Once there was a very submissive wife, at least in her own mind. She wholeheartedly embraced whatever her husband asked of her, so long as she thought it was the right thing to do. She had very strong views on submission, and she pushed her husband regularly to make the right decisions, so that she …
Objective Christians and Husbands
In a recent book entitled The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, Rick Phillips says this: “Eventually, the evangelicals gave in to that pressure, agreeing that if you are baptized you are a Christian, even if you deny the deity of Christ and the atoning work of the cross. This is of the greatest importance …
Pleasant Words
INTRODUCTION Messages on the tongue can easily cause every Christian to respond with some sort of uh oh. We all know how readily we sin with the tongue, and if a preacher is aiming for conviction it is fairly easy to hit that target through preaching on “sins of the tongue.” But we all know, …
Offering Up Our Rest
: Father in heaven, You have given great and wonderful gifts to us, and among them we count this food, this opportunity to serve one another in fellowship as we eat it, the opportunity to sing before You, and the privilege of worshiping You tomorrow as we gather together with all the saints in the …
God or god?
“Apologetics in the Void” are repostings from an on-going electronic discussion and debate I had some time ago with members of our local community. The list serve is called Vision 20/20, and hence the name “visionaries.” Dear visionaries, Allow me to begin by reiterating what I said at my first entrance — don’t want to …
Ronald Reagan, R.I.P.
The passing of Ronald Reagan is important on a number of levels. Commentators have noted everything from the impact on the current election, to legacy of Reagan’s anti-communism. There is much to add on all this, but in the current context I simply want to note one thing. This is coming from someone who voted …
Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time there was a Christian people who had drifted from the right worship of God. They had, through laziness and unbelief, neglected to worship God the Father through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, they ceased offering worship that was distinctively Trinitarian. As a result, this people …
Christendom Lite
Many years ago I wrote a piece for the journal Antithesis on the necessity of Christian education. Later on, I picked that article up and modified it so that it became a chapter in Standing on the Promises. As part of the continuing debate on education in the Southern Baptist Convention, the editor of the …
A Synod of Owls
Once a great synod of Reformed owls gathered together for a confabulation of their wits, to wit, putting their brains together to solve a problem that had long roiled the world of owley Reformedness. Now, in that last sentence, I must confess that I was sorely tempted to write, “of their wits, to wit, to …
The Real Reasons They Left
It was the early evening of the day in which Gideon had told his army that all who were faint of heart could return to their homes. A group of soldiers were gathered around their campfire, and they were explaining to one another why they had all decided to return to their homes in just …