Rev. Mrs. Miriam McKinstry- "The most noted Advent Christian Woman Preacher" (1/2)

In my previous studies on Abigail Mussey (see part one and part two), prior to deciding on what to write about and who to write about, I came across the name of another woman in Advent Christian history, and I was immediately intrigued. Her name is Rev. Mrs. Miriam McKinstry, and she was referred to as the “most noted Advent Christian woman preacher.”

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Demon Mortality and Revelation 20:10

Pastor Corey McLaughlin recently wrote an article which suggested that angels and demons are exceptions to Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God alone is immortal.1 Much of his argument was particularly focussed on Revelation 20:10. McLaughlin argued that if Satan, the Beast and the False Prophet will be tormented “forever and ever” then at least they must have immortality.


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A Wedding, A Bishop, and Christianity in the 21st Century

As I was getting ready for commencement, I watched another ceremony that captured much of the world’s attention—the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. Nobody does ceremonies like the British Royals. And this one mixed hundreds of years of tradition with icons of popular culture. As the ceremony progressed, cameras panned across a crowd that featured a who’s who of world famous celebrities.

But what grabbed my attention was the sermon.  

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Are Advent Christians Fragmented?

Corey McLaughlin has put forth a monumental effort in his four-part series...After reading these articles, I found myself agreeing with most of them, so much so that it has ironically led me to disagree with the basic contention of the series, that we are in fact fragmented along the lines Corey describes.

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A Devil of a Dilemma Part 2: Why Angels are Immortal and Humans are Not

In A Devil of A Dilemma: Part 1, we examined Revelation 20:10 honestly and cogently, but many were not impressed or satisfied with what we termed a sort of “modified conditional immortality view.”  In truth, that is not a particularly good name since there is nothing actually modified about it per se, it merely states the main assertion of conditional immortality in plain language and follows it to its logical conclusion. 

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Strength for Today…Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How the Resurrection Shapes our Suffering

 “You do not know what tomorrow will bring.”  As if these words in James 4:14 aren’t unsettling enough, the verse goes on to remind us of the uncertainty of our existence:  “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”  In other words, tomorrow…life could be drastically changed forever.

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Advent Christians Must Plant Churches- Here's What We're Doing About It

As we look at the figures on churches in America across denominational lines, we see most groups are losing ground.  We are currently averaging more than three churches per year closing in the Advent Christian denomination. However, numbers are not the most important thing to consider. The real heart of ministry is sharing the message of Jesus Christ with those who desperately need to hear it.

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The Fragmentation of the Christian Worldview (4/4)

As we come to the end with this last post we have covered the problem of fragmentation by…well, fragmenting the problem into four parts and offering suggestions for how to put humpty dumpty together again in each section (see previous posts Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and the end of the article for a link to the full pdf).  This final contribution will not rehash or summarize the previous posts, but will instead add a more practical tool to tie the major concepts together. 

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The Fragmentation of Christian Perspective- with special attention given to the Book of Acts (3/4)

“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity,”[1] but what are the essentials?  While both R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur can share a pulpit to give their differing positions on baptism (infant vs. believers baptism respectively), and speak at the same  conferences, the fact remains that if R.C. Sproul were faithfully attending MacArthur’s church he still would not meet the requirements for membership and therefore could not join.  While the general concept of baptism is necessary in order to be unified with the essentials o

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International Missions: A Greater Focus on Unreached Peoples

The united missionary impulse of the Advent Christian Church in North America is in danger of flickering out. To be sure, some local Advent Christian churches and individuals exhibit a strong passion for the spread of God’s kingdom. But looking at the “united” mission of our churches through the International Missions[i] of Advent Christian General Conference, there is much evidence for a noticeable decrease in mission fervor.

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"What is Theological Fragmentation?" A Four-Part Leadership Series Pointing the Church Forward

At the 2017 ERA annual meeting, President Steve Brown of BICS presented the idea that the major barrier to unity within the Advent Christians is “theological fragmentation.”  The major proposed solution, assuming one accepts the premise, was a call for a hermeneutical reformation (a la Kaiser as exemplar) to reinvigorate and reestablish basic, core, essential principles of interpretation in hopes of gaining unity of mind together. 

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