There is a famous Luther quote that he actually didn’t say, and which my son-in-law Ben Merkle recently tracked down. Here is the quote, and it is a hummer. “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and …
Wisdom Walks
Unbelief devours people, and delights in it. Unbelief can consume one person, as an edible dainty from a passing tray, or, greedy as death, it can gulp them down by the pouch full — denominations, seminaries, publishing houses, families, and cities. Grendel, it is said, could grab thirty men at a time. And just as …
The Problem With Smart People
The real problem with smart people is that they so frequently aren’t. The confusion — of which we have many examples, alas — is between having a car with a really high rpm, and having a car that is on the right road. The two need not be the same thing at all. Look at …
Voting in a Wobbly Canoe
Yesterday I exhorted the saints at Christ Church to make sure that they voted in our local election tomorrow. In the course of that exhortation I said that it was not the church’s business to descend into partisan factionalism, but that it was our responsibility to pray that we would be allowed to “lead a …
Amending the Constitution to Mention Noah
A few days ago, I mentioned a question I had asked David Van Drunen during our time together at a conference in Dayton, Ohio. The background of the question was his understanding of the “two kingdoms.” He understands the two kingdoms to be the church on the one hand, the realm of redemption, and the …
In a Perfect World . . .
“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Ex. 18:21). In a perfect world — because it is an imperfect world — …
Doug Phillips’ Resignation from Vision Forum
I thought I should say something about Doug Phillips’ resignation from Vision Forum, but it won’t be very much. The news was of course tragic, sad, and humbling. That said, I thought his letter of resignation was good, and accomplished what a letter like that needed to accomplish. I am glad he stepped down from …
Book of the Month/November
This book is only available in electronic form, but given the nature of the book, I want to make it my book of the month anyway. It is the kind of book that every church that practices church discipline (which should be all of them) ought to have on the premises. Correction: there is …
Brother Down Release
As I announced earlier, Reformation Day — happy Reformation Day, by the way — is the release date for Brother Down’s latest album, “Old Paths New Feet.” And here we are, right on schedule. Digital downloads are now available in various places, but let me link you to iTunes and to Amazon. If you go …
Just One More Thing . . .
Tim Bayly passed on this joke over at his place: Two aged orthodox Episcopal priests knelt side-by-side in the trendy new diocesan cathedral, waiting for their bishop’s Easter service to begin. It commenced with a lonely, eerie wisp of Tibetan bells wafting through the rafters. Then a chorus of plucked hand-harps took up the icy …