Here in Moscow we are having our city council elections tomorrow. And of course, I would urge all Christians who are living within the city limits of Moscow to do their civic duty and get out there and vote. For those who are readers of this blog residing elsewhere, it is quite possible that there …
Old Friends On The Road
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Lord, You have favored this land, You have brought back the captivity of Jacob, Restoring the exiles. You forgave the iniquity of Your people, And You have covered up all their sin. Think for a moment. You took away all Your wrath, …
Why Didn’t Jesus Stay?
We cannot be reminded too often that the very center of our faith is a grotesque murder. Not only was Jesus murdered, but He was murdered in a miscarriage of justice—the murder was perpetrated by the very authorities assigned by God to prevent that kind of thing. We must not be permitted to gloss over …
Forget It
We noted last week that the cup we drink is the cup of the new covenant. One of the fundamental terms of the new covenant is the glorious promise that God will remember our sins no more. This, therefore, is the cup of God’s forgetfulness. What of the bread? We are told that the bread …
Speeding Up in the Wrong Direction
“And the next taunt (for that is what these are) goes right to the heart of modern evangelicalism, in which evangelistic zeal excuses just about anything. But, the Lord points out, you can only export what you are manufacturing. If you have a stupid religion, then evangelistic zeal just gets you more of it. If …
Huh
Had a strange experience tonight. I am currently involved in a writing and editing project for Veritas Press — the Omnibus materials. The first text for seventh graders has been published and can be found off to right on the bookrack. The second text for eighth graders is just about ready to go off to …
Was John Calvin An Intolerista?
In a debate with Dan Barker a couple weeks ago, he brought up his view that anyone who thinks John Calvin was a good guy has to be morally bankrupt. And since I maintained that Calvin was a good guy, and a faithful servant of Christ, that made me morally bankrupt. But the politics of …
Simon Peter
In the Scriptures, Simon Peter is always listed first in any list of the apostles that is given. He is certainly a striking figure, and no attempt to tell the story of the new covenant community would be complete without him. It is hard to imagine him as anything but a large man, but whether …
Silence is Good
A common way of sinning with the tongue is to talk a lot, aimlessly. This kind of verbal scribbling is certain to lead to tangles, problems, and difficulties. Scripture says, “He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, …
Where Christ is Revealed
We are sometimes urged away from understanding the types of Scripture on the basis of authority. Yes, people say, there may be typological significance to many aspects of Scripture, but we are not the Lord, and we are not his apostles and prophets. What authority do we have to interpret this way? This overlooks the …