My dad’s side of the family has spent many years piecing together our family history. I think what drew them to genealogy is our relationship to the Hatfields of the Hatfield and McCoy feud (which obviously was started by the McCoys and . . . Continue reading →
By now, the pattern is familiar. A young evangelical becomes disenchanted with her religious upbringing, discovers the liturgical church, and “walks the Canterbury Trail,” joining an Anglican or Episcopal church. She may even conclude the Anglican tradition is insufficiently Catholic and turn . . . Continue reading →
How did theological examination of a man in a presbytery (body of regional church elders) in a small town in Scotland in 1717 fuel a deep-seated theological schism among ministers in the Church of Scotland and result in a movement that still . . . Continue reading →
After a visit to my father at his local hospital, I had a worldview moment. What should have alerted me from the outset was the name of the place – St. Mary’s. But then I noticed that the spiritual services wing of . . . Continue reading →
We often speak of “my church.” That is a colloquial way of saying, “the congregation of which I am a member.” We sometimes act, however, as if the church actually belongs to us. One doubts that many would be willing to admit . . . Continue reading →
What does it mean to be a member of a local church? Those who take church membership seriously recognize it comes with a lot of responsibilities. The faithful church member attends worship regularly and engages meaningfully in the divine service. They pray . . . Continue reading →
Understood in his own context, as he saw himself, John Calvin (1509–64) was before anything else an interpreter of texts. This is the task for which his humanist education prepared him. Thus, his first published work was a 1532 commentary on Seneca’s . . . Continue reading →
According to a recent CDC report, cases of syphilis are rising in the United States. The report offers an interesting window on contemporary American culture. First, it features the usual exceptionalism for health issues that are a part of the progressive remaking . . . Continue reading →
In the first article of the series, we learned that the fruit of the Spirit are Christian virtues that glorify God, bless other people, and benefit us. When Christ redeemed us, he gave us his Spirit and united us to himself, giving . . . Continue reading →
It’s a rare week when I don’t receive a message from someone in the conservative Presbyterian and Reformed world reporting a practice that the scandalized sender has witnessed in a NAPARC church. Often the report is of females reading scripture or leading some . . . Continue reading →
If I have heard it once, I have heard it countless times: “I’m not a member of any local congregation. I’m a member of the invisible church.” When one hears this, one is tempted to agree with John Murray that it would . . . Continue reading →
It is further to be observed that Paul says the fathers of the Old Testament “were in bondage under the law,” after the manner of servants, specially by reason of rites and ceremonies. And hence it follows that the observation of a . . . Continue reading →
By now, much digital ink has been spilled on social media and in the blogosphere concerning inflammatory, if not unsurprising comments made by Pastor John MacArthur on the socially dynamic issue of mental health and illness. Speaking at a church conference in . . . Continue reading →
Hi, my name is Bryce Souve, and I am the new pastor of Bethel Reformed Presbyterian Church, a congregation of the OPC in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I have been confessionally Reformed since about 2004, I gratefully attended and graduated from Westminster Seminary California, . . . Continue reading →
Infants of believing parents are likewise to be baptized. The grounds of their baptism are these. First, the commandment of God, “Baptize all nations” (Matt. 28:19), in which words the baptism of infants is prescribed. For the apostles by virtue of this . . . Continue reading →
It was 1975 and our family was living in Regina, Saskatchewan. In this prairie city my Dad had his first posting as a pilot for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He’d been serving as an RCMP officer for a few years already, . . . Continue reading →
The PCA General Assembly convened again a large convention ballroom at Baton Rouge’s Bellemont Hotel for its next Assembly. Meeting in the deep South and the furthest west to date, the 12th GA would continue hashing out areas of mission and expansion. The . . . Continue reading →
Chris Gordon, Rev. Bill Boekestein, and Rev. Joel Dykstra continue their conversation as they discuss the blatant opposition to morality in today’s culture. Continue reading →
Objection II. Believers are governed by God’s Spirit, and therefore outward government by magistrates is needless. Answer. In the visible church, hypocrites are mingled with true believers, and they are not governed by God’s Spirit, but by the spirit of the devil. . . . Continue reading →
Although we know better, Christians often think that life would be much better if we only had more money. If we had more money, we could have more stuff, and if we had more stuff, we would be more happy. That is . . . Continue reading →
