Near the end of his life, the great Augustine published a book called Retractions, in which he corrected earlier mistaken notions of his that had made it into books. Because of his stature as a theologian, that move was obviously necessary. Others, like myself, may be pressed to a similar duty for reasons having more …
And Be Sure to Check Out the Video
There are lots of roads to drive down as you make your way to get the book.
Wall Street Without Walls
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 153 “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls” (Prov. 25:28). If we strip away all the legal business entities that we structure and create for ourselves—partnerships, corporations, …
Cheese to Challenge Your Manhood
“Cheese is at once a testament to the Creator’s ingenuity in providing enzymes and bacteria that will do fearful and wonderful things for milk and to man’s audacity in the face of some pretty forbidding stuff. The blander varieties, of course, are hardly more alarming than milk itself; but the farther reaches of the subject …
Sin Alienates
The word apallotrioo refers to alienation. In conjunction with another word, it is rendered as “be alienated,” and by itself as “be alien. All of the scriptural uses are in Paul, and he uses to describe the condition of those who are strangers to God. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your …
Sermons, Not Essays
“Do you not think that many sermons are ‘prepared’ until the juice is crushed out of them, and zeal could not remain in such dry husks? . . . You will never get a crop if you plant boiled potates. You can boil a sermon to a turn, so that no life remaineth in it …
Plot Dragging a Little? Add Explosions!
“However, we find in drama today, and for my purpose specifically in film, two significant changes that were somewhat rare in our culture fifty years ago. First, the ethics of the hero’s action is now morally relativistic. And second, spectacle, or what Aristotle called ‘scenic effects,’ has upstaged all other dramatic elements” (Arthur Hunt, The …
What Balance Means
Balance is very difficult for us as Christians to maintain. But balance in worship, balance in doctrine, balance in good deeds, and balance in individual practice, are nevertheless required. At the same time, balance is to be defined according to the Word, and not according to the moderate nervousness the world has about religious things. …
Chased into a Minefield
You have asked me how it is possible to have a rebellious and out-of-control son when you have not ever thought of yourself as an indulgent father. You are right to see that radical indulgence on the part of a father is a disaster for sons — boys need direction, counsel, admonition, and correction. Of …
Rape and Incest Exceptions
One of the things I have learned as a pastor is that as a church grows and matures, the minister cannot assume that everybody is up to speed on something just because he “preached a sermon series” on that a little while before. It was probably more like five years before, and half the people …