The Unknown Theologian
Charles Octavius Boothe
Boothe didn’t write his book to be known as the first African American to write a systematic theology book. He wrote it to meet the need of everyday Christians, who worked in the fields all day as sharecroppers and bi-vocational pastors and had “little time for books,” but a “great need” for truth. Charles... Continue Reading
The Ordo Salutis: Effectual Calling
The sinner answers the call of the Holy.
In the work of Effectual Calling, God himself, by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12), enlightens the darkened mind (Acts 26:18), makes new the rebellious will, determining it to obey God’s call, and makes them willing and free, no longer enslaved to the sin-ridden bent of the fallen nature, to say “Yes.” In the... Continue Reading
What God Is Telling Us Through The Corona Virus
Interpreting providence is a great but hazardous temptation. The Lord knows the end from the beginning. We do not.
What does Covid-19 tell us? It tells us that as often as we think that we have everything under control, we do not. It tells us that God is not absent from us. It reminds us of his power to disrupt the ordinary course of things with, as it were, the flick of a finger.... Continue Reading
Quarantined in Christ
A Christian perspective on the coronavirus pandemic.
With one hand God sends lesser plague after lesser plague, warning of the greater one to come. With the other, he sends the Lamb of God, whose righteous life and atoning death provide the one house into which we may safely flee. There alone the final plague will pass us by. I would like... Continue Reading
The Thrill of Worship Through Biblical Preaching
The hard work of prayer, Scripture reading, and expository listening will serve your soul well and will bring about much fruit in the life of your family and local church for God’s glory.
As a member of your local church, understand the importance of listening and engaging in the sermon each week. Don’t be left behind as your pastor passionately seeks to take you to the throne of God to see him and be amazed by him each week through the pages of Scripture. At the end... Continue Reading
The Judicial Laws of Moses and General Equity
These laws do oblige and bind modern nations to the extent that their general equity requires their observance.
This section of the Westminster Confession [19.4] does not spell out how to apply each judicial law. Rather, it gives us a hermeneutical principle. It gives us a question to ask when we come to apply a judicial law to our modern context. “To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial... Continue Reading
God’s Wrath of Abandonment
We must remember is that God gives people over to their idols.
The Visible Church is full of the world. Christians are called to be separate from the world, not be part of it while being Pilgrims traveling through it. Because of this, the church and its professing Christians look just like the world. Their leaders use the world’s methods instead of being obedient to God and... Continue Reading
Are We Living Out Romans 1?
Blessing and Curse in a Post-Obergefell World
Practicing homosexuals—of which I was once one—may not be conscious of the larger, biblical meaning of their sin as outlined in Romans 1, but it would be to their betterment if they were. While the LGBTQ world has become a machine, many individual people who practice homosexuality just want to be left alone to live... Continue Reading
On How We Speak of Sin
Polite discourse minimizes and, over time, neutralizes the instinct of moral revulsion.
Evangelical leaders must recognize that politely naming sin is not enough. We also need to conserve the moral revulsion that previous generations left to us regarding sexual perversions, and then fortify that moral instinct with depth of understanding of God’s design in nature for sexuality. We need to recover our gag reflex, but I fear... Continue Reading
7 Questions to Ask in Evaluating Online Pundits
How do we evaluate the cacophony of punditry around us?
The digital revolution has made knowledge more accessible, the flow of information more diverse, and the ability to make your voice heard easier than ever before. The same revolution has also made invincible ignorance more sustainable, pervasive crankery more common, and the ability to discern what voices are worth listening to harder than ever before.... Continue Reading