With D. G. Hart, T. David Gordon, And Presbycast On “A Presbyterian Church For Me”

on July 31, 2026 | Comment

Here is the audio only version: RESOURCES Subscribe To The Heidelblog! Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play Browse the Heidelshop! The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism The Heidelberg Catechism: . . . Continue reading →

Machen Resisted Big Eva In His Day

Brad Isbell

on July 22, 2026 | Comment

I think the provision of the Foreign Mission Board that utterances of missionaries should not be subject to criticism until formal charges are brought is the most preposterous interference of speech of which I ever heard. The same tactics were pursued by . . . Continue reading →

The Quest for Unattainable Ecclesial Purity and Why It’s a Pill of the Wrong Color for the PCA Today

Brad Isbell

on June 26, 2026 | Comment

My friend Dr. R. Scott Clark employed the quest motif in his important defense of Reformed confessionalism. He identified two tendencies that are counter to Reformed theology, piety, and practice: the quest for illegitimate religious certainty (QIRC1) and the quest for illegitimate religious experience (QIRE2). In today’s Presbyterian . . . Continue reading →

Against PCA Overture 56: The Accused Deserve Assistance and Representation

Brad Isbell

on June 18, 2026 | 3 Comments

Because I have been busy with selling a business (successful, transition nearly complete) and finding a house to move to another state (thus far unsuccessful), I have not been writing or podcasting much at all. I have not missed a PCA General . . . Continue reading →

Bombers And Spies: Avoiding “Nuclear Combat! Toe To Toe With The Russkies!”

Brad Isbell

on May 6, 2026 | 2 Comments

In my sixth decade, Cold War spy novels captured me, and I believe I know why. As a child, I was about all things related to war and the military. I say all things, but really my interests were limited to the American . . . Continue reading →

Machen On The Real Defenders Of Freedom

Brad Isbell

on May 5, 2026 | 6 Comments

The real defenders of liberty are those who are devoted to it for its own sake, who believe that freedom of speech means not only freedom for those with whom they are agreed but also freedom for those to whom they are . . . Continue reading →

With Presbycast On Whether Revivalism Can Be Reformed

on May 1, 2026 | 3 Comments

At the end of March Brad Isbell, Wilson Van Hooser and I discussed whether Revivalism can be Reformed. As usual, great fun was had by all. Here’s the video: Here’s the audio-only episode in the Presbycast Libsyn feed. Subscribe to the Presbycast . . . Continue reading →

Revisionist Confessional History

Brad Isbell

on May 1, 2026 | 1 Comment

1280px assertion of liberty of conscience by the independents of the westminster assembly of divines, 1644

There is an idea floating around that all the teachings of the original version of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646/1647) are basically included in or assumed by the revised American version of 1788/1789 and that agreeing with/preferring the original is more or . . . Continue reading →

Fun And Games With Theocracy

Brad Isbell

on April 4, 2026 | Comment

Many in Prague were deeply uncomfortable with courting the Ottomans, yet the leadership was seduced by the fantastical scheme of a grand alliance smashing both Poland and the Habsburgs. Scultetus (court preacher to the Elector of the Palatinate Frederick V) did a . . . Continue reading →

Disorder Is Not The Answer For The PCA

Brad Isbell

on March 19, 2026 | Comment

The issue is actually not about sex; it is about polity and ordination. Yet the bearers of non-standard titles seem to usually be women, not men. Women cannot be (and are not being) ordained in the PCA, though there seems to be . . . Continue reading →

Machen’s Last Battle

Brad Isbell

on February 12, 2026 | Comment

Dr Machen answered my call to help in presenting the cause of The Presbyterian Church of America in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Presbytery of Bismarck of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. had painted Dr. Machen as a very unsavory and troublesome . . . Continue reading →

Can Fudging And Provoking Produce Unity?

Brad Isbell

on January 26, 2026 | 1 Comment

At the end of the first paragraph of Christianity and Liberalism, the quotable Machen spun out a sentence for the ages, a statement striking rightness: In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt . . . Continue reading →

The PCA’s “Essgate”—Yes, Office & Ordination Are Muddled in the PCA, but a Social Media Conflagration Is Not Helping

Brad Isbell

on January 6, 2026 | 4 Comments

“I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.” This is an old saw often deployed against the Reformed by revivalist evangelicals to imply that the Reformed do not “do” evangelism at all (not true), and . . . Continue reading →

No Ordinary Possibility Of Salvation Outside The Church: Fence The Table

Brad Isbell

on December 27, 2025

The second BCO clause, which refers to prior approval by the session, is not a lower bar, but a higher one, and is rarely used. The standards that would guide the session would be the same. The difference is that the session . . . Continue reading →

Calvin On The Spirituality Of The Kingdom Of God

on December 10, 2025 | 1 Comment

My kingdom is not of this world. By these words he acknowledges that he is a king, but, so far as was necessary to prove his innocence, he clears himself of the calumny; for he declares, that there is no disagreement between . . . Continue reading →

Ecclesial Shenanigans = Antisocial Behavior

Brad Isbell

on November 25, 2025 | 1 Comment

With simple visuals and authentic Appalachian-American verbiage, the Little Bubby Child social media accounts1 paint a loving and humorous picture of modern-day hillbillies as they interact with broader American culture. It’s not all fun and games—the dysfunction and breakdown are on display, but the wisdom . . . Continue reading →

Honesty Is The Best Policy

Brad Isbell

on October 28, 2025

I don’t like writing about this, but I like ecclesial lawlessness even less. And I don’t seek this stuff—it is thrust upon me. Is there any reason unordained persons should lay hands on ruling elders being ordained in a PCA church? Is . . . Continue reading →

Comfort In The Correctional Complex: Heidelberg Question And Answer 1

Brad Isbell

on October 27, 2025 | 3 Comments

My church has ministered in the local prison for twenty-five years or more. The call came from inside the prison. As I remember the story, an inmate became convinced of the Reformed faith through literature he had obtained and contacted a publisher . . . Continue reading →

Prayers And Images: A Video That Never Should Have Been Made

Brad Isbell

on September 23, 2025 | 17 Comments

On Sunday, my church’s morning worship service opened with a call to worship by an elder and sung congregational praise. Then the pastor offered a prayer of invocation, making it clear who was being worshiped and why the congregation had assembled. At . . . Continue reading →

Twenty Affirmations And Exhortations For Christian Citizens

Brad Isbell

on September 11, 2025 | 6 Comments

Just as Christians are not to “grieve as others do who have no hope,” neither are we to rage as those who do not know the one true God. Continue reading →