In the course of controversy, due consideration must be given to those who get caught in the crossfire. The Westminster Confession says that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and this is not just talking about those consciences that are rightly informed. We tend to understand this principle on some subjects — there are …
Bible Stories
One fatal tendency is to assume that Bible stories are for children, and that doctrine is for adults. But in fact all the Bible is for all Christians. One of the lamentable results of biblical illiteracy is the fact that many Christians could not tell you what happened to all the saints mentioned in this …
Not in the Grain or Grapes
Jesus taught us that we should not labor for the meat that perishes, but rather for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, and this meat is the food which the Lord Jesus gives to us now. He is authorized to do this because God the Father has sealed us in Him. We do not …
The Lord’s Prayer, After All
This was the exhortation in the call to worship a few years ago when we first introduced the Lord’s Prayer into our worship service. This morning we have the privilege (and high responsibility) of introducing the Lord’s Prayer into our public worship of God. This will be done at the conclusion of the prayer of …
Wealth By Vanity
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 81 “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase” (Prov. 13:11). The contrast here is between wealth gained by labor, and wealth gained by vanity. One of the most marked distinctives of wealth …
Statement on St. Peter
Randy Booth, the moderator of the CREC Council, has posted a statement on the situation at St. Peter. That statement can be found here.
The Lure
“Advertising, which is a large part of our public world, has learned how to dip its bucket into the well of our inner desires and fantasies; it projects those desires and images as part of its merchandising prowess” [David Wells, Losing Our Virtue (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), p. 109]
Intellectual Schizophrenia
“By distorting sphere sovereignty, these authors have embraced intellectual schizophrenia. What one believes to be true in one location (church), one must forget when entering the other church he attends (the lab). At the risk of sounding revolutionary, if something is false we should reject it, regardless of the source. And if it is true, …
Prosecution and Defense
The name Satan means accuser. The word for devil is related to the word for slander. The devil is the accuser of the brethren; he accuses day and night. When the sons of God were gathering in the presence of God, God bragged on His servant Job, and Satan was the one who accused him …
Souls Without Gravity
“Thus the freedom to ‘be one’s self’ was soon held hostage to the views of others, the world of fashion, and the pressure of social trends. And without a clear sense of the self, the ability to deny the self began to weaken. Standards became blurry, and without a religious framework of meaning to give …