The kingdom of heaven, Jesus taught, is like a dragnet. It hauls in everything that it finds in its path. And so it is that we here, seated at this Table in history, must necessarily sit down with—to mix our metaphors—good fish, bad fish, broken beer bottles, reptiles, weeds, and old bicycle tires. Jesus does …
Getting Miered Down
For many observers, the conservative revolt over the Miers nomination to the Supreme Court was out of the blue. But for those paying attention, it is not hard to explain at all. For a number of years, movement conservatives have been holding their noses (and largely keeping quiet) over lots of issues — the appalling …
Axis of Treacle
“For now it should suffice to say that modern evangelicalism (not historic evangelicalism) is represented by what one president called the axis of treacle — Christianity Today, the Christian Booksellers Association, Wheaton College and its environs, Colorado Springs and its environs, Thomas Kinkade, and Jerry B. Jenkins” (A Serrated Edge, p. 13).
Generalizing Away
“When I say this sort of thing — that the North had drifted into theologically liberal goo thought and the South was orthodox and Christian — I know I am painting with a broad brush. I know it is a generalization. Even today, if I were to refer to the ‘Bible belt,’ I would not …
The Wonders of Food and Drink
Heavenly Father, we rest in You and in Your gracious salvation. We glory in the wonders of food and drink, and how they display Your kindness and grace. We know that our bodies are strengthened by these means, and we pray that our souls would be strengthened in a comparable way, as we celebrate yet …
When And What To Plunder From the Egyptians
Whenever believers confront unbelieving cultures, the perennial question arises — what can and cannot be taken from them and used by us in the advancement of the kingdom? One of the most enduring illustrations of what to do here is the image given by one of the early church fathers, which is that of plundering …
More Red Statey Extremism
Nick Gier, one of our Intolerista honchos, had a letter in our local paper tonight. This is a letter which I would like to gloss for you as a public service. His letter is in bold, my comments are interspersed. I was shocked to learn that the Daily News has given Ed Iverson, someone closely …
Jeremiah Hurts the War Effort
Throughout the stories told in the Old Testament, we find three kinds of figures. All of them in various ways are types of the Lord Jesus, but no one figure portrays Him completely. We have kings, like David or Hezekiah. We have faithful priests, like Aaron or Jehoida. And we have the prophets, men like …
Godly Cover Ups
One of Jane Austen’s characters (somewhere) says that honesty is a greatly over-rated virtue. Of course we should not take this as a basis for justifying ungodly lies or other forms of unrighteous deceit. But at the same time, we should recognize that within the Church there are a number of verbal sins which are …
Covenant Renewal Worship
As we change our order of worship, we need to be mindful of the fact that we do not change for the sake of change — we are not merely rearranging the furniture to keep from becoming bored. That is a mentality that comes from restless spirits, who think that spontaneity is the justification of …