by MIMADMIN | May 8, 2015 | Testimonies
Several years ago at a Lost Valley retreat I heard a speaker describe a ministry he had developed with a group of pastors in India. I was intrigued and wanted to take part. Before long I had become pen-pals with one of the pastors – Pastor Mark Baki. For a couple years we emailed back and forth. I was always encouraged and challenged by the intensity of his labor in the ministry. It was on my heart to get to know him better, and so I proposed that we start a bible study over Skype. Many of the Indian pastors involved in this ministry do not speak English well enough to easily converse over the phone, but fortunately for me, Pastor Mark speaks fluent English. Over the past year, Pastor Mark and I have met once or twice a month on Thursdays – morning for me and evening for him. The first study we did was the Why Go To Work booklet from the Ministry in the Marketplace series. I love this booklet because it touches on a wide range of issues, including eternal rewards, the significance of work, and a biblical comparison of clergy vs. laymen. We are currently in the middle of the Establishing Your Purpose booklet. After we complete this booklet, we plan to go through Whose Job Is The Ministry with a small group of the elders in his church. A few months ago, he asked me to speak at an outreach program at his church. He set up his computer and a projector in his church, and from my home I preached the gospel...
by Micah Olson | Oct 2, 2018 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Forgiveness and Consequences “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 The bible makes it abundantly clear that our actions in this life have eternal consequences. We do nothing to earn our way into heaven, because salvation is by grace and grace alone. But although salvation is in no way based on our works or our merit, it is equally true that the quality of our eternity is based on our works. How we invest our life on earth will determine how we live out eternity in heaven (see, e.g., Matthew 6:19-21, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, and Revelation 22:12). Many modern Christians are uneasy with the teaching of eternal accountability, instead preferring to believe that God’s forgiveness wipes out all consequences of temporal (i.e. earthly) sin. However, the idea that forgiveness eliminates consequences is not biblical. As an example, consider the story of Israel’s rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, found in Numbers 13-14. God commands Moses to send spies into the Promised Land in order to see what the land is like (Numbers 13:1). Twelve spies, one from each tribe, go out on the mission. Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, give a good report of the land. They argue that Israel should go up and take possession of it, in obedience to God. But the other 10 spies argue that the people in the land are too strong for Israel. Sadly, the Israelites go against Caleb and Joshua’s counsel, and instead they...
by Micah Olson | Jun 19, 2017 | Articles, Mentors Corner
You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2 Throughout Scripture we are told that God tests us, and that His tests are for our good. We often associate God’s testing with trials such as ill health, financial problems, and difficult interpersonal relationships. These are all legitimate tests, but Deuteronomy 8:2 makes it clear that another important way that God tests us is through our obedience to His commandments. When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul had two questions for Him: The first: “Who are you, Lord?” The second: “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 2:6-10) The first step you take as a Christian is to proclaim, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” This statement should always be followed with, “What should I do about it? What does Christ want me to do?” The New Testament is full of positive and negative commandments that help us answer this question. The negative commands (“thou shalt not”) are straightforward in their application. This does not mean they are easy to obey, just that little ambiguity exists in how we should obey. The positive commands (“thou shalt” e.g. “love your neighbor as yourself,” “honor your father and mother,” and “husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church”) are more subjective in their application. Each of us carries out obedience to these commands in legitimately different ways, and the...
by Micah Olson | Feb 9, 2026 | Articles
For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.” Isaiah 8:11-13 I find it is increasingly common for men that I interact with to be taken with conspiracy theories. It is an interesting byproduct of the increase in access to information that we have all seen play out in our lifetimes. Every one of us is just a few clicks away from exponentially more information than even the most learned men of previous generations had access to. In theory this would lead us to be less prone to conspiracy theories. But there’s just one small problem: with all this information available at our fingertips, how much of it is reliable? How much of it is true? Not only that, but the quest for attention in the social media and podcasting sphere incentivizes controversial ideas much more than straightforward facts. Outrageous opinions and outright lies lead to reposts, follows, and subscribers. Clear-headed rationality? Not so much. And the rise of AI and the potential for deepfakes means the problem is about to get even worse. Conspiracy theories are attractive in any age, but the ubiquitous presence of modern technology (and all its manifestations) means it is a unique...
by Micah Olson | Aug 12, 2024 | Articles
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). In Part 1 we traced the importance of warfare in the economy of God, looking at being a warrior through the lens of the Old Testament saints, angels, and Jesus Christ. This leads to an obvious question for Christians in the New Testament age: Does this apply to us? And if so, what does being a warrior look like? There are two fundamental passages in the New Testament on being a soldier: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Ephesians 6:10-17. Both passages teach that the New Testament Christian is to be a soldier and fight wars; however the realm of our warfare is not physical but spiritual. This is not to say that Christians cannot or should not fight physical wars (i.e. serve in the military). There is no New Testament command for or against participating in physical wars. But irrespective of whether a Christian fights in physical wars, his true warfare is spiritual. All of us live in two realities, the physical and the spiritual. The physical world is the one we experience on an everyday basis. It is the one we can see and hear and touch and smell. Our earthly bodies and every other material thing that we experience in this life are part of the physical world. The spiritual world, on the other hand, is not something that we experience in a material sense. But that does not mean it is any less real. The bible teaches us that the spiritual world is more “real” than the physical, in the sense that the...
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