Elder's Blog Archives

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit — what is the unforgivable sin?

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Few passages in the New Testament have caused more spiritual anguish than the one where Jesus says there is a sin that will never be forgiven — not in this age or the one to come. Christians across the centuries have lain awake wondering whether they have committed it. Sensitive consciences,...

Spiritual gifts — how to think about them today

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Ask ten Christians what spiritual gifts are and you'll get ten different answers — and a fair amount of discomfort in the room. Some associate gifts with charismatic excess and want nothing to do with the conversation. Others are so fixated on identifying their personal gift mix that they've...

The Spirit’s Role in Sanctification

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Every Christian knows they're supposed to be growing. The problem is figuring out how. Try harder? Pray more? White-knuckle the sin you keep falling into? The New Testament has a different answer than most people expect — and it runs straight through the person of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification...

Baptism of the Spirit — what is it and when does it happen?

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Few phrases in the New Testament have generated more theological controversy per word than "baptism of the Holy Spirit." For classical Pentecostals, it's a second definite work of grace after conversion, evidenced by speaking in tongues. For Reformed evangelicals, it's simply another way of...

The cessationist vs. continuationist debate

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Few debates in contemporary Christianity generate more heat with less light than the question of spiritual gifts. Do the miraculous gifts of the Spirit — tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles — continue today? Or did they cease with the apostolic age? Cessationists say they ended....

Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

The Bible gives Jesus a lot of titles. Lamb of God. Son of Man. Word made flesh. Alpha and Omega. But one of the oldest and most structurally important frameworks the Church has used to understand who Jesus is and what He came to do organizes His entire ministry under three offices: Prophet,...

The descent into hell — what does the creed mean?

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Every Sunday, millions of Christians recite the Apostles' Creed — and then stumble on the same five words: "He descended into hell." What does that actually mean? Did Jesus go to the place of the damned? Did He suffer there? Did He preach to the lost? The short answer is that the Church has...

The active and passive obedience of Christ

Posted on April 6, 2026April 17, 2026 by Mountain Veteran Ministries

Most Christians understand that Jesus died for their sins. Fewer have grasped that Jesus also lived for their righteousness. The cross deals with the penalty of what we have done. But there is a second problem the cross alone does not address: the absence of what we should have done. God does not...