…But how do we do that with someone we might think to be unworthy of our love and good deeds? How do you love a jerk? You might say take a look in the mirror. Humbly realizing that we’re all unworthy jerks . . . Continue reading →
Christian Life
Tyler The Ex-Evangelical Quits Swimming
(HT: Brian Brindis De Salas) Resources How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia The Heidelblog Resource Page How to support Heidelmedia: use the donate button below this post. Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R . . . Continue reading →
Do Not Insist on Your Own Way
Recently, I have been reading Carl Trueman’s excellent newest book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Crossway, 2020), and listening to Christianity Today’s fascinating podcast about Mark Driscoll’s ministry, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. One thing that stood out to me, which I think captures an ongoing pastoral issue throughout the church, is the predominance of preferences. Continue reading →
Would You Send Your Child Away From The Dinner Table Unfed Weekly?
I can understand why evangelicals and others, who do not have a covenantal theology, would exile their children during public worship but I do not understand why so many ostensibly Reformed congregations have adopted the practice of dismissing their covenant children from . . . Continue reading →
How You Can Help The HB
HB Comments are open (subject to the rules) and comments are encouraged. Continue reading
It Is Not What It Appears To Be
Another pastor contacted me this morning with another report of another 40-something man leaving his family for an affair. Continue reading
Gothard Replaced The Covenant Of Grace With A Covenant Of Works
One of the formative experiences of the earliest part of my Christian life was my exposure to Bill Gothard and the Institute of Basic Youth Conflicts. Each night for several nights we piled into the church bus (it was a Southern Baptist . . . Continue reading →
“The Marrow Was Birthed To Avoid Legalism And Antinomianism”
The Marrow of Modern Divinity was regarded by the orthodox Reformed, in the 17th century, as a good summary of the orthodox view of law and gospel, justification, sanctification, and the third (normative) use of the law in the life of the Christian. . . . Continue reading →
“Bearing with one another in love”: Robert Rollock on Ephesians 4:3
We owe a debt of gratitude to Reformation Heritage Books and General Editors, R. Scott Clark and Casey Carmichael, for the latest publication in their “Classic Reformed Theology” series, Robert Rollock’s Commentary on Ephesians.
How To Avoid Accidentally Becoming One Of Job’s Friends
During my treatment, two friends with cancer reached the end of the line, moving from experimental chemotherapy to palliative care, to dying, to death. It all happened so quickly. I was in remission, but for what? To wait around for this to . . . Continue reading →
A Beginner’s Guide To Addressing Spiritual Abuse In The Church
Recently I had an interesting exchange on social media regarding the extent of spiritual abuse by leaders in confessional Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. The charge is that spiritual abuse is a widespread problem in the confessional Presbyterian and Reformed world. I am . . . Continue reading →
You Are Not God. You Do Not Speak Things Into Existence
Holy Scripture teaches us that God spoke “in the beginning” out of nothing (ex nihilo) to create all things that are by the power of his Word. Continue reading
With Presbycast In The Cantina On Common Grace, Nature And Grace, Eschatology, And Christian Liberty
The Presbycast guys are at it again, this time they have set up an online Star Wars Cantina. It is a rough neighborhood but they took good care of me and I escaped unhurt. I cannot speak for all the other guests . . . Continue reading →
Is Your Church Preparing You For Trials?
There was once a time that we lived “normal” lives. We Americans could have been excused for thinking that life was all about creature comforts. Many of our churches even reflected and encouraged this in their teaching and worship. Living your “best . . . Continue reading →
Living Through A Time Of Great Loss
Americans born after World War II, for most of that time, have experienced prosperity and medical progress hitherto unknown in human history. We have been led to expect that, given enough resources, medical science can conquer virtually anything. In an undated story . . . Continue reading →
Why Did God Put A Crook In The Lot?
But in Thomas Boston’s usage the crook is the crooked, that is the uncomfortable, discontenting aspects of a person’s life, the things that the Puritans called losses and crosses, and that we speak of as the stones in our shoe, the thorns . . . Continue reading →
A Message To Millennials (And Zoomers) About Marriage
Millennials seem to have given up on marriage. In their defense, a Millennial might argue, “We’re just being consistent. The Boomers showed us that marriage is a joke. They gave us “no-fault” divorce, the Gen-Xers were a half-way house and we’re consistent. . . . Continue reading →
What Must You Know To Live And Die Blessedly?
2. How many things are necessary for you to know, that in this comfort you may live and die blessedly?
What Is Your Only Comfort In Life And In Death?
What is your only comfort in life and in death?
Continue reading →
Top Ten Posts Of 2020: Happy New Year From the Heidelblog
Happy New Year from the Heidelblog. Whether we think about civil politics, Covid-19, or doings in the broader evangelical world, 2020 is not a year we will soon forget. This is the 13th year of the Heidelblog (including its progenitor) and the . . . Continue reading →