One of the things I used to do in the Navy was let the guys know, as soon as I got to a new assignment, that I was a Christian. I figured that if I did that right off, they would help hold me to it. So somehow, some way, on the first day, I …
Champion of Our Freedoms
There is a crucial point to be taken away from Peter Hitchens’ last chapter in the The Rage Against God. This issue of whether God must be recognized by us collectively is at the heart of the culture wars, and culture means generations, and generations means that the education of the next generation is right …
Which is Hard to Do
[On Eccl. 10:15] “Some are overwhelmed by nothing. We see here some more understatement. That boy could get lost on an escalator” (Joy at the End of the Tether, p. 100).
Two Pulpit Strengths
“There is a sense, as Lloyd-Jones would have affirmed, in which a man cannot be taught to preach. He is a preacher or he is not a preacher. But assuming that he is, his skills can be enhanced by a studied attempted at the two strengths which DML-J exhibited above all others: an enlightened mind …
My First Sermon and Welcome to It
I joined the Navy when I was still seventeen, and still in high school. It was a delayed entry, so I did not have to report until the next November. That allowed me to graduate (from Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor), and to help my family use the summer to move out west, to …
Schlock and Awe
Perhaps you have seen the thesis advanced by the t-shirt that maintains that “Obama is in over his head”? It is a point of view that becomes more compelling by the day. One of the reasons why conspiracy theories are so prevalent on the hard right is that it is assumed that those doing whatever …
The Black Swan of Revival
Hunter’s next chapter, “The Challenge of Faithfulness,” was quite good, and was a helpful way to see the ways in which modernity is falling apart. (Modernity falling apart is called postmodernity.) The place where I would take issue with Hunter is over how permanent this pluralistic and confused situation is. The house of cards has …
The Streetcar of Democracy
Christians who argue for a secular public square are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Either Jesus wants this or He doesn’t. Or maybe He doesn’t care. If He doesn’t want it, then why do they? If He does, then are they not advocating a civil arrangement based on the will of the Lord, …
True Likemindedness
INTRODUCTION: The apostle Paul has been piling one argument on top of another in his attempt to urge these Christians to get along with each other. He has appealed to the judgment seat of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ bestowed on the one you are at odds with, and the folly of slandering the very …
An Exhortation for the Fourth
As it happens, today, the Lord’s Day is also the Fourth of July, a national holiday. The fact that it is not a part of the church calendar should not prevent us from taking note of it, and resolving on several things as Christians who are also part of a nation that has been surpassingly …