You are being summoned to worship God. This is Your call to worship. So what is it you are being summoned to do? The Word plainly declares that God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. You are …
The Law and the Prince
We come now to see what Proverbs teaches about the civil magistrate. Throughout this short post, I will be using the terms king and prince, but this is merely a reflection of the language of Proverbs. The principles contained here certainly apply to magistrates in all civil orders, including governors, members of parliaments, congressmen, and …
Reformation Iconoclasm
“Reformation iconoclasm was not, however, anti-art. Rather, the rejection of graven images resulted in a major rechanneling of art” [Gene Veith, State of the Arts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), p. 59]
Why Love Fights
“We would love nothing more than to teach the truth and forget about lies. We do not want to attack lies because we have perverse love for attacking lies. The central reason a biblical minister hates a lie is because it threatens the truth, which is precious to him. A man who watches complacently while …
Ezra Nehemiah 20
Introduction: We have spent some time in Nehemiah, but not as much time as the people there themselves spent in establishing the work of reformation. As with all reformations, they often find themselves doing the same thing over again, as we find in this passage. The Text: Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, …
Define Kitsch
“There is a type of art known as ‘kitsch.’ In addition to paintings of Elvis on black velvet, this category would include plaster lawn ornaments, vacation souvenirs purchased in ‘tourist traps,’ and ‘cute’ knickknacks on the mantle. Kitsch is art of poor quality, which nevertheless manages to be enormously popular by appealing to some sentiment …
A Lover Not a Fighter
“But the Bible requires Christian leaders to know such issues, requiring in effect that Christian shepherds know what a wolf looks like. A man can be orthodox and yet be disqualified for ministry. A man can like the sheep without being qualified to fight the wolves” (“Epilogue” in Bound Only Once, p. 220).
Denying the Cat
So let us talk about Mark Twain and the problem of evil. Twain was a fool on this subject, albeit a talented one. But even though his folly is evident on every page of his “Letters from Earth,” his ability to grasp and follow the argument exceeds the ability of most superficial Christians. In this …
The Crown of the Wise
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 89 “The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.” (Prov. 14:24). One lesson that the Bible teaches, and that conservative believers have generally learned, is that wealth presents many spiritual dangers. It is …
Cheap Thrills
“Some people enjoy being scared; others enjoy the spectacle of people getting butchered. Visceral reactions—to sex, violence, shock, or dazzling special effects—are relatively easy to induce, and much popular art is only entertaining rather than done well.” [Gene Veith, State of the Arts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), p. 39]