“Westminster filed the lawsuit because it objects to the regulations enacted under the Affordable Care Act that require the seminary to provide abortifacients (drugs and devices that can cause abortions), including the morning-after pill, to its employees under its health insurance policy. The Supreme Court will hear our case on March 23rd, 2016.”   Under... Continue Reading

“First, for the purposes of this series, we will limit the word ‘culture’ to six particular areas: education, politics, economics, marriage/the family, the law, and the arts. As we shall see, Calvinism has had a significant impact on these central components of Western culture, and consequently on American culture.”   Over the next few weeks,... Continue Reading

“We’re always on the lookout for the next best church.” To be honest, some pastors do live that way – and they don’t make it easy for the rest of us who are genuinely committed where God has placed us. Most of really love our church, even with all their imperfections.   I started this... Continue Reading

“Machen didn’t much care for politics. He saw it as inherently stifling and anti-individual. The idea that true Christianity was to even a small degree compatible with any form of statism — socialism, communism, or fascism — was, to Machen, a dangerous fiction.”   Of the Presbyterian theologian J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist... Continue Reading

“I worked out the pages from the FedEx pouch with fear and trembling and started thumbing through. Turns out I didn’t have much to worry about. Packer’s pen was light and friendly. Most of his corrections had to do with word choices or expansions of my thinking, adding the clarity and theological precision he has... Continue Reading

“A worship minister shared with us this tragic story. He was caught up in some worship wars, an all too common reality. The worship leader, however, was pretty thick-skinned, and moved forward despite the criticisms. When the critics saw they were not making progress with the worship leader, they began to attack his wife with... Continue Reading

“At least one presbytery also received a motion for the PCA to publicly call for financial reparations from white people to African Americans in compensation for the institution of slavery that existed in America prior to 1865.  These actions would seem to oppose the spirituality of the church.”   Last week I posted a piece... Continue Reading

“During the years of his pastorate, Alexander preached often, led catechism classes for the youth, and yet still made time to answer Thomas Paine’s Deism.  During these years, he developed knowledge of textual criticism, continued to read his Greek Bible, he read one chapter from the Hebrew Bible per day, and read widely.”   What... Continue Reading

“I have been shocked by how easily some Christian leaders (even counselors) break their commitments. On the other hand, I have witnessed wonderful examples of Christian integrity.”   The righteous man “swears to his own hurt and does not change,” according to Psalm 15:4. A dear mentor first made me aware of this verse when... Continue Reading

“Those who favor what is called redemptive-historical preaching tend to be deeply critical of expository preaching styles of the past. They regard the homiletical styles of Augustine and Calvin as guilty of mixing Judeo-Christian theology with classical pagan methodology in their use of the grammatico-historical hermeneutic.”   Despite the many books on preaching, bad homiletical... Continue Reading