The Church That Prays Together, Stays Together

by on March 17, 2019 | 5 Comments

There are many centripetal forces that tear at the bonds that hold a congregation together, so it is useful to be aware of them. After all, we live in a remarkably busy world where quiet has almost disappeared entirely. We are connected . . . Continue reading →

What Christians Can Learn From Drew Carey About Subverting Culture

by on March 14, 2019 | 1 Comment

Drew Carey is an American comedian who burst on to the national scene in 1991, when he appeared on the Johnny Carson Show. I saw that appearance and I am still chuckling. Beginning 1995 he starred in The Drew Carey Show for . . . Continue reading →

How To Circumvent BigSocMedia Censorship

by on March 12, 2019 | 4 Comments

“SocMedia” refers to Social Media platforms, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and iTunes. It also includes video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. These are websites that ostensibly a wide variety of users to post content. The attraction of such sites is that . . . Continue reading →

Canons Of Dort (25): Perservance Is Not A Covenant Of Works

by on March 7, 2019 | 3 Comments

In the previous essay we saw that the Reformed Churches defended perseverance by grace alone (sola gratia) against the Remonstrant attempt to deny perseverance by making grace resistible and conditional rather than sovereign and free. To see that we looked at the . . . Continue reading →

Killing Worship (1)

by on March 2, 2019 | 3 Comments

Years ago I was challenged by a churchgoer that I have no right to critique another church’s worship unless I have personally attended and witnessed for myself what is happening. I took this challenge and visited the local evangelical church in which . . . Continue reading →

Should Christians Practice Lent?

by on March 2, 2019

Lent as we know it today did not arise out of this biblical understanding of fasting. Rather, Lent came about as a superstitious misunderstanding both of the purpose of fasting in general and the purpose of Christ’s forty-day fast in the wilderness . . . Continue reading →

Swaim: Machen Was Right

by on February 28, 2019 | 16 Comments

In 1923, a young assistant professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary named J. Gresham Machen published a scathing critique of the worldview animating establishment or “mainline” Protestant Christianity in Europe and America. That worldview, Machen argued in Christianity and Liberalism, . . . Continue reading →

Rosaria Butterfield: From Victim To Guest: Sexuality, Intersectionality, and Hospitality

by on February 26, 2019 | 2 Comments

Raised and educated in liberal Roman Catholic settings, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield earned her PhD from The Ohio State University and was a tenured professor of English and Women’s Studies at Syracuse University where she taught until 2002. In her late 20s she adopted . . . Continue reading →