The need is great, the mission is great but our God is greater and his grace is greater than all our sin and weakness. Pray for the harvest. Organize for the mission (to plant churches) and ask yourself where your congregation falls in the seeker — franchise — reforming continuum: is there a passion for the whole mission? Continue reading →
September 2021 Archive
What If What The Church Needs Is Not A New Christendom?
Christianity is greatest when…
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Video: With Chris Coleman On The Grounds, Reason, And Fruit Of The Second Service On The Lord’s Day
A video discussion with Pastor Chris Coleman on the biblical and historical grounds for and the fruit of the second service on the Lord’s Day. Continue reading →
What To Do About Halloween On The Sabbath?
There are three major questions here: Halloween, the Sabbath, and how Christians ought to relate their faith in Christ to their life in the broader culture. Continue reading →
Heidelcast 191: What Must A Christian Believe? (9): “And I Believe In Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord” (part 2)
This is episode 9 in the series, What Must A Christian Believe? In this episode we are considering the third article of the Apostles’ Creed: “And I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, our Lord.” With this article . . . Continue reading →
John Piper, Future Grace: The Purifying Power of the Promises of God, rev. ed. (New York: Multnomah, 2012)—A Thorough Review
Pastor John Piper is well-known for his role in sparking the “young, restless, and Reformed” movement, mainly through his emphases on God’s sovereignty and serious expository preaching. There are no doubt numerous present members of Reformed churches who ended up there because of initial investigations of Reformed theology that began with hearing or reading John Piper. Personally, Piper was my first exposure to a thorough and biblical explanation of predestination in some of the appendices of the 2003 edition of Desiring God, which I was told to read shortly after becoming serious about my faith. Continue reading →
Therapeutic-Gnostic Pentecostalism?
If the mainstream of American evangelicalism has become entirely captive to what Christian Smith, in 2009, called “moralistic therapeutic deism” much of the rest of it has become a subsidiary: Gnostic therapeutic pentecostalism. Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: It Is Not A Sin Not To Have All The Answers
It is not a sin, after all, not to have all the answers. Continue reading →
Advocates Of Religious Liberty Should Care About Federal Vaccine Mandates
Although much of the rhetoric surrounding the new federal vaccine mandates focuses on individual rights—“how dare they force me to inject something into my body?”—the government can generally regulate its own employees, or those it funds with Medicaid/Medicare dollars, so the strongest . . . Continue reading →
Is The Neo-Evangelical Coalition Worth Saving?
Yesterday Trevin Wax crystalized the case for preserving the neo-evangelical coalition, which emerged after World War II and in so doing, for Reformed confessionalists, he has also made the case against the neo-evangelical coalition. What is that coalition and what are its attractions . . . Continue reading →
Trueman On Casting The First Stone
Winston Churchill famously quipped that history would be kind to him, for he intended to write it. That line came to mind last week when I saw a tweet about America’s slave-owning past. It pointed out the rather obvious fact that Jonathan . . . Continue reading →
What If Students Were Praying In Jesus’ Name?
A local paper reports that that the Thomas More Society, which specializes in religious liberty litigation, has sued the State of California over its inclusion of an Aztec prayer in the curriculum as an activity. Continue reading
Are Mental Images Of God Unavoidable?
Q. 109. What sins are forbidden in the second commandment? A. The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; the making any representation of God, . . . Continue reading →
Another Sign Of The Collapse Of Liberal Education
Talk About "Systemic" Issues
The more I spoke out about these issues, the more retaliation I faced. Continue reading →
Reaching Romania With The Reformation
Soon, it was clear that Romania needed a Reformed church. Corcea contacted several churches in Europe for support and advice, and received an answer from Rev. Andrea Ferrari, pastor of the Reformed Church Filadelfia in Milan, Italy (also a URCNA mission). Continue reading →
Heidelcast 190: What Must A Christian Believe? (8): “And I Believe In Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord”
This is episode 8 in the series, What Must A Christian Believe? In this episode we are considering the third article of the Apostles’ Creed: “And I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, our Lord.” With this article . . . Continue reading →
Were Evangelicals And Some Reformed Folk A Little Fuzzy On Abortion Just Before Roe v Wade? Yes. So What?
The narrative is simple: American Evangelicals never were pro-life and were in fact quite pro-choice until, losing their apparent battle in favor of segregation, they decided (for reasons never fully explained) to turn against abortion in their presumed quest for political power. . . . Continue reading →
The Truth About Abortion In Colonial America
In January 1973, as the Supreme Court was announcing its Roe v. Wade decision, construction began in Philadelphia on a shopping mall and restaurant complex known as the New Market. An entire city block along Pine Street had to be excavated. During . . . Continue reading →
What Is And Is Not Gossip?
In recent months, I have had several people speak with me about situations going on around them. Each of these parties were godly Christians seeking counsel about difficult matters involving others. Each time, they would pause and say something like “I don’t . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: With Patrick O’Banion On Zanchi’s The Spiritual Marriage Between Christ And His Church
When most of us think about the great Reformed theologians we probably think of John Calvin. Perhaps we think of John Owen, and Charles Hodge. If we think a little harder we might think of Zacharias Ursinus, who gave us the Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →