“Miss Realistic is quite a seductive little thing, but she always has ugly babies. When the cancer of corruption is well-advanced in a commonwealth, believers can easily be maneuvered into festooning themselves with the campaign buttons of the less corrupt. Such relative comparisons between ‘horrible’ and ‘not quite so bad,’ can appear quite stark, and …
No Reason to Get Up There Just to Talk
“His belief was that the passage at hand was the Word from God which had to be preached on that occasion. His sentiments ran close to the Reformed Second Helvetic Confession of 1566, that the preaching of the Word of God is the word of God. Thus Lloyd-Jones’s close alignment of preaching with prophesying; without …
Internet Filters and Moralism
I wrote a guest post for the good folks at Covenant Eyes, which you can read by going here.
Throwing Their Virgins Into the Volcano of the State
As all the different forms of Christian engagement with the world have gathered on our front lawn, we see the conservatives on the right side, the progressives on the left side, and the anabaptists off in the bushes. In this next chapter, Hunter helpfully discusses the respective forms of engagement advocated by each. As Hunter …
Worship as Haka
As you have been taught before, worship is warfare. But over time, there are some in the church who want to be known as warriors, but do not want an actual fight. What is necessary is to exalt what might be called ceremonies of fighting. This gets the blood pumping, but then you can just …
Life From Bodies as Good as Dead
One of the things that a supper does is that it enables a family to gather around, and to do so as a family. One of the things that a family does in such situations is tell the story of the family. A people are shaped by the narrative that the people tell. Part of …
The Place Where Savorless Salt is Trampled
Our Father and God, You have established Your Church as a royal priesthood in this world, and so we intercede for the nations of men now, confessing on their behalf so that the grace of Your forgiveness will soon be extended to them all. Father, as a nation we have despised the relationships that You …
Avoid that Bummer
Many of our prophetic voice brethren are willing, like Jonah, to speak truth to power. They, also like Jonah, would be entirely flummoxed if power listens to them. Jonah’s reluctance to preach to Nineveh was not driven by cowardice, or anything like that. He hated Nineveh, a godless power, an oppressor of Jonah’s people, and …
No Peace Treaties with Amalekites
The notion of Christendom is not just a personal pipe dream. It is not a collection of “wouldn’t it be nice” surmises. A Reformed understanding of the gospel, of worship, of education, of politics, and so on, is incoherent apart from a commitment to Christendom. Christendom is an essential part of a Reformed theology in …
Just Hit It
“When it comes to work, just hit it. Excuses are always plentiful. Too hot. Too cold. Too late” (Joy at the End of the Tether, p. 103).