It is very hard to process all that is going on right now in my country. I was in Kyiv when Putin sent his missiles and cruise rockets in every major city of Ukraine (including Kyiv). I woke up from explosions at . . . Continue reading →
Author Archives: Heidelblog
The Truth About Fasting
Fasting has ordinarily been practiced as giving up food for a fixed time, and has been a fixture of the Christian tradition since its beginnings. One of the earliest Christian documents, the Didache, has several instructions regarding fasting that touch multiple aspects . . . Continue reading →
How Hungarian Reformed Christians Are Helping Ukrainian Refugees
In the middle of the night a car arrived. Two families got out of the vehicle, that is two moms and three children. Both ladies are wives of pastors in northern Ukraine, in a city with an important transport hub, which makes . . . Continue reading →
Her First Time In A Confessional Reformed Church
When Sara Drew worshiped at an Orthodox Presbyterian church for the first time, she found a congregation lifting one voice like she had never heard before: “[There were] rich, beautiful, theological hymns that told of God’s deeds, rejoiced in his goodness, and . . . Continue reading →
A Forgotten Catechism Recovered
One of the most forgotten Elizabethan Puritans is Richard Greenham (c. 1542–1594). As an early Elizabethan puritan, Greenham’s influence in the late 16th century was second only to that of William Perkins. He wrote a very helpful catechism on the Christian faith . . . Continue reading →
Payne’s Post Mortem: What The Defeat Of The Overtures Signals For The Future Of The PCA
The PCA Has Moved From Being Broad To Being Progressive
The Book of Church Order (BCO) amendments that many hoped would guard the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) from further infiltration of Revoice/Side B Gay doctrine were officially defeated. Yes, in case you haven’t heard, the amendments are now dead in the . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: The Sexual Revolution Will Be Televised
The appointment of Sam Brinton, a very public “queer” activist, to the U.S. Department of Energy is merely the latest sign of decadence in the dying culture of the West. Brinton, a man of such exotic and public perversions that I cannot . . . Continue reading →
The Incarnation Makes All The Difference
In Dr. Strachan’s brief comment on this section, he states that “In another little-discussed reality, everyone who believes Scripture must confess the Father’s headship over the Son to some degree. It does no violence to the Son—truly God, truly man—to be “subjected” . . . Continue reading →
Who Is Packing The Church Courts?
The terms, tropes, and tactics of secular politics certainly influence ecclesial politics, so it’s no surprise to hear one of the Presbyterian Church in America’s most prominent and influential pastors sounding very much like a pundit on a cable news show: Conspiracy! . . . Continue reading →
Brothers, The Time Is Now
In 1643, George Gillespie traveled to London as one of the eleven Scots chosen to participate in the Westminster Assembly. Initially tasked by Parliament to revise the 39 Articles of the Church of England, one of the most contentious topics of the . . . Continue reading →
Nine Ways To Encourage Women In The Church
Le Ann Trees, at Beautiful Christian Life, has published a brief essay Continue reading
Reasons For Confessionalists In The PCA To Remain Optimistic
Despite The Defeat Of Overtures 23 And 37
Despite voices warning the PCA was slipping down a progressive slope, for the most part confessional churches (now referred to by the chic as “Neo-Fundamentalists”) and progressive congregations (are they the “Neo-Liberals” according to the new chic nomenclature?) got along well enough . . . Continue reading →
“Who Do You Say That I Am?” (Mark 8:27–30)
The Open And Hidden Costs Of Sexual Abuse
Today was a tough day for us as we passed through another ramification of sexual betrayal and sin. Today Eric pled guilty in a federal court to “having sex with Ugandan female minors as young as age 14 that were under his . . . Continue reading →
Bob Godfrey: What’s Going On Right Now? Sex, Race, Politics, And Power (10)—The Darwin Effect
In this session, Bob Godfrey turns his attention to the effect of Darwin’s theory. You might think of it chiefly as a scientific theory but it did not remain confined to science (e.g., origin of the species etc). Darwin’s theory occurred in . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On “The Exclusive Particle”
Throughout his works Perkins objected to the idea that one was justified by a mixed faith. On the contrary, faith was to be regarded as an instrument “to apprehend and apply that which justifies, namely, Christ and His obedience.” Perkins saw justifying . . . Continue reading →
Christianity Is A Public Faith Grounded In Fact Claims About History
Is Christianity private or public? Does the truth about Christ Jesus, who is the object of my faith, depend on my own private beliefs, or is there something verifiable that can be “fact-checked”? The reason I pose these questions is because we . . . Continue reading →
Bob Godfrey: What’s Going On Right Now? Sex, Race, Politics, And Power (9) With Bonus Audio
In his next session, Bob Godfrey resumes his talks on what happened to Christendom and how the church should adapt to a post-Christian world. In this series Bob seeks to understand why this contemporary world seems so strange. In this session he . . . Continue reading →
The Reformation Was Not As Radical As You Think: Calvin And Virtue Ethics
There is a widely held perception today—shared by ethicists, historians of ethics, and theologians—that the Reformation inaugurated a sharp break from earlier forms of eudaimonist virtue ethics prevalent in the medieval period (Rehnman 2012, 473–75, 490; Herms 1982). The assumption that the . . . Continue reading →
Of Wickedness And Narratives
Narratives are funny things, but there’s a certain consistency to them from decade to decade, even from century to century. In the organizational world (including the visible church), those persons, departments, coalitions, or factions perceived as narrow, precise, and conservative are usually . . . Continue reading →