The Eowiggle

Being on the mission field is a difficult, humbling and growing experience. There are many wonderful and exciting aspects to living overseas. But the challenge with missions is that the one thing I am called to do is the one thing I cannot do! Think about it: The Lord commissions us all to “go and make disciples.” Sounds like a simple enough command, right? Well, it is an actual impossibility for any of us. Why? Because we cannot change hearts. We cannot move someone closer to the Kingdom. We cannot argue them into the Kingdom, not even woo them into it. We cannot make someone love God or be attracted to his nature. The work of converting hearts is the work of the Holy Spirit alone. And when he’s not moving in that way, it feels like we are knocking our heads up against a wall. I experienced this for many years, working with atheists in the former East Berlin and praying fervently for their salvation. There were times I doubted that the Gospel was really God’s power to accomplish ...

One of the most anticipated, decisive, and nerve-wracking moments for every refugee in Germany is the day in court, when their case is heard as to whether their life is truly in danger if they were to be sent back  to their home country. For Christian converts from Islam much of their case rests on proof of a true conversion. Each refugee is asked about their journey into Christianity. However, this day in court often resembles a kangaroo court rather than true justice. The nature of the questions refugees are asked belies the German courts ability to assess conversion to Christianity. Furthermore, refugee's answers are often incorrectly translated by court appointed translators who haven't a clue about Christianity either. Faith on trial Here are some of the questions judges have asked to assess whether a refugee truly knows and understands what the Christian faith is about: "What were the names of the sons in the parable of the prodigal son?" ...

Feminism has, no doubt, brought positive change and necessary correctives in the area of how we view and treat women as equals. However, it has morphed well beyond its helpful contributions to the human rights of women and has ushered in a post-modern culture of death by elevating abortion to the sacrament of choice and the lie of self-definition as the ultimate good. Furthermore, by promoting the dissolution of gender binaries, it is well on its way to rendering itself obsolete. What is feminism, if, after all, there is no agreed-upon, objective form of womanhood left to herald? Yet feminism has also left its mark on the church. Limp and tentative, she is second-guessing her calling to proclaim binary truth to a dying world. Without real distinctions between good and evil, male and female, God and creature, the Christian message is no longer Christian. There have been many attempts to reconcile the Bible with feminist thought. But an evangelical feminist view of gender is untenab...