VIP | Jeff Mikels

What if God chooses not to “elect” my children?

During the Summer, I worked through the book of Romans in my Sunday messages at Lafayette Community Church. To hear the messages, visit the Great News II page. One of the topics that Romans raises is the notion of election vs. free will. I took a rather strong position from Romans 9-11 that God chooses […]

Thoughts on the Problem of Evil

It seems so capricious and uncaring that a God would allow his own son to suffer, until you get the bigger picture that God loved the sinful world so much that he sacrificed one son, for three days, to gain billions of children for a sinless eternity. We look at all pain and suffering from […]

Why does God let us face trials?

James 1:2-3 gives the standard Christian answer to this question: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance… Of course, knowing the Sunday school answer and being okay with it are two different things entirely, but this week, I […]

Quick Study on the Rapture

This week at my Life Group, we looked at the clearest teaching in the Bible regarding the rapture, and I’ve become even more convicted about one particular position. This post is intended to guide you through the same study we considered this week and to give an inside track on what I’m currently thinking about […]

Helping People Resolve Conflict

When two people are in conflict with each other, bringing about resolution can be difficult. However, when two Christians are in conflict, the process of reconciliation should not be as hard as it is. In conflict situations, I like to ask a few questions: Describe all the sin in this conflict. Who has committed sin […]

What’s wrong with premarital sex?

What’s wrong with premarital sex? One of the questions I get a lot is the question about sexual morality as it relates to the Bible, and it’s one I have thought a lot about as well considering that I do quite a bit of marital counseling and also considering that I’m a guy and I […]

Barack On Abortion

I was disturbed to see this video from Barack Obama talking about his intentions regarding the abortion issue…

The Universe Needs a Creator

I believe in God because the universe needs a creator. The first reason I have for my own belief in God is that the universe needs a creator. WARNING: I have a degree in philosophy and some of the concepts I use for my belief in God require the use of some technical terms. Here’s […]

What I believe about God’s Revelation

I know that some people are especially interested in the bigger details of faith, so I decided to post here my full “Doctrinal Statement.” This is the first post in this series, and it reflects the “short form” of my Doctrinal Statement. If you wish to download my entire Doctrinal Statement in either short form […]

How to be a wise blogging pastor?

Colossians 4:5 says this: Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. As a pastor who’s got a blog, I’ve been thinking about how this verse relates to blogging. I’ve been blogging for over a year, and I don’t yet have a “manifesto” like this guy on what […]

Explaining the Whole Bible

As I have spoken with people about the Bible, I find more and more that people aren’t really familiar with the “plot” or the overall story of the Bible. Therefore, I’m going to try to go through the entire story of the Bible in a very brief overview fashion. The challenge is that I don’t […]

Is there “Recovery” for the homosexual?

In the living room of my in-laws’ home I watched an episode of Law and Order that I haven’t seen before, and it bothered me quite a bit. The victim was a young man who had tried unsuccessfully to “recover” from homosexuality through the counseling and support of a religious group called Regenesis. One of […]

24 Theological Questions

Here are 24 key theological questions that I plan to answer here as I get the time. I should probably just make a commitment to do one answer per day… We’ll have to see! Follow my progress by clicking on the category link -> 24 Theological Questions

My honor depends on God

My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.—Psalm 62:7 I was reading Psalm 62 this morning for my quiet time, and this verse popped out to me. Reading it sparked a little “wow” moment somewhere inside me. Everything about this verse is almost cliche to me. Sure, my […]

Make the Right Things Easy

I read this article recently where the author is talking about how to make users of your product or service happy. The basic premise of the article is that you should make the right things easy and the wrong things hard. A great illustration of this is a three pronged electrical plug. There is only […]