Here is the Ligonier announcement: As a result of the global health crisis, churches are canceling Bible studies, small groups, and Sunday school classes. Pastors and elders around the world are thinking about new ways to bring God’s Word to their congregations. . . . Continue reading →
Covid-19
Should You Give Yourself Communion At Home?
Joe writes to ask Hi Dr. Clark, My church is currently streaming service online and advocating for family worship at home. They are also encouraging us to get bread and juice/wine and take communion during service hours with our families. Is this . . . Continue reading →
Video: Bob Godfrey Puts The Corona Virus Into Historical Perspective
Ligonier has released a video featuring Bob Godfrey putting the Corona virus pandemic into historical perspective. Watch it here. How to subscribe to Heidelmedia
Heidelcast 146: I AM That I AM (14): God’s Sovereign Arrangement Of All Things
We are continuing our series on the doctrine of God, I Am That I Am. This is part 14 of the series, which begins with Heidelcast episode 123. We could not be addressing a more timely topic: providence. Heidelberg Catechism 27 asks: . . . Continue reading →
ICYMI: Indulgences Are Still A Thing In Rome (And The Reformation Still Matters)
The Reformation was a complex event, which happened for many reasons but the triggering event on which many have focused over the centuries was Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses (1517). Though provocative, the theses were not themselves all that radical. Luther’s discovery of the . . . Continue reading →
The Church And The Virus: Is This An Acts 5:29 Moment?
Introduction The Covid-19 Shutdown of 2020 has begun to produce a reaction, at least in the USA. Recently we have seen large-scale demonstrations in several states. The various orders issued by governors, mayors, and county executives to restrict movement has produced a . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 151: Christ, Culture, And Covid-19
The Covid-19 Shutdown of 2020 has begun to produce a reaction, at least in the USA. Recently we have seen demonstrations large and small in several states and particularly here in California. The various orders issued by governors, mayors, and county executives . . . Continue reading →
Behold, I Make All Things New
Coronavirus, Civil Liberties, And Crisis
In California we are in phase 2 of unlocking the public-health lockdown imposed in light of the Coronavirus (Covid-19). One of the costs of the stay-at-home has been a prohibition of all public gatherings. In phase two meetings are now allowed but . . . Continue reading →
Virtual Communion Is Not Communion
There are several reasons why the meal that was in Jesus’ presence which he constituted as the Lord’s Supper cannot be shared across the internet’s bandwidth. First, this Supper is a churchly meal. The Supper that we receive has to be “this . . . Continue reading →
NYT Blames Churches For Spreading Coronavirus, Ignores Protests And Riots
In this morning’s New York Times three staff reporters filed a story datelined “Pendleton, Ore” (odd question—why not use the standard postal abbreviation for Oregon, which has been in use for decades?) and it begins ominously: “Weeks after President Trump demanded that . . . Continue reading →
Justices Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, And Kavanaugh On The Erosion Of Religious Liberty Under The Covid Regime
The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. It says nothing about the freedom to play craps or blackjack, to feed tokens into a slot machine, or to engage in any other game of chance. But the Governor of Nevada apparently has . . . Continue reading →
Between Conscience And Defiance: Questions For Grace Community Church
Introduction Grace Community Church met for worship this past Sunday. Ordinarily that would not be news but we are not living in ordinary times. In order to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the State of California has forbidden churches to meet indoors . . . Continue reading →
Of Masks And The Weaker Brothers
Introduction One of the stranger controversies to emerge in the broader Christian community and within congregations in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic has been over masks, whether the state has the authority to require citizens to wear masks, whether the church . . . Continue reading →
Tribalism And Irony
This came over the transom this morning: Continue reading →
Church Services, Covid-19, Civil Liberties, And The Culture War
Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, CA has been at the center of a heated theological and cultural controversy over whether churches should abide by public health orders (ostensibly) intended to curb the Coronavirus and if so, how. As previously chronicled in this . . . Continue reading →
A Useful Distinction Regarding Church And State In Our Covid-19 Controversy
For better or worse John MacArthur and Grace Community Church have become the public face of resistance to California’s onerous Covid-19 regulations. They have also become entangled in the culture war over masks and aligned with the Trump administration, since the president . . . Continue reading →
What “Science!” Cannot Do
Science is a tool with limitations. Science does not tell you how you should live your life, and science does not tell politicians what policies they should set. It may and, in many circumstances does, provide helpful information in making such decisions, . . . Continue reading →
Charges Possible After Saturday Fracas In Moscow, ID; Charges Against Kirkers Remain
A 59-year-old man punched a 55-year-old man multiple times in the face after the younger man threw coffee at the older man Saturday afternoon during a protest across the street from the Moscow Police Department, according to Moscow police Capt. Will Krasselt . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Joel Kim On Returning To Class And Forty Years Of Faithfulness
The beginning of the Fall semester for the academic year 2020–21 marked the beginning of the 40th year of Westminster Seminary California. In 1980 we were in an office complex in San Marcos, CA and in the fall of 1984 we began . . . Continue reading →