How to Examine Spiritual Fruit
Determination of whether or not our fruit is good hinges on our obedience to Scripture.
If we want to know if our fruit is healthy or diseased, we need to ask ourselves, “What place does the word of God have in our lives?” Do we recognize its authority as the words of Jesus himself and obey it, or do we treat it as simply the words of another errant scribe and mold... Continue Reading
Innovation Exists by God’s Design
Innovators—both virtuous ones and nefarious ones—are created by God.
He may use you to discover the genetic cure for cancer, or he may use you to weaponize a superravager, but he disposes of every innovator as he pleases in his wisdom. We are each accountable for our volitional decisions and our sins. But make no mistake—each and every one of us finally fulfills the... Continue Reading
In the Beginning God Created a Priest
God created Adam and all of his children in his image to commune with him and to serve as his priests in his Holy Place.
Luke 3:38 bears witness to Adam’s priesthood. When Luke traces Jesus’s genealogy back to Adam, he calls Adam “the son of God.” The priestly significance of this title is associated with the way firstborn sons were set apart as priestly assistants. As Michael Morales observes, firstborn sons were consecrated to the Lord (see Ex. 13:2), and until Numbers... Continue Reading
Christian Reformed Church Renewal Movement Stands Against LGBTQ Theology
Organized in 2021, the Abide Project seeks “to uphold the historic, beautiful, Biblical understanding of human sexuality in doctrine, discipleship, and discipline” in the CRC.
One third of the Calvin University faculty signed a statement opposing the Human Sexuality Report. All One Body has released a series of talking head videos of therapists, social scientists and pastors discrediting the Human Sexuality Report. Synod 2022 meets June 10-16 at Calvin University and will likely be monumental. The Abide Project’s stated goal... Continue Reading
The Church Weighed, Measured, and Found Wanting
We should use this Covid experience as our refining fire in order that we may discover where our deficiencies lie and make the necessary changes.
The weakened state of the church is the direct consequence of the church’s actions during Covid. If we hope that God restores the fortunes of her people it is incumbent upon us to first take stock of our actions during the pandemic, repent, and then consider how we might acquit ourselves henceforth. To the extent that the... Continue Reading
Wars and Rumors of War
If the Russians move on Estonia, all of the European members and the United States would be obliged by treaty to go to war with Russia.
China and Russia, once rivals, have made formal alliances with each other. Not only that, both countries have made formal alliances with Iran, drawing the explosive Middle East into the global political alignments. In fact, these three countries are already being called “a new Axis.” World Wars often come as a surprise to the... Continue Reading
The Anatomy of Doubt
Authentic doubt has the power to sort out and clarify the difference between the certain and the uncertain, the genuine and the spurious.
The order of the process to destroy doubt is crucial. For example, the miracles of the Bible cannot and were never designed to prove the existence of God. The very possibility of a miracle requires that there first be a God who can empower it. In other words, it is not the Bible that proves... Continue Reading
Weeping for the Prodigal
How do Christian parents pray for straying covenant children?
Heart sorrow is to drive the ones praying for lost children back to where they need to go, to their only hope. To the gospel, where they remember that Christ was separated and cursed by God so that His people could be brought back to Him. Surely each anguished tear of the grieving Christian parent,... Continue Reading
Lex Talionis and the New Testament
Jesus and Lex Talionis
The simple truth is, we must ask this question and think carefully about it: What aspects or parts of OT law carry over into the NT, and which do not? Those of differing theological persuasions will answer this question differently. Theonomists, or Christian reconstructionists, for example will see almost all of the law carrying through,... Continue Reading
Allergies, Anyone? The Trinity Does Not Fit Into Your Tiny Box of History
Unless you understand who God is apart from you, you will never understand the importance of what God has done for you.
As Jesus claims repeatedly to be the way to salvation in John’s Gospel, he will also back up his right to make that claim, especially when the religious leaders question his authority, by appealing to his eternal origin from the Father. It is only because he is begotten by the Father from all eternity that... Continue Reading
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 472
- 473
- 474
- 475
- 476
- …
- 561
- Next Page »