As we celebrate and appreciate the Reformation’s influence and success, we should be honest to recognize that success is limited and much remains to be done. At least in America, the Protestant church has largely abandoned Biblical beliefs and orthodox theology. With 77% of Americans believing that personal effort is a vital contribution to salvation and... Continue Reading

In China a lot of practices were derided as superstitious and outright banned throughout the 20th century, even before Communist rule. Now the government has allowed traditional folk religions to come back, but they call it traditional Chinese culture. Pilgrimages to holy mountains get support from government not as a religious movement but as a... Continue Reading

When we say that the Reformation view of justification is synthetic, we mean that when God declares a person to be just in His sight, it is not because of what He finds in that person under His analysis. Rather, it is on the basis of something that is added to the person. That something... Continue Reading

I believe that what we see in the NT isn’t the replacement of Israel but an expanded definition of who Israel is. During the time of the old testament one was an Israelite (primarily) because one was a physical, biological descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. One’s ethnicity was the deciding factor. But with the coming of... Continue Reading

The fact that there was such “variety of conversions” in the United States actually helped create a shared understanding of religion—that religion is something you choose, as opposed to something you inherit. This freedom to choose, however, implied an obligation. The book speaks of “obligatory religious choice” or the “burden to choose.” As Mullen states... Continue Reading

The gospel has a far better word for us than our fickle feelings: The Light of the world was snuffed; the Bread of life, broken; the King of kings, executed; the Lamb of God, slain; the Son of Man, tortured; the Son of God, forsaken; the Rock of ages, stricken; the blood of Christ, shed: Oh, how... Continue Reading

The precise wording of the Great Commission is significant. Even though, at least for those who only read it in English translation, it would be tempting to think the ‘command’ component of what Jesus says is to ‘Go!’, the imperative in this clause is actually to ‘make disciples’. The ‘going’ is presented in a present... Continue Reading

Indulgence preachers promised that financial gifts to their ministries would save people from suffering in death. In the same way, prosperity preachers promise that financial gifts to their ministries will save people from suffering in life. Neither are true. God is not cheap; we cannot buy his favour. We cannot afford it. We are redeemed... Continue Reading

Christians who adhered to sola scriptura – the authority of Scripture alone – could never endure a papacy that demanded that its tradition stood beside (and in practice above) the plain meaning of Scripture. Moreover, by study of the Bible, the Protestants came to the conclusion that the papacy was an utterly illegitimate and usurping office.   ... Continue Reading

Either Scripture establishes what the gospel is, calls people back to the gospel, and transforms God’s people with his Spirit-anointed gospel truth, shaping them into conformity with his Son, or it is but an empty boast. Sadly, some affirm sola scriptura in a sloganeering way, but rarely read Scripture and never meditate on it; or, worse yet, they thoughtlessly defy it.... Continue Reading