“God helps those who help themselves.” This statement is actually anti-Gospel. Self-reliance and self-righteousness, or the attitude of trying harder and doing better, actually gets in the way of the work of God.   One of the greatest gifts that God gave mankind was the Holy Bible because the Bible is literally God revealing Himself,... Continue Reading

Submitting to the “wise and fatherly disposal” of God “in every condition” is distasteful in our secular age, where the prevailing bourgeois ideal is the right of the sovereign self to determine its identity and destiny, free from any “rules” or requirements. Denying yourself and submitting to King Jesus, then, is true countercultural living.   What does countercultural Christianity... Continue Reading

“Now that we have been born again, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit long to grace us further. Our justification is complete, but our sanctification is in progress, and we need more grace. And how exactly are we further graced, transformed, improved, encouraged, and spiritually blessed?”   Before we were born, the Father showed grace... Continue Reading

“Many different titles are used in the Old Testament to draw our attention to a particular function of the redeeming work of Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man.”   Shakespeare’s Juliet asks, “What is in a name?” She loved Romeo, regardless of his surname. Despite her wishes to the contrary or her... Continue Reading

Earlier in December, MRFF President Mikey Weinstein, an Air Force Academy alumnus and former military lawyer, called the practice of cadets assuming a posture of prayer on one knee a “disgrace” and a “putrid example of fundamentalist Christian supremacy, triumphalism and exceptionalism.”   When players with the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Fighting Falcons football team take... Continue Reading

“Many pressures we face as parents have more to do with us than they do with our kids. Of course we love our children and want what is best for them, but underneath some of the choices we make, and the pressures we give into without really putting any thought into them, are driven somewhat... Continue Reading

“What does it mean to be content? Paul may have startled his Philippian friends by using a Stoic term for a Christian disposition. Was he hinting that what Stoicism sought—detachment from the disturbances of strong emotions—the gospel alone provides, but without denying or avoiding the reasons for the emotions themselves?”   In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine... Continue Reading

“You will note that not every book is old, of course, but these are the books that I believe have shaped and continue to shape our movement (assembled based purely on anecdotal evidence). Every carpenter has a set of trusty tools he must have in his workshop; these are the same tools for the maturing,... Continue Reading

Parkinson’s usually does not shorten a person’s life expectancy very much, but in any case, I’m happy to live as long as the Lord wills that I live, and to keep on being productive for as long as he enables me to do so. “In your book were written, every one of them, the days... Continue Reading

“The Daily Telegraph has learnt that a formal agreement between the two churches – which emerged separately from the Reformation in the 16th Century – is set to be put before their governing bodies, the General Synod and General Assembly, early next year.”   The Church of England and Church of Scotland are preparing a... Continue Reading