The Lord “has not come into His house to be trifled with, and to have His words shuffled like a pack of cards” (Charles Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry, p. 378).
Guess Which One We’re In
“Sorokin identified three distinct phases through which cultures pass: ideational, idealistic, and sensate. Each phase has distinctive characteristics and in general runs a specific course. Virtually every human society can be found at any particular time to be in one phase or another, or in transition between two of them . . . The ideational …
Like Straw in Fire
“Many parents try to teach their sons about sexual self-control after sexual temptation becomes an issue. But sexual self-control is just one species of the genus ‘self-control.” Sexual self-control is simply a subset of self-control . . . When sexual temptation first arrives, the necessary response of self-denial must not be an entirely new concept. …
Principles and Methods
The Bible tells us to strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). The many aspects of this require much thought, study and work. One particularly important area is the important distinction between principles and methods. “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes …
Mercy As Transferred Glory
Scripture plainly teaches us that the entire created order is a revelation of God Himself. The world is a book, sometimes called general revelation. But of course the fact that the world is a book does not mean that everyone knows how to read. Mankind is adept at suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and often …
Toddlers on Your Lap
Many years ago we made the decision to disband our children’s church and nursery, and go to a system of parents training their little ones to worship with us. We have cry room, and so on, but the intent is to have our children grow up into the worship of God. We have had many …
Stones in the Wilderness
When the Lord was tempted in the wilderness, one of the points of temptation was bread. The tempter said that if He was who He claimed to be, He ought to prove it by turning stones into bread (Matt. 4:3). Jesus responded by saying if He turned the stones into bread, that would not be …
Our Secularist Mammon-Monkeys
The Persian Empire was what it was, but it still mattered whether Hamaan had the emperor’s ear or Esther did. In that case, Hamaan was bad for the Jews, and in ours Obama is bad for the unborn. On that front, we are still in a plot line waiting for the eucatastrophe. But for those …
No Soup Kitchens in the Resurrection
When the Holy Spirit moves in significant ways, He doesn’t usually specialize. One of the most striking features of reformations is how many things get addressed in them. In the great Reformation of the 16th century, doctrinal issues were on the table, as everyone knows, but it was also a liturgical reformation, a musical revolution, …
Pretend the Church Is a Bar
Lane has answered my catch-up posts in one post here. I will just touch on a few things in response, and then await his next installment. On the first matter, I don’t think we differ anymore. The disagreement now has to do with whether I have changed my views on this (which Lane thinks), clarified …