{"product_id":"the-mines-of-difficulty-a-commentary-on-first-and-second-thessalonians","title":"Mines of Difficulty: A Commentary on First and Second Thessalonians","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eSorrow not as those who have no hope.\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe tend to think eschatology is important but impractical. What does the millennium have to do with Monday morning?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuite a bit, Paul says.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Thessalonians were suffering intensely. They were being killed by their own next-door neighbors. Paul writes to comfort them—and he does it with some of the most debated end times passages in all of Scripture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this commentary, Douglas Wilson shows how tangled issues like the Man of Sin and the Day of the Lord aren’t simply fodder for speculation. They relate directly to how we should handle our daily trials. Practice church discipline. Show up to work on time. Suffer with hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is because in the mines of difficulty, we find the diamonds of promise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\n\u003cspan data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"\\\"When a husband has been chronically unfaithful to his wife, to say that he remains a husband is not to approve of his infidelity. It is the basis of the disapproval. Perhaps his wife should divorce him, but, until she does, he is a husband. No one would look at the pattern of his adulteries, and then say, “Oh, well, at least he is married.” The fact that he is married compounds the sin, and in no way lessens it. In the same way, for an overt unbeliever to deny the deity of Jesus Christ is a great sin. But it is a worse sin for a baptized believer to do so, and for an ordained minister to reject the gospel in this way is far worse still. Such treachery should make us angrier; the fact that additional covenantal vows were broken ameliorates nothing.\\nBranches in Christ that bear much fruit are pruned and blessed. Do they have communion with those branches that bear no fruit, and which will be cut off and burned? They do not have a common future, but they do have a common present place on the same vine. To change the image slightly, together they partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. And this means that true ecumenical dialogue with unfaithful Christians should consist of solemn warnings.\\nAt the same time, we should see that our disapproval of fellow covenant members is an objective disapproval. We no longer disapprove because their “lack of regeneration” has been weighed in the balances of our discernment and been found wanting.\\\" ~ from the book\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":769,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"11\":4,\"12\":0}'\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"\\\"When a husband has been chronically unfaithful to his wife, to say that he remains a husband is not to approve of his infidelity. It is the basis of the disapproval. Perhaps his wife should divorce him, but, until she does, he is a husband. No one would look at the pattern of his adulteries, and then say, “Oh, well, at least he is married.” The fact that he is married compounds the sin, and in no way lessens it. In the same way, for an overt unbeliever to deny the deity of Jesus Christ is a great sin. But it is a worse sin for a baptized believer to do so, and for an ordained minister to reject the gospel in this way is far worse still. Such treachery should make us angrier; the fact that additional covenantal vows were broken ameliorates nothing.\\nBranches in Christ that bear much fruit are pruned and blessed. Do they have communion with those branches that bear no fruit, and which will be cut off and burned? They do not have a common future, but they do have a common present place on the same vine. To change the image slightly, together they partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. And this means that true ecumenical dialogue with unfaithful Christians should consist of solemn warnings.\\nAt the same time, we should see that our disapproval of fellow covenant members is an objective disapproval. We no longer disapprove because their “lack of regeneration” has been weighed in the balances of our discernment and been found wanting.\\\" ~ from the book\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":769,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"11\":4,\"12\":0}'\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDouglas Wilson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the author of more than one hundred books, a Senior Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College, and the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He and his wife, Nancy, have three children and lots of grandchildren.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eAUTHOR: Douglas Wilson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003ePUBLISHER: Canon Press\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePAGE COUNT: 90 pages\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSIZE: 5.5x8.5\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISBN-10: \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e1-95-790589-1\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISBN-13: \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e978-1-957905-89-1\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePUB. DATE: December 6, 2023\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Douglas Wilson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41201489903731,"sku":"B-149","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0590\/5462\/0787\/files\/douglas-wilson-book-the-mines-of-difficulty-a-commentary-on-first-and-second-thessalonians-32472519671856.jpg?v=1763146771","url":"https:\/\/wholesale.canonpress.com\/products\/the-mines-of-difficulty-a-commentary-on-first-and-second-thessalonians","provider":"Canon B2B","version":"1.0","type":"link"}