Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has issued a “cease and desist order” to Holy Name College, a community of Franciscan Catholic priests and brothers, who have provided pastoral care to service members and veterans at Walter Reed for nearly two decades. The government’s . . . Continue reading →
2023 Archive
The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 2
Before we dive into the preface of GAJ, we should shore up two points from the first installment: 1) The Modernity of Dispensationalism; and 2) The fundamental nature of the distinction between law and gospel. Dispensationalism: A Modern Paradigm Dispensationalism is a Modern . . . Continue reading →
Why I No Longer Use Transgender Pronouns—And Why You Shouldn’t, Either.
I have publicly sinned by advocating for the use of transgender pronouns in interviews and public Q&As. Why did I do this? I have a bunch of lame and backside-covering excuses. Here are a few. It was a carry-over from my gay . . . Continue reading →
Top Five Posts For the Week of April 17–23, 2023
These were the top five posts for the week beginning April 17–23, 2023. Continue reading →
Heidelcast: Sin, Salvation, & Service: The Threefold Truth Of Romans (17)
The series on Romans continues! The opening audio clip features Michael Shellenberger from the Joe Rogan podcast. Continue reading →
Saturday Psalm Series: The Blessed Man, The Blessed Life, The Blessed Word—Psalm 1 (Part 1)
Psalm 1 is one of those passages that folks like to preach at the beginning of a new calendar year or ponder at the outset of a significant new season in life. Indeed, this psalm is particularly dear to my family. For . . . Continue reading →
The True Definition of ‘Woke’ Is ‘Anti-thought’
Once upon a time we were supposed to see the woke agenda as striving towards social justice. That’s because the term “woke” originated many decades ago as black slang that meant a keen awareness of the many forms of discrimination. But no . . . Continue reading →
Is the Offering an Element, a Circumstance, or Neither?
The Reformed churches order their worship services according to the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) This principle says that we must do only that which God has commanded in his Word. When planning the elements (see below) of a service, the only . . . Continue reading →
How Autistic Traits Can Be Mistaken For Gender Dysphoria
In recent years there has been an exponential rise in the number of adolescents and young adults adopting transgender identities, stirring intense debate about its underlying causes. Mainstream discourse on this issue has centered on factors such as social influence, greater societal acceptance, and expanding . . . Continue reading →
Strong Meat from the Stacks: The Art of Man-Fishing
Ministers are fishers by office; they are catchers of the souls of men, sent “to open the eyes of the blind, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” Acts 26:18. Preachers of the . . . Continue reading →
A “Religion of No Efficacy”
During his first few years in England, Edmund Burke compiled essay sketches and fragments in a notebook published only in the mid-twentieth century. One of the entries in that notebook, possibly co-written with his distant cousin William Burke, is entitled “Religion of No Efficacy . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Machen On Christianity & Liberalism (13)
This is part 13 in our series in which Machen shows the importance of doctrine, even if it means one Apostle must correct another. Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Machen On Christianity & Liberalism (12)
This is part 12 in our series. In this episode Machen explains how the founders of Christianity get to say what it is. Continue reading →
Regarding Gambling
I do not write this out of any concern that gambling is necessarily a widespread practice among Christians, though I would not be surprised to find it so, since “Do not be conformed to this age” does not appear to be energetically pursued today. I write, instead, because I am surprised at the virtual silence on the question of the propriety of gambling among professing Christians. Continue reading →
Censorship Of The Dead: The SciFi Writers Warned Us
Last week The Telegraph reported that Agatha Christie’s novels are being sanitized for re-release. HarperCollins, their publisher, is removing references to physique, race and ethnicity in new editions of Miss Marple and selected Poirot novels. Christie joins Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming . . . Continue reading →
Muether on Van Til: A Review
It is hard to overstate the influence of Cornelius Van Til on confessional and conservative Reformed theology since the early twentieth century. I will use myself as an example because I think that what I experienced is fairly representative of what others . . . Continue reading →
A Tale of Two Student Protests
Student protests and threats to speakers are not a new thing. There were student strikes at the universities of Oxford and Paris in the thirteenth century. Martin Luther, arriving in Leipzig to debate John Eck in 1519, surrounded himself with an armed . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Machen On Christianity & Liberalism (11)
This is part 11 in our series. In this episode Machen discusses the penchant of theological liberals to use traditional Christian language in less than orthodox ways. Continue reading →
Top Five Posts For the Week of April 10–16, 2023
These were the top five posts for the week beginning April 10–16, 2023. Continue reading →
The Gospel According To John (MacArthur)—Part 1
The controversy over the so-called Lordship Salvation doctrine has its proximate roots in a series of sermons through the gospel of Matthew preached by John MacArthur from about 1978 to 1985.1 He published the first edition of The Gospel According to Jesus . . . Continue reading →