. The judgment on deeds is for reward and loss of reward in heaven . Not a judgment for salvation. A judgment on how well we stewarded the grace of God in our time on earth. The link between faith and deeds is real in the Scriptures. Deeds are (at least in part) a good test of whether or not you are actually a Christian . However, there is a unique aspect of this discussion that is being brought up in the above question. It has not really been dealt with previously. It led me to examine a passage that, on the surface, seems

An article entitled " Zero Tolerance " deals with a biblical understanding of tolerance as opposed to a modern social understanding. It deals with the Christian's attitude of tolerance toward evil. After reading this article a Questioner asked the following: Question: "What should the Christians response be toward sin? Do we have an obligation to oppose sin and evil, or do we simply tolerate it as part of the fallen world around us? If we remain silent are we passively saying that these things are OK? I understand that there is only "so much" we can do... but does that mean we should do nothing? And if we do something, to what extent?" Answer: That is a great question. I will attempt to answer it from at least my perspective on what I believe to be the root of the question: Should Christians have an attitude of tolerance toward sin? First, I would suggest that you (the reader) click on the above link and read the article in question. Then, th

Q: Hi again! I have always thought that demons were the fallen angels, but in Jude 6 it says: [6] And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (NIV) So, I'm thinking I was wrong because it says they are bound - so, what are demons if they are not angels, or are they? A: This is a great question. We have attempted to address most of the main theories for who or what demons are in a previous post on demons . Those interested in our best attempt to answer the question, "so, what are demons if they are not angels, or are they?" should go and read that previous post first. I like to see your theological reasoning in play and that you are willing to assess your previous assumptions (in this case, that demons are fallen angels). We all bring presuppositions to the text of Scripture that influence our reading. Not all of these assump