Should I Stay Home from Church When Life Gets Hard?
What about when the spiritual and emotional pain seems too crippling to be at church?
The corporate gathering is to be a time of worship to the glory of God. As we worship together with gifted saints, we are fed, strengthened, transformed, encouraged, and equipped. That’s why the gathering exists. As the word of God is read, sang, prayed, pondered, and preached, God administers his care. So, to suggest avoiding... Continue Reading
Arrested in Chengdu
On the 10th anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, Chinese authorities played catch-and-release with house church members who commemorated the disaster.
After the May 12, 2008, earthquake, house churches from all parts of China sent teams to help in the relief effort, which began a movement of Christian charities, as organizations provided aid, rebuilt houses, and planted churches. Wang, who at the time was not yet a full-time pastor, helped coordinate church teams that poured into... Continue Reading
Indonesian Churches Blasted by Family of Suicide Bombers
Christians outraged at “heinous and gory” terrorist attacks that killed and injured dozens of worshipers Sunday morning.
Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI), Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church, and Santa Maria Tak Bercela Catholic Church—all in Surabaya, the second-largest city in the island-chain nation—suffered bombings carried out by six members of the same family, who are believed to be affiliated with Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian terrorist cell aligned with ISIS. Suicide bombers launched... Continue Reading
Blessed: The Prosperity Gospel in (and Beyond) America
I can’t help but wonder whether history will show that America’s most prominent export in this period of history was not goods or services at all, but a movement most commonly called the prosperity gospel.
“The movement goes by different names,” says Kate Bowler, “ranging from the slightly pejorative (Health and Wealth or Name It and Claim It) to the vaguely descriptive (Faith or Word of Faith) to the blunt shorthand, the prosperity gospel. Though it is hard to describe, it is easy to find.” This movement that began in... Continue Reading
Born without Arms (An Interview with Daniel Ritchie)
I never thought of myself as an author, but I have known for a long time that God had given me a unique story to tell with me being born without arms.
As I rooted my life in Christ, I started to focus less on the words of men to define my worth and to look to God’s words. My perception on my own worth was put on a rock solid foundation knowing that I was an adopted son of God. His love and purpose for me... Continue Reading
Our Final Hope
Mile-wide, inch-deep evangelicalism these days tends to say much about Christian life in this present world without proportionate time given to the contours of eternal hope.
We who preach God’s Word need to speak more frequently about the ultimate issues of eschatology: the return of Christ, judgment for all souls at the day of the Lord, hell as the default destination for unbelief, and heaven’s secure bliss awaiting the redeemed in Christ. I buried Hope recently. She was a mature... Continue Reading
Considering Exceptions: Singing Psalms
If the "singing of psalms with grace in the heart" means that we may only sing psalms, as opposed to hymns, many (myself included) would need to seek an exception.
Is the Westminster Confession of Faith advocating exclusive psalmody? Or, to put it another way: If one were to adhere to the confession without any stated difference, must that person refrain from singing any song in worship that was not one of the one hundred and fifty Psalms found in Scripture? For a variety of... Continue Reading
A Biblical View of the Embassy Move to Jerusalem
This move of the US embassy, for many Christians, marks a step closer to the fulfillment of those promises and Christ’s return.
Moving the embassy may or may not be a great political move. I’m not qualified to speak into that. But I would like to press on Christians supporting this move purely from a redemptive-historical (God’s plan of redemption over history) point of view. God has one plan for one group of people, the church. ... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know About the Imago Dei
Theologians typically have tried to identify one particular element or characteristic feature in humanity that embodies or constitutes the imago dei.
Thomas Aquinas focused on man’s reason, Calvin on the soul (i.e., the mind and heart), and Augustine on the mental capacities of memory, understanding, and will. Augustine argued that since man’s reason or mind is his preeminent or most important feature that we should likely find in it a reflection of God, hence his triadic... Continue Reading
If Politics Undermines Theology, Why Is Your Theological Affirmation So Political?
The church has one purpose, the state another. And if you mix the two, politics could well undermine theology.
When “political leadership” undermines the government, then the church must intervene and become the state’s conscience. There goes separation of church and government. And to avoid the call to keep politics and theology distinct, the authors invoke not the Bible but Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet another evangelical statement is seeking signatures. Reclaiming Jesus is a... Continue Reading
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