Are Our Revivals Like Pentecost? (Part 1)

The revival that broke out in the chapel of Asbury University on February 8, 2023 is spreading. Campus Reform, a publication devoted to reporting on the state of civil liberties on American college campuses, reports that there are “seven student-led revivals across . . . Continue reading →

One Major Difference Between The Reformed And The Evangelicals

American evangelical religion, whether one traces it to Edwards, Whitefield, and Wesley or to the nineteenth-century revivalists (e.g., Charles Finney), has always been oriented around personalities. Reasonably, American evangelical Christians nurtured in the personality-oriented tradition assume that pattern as the norm when . . . Continue reading →

Secular When It Should Be Sacred

A significant part of the process of recovering and applying classical Reformed theology to our contemporary situation (sometimes called ressourcement, a French word which refers to getting back to original sources) is recovering the distinctions that we lost in the 19th and . . . Continue reading →

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RESOURCES How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008) Why I Am A Christian Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button Resources On LGBTQ . . . Continue reading →

The Beginning Of The End Of The Megachurch Era?

In a May 9 video message to the congregation, Pastor Dave Dummitt said the church was “about half the size we were before COVID . . . and as you can imagine that has financial implications.” He said leadership would be working . . . Continue reading →

Rescuing Complementarianism

Those who study these things (e.g., historians, sociologists) write of three “waves” of feminism. First-wave feminism accounts for the women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Second-wave feminism is associated with the legalization of birth control (Griswold v . . . Continue reading →

From MLM To The Freedom Of The Christian

The most intense religious meetingI ever attended, including prayer meetings with Pentecostals, was not supposed to be a religious event at all.   The Meeting I went with the fellow whom the Lord had used to lead me to Christ. He was . . . Continue reading →

Christ The Only Way, Doctrinal Confusion, And A Twofold Kingdom

A few years ago President Trump nominated Russell Vought to a post in his administration. Opponents of the nominee found an article written by Vought in which he criticized a Wheaton College professor for advocating a pluralist approach to salvation. During his confirmation hearing the ACLU bizarrely attacked Vought for denying religious liberty. The ACLU conflated Vought’s religious views with his policy views (perhaps because that is what the ACLU now does). Sen. Sanders of Vermont grilled Vought over his public, Christian conviction that faith in Jesus is the only way of salvation. Either Sanders was being cynical or he is incredibly ill-informed about a basic tenet of orthodox Christianity. Continue reading →

Therapeutic-Gnostic Pentecostalism?

If the mainstream of American evangelicalism has become entirely captive to what Christian Smith, in 2009, called “moralistic therapeutic deism” much of the rest of it has become a subsidiary: Gnostic therapeutic pentecostalism. Continue reading →

Not To Worry. Christ Is Still Lord. Nothing Has Changed

Another Christian musician has announced that he has “deconstructed” his faith. Continue reading

Warning Signs About The State Of Evangelical Pop Culture: The Visible, Institutional Church Matters

The evangelical world is gravely ill. The disease is not Covid-19. It is not even what you might suppose it to be. After all, we should not be surprised to find out about sin within the highest precincts of Big Eva. The . . . Continue reading →

Paul’s Gospel Remedy For The Sickness Of The Evangelical Megachurch Celebrity Culture

If you follow the various evangelical sub-cultures you probably know that Carl Lentz, the megachurch pastor cum superstar pastor of pop star Justin Bieber, fashion icon, one-time college basketball player, denizen of day-time TV talk shows and the tabloids, has been fired . . . Continue reading →

The State Of Evangelical Theology 2020: The Crisis Deepens

For a few years now Ligonier, in conjunction with Lifeway, has been conducting surveys of Americans (and others) to track the state of American Christianity. They want to know, as they write, what “Americans believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible.” . . . Continue reading →

Negotiating With Polyamory: A Snapshot Of Evangelicalism In 2020

H. Richard Niebuhr (1894–1962) is the slightly less famous younger brother of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). The latter was a favorite of two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. The former is most famous for his 1951 book, Christ and Culture, though his early work, The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929) and The Kingdom of God in America (1937) remain influential. In the latter he perfectly characterized liberal Christianity as that in which “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” In Christ and Culture he offered a taxonomy of Christian approaches Continue reading →

Video Available Now: American Gospel: Christ Crucified

The second installment in the American Gospel film series is available now. Brandon writes: The gospel message of “Christ crucified” has always been offensive. In our culture it is common for preachers to soften the offense of the cross, and the attributes . . . Continue reading →

Big Eva And Big Church

In a recent episode of her podcast the Chicago-based journalist Julie Roys interviewed two people, Jim and Theresa, who have a long history with the Willow Creek movement. It is a fascinating but troubling interview. The reader should listen to the interview . . . Continue reading →