RRC Now Available on Kindle and iTunes!

Due to popular demand or just the ordinary movement of technology Recovering the Reformed Confession is now available via Kindle and iTunes for $9.99. As always, the hardcopy is available through the Bookstore (ding, ding!) at Westminster Seminary California. If the sound effects make . . . Continue reading →

Pastor Willour is Reading RRC!

Pastor Geoff Willour is pastor of Lake OPC in Cleveland. He writes: “One of the things that I have noticed in recent years has been lots of discussion (both on the internet, and through numerous books and articles) on two trends in . . . Continue reading →

French Bakery or Winchells?

An HB Classic

So there’s been a lot of discussion of John MacArthur’s recent comments at the Shepherd’s Conference. Kim Riddlebarger has replied and I’ve commented on the HB (see the resources below). I’ve promised to write something on Quistorp’s summary of Calvin’s eschatology. I’ve . . . Continue reading →

What’s Your Super Secret Decoder Ring?

The Lure of the QIRC

In the 1950s, children listened to radio serials, weekly episodes of superman or other heroes. As part of these programs incentives to listen, such as a super-secret decoder ring, were offered. In my childhood the radio serials were replaced by cereal boxes . . . Continue reading →

All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go

An HB Classic on Recovering the Reformed Confession

I regularly receive an email that says: We love what we hear on the White Horse Inn and what we get from WSC and the HB and the like and we’ve visited ostensibly Reformed congregations in our area and none of them . . . Continue reading →

To Split or Stay?

When Is It Right to Leave?

Almost from the moment I came into contact with the PCA, in 1984, people were talking about whether the PCA should split. So it’s not entirely surprising that informal talk of splitting the PCA should still exist. Nevertheless, it was a little . . . Continue reading →

HB Classic: So You’re About to Call a Pastor?

[First published on the HB in June 2007] This is a sensitive topic. People don’t always think rationally or biblically or confessionally about the office of pastor. Many folk don’t understand what ministers do and most people who are involved in the . . . Continue reading →

Why the Focus on the Confessions?

Heidelcast

One of the first questions ever sent to the HB was the question, “Why the focus on the Reformed confessions?” and the closely related question, “How do you relate your emphasis on the confessions to sola Scriptura?” Those are fair questions and . . . Continue reading →

Don’t Miss Out: The Whole Armor of God Jan 18-19 2013

Legend has it that J. I. Packer wrote Hot Tub Religion in reaction to an ad, published by a certain seminary in sunny San Diego county, touting the weather as a reason to think about enrolling. Well, at the risk of provoking another book . . . Continue reading →

A Useful Resource for Psalm Singing

So Psalm 58 invites us to have patience under persecution, to take comfort in the justice and judgment of God. Why? Because we know that that judgement – all the curses of Psalm 58 and the rest of the Bible – was borne for us by Christ. We, too, were children of the devil, deserving of all of this curse. But now, because that curse was carried for us, we know that when that last trumpet shall sound we will in Christ be found. So we need not fear the judgment. Rather, we look forward to it, knowing that finally God will be ultimately vindicated and glorified. Continue reading →

Helm Replies to Lucas on the Nature of “Affections” in Edwards

Paul Helm wrote a very interesting critique of Edwards, one with which the HB has some sympathy. Sean Lucas replied by arguing that Helm had read too much into the noun “affections.” Helm has replied to Lucas by arguing that, in Edwards . . . Continue reading →

Natural Law and Light in the Reformed Confessions (Updated)

Originally posted Oct 29, 2008. Revised April 4, 2011. In the modern period, particularly in the 20th century, many Reformed folk became uneasy with the traditional Reformed language concerning “natural law.” As one who began to enter the Reformed world circa 1980 . . . Continue reading →

Who Gets to Say What Counts as Religious Affections and On What Basis?

Darryl Hart writes: “The proponents of Edwards and the First Pretty Good Awakening (hereafter FPGA) are worried about nominal Christianity – that is, people who go through the motions of worship or Christian practice. Although this is an understandable concern – who . . . Continue reading →

On Christian Freedom, Two Kingdoms, and the Right Use of Scripture

I’m grateful that you’re reading Recovering the Reformed Confession and that you took the time to write. I don’t know that I will be able to satisfy your concerns. It may be that we disagree on some basic issues. Let me try . . . Continue reading →

More on Theocracy (Updated)

A brief response to Micah Burke. He’s unhappy that I want to exclude theocrats and Baptists from the definition of the adjective “Reformed” and he argues, in effect, that I’m being selective. I’ve explained at great length here why those who deny . . . Continue reading →

Dare to Be on the Daniel Plan?

‘Dare to Be a Daniel” is one reason to adopt Mr Murray’s view that, in public worship, we should sing only God’s Word (I reached the same conclusion in RRC). Not only is the song itself tacky but its way of interpreting . . . Continue reading →