“There is no such thing as truly ‘pure’ violence. Nevertheless, sacrificial violence can, in the proper circumstances, serve as an agent of purification. That is why those who perform the rites are obliged to purify themselves at the conclusion of the sacrifice. The procedure followed is reminiscent of atomic power plants; when the expert has …
An Evangelical Sacrament
God has established His covenant in the world, and this covenant is visible. It has visible and external signs, and the covenant people of God gather at particular, identifiable places. They have water placed on them, they hear the Word preached, they sing songs, they pray, they eat the bread and drink the wine. God …
Wipe Your Feet At the Door
During our time of confession, there is a short time in which you are urged to confess Your individual sins. The time there is not short because we are trying to encourage you to trivialize whatever sin you may be confessing. Nor is it because we do not want you to have time to gather …
Why Being Smart Just Changes the Speed At Which We Can Get Into Sin
“I gladly admit that we [the cultured] number among us men and women whose modesty, courtesy, fair-mindedness, patience in disputation and readiness to see an antagonist’s point of view, are wholly admirable. I am fortunate to have known them. But we must also admit that we show as high a percentage as any group whatever …
Distance Learning
“Incidentally, this is one reason why all forms of cyber-education will necessarily be second best. Certain learning can be acquaried at a distance, and in one sense every book ever written is a form of ‘distance learning.’ Consequently, what can be place on a page and withdrawn from that page many years later can also …
Restrained Vengeance
“Such thinking reflects the ignorance of a society — our own — that has been the beneficiary of a judicial system for so many years that it is no longer conscious of the system’s real achievements. If vengeance is an unending process it can hardly be invoked to restrain the violent impulses of society. In …
The Limitless Skies
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Within my heart, the wicked strut, They have no fear of God at all, Before their eyes, they have no fear. His eyes can flatter, and they do, He flatters his own soul with lies, He does …
God is Great, God is Good
One of the great temptations that confronts believers is that of accepting slanderous caricatures about God. We will be considering this in greater detail in the message today, but it is a point that, frankly, needs to be stated again and again. The wicked say that God is going to rip us off, and so …
Voting With Bread and Wine
This event is a public ritual. It is a sacred meal at the center of the new city, the City that God is establishing in the earth. It is a potent meal, but it is not potent in the way a nuclear reactor is, or a great turbine engine is, or a profound magic spell. …
Some Ligonier Links
The lawsuit against “Frank Vance” has been dropped. Here is the statement by Ligonier, and another one by Tim Dick. Because certain things were alleged about the treatment of Don Kistler, his statement is here. HT: Justin Taylor