Posts in Theology
Introducing The Whitefield Declaration of Faith

After more than three years of editorial work, Nathaniel Bickford (General Editor), Lou Going (Contributing Editor), and Erik Reynolds (Contributing Editor) are excited to introduce to you a new confession of faith in the tradition of the historic confessions of faith of the Protestant Reformation. The Whitefield Declaration of Faith (WDF), named after the town where two of the editors have pastored, is a reformed, credo-baptist, conditionalist confession in the tradition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order (our starting document), and the London Baptist Confession of Faith.

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An Appeal to all Advent Christians, Who Affirm Christ’s Full Deity and Humanity, A Follow Up

I am responding to those who asked questions and made pertinent comments about my previous post on ACV’s Facebook page.  I do not have a Facebook account and was not able to respond on that platform. ..If faith is genuine and saving then when it is presented with the truth of Christ being the Great I Am, who, as the Word, became flesh, in order to save sinners, such faith will welcome this glorious truth and not oppose it.   

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Church or Movement? Advent Christians Must Decide

Loosening our grip on some of our distinctives would only amount to extinction if we are a movement, not a church. Movements must be steadfast in maintaining their niche points of concern, but churches need not…If the Advent Christian church shifted to positions of neutrality on certain secondary doctrines we would remain the church no matter the degree to which we redefine Advent Christian identity.

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An Appeal to all Advent Christians, Who Affirm Christ’s Full Deity and Humanity

I am writing this as an appeal to my fellow Advent Christians who personally hold to the full deity and humanity of Christ in his one person but who do not want to challenge those in our ranks who have no conviction regarding this teaching or who actually oppose it. Before I make the particular appeal let me state some assumptions and offer two points for you to consider.


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My Advent Christian Story: Coming Back and Moving Forward

Not all of you know me well...some may wonder about my own history in the denomination and my desires for the Advent Christian church. I thought now would be a good time to share my own story so that you might appreciate the diversity of backgrounds and thought among the “younger” generation. I encourage my peers to do the same.

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"What a Loving God Would Not Do"

“Confession: I am an annihilationist. I believe that the wicked will be resurrected on the last day, judged and condemned by God Almighty, and cast into hell to suffer and die. Some of my fellow annihilationists may have just experienced a bit of theological whiplash. You were offering a hearty “Amen” to my belief statement until I threw in the word “suffer.” If that describes you, put on your big boy/big girl pants, because I’ve got something to say that you might not like…”

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Some Reflections On John’s Prologue (Of the Father’s Love Begotten)

This time of year I am drawn again and again to the prologue of John’s Gospel. I never get tired reading through it slowly, contemplatively and prayerfully. At times I try to imagine what it must have been like for those early first and second century Christians to have heard it read in their assemblies for the first time or to have had the great gift of setting their eyes on a copy of it. What no doubt would have immediately caught their attention was the phrase “En archē ēn ho logos” (In the beginning was the Word). The Logos would have been somewhat familiar to both Jewish and Gentile believers.

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