Today, the United States is one of only four nations in the world that allows for abortion on demand at any time during pregnancy. We’re in the company of those great paragons of moral virtue and human rights, North Korea and China. . . . Continue reading →
Blog Archives
Scripture Is Sufficient
Seeing that Christ Jesus is he whom God the Father hath commanded only to be heard and followed of his sheep, we judge it necessary, that his gospel be truly and openly preached in every church and assembly of this realm; and . . . Continue reading →
Ben Is Speaking Up About Religious Liberty
An Insurance Company With A Navy
Most of us were taught that government exists to provide for the common defense—a military and a social-safety net—but the actual budgets show that our government has become a big insurance company that also runs a navy. Read more» —Ben Sasse January . . . Continue reading →
Help Plant A Confessional Reformed Congregation In South Richmond
Watch Transforming Grace: Our Need For Holiness
The theme for season 5 of Office Hours is New Life in the Shadow of Death. We’ve been talking about sanctification. Dovetailing with those 20 or so episodes is the annual WSC faculty conference, this Friday and Saturday, January 17–18, 2014, which . . . Continue reading →
Church Membership: The Assembly At The Foot Of The Mountain
From the outset, it is important to note that church membership did not begin the New Testament, but rather in the Old Testament. Exodus 19 is considered the first church gathering in the Bible, because God commanded Moses to consecrate and assemble . . . Continue reading →
From The Frozen Platte To The Rockies
This gallery contains 2 photos.
A Cross And A Twofold Kingdom (2)
In Part 1 I sketched the history and current legal status of the Mt Soledad Cross and I indicated some ambivalence about that use of the cross. On the one hand, it seems clear that some opposition to the cross is less . . . Continue reading →
A Message From A Millennial To The Boomers
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lutheran Baby Boomer, Hi. Sir. Ma’am. I hear you say a lot of things about people my age in the church, people 30 and under. I hear you say them and I really am listening–mostly–but in my head, . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Struggle Of Sanctification In The Psalms (1)
Of the psalter (the 150 psalms) John Calvin (1509–164) wrote: “The varied and resplendid riches which are contained it this treasury it is no easy matter to express in words; so much so, that I well know that whatever I shall be . . . Continue reading →
True Religion At The Mall
During a recent trip to the mall I looked up to see a large sign over a store declaring, “True Religion.” Yikes! Of course it got my attention and, I admit, it made my dead orthodox pulse race just a little. These . . . Continue reading →
Prairie In Winter
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Millennial Confusion About Masculinity
In unguarded moments, the young men I work with acknowledge their disengagement, and more than that, they articulate a confusion and even ambivalence about what it means to be a man. They can make jokes about traditional male identity until the cows . . . Continue reading →
A Little Less Crowd-Pleasing
Can the Church commit itself to becoming more serious, more—may I say it?—devout, a little more courageous, a little less crowd-pleasing, a little less self-preoccupied, and a little less comfortable? Can the Church become the Church as it is supposed to be? . . . Continue reading →
Three Benefits Of Confessions
Although not particularly popular, either in our present secular milieu or in bearing our present ecclesiological amnesia, I continue to believe that having, holding, and requiring a confession is good for us. In short, a confession is good for our health, even . . . Continue reading →
Fear, Firstborn, And Fire
“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to . . . Continue reading →
No Truth Is More Needed Today
No truth today seems more self-evident in our culture than the fact that God is love. But this is not understood in its biblical setting where John immediately defines the nature of this love by saying that Christ was sent “to be . . . Continue reading →
Ben Is A Straight Shooter
We live in a time when telling the truth is not fashionable, when it’s considered a little gauche (unsophisticated, awkward) to speak the truth plainly. More than that it’s considered a little old-fashioned to talk about truth at all. As far as . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Hywel Jones On The Role Of The Holy Spirit In Sanctification
The Holy Spirit has sometimes been described as the forgotten member of the Trinity. Whether that is true it is important to recognize the Spirit’s role in progressive sanctification, that gradual, gracious renewal to the image of Christ. He is the Spirit . . . Continue reading →