What is the Cold Call Delusion? The Cold Call Delusion is the assumption that every significant encounter with Jesus should be interpreted as an initial conversion experience. This essay introduces the concept and explains why it changes the way we read the New Testament.

Before interpreting a Gospel conversation, first read how the Gospel writer introduces the character. Discover a simple reading habit that changes how you read the New Testament.

Recognition is one of the most overlooked patterns in the Gospels. While many readers instinctively view every encounter with Jesus as a conversion story, the Gospel writers often describe people recognizing the fulfillment of hopes they already possessed. This essay explores how paying attention to that pattern can open a richer way of reading the New Testament—one that allows each story to speak on its own terms before drawing theological conclusions.

The faithful remnant is a pattern woven throughout the Old Testament. Even when rebellion, idolatry, and exile seem to dominate the story, Scripture repeatedly introduces people who continue to trust God. From Noah to Elijah to the prophets and the exile, their presence reminds us that the spiritual condition of the majority never tells the whole story.

For most Christians, traveling from the Old Testament to the New Testament takes about a second. Malachi ends. We turn a page. Matthew begins. That simple page turn can obscure nearly four centuries of history. We sometimes call those centuries the intertestamental period or the 400 silent years. Both descriptions make sense from the perspective of our Christian… Read more: Between the Testaments, But Not Between the Covenants