Steve’s Books
Author Archives: Steve Husting
Our “silly little sins”
I recently answered a question sent to me from gotquestions.org. This person, who is quoted below, thought her sins were silly little sins and she wondered why she was unable to get over them and stop repeating them. My reply … Continue reading
Is a “personal relationship” with Christ necessary for salvation?
A “personal relationship with Christ” is a phrase used among born-again believers to contrast an impersonal relationship with God. (Another popular phrase among born-again Christians is, “Relationship, not religion,” which says the same thing.) But is this idea actually taught in … Continue reading
What part of life is religious?
How much of life is religious, and how much is not? How much has to do with God, and how much does not? Is “church time” the religious part, and outside church, life is not? A response of Jesus addressed … Continue reading
The Pharisee in Church
The frequent run-ins between Jesus and the Pharisees were a clash between the Pharisee’s preoccupation with external things and Jesus’ emphasis on the spiritual kingdom. The Pharisees were interested in keeping their status quo, the rigid forms of religious law, … Continue reading
Faith without proof is alive and well among the religious and secular
Many religious people trust in their spiritual authority for their religious beliefs. They don’t study the religious text for themselves. They don’t understand how their authorities came by their tenets, so theirs is a personal faith without proof. “All I … Continue reading
Posted in Science and Evolution, Society and Culture
Tagged atheists, faith, proof, reason
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To learn, unlearn; to believe, disbelieve
In Philippians 3:4-6, we have a list of beliefs Paul had to disbelieve in order to believe, to unlearn that he may learn. For instance, according to this list, he believed in God and country until God corrected it to … Continue reading
The Bible and Atheist agree: Blind Faith is Wrong
The popular meaning for faith is to believe something without proof. This is the “popular” meaning, and as with the meanings of several other words, it doesn’t match up with its meaning used in the Bible. For instance, the popular … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement
Tagged Bible, Christians, faith, God, Gospel, Jesus Christ, prophecy, Word of God
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Armor of God Series: the Belt of Truth
“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph. 6:14). With the truth, we are seeing things as they really are. The truth is not just facts, but facts acted on. … Continue reading
Does God care about the Christmas holiday?
Does God care about us displaying Christmas trees? Does He require that we put on happy faces for the holidays? Do we need to put up Christmas lights? Are we to be ashamed if we don’t have a scene of … Continue reading
The Faith to Endure Hardship
In Hebrews 11, we are introduced to a series of individuals who were known for their faith. Noah prepared an ark, expecting a flood. Abraham moved out of his country at the word of God, not knowing where he was … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement
Tagged cross, faith, growth, Hebrews 11, Hebrews 12, heroes of faith, Mosaic Law, suffering
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A Clean Conscience At Last
At the coming of Jesus, God introduced something new. With the death, burial, and resurrection of the Christ, God creates a new covenant with believers that results in a clean conscience. The tenth chapter of Hebrews explains this feature of … Continue reading
“Love your neighbor as yourself”
Jesus told us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves in Mark 12:31. Some people have said that they cannot love their neighbor as they ought because they do not love themselves. On the contrary, the Bible is clear … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement
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How does the Christian overcome?
The Bible tells us that Christians have the victory, or that they overcome. What does that mean? What does that victory look like? How can we know that we are overcoming? First John 5:2-5 tell us that we have the … Continue reading
Why should we read the Old Testament?
Is the Old Testament (OT) of any value nowadays? Many people say that we no longer have to follow all those laws and rules anymore, so why bother reading it at all? I’ve read through the OT many times along … Continue reading
Posted in The Bible
Tagged Bible, Christ's Return, end times, faith, God, Jesus Christ, Mosaic Law, prophecy, sin, Word of God
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How do we Fight the Devil?
The Bible tells us how to address the one “who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9) in several revealing passages in the New Testament. In none of them are we told to attack him directly. Rather, we remove the means … Continue reading
Posted in Demons, H e l l and Suffering
Tagged Devil, faith, Lucifer, pride, Satan, sin
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The Salvation of the Soul
What is the salvation of the soul, and what does it look like? The first few verses of 1 Peter chapter one give us a strong sense of this salvation and then concludes with, “receiving the end of your faith … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement
Tagged faith, growth, promises, saved, soul, suffering, Word of God
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The Neglected Deliverance
We tend to seek the Lord’s deliverance when we get into personal trouble. But there is a deliverance that keeps us out of the trouble in the first place. Which would you like – to fall into trouble and try … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement
Tagged accountability, faith, free will, promises, warnings, Word of God
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Faith and the Spirit’s Leading
What is faith? A definition is in order. What is faith? If faith means to believe something without proof, as many claim, then how is it different from blind faith? What I find funny is that those who dislike faith … Continue reading
Does the Holy Spirit still lead believers today?
The book of Acts relates several accounts of men who were directed by the Holy Spirit to say certain things, do something, or go somewhere. Is this direction of the Holy Spirit supposed to continue in today’s church? Or did … Continue reading
Evolution vs. Creation: Collision of Two Worldviews
Neither creation nor macro-evolution have physical proof for their positions. Rather, each party looks at the scientific data from their own perspective and looks for evidence to support it. For instance, the people who are convinced that macroevolution has occurred … Continue reading
Book Review: When the Storm Hits
When the Storm Hits by Chuck Smith Copyright 2013 The Word for Today http://www.twft.com What do we do when the storm hits; how are we to react when the troubles come? This book reminded me of several perspectives regarding our … Continue reading
What is intimacy with Jesus?
What does it mean when Christians talk about having intimacy, or a deep relationship, with Jesus? There are many ways to describe it and experience it. I will talk about one way of entering into that intimacy or fellowship with … Continue reading
Posted in Encouragement
Tagged devotions, faith, intimacy, Jesus Christ, relationship with God, reward, Word of God
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Do we need the power of the Holy Spirit?
Recently one of my prayer group regulars talked about our need of the Holy Spirit’s power upon us just as it was on the disciples in Acts. He seemed to think it was a matter of just asking for it … Continue reading
Why macro-evolution doesn’t make sense
One major barrier against the gradual evolution of relatively simple organisms into complex ones rests on the organism’s inability to understand its environment and adapt to it. For instance, how could a blind organism understand that color is produced by … Continue reading
Why can’t we explain our faith to the skeptic?
I’ve had a hard time using logic to explain to skeptics why our Christian beliefs are true and defensible (and even logical). Why? Because some of the wisdom was gained through the logic of life experience, and no shortcuts exist. … Continue reading
Aren’t Jesus’ words more authoritative than Paul’s?
Someone asked this question because they saw a verse where Paul seems to contradict Jesus. (In that instance, Jesus said the law will not pass away, yet Paul wrote it was passing away.) Also, since Jesus is God and Paul … Continue reading
Through the sciences we have gained much knowledge about how the world works, so why do we need a god?
This kind of question is usually asked of those in the sciences who are personally pursuing knowledge. If they write a book, they’ll usually write about ancient man’s inability to explain the forces of nature, and so they invented a … Continue reading
Posted in Science and Evolution
Tagged atheists, Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, science, sin, Word of God
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If I do many good works, will I go to heaven?
Think about what the question implies. It assumes that because of doing many good works, we’ve put God on the spot; the Creator of the universe is in our debt! We’re saying that He owes us heaven because of all … Continue reading
Posted in Sin and Salvation
Tagged faith, good deeds, good works, Heaven, Jesus Christ, sin
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How can you believe the church has the truth when there are so many conflicting denominations?
How can Christians say they know the truth about God when their theology and beliefs are fractured in so many ways? How can any one group be sure of themselves, that they got it right? The same way anyone else … Continue reading
Why do people not change or grow in their faith?
Jesus made clear what is the greatest commandment: to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:34-40). Here is God’s highest aspiration for His creation. Yet so many of us, religious and non-religious, fail … Continue reading
