In her post for TheoThoughts, Lisa Spencer challenges certain tweets from the Woke crowd by writing Can we only imagine? on race and ethnicity in the eschaton. She introduces this piece with a disclaimer that some of her points are only speculation. I’m not sure about that. Practically everything she says lines up with Scripture as far as I can tell. And her emphasis on the main focus of God’s Kingdom is absolutely beautiful!

As a pastor’s wife, Melissa of Your Mom Has A Blog joins her husband when he counsels married couples. She draws on her counseling experience — as well as her own 23 years of marriage — to write Dishes and Divorce: Why Little Things Can Lead to a Breakup. Even if you’ve been married for a while, her insight can serve as encouragement to keep your marriage healthy.

In his G3 Ministries Blog, Josh Buice confronts the latest trend among evangelicals. Dear Christian, Stop Being Winsome challenges the idea that we must avoid offending people, even if that avoidance requires us to compromise truth. He lists several examples from Scripture of behavior that was decidedly not winsome.

Do you struggle with the sin of complaining? I sure do! So I appreciate Leslie A for writing It’s All in How You Look at It in Growing 4 Life. It’s amazing to see how this woman gets such profound spiritual lessons out of mundane things like clouds and reading glasses.

Gentle Reformation features An On-Going Battle by Kyle E Sims. He gives a hopeful and encouraging perspective on the seemingly endless struggle against sin. I read it soon after a discouraging time of confessing sins that I’d thought I’d made significant progress mortifying, finding a wonderful sense of relief and joy in God’s grace. Maybe this post will offer you similar reassurance.

Once again. Beth Moore has drawn attention to herself by justifying her rebellious action of preaching in a Sunday morning church service. In an essay for The End Time, Elizabeth Prata explains that The Bible is clear: Women cannot be pastors or teach men. This even includes Beth Moore. Elizabeth is, in my opinion, the leading authority on this particular false teacher, having researched her extensively for over a decade.

In his post for Knowable Word, Peter Krol writes Context Matters: The Whole Armor of God to show how that famous passage from Ephesians 6 fits into the epistle as a whole. I especially like his emphasis on the Lord’s strength as we battle against spiritual forces.

Leslie A has a second blog post this week, again drawing on her simple experience as a grandmother to make a spiritual application. A Lesson from the Candy Store warns us about the ways false teachers easily deceive us.

You’ll probably wonder why I’d start this week’s Sampler with such a heady article as Leonardo De Chirico’s Nature and Grace in the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger — A Historical Sketch of the Nature-Grace Interdependence in this month’s edition of Vatican Files. Okay, reading it requires a little more effort than reading a typical blog post. But it goes a long way in clarifying how Roman Catholic thought (even in the 21st Century) departs from the Bible’s teachings on nature and grace.

False teachers are more harmful than a lot of us might think. In The End Time, Elizabeth Prata warns, Don’t let anyone disqualify you from the prize! Using Colossians 2:18, she shows us some of the subtle tactics these teachers use in their attempts to divide Christians from the true Gospel.

Clint Archer makes a compelling case for a Pre-trib Rapture in Rapture vs Second Coming: Back to the Future, Part 4. I’ve been learning a lot through his series, which The Cripplegate has been running, and I definitely appreciate understanding his position. I would have liked it better, however, if he had presented the common arguments for Mid-trib and Post-trib raptures. Thankfully, he did touch on the reasons to reject those possibilities, which helps me understood the Pre-trib position better.

Pastor Tedd Mathis shares a Letter to a good man about the Gospel in teddmathisdotcom. I regret that I didn’t write a similar letter to my mom before her death. If you have unsaved loved ones who stand at the doors of eternity, Tedd’s letter might serve as a helpful template for your own letter (of course, you’ll write in your own words, using some original thoughts, to avoid plagiarism).

I have a second offering from The Cripplegate, this time written by Jesse Johnson. How to become a Calvinist in 5 easy steps is entertaining and amusing. It may also encourage you to keep praying for your Arminian friends.

Michelle Lesley encourages women to focus on our legitimate opportunities in Throwback Thursday – Unforbidden Fruits: 3 Ways Women MUST Lead and Teach the Church. I read this blog post when Michelle first published it in 2018, and I believe I included it in Saturday Sampler at the time. But the debate over women pastors has only escalated since then, so I’m pleased to bring it to your attention a second time. She gives marvelous suggestions for ways women should serve our local churches.

False converts do exist, sadly. In TheoThoughts, Lisa Spencer warns us to Beware of the bootleg anointing of false salvation. I love her reminder of the Source of true conversion, as well as her balanced explanation of how we can examine ourselves.

I’ve never been strong on eschatology, I’m ashamed to say. So Clint Archer’s current series in The Cripplegate is really helping me! I particularly appreciate the presentation of various viewpoints, as we see in 1 Kingdom, 3 Views: Back to the Future, Pt 3. Although Clint doesn’t hide which view he favors, he acknowledges that solid Christians hold differing opinions. He also trusts his readers to reach our own conclusions. If, like me, you’ve shied away from studying eschatology, please don’t pass up this opportunity to learn.

Elizabeth Prata of The End Time responds to some of her critics with Should we look at a teacher’s lifestyle? Or only his/her doctrine? She carefully takes us through Scripture concerning this very important aspect of Biblical discernment.

Technology hasn’t exactly created new sins, but it does provide new ways of sinning. In The Mailbag: She’s single and pregnant by IFV. How do I respond?, Michelle Lesley explores attitudes toward our fellow church members when they openly celebrate their disobedience. She reminds us not to make matters even worse.

Musing on the death of a dear friend, Melissa of Your Mom Has a Blog writes Heaven is True Love Realized. I loved this sweet tribute to her loved one, as well as her encouragement to those of us still waiting to go Home.

What Makes You Really Angry? asks Leslie A in a post for Growing 4 Life. Obviously, most of us (do you see me raising my guilty hand?) rage over the wrong things. We’re selfish. But Leslie directs our attention to something that infuriated the apostle Paul. It should infuriate us as well!

Can we ever have too many posts from Elizabeth Prata? In my opinion: no. And What happens when we go outside of God’s Word? is just too good to neglect in this curation. She starts by a behind the scenes look at the best-selling novel, The Shack, to explore some of the dangers in seeking personal revelations and comfortable understandings of God.

When I read Ryan Higginbottom’s title, Not Every Interesting Detail is Important, in Knowable Word, my initial reaction was shock. Isn’t every word in Scripture breathed out by God? Well yes. At the same time, we have the responsibility to practice proper rules of interpretation. Ryan demonstrates how to determine when details enhance a passage and when they distract us from the meaning.