Articles by Paul Ellis

Last day to get your free book

April 18, 2019 // 8 Comments

UPDATE: This offer has now closed. Thanks to all who participated. Missed out? Become a subscriber (it’s free) and be the first to hear next time. This week I was chatting to one of the builders working on our house about the events of Easter in AD70. Like most people, he had never heard the story of how [...]

Letters from Jesus: now in paperback + Easter Treat!

April 16, 2019 // 6 Comments

Ten years ago I started writing about the letters from Jesus, and two good things came out of that exercise: (1) a website call Escape to Reality and (2) my new book, Letters from Jesus. The book comes out today in paperback. Paul, what is your book about? Letters from Jesus is my most radical book. Contrary to [...]

How do we become lukewarm?

March 28, 2019 // 51 Comments

Many Christians are lukewarm, but not for the reasons they think. “I don’t go to church enough, I don’t pray enough, I don’t witness enough.” Let me stop you right there. How much is enough? How many people do you need to lead to Jesus to stop him from vomiting you out of his mouth? The answer is zero, [...]

Who are the pillars in the church?

March 21, 2019 // 29 Comments

As a young man, I was told I was a pillar in the church. It made me feel good to hear the pastor say this, and I could hardly disagree. Of course I was a pillar. I was a good boy. I didn’t drink or smoke or do burnouts in the church car park. I arrived early on Sundays to put out chairs and I stayed back to [...]

Why does Jesus wish we were cold?

March 7, 2019 // 20 Comments

“You gotta be hot, hot, hot for Jesus! You gotta get enthusiastic in evangelizing the lost. You gotta get on fire with passion for the Lord.” This is a message I used to preach, yet it is only half of what Jesus said. “You are neither cold or hot but lukewarm. I wish that you were cold or hot” (Rev. [...]

What does it mean to remove a church’s lampstand?

February 28, 2019 // 23 Comments

If you wanted to control people using fear and dark threats, you could become a Sith Lord, or you could take the good promises of Jesus, turn them inside out, and use them to terrorize God’s children. Let me give you an example: Unless you repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand out of its place. [...]

Are you working too hard for Jesus?

February 21, 2019 // 27 Comments

Who were the hardest working Christians in the Bible? The answer must surely be Paul and his friends, but many people will say it was the church at Ephesus. They say this because of what Jesus said in his letter to the church: “I know your deeds and toil” (Rev 2:2a). Commentators make much of Jesus knowing [...]

Are your deeds incomplete?

February 13, 2019 // 48 Comments

If Christians are worn out, it is for one of two reasons: (1) they don’t know how much their Father loves them and (2) they have an unbiblical definition of work. Hey, I’m not judging anyone here. When it comes to overwork, I’m guilty as sin. I’m a workaholic who regularly pushes himself past breaking [...]

Happy Birthday to us, and a free book for you!

February 5, 2019 // 44 Comments

Update: This book giveaway has now closed. Make sure you don’t miss out on future giveaways by signing up today. It’s free! Today is Escape to Reality’s 9th birthday, and to celebrate I’m giving subscribers free PDF copies of my most misjudged book, AD70 and the End of the World: Finding [...]

What does it mean to keep his deeds?

January 31, 2019 // 10 Comments

If you were to make a list of big topics discussed by Jesus and the New Testament writers, the subject of deeds or works would have to be on that list. They all spoke about it, and no one more than Jesus. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not doing the works of Abraham (John 8:39-40), and said we would be judged [...]

What deeds does Jesus know?

January 24, 2019 // 32 Comments

“I know your deeds,” says Jesus to the churches. He exhorts the Ephesians to do the deeds they did at first (Rev. 2:5), he rebukes the Sardisians for having incomplete deeds (Rev. 3:2), and he promises to reward the Thyatirans according to their deeds (Rev. 2:23). Clearly our deeds or works matter to Jesus. [...]

Will Jesus return in 2019?

January 10, 2019 // 30 Comments

And so another year kicks off with a certain Christian magazines/websites making gloomy predictions about these last days. (I was going to provide some links here but it was depressing reading and I don’t wish to promote newspaper eschatology. If you’re interested, this stuff is not hard to find.) [...]