Stephen De La Vega

I recently heard about heretical teaching from an evangelical pulpit. The preacher taught that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. He declared that God took Jesus’ place on the cross at the moment of death. So, God the Son didn’t die. God died instead, for Jesus and God are one in the same. Or so it was preached. My dad listened from the pews in unwelcome surprise. In horror, really, because all hope and life hangs on the fact that God’s Son died on the cross to satisfy the penalty of sin – to satisfy His Father’s righteousness. Jesus asked His Father if there was any other way to pay the penalty of sin, but He submitted to His Father’s plan. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 I was as shocked as my dad as he shared about this errancy. We both listed biblical truths that depend on the fact that Jesus, Himself, was crucified on that fateful cross....

  Gone are the days when I was regularly seen with an infant in my arms. I remember before my firstborn turned 1, my church invited all the dads to the stage on Father’s Day. We were asked to share what we like most about being a dad.   I wasn’t very sappy back then, so when I got the mic, I declared, “What I like most…is not having to give birth!” Before my son was born, many asked, “Are you ready to be a father?” Ready to be a father?   Everybody say it with me:   “No!” We’re probably never ready. We can read parenting books, articles and new discoveries on child development; and we can memorize pertinent Bible verses. But I say ‘never’ because fatherhood is much more than we might expect.   Even with profound fatherly role models, I think we naturally overlook some things, even key things, as we gear up for fatherhood. You see, at some point we realize: A father may be Superman to his young kids, but Superman exists only as long as his c...

3 weeks ago I attended my aunt’s memorial service.  We call it a “celebration of life” because of the life she lived on earth and because Aunt Marilyn is alive and well in Heaven.  I know she’s in Heaven, not because I heard her confess Jesus as Savior and Lord of her life.  I never heard her say that.  (In fact, I didn’t know Aunt Marilyn very well because visiting with her was just not a regular thing for me.)  But I know she's in Heaven because I see her legacy – God’s hand on the beautiful children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who remain on this earth. To illustrate her legacy… A week after Aunt Marilyn’s celebration of life, her 13-year-old great grandson described “true followers of God” as people who are “fully involved [in church], have a good time, and hold on to what they learned for life.” He wrote this for an English assignment. This is fruit of a godly legacy. He continued, “Being Christian means to have full ...