The political process that we have in this country was greatly influenced by the Church in generations past, and it continues to be influenced by Christians today. But the influence we used to have and the influence we have today are very different. The whole idea of representative government was established in the Church long …
Strength to be Humble
Last week I urged you to come freely to this Table, even if there is a sin gnawing at your conscience, and you know that you have not done what you ought to have done to put that sin right. You know that you need to, and you even know that you are going to. …
Strange Contentment
INTRODUCTION: Rightly understood, contentment is impossible to understand. A preacher who sets himself to explain it is therefore heading into treacherous waters. He needs to take care to explain only those aspects of it that are laid out in the Word, and then leave the the Holy Spirit to His work in bringing about contentment …
Hope I Remember to Say That
I am glad that Green Baggins is feeling a little less green at the gills, and has returned to the fray. He responded to my post on the nature of apostasy by suggesting that I am committing the fallacy of composition. If sodium is a poison, and it is, and chloride is a poison, then …
And Way to the Right
A former student was hiking in Virginia, and snapped a photo of something that he thought was pretty funny. Must be thinking of the east coast Wilsons.
Lord of Lords or Lord of Flies?
In this passage, some scribes from Jerusalem are guilty of an enormity, and Jesus pronounces that those who accept this line of argument are in danger of a fearful judgment — that of eternal damnation. “And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth …
Riding the Pale Horse
“The Anglican position, on the other hand, by freeing the prince from this strict dependence on scripture and yet making adherence to the prince’s church compulsory, leaves the religious life of every individual in bondage to political power. Whatever they say, even whatever they wish, the puritans are driven to put the Church above the …
Proclamation and Appeal
“Fundamentally, [the apostolic kerygma] consisted of only two parts, which we may perhaps call ‘proclamation’ and ‘appeal'” (John Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait, p. 40).
Slavery and Islam
“While much has been written concerning the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, surprisingly little attention has been given to the Islamic slaver trade across the Sahara, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. While the European involvement in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Americas lasted for just over three centuries, the Arab involvement in the slave …
Inverted Sentimentality
“The idea that, after an event such as the Great War, an artistic celebration of the world is no longer possible is nonsense, compounded of strangely twisted romanticism and inverted sentimentality . . . But this is simply a pose: supposing an Adorno-like figure had said, ‘After the war, sexual pleasure is no longer possible,’ …