Always reforming, applied to the church, doesn’t mean ever broadening, keeping every innovation, or eventually enshrining every little long-allowed deviation into law—it must also include un-changing and tightening up some things. Pope Precedent the Last is not a presbyterian. Nor is he . . . Continue reading →
Christian Life
On The Monday After Easter: What Now?
It is the Monday after Easter Sunday, the most important day in the church calendar. For many, it is a time of great busyness as the typical practice is set aside in favor of flowers, choirs, and more. Big family brunches, lunches, . . . Continue reading →
Reformed Christians and Lent
Reformed Christians have at their disposal great resources to recover a richer and deeper piety of self-denial. In his exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, the English Reformed writer William Perkins devoted fifteen pages to discussing Matthew 5:16, “when you fast,” . . . Continue reading →
The CRC Is Right About Kinism (Part Two)
We began discussing the heresy of Kinism and its confusion between nature and grace in Part One of this article. The Kinists claim that people naturally congregate in ethnic/racial people groups, and they seek to use their analysis of nature to leverage . . . Continue reading →
The CRC Is Right About Kinism (Part One)
The Covid crisis and lockdowns did a lot of damage physically, spiritually, and emotionally. One effect of the lockdowns is that it has given credibility to some who opposed the lockdowns. Christians who would have never countenanced the errors of theonomy, Christian Reconstructionism, or postmillennialism are . . . Continue reading →
Who Is Causing Little Ones To Stumble?
According to numerous polls, many children of believers in Europe and North America are leaving the church once they reach young adulthood. Older Christians do not need polls to tell them this. It is evident in the pews. When we think about . . . Continue reading →
Do Not Follow Your Heart
A second complication has to do with the desires of the heart. Our desires are not like computer chips that emerge from a sterilized environment. They arise from a cauldron of mixed motives and longings. Our desires (or the “affections” as the . . . Continue reading →
The Shocking Reality Of Ordinary Christian Life
We tend toward being very pragmatic. We want to walk out of Bible study with a to-do list and may assume that the cosmic struggle represented in Revelation doesn’t lend itself to practical application. But that simply isn’t so. Revelation presents a . . . Continue reading →
Should You Attend An Ecumenical Service? (Part 2)
An old friend wrote recently to ask whether it is appropriate for a confessional Presbyterian and Reformed (P&R) pastor or congregation to participate in an ecumenical service. In Part One of this series, we discussed our terms. Now we continue the question: should . . . Continue reading →
How To Be Gracious To Singles
Single people in the church are often the recipients of unsolicited “words of encouragement”—words which, if not rooted in the truths of Scripture, can inflict pain and cultivate despair. These well-intended platitudes miss the mark of edifying talk. For those who haven’t . . . Continue reading →
Top 5 HB Posts For The Week Of February 27-March 5, 2023
Top 5 HB Posts For The Week Of February 27-March 5, 2023 Continue reading →
Is It A Sin If I Do Not Read The Bible Every Day?
As a young evangelical convert, I learned three things right away: God commands us to pray and read our Bibles every morning (the quiet time), if we listen closely enough we can hear direct revelation from God apart from Scripture (the still, . . . Continue reading →
Jon Moffit on Pietism and Assurance: Men’s Conference in Monroe, Michigan, March 3–4 2023
On the mountain, Jesus taught his disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matt 6:33). The overall aim of the Christian life is to pursue God’s kingdom, not our own kingdoms in this world. Turning away from ourselves, . . . Continue reading →
The Great Christian Hope: Communion With God
The great Christian hope is communion with God as we experience it in both this life and the next. As we traverse this pilgrim life, believers are often profoundly aware of the distance between us and God’s direct presence. In the words . . . Continue reading →
Review: J. M. Vorster’s The Gift of Life (Part 1): Political Liberalism Or Liberation Theology?
North-West University Professor J. M. Vorster’s The Gift of Life: Toward an ethic of human personhood (2021) represents a crowning of his career as a Reformed Pastor, theologian, and ethicist in the South African context.1 I review this volume as a fellow . . . Continue reading →
New: NTJ Volume 16 (No 4) For Fall 2022
The NTJ is not quite venerable but it is memorable and there is a new issue just before Autumn ends. It is perfect way to spend a cold and blustery day—inside with the NTJ, the HB, and catching up on the Heidelcast. . . . Continue reading →
Please Excuse our Dust
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—Management
Saturday Psalm Series: Psalm 88 (Part 1)—Light in the Midst of Darkness
Do Not Forget the Darkness
We live in an age of emotions or feelings. Many questions in life are centered around our emotions. How does your job make you feel? How do you feel about family time? What makes you feel happy? How can you stop having . . . Continue reading →
A Word About R2K
Since David VanDrunen published, in 2010, the first volume in what has become a series of important volumes, Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), there has been a certain degree of controversy in some quarters of the confessional Reformed world over the recovery of the “two kingdoms” as a way of thinking about Christ and culture and ethics. Continue reading →
Stemming Another Rising Tide Of Theonomy: Hebrews 7:11–14 (2)
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order . . . Continue reading →