Dear visionaries, The debate between rival absolutes is one kind of debate, like the kind that happened at the battle of Tours. Obviously, when two contradictory claims of absolute truth collide, both can be wrong, but both cannot be right. The rules of engagement in this are of interest to those of us who believe …
Walking Oaths
In the Lord’s Prayer, Christ teaches us to hallow God’s name. This duty is a great one, but in our era it is not recognized as such. Some of the other commandments are generally recognized as important. As we shall see, this is not the case with this commandment, and repentance is in order. Countless …
The Meaning of Mercy
We now see a progression of thought in the Beatitudes. We began with the man who was poor in spirit, who was in mourning over his own sin. The Bible teaches that when a man is humbled, then God will lift him up. We see that here. God has shown mercy, and the recipients are …
Sabbath Authority
As God has shown His kindness to us, one of the most important cultural developments in Moscow over the last several years is the growing observance of the Sabbath feast. The practice, as it has been developing in many homes, marks the Lord’s Day as beginning Saturday night at 6pm with the Sabbath dinner, or …
Worship Tremors
If God in His grace allows this service of worship to be an earthquake, the tremors will be felt elsewhere. But this quake will not happen as the result of anything we might do or think up. Our service to Him is all of grace; if it is right, then He has done it. But …
Debating Relativism Is Like War With France
Dear visionaries, Just got back in town after a week out, and had a fun time catching up. I agree with William (!) about one post a day. What a good deal that would be. Although I am a little concerned that a liberal wants to work out this kind of a solution without the …
Spare Us Temptation
Our Father in heaven, we hallow and reverence Your name as the Lord Jesus taught us to do. We ask that Your kingdom would continue to be manifested on the earth, as we glorify the name of Your Son in heaven. We ask for our daily bread, and thank You for what is before us …
Wineskins and Other Metaphors
A recent letter writer to Touchstone magazine (responding to a review of a couple of D.G. Hart’s books) says this: “If one wishes to locate a separate Protestant “confessional” tradition, where should one go? Conservative American Protestantism is root and branch a tradition that depends for its existence and vitality on revivalism and the historical …
Health Idols
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16 11) Growing Dominion, Part 16 Pain demands that attention be paid to it. But so does imagined pain. The body, like any complicated bit of machinery, requires maintenance. But some take maintenance to an extreme, forgetting that the machine is to be kept in …
Greasy Enemies/Psalm 17
As we have noted a number of times, the psalmist had adversaries, men who were antagonistic toward him. God wants us to have much experience in bringing our adversaries before Him, and in His Word, He teaches us how to do this. We need to learn how to pray about our enemies. “Hear the right, …