Posts by Jim Elliff (Page 20)
A Letter From Jim | July 2018
We are in a new day of hatred and demeaning language. I’m sure you see it. One US senator said that he had just come off a seven month fast from social media and realized that he had forgotten that people were supposed to hate each other. Believers must do better. I have often been shocked by spiritual leaders, along with otherwise faithful Christians, spending so much of their public speech in vitriolic, accusative language about political issues, at the…
SBC Recovery
The SBC must recover a high view of the meaning of conversion and membership, and must bring back or expel non-attenders through a loving and thoughtful process. We must pursue the doctrinal understanding and biblical practices necessary to overcome the remaining membership bloat, and the ongoing increase of unregenerate membership. We have much to be thankful for—for instance, the quality and training of young leaders is the best I remember it. Yet, we must address unregenerate membership—or we die. It’s…
It Isn’t About Me
When you meet with the body of believers in which God by his sometimes secret design has put you, remember this great truth: it’s not about “me.” You don’t gather mainly about you, but them. “Let all things be done for edification,” Paul said. That is, do all you do together for the building up of others. Amazingly, you will be most edified yourself if you think of the body of Christ in this way. And, it may well lead…
A Letter from Jim | June 2018
I’ve just listened to a young man named Marcin Patrzalek playing Nicolo Paganini, “Caprice No 24” and “El Colibri” by Julio Sagreras. I’m shocked to hear this young man play as he did, and with such difficult pieces. Look him up on YouTube. He could not be more than 15 or 16 years of age. I love classical guitar, but it isn’t just the music that makes it for me, nor the quality of the guitar—as you know, it’s the…
Pain to Gain for Others
Muslim extremists murdered Ayub’s grandmother on one of the many islands of Indonesia. We stayed in the home of this warmhearted Christian leader. He serves as an elder for the church meeting in a home nearby. We loved this brother and his wife immediately and shared some really happy moments together in Christ. But, Ayub’s life was a troubled one at first. When he was a teenage boy, as a consequence of declared Jihad, Muslim zealots insisted that everyone on…
A Letter from Jim | May 2018
For some years we aggressively published and distributed books through CCW. We were thrilled to find that these works proved to be a help to so many, several items being disseminated in multiple tens of thousands of copies and one item, Wasted Faith, reaching around a quarter of a million. These books continue to play a role in evangelism and spiritual growth for many. Here’s how it began. Those were the days You might say I wrote Wasted Faith under…
Christian, Rethink Your Public Speech
Believer, if you truly relish a life of turmoil, public anger, boiling arguments, caustic debates and throwing out verbal darts like porcupine quills, you will genuinely help the cause of Christ by not identifying publicly as a Christian. I’m serious. We are in desperate need of Christian wisdom, but not barbaric untamed and undignified rhetoric. It’s doing us no good. Try this test of your speech first: “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of…
A Letter from Jim | April 2018
I’ve just been 12 feet from a very loud business consultant, whose confident speech was nearly deafening. He had made money and was pushy and totally sure of himself as he told his subordinate just how to do it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone so brash as this man. Frankly it turned my stomach. I realize that most people of the world live for themselves, but at least many of them try to “appear” humble. This man had…
Taxes and the Day of Salvation
That dreaded day is upon us again, April 15th. When our American fathers stormed the Boston docks, threw out the British tea, and cried, “No taxation without representation,” they could not possibly have imagined what freedom from our mother country would bring. Untold treasure and opportunity, true. But we also have incurred the privilege of paying now over 50% of our income in taxes of an alarming variety. You work half of the year just to do that. Many of…
A Letter from Jim | March 2018
First, A Story to Ponder There were thirteen trumpets in a row on the porch. The lady came alone. She still had the choice to keep the two small copper coins in her hand. She slowly walked across the Court of the Women. Then she paused close to the colonnade watching certain religious leaders step around and past her to make their offering. She felt pensive but determined. She had so little to give compared to them; she only had…
As It Is In All the World
“. . .the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf. . .” Colossians 1:5-7 This describes how the gospel came to the people of the city of Colossae. They…
A Letter From Jim | February 2018
I just got off Skype with a pastor in Colorado who has been studying Galatians with me. We’ve had several weeks of study, marking the text in our notebooks, reading and re-reading together and separately, sectioning the book, and discussing the major themes and minor conundrums. We tried to understand everything. We worked about an hour and a half today, and it was pure joy! God is unveiling potent truths in this amazing book. That pastor assured me that he…