Pastoral Concern about Evangelical Prophecy
God’s special revelation carries great authority.
Today, an acclaimed prophet can denounce faithful elders as unspiritual or unconverted, leading many astray. Therefore, we protect God’s people from ecclesiastical tyranny when we teach them that the gifts of apostles and prophets have ceased. There is grave danger in allowing for prophets who receive revelations immediately from God today. While some who claim... Continue Reading
Are You on the Foolish, Shameful Path to Victory?
Are you limping through your pilgrimage?
Walking with a limp is a testimony to God’s faithfulness to us; and it is far more effective than the testimony of the powerful, because it points others who feel the sharp pain of sin and misery to the God who has given them the ability to feel that pain and who promises to rescue... Continue Reading
The Logic of God – Ravi Zacharias
How good philosophy contributes to effective apologetics.
The Logic of God is the newest offering by Zacharias. This book contains 52 Christian essentials for the heart and mind. The book is targeted to Christian readers but it would be an excellent resource for skeptics to consider as well. Ask students of apologetics, “Who has wielded the weightiest influence in the 20th... Continue Reading
We Are All Theologians
We can’t truly know God or live for God until we know the facts God gives us about himself.
We are all responsible before God to know these things truly and rightly, to align our knowledge with the source of truth God has given us in his Word. We are all responsible to deepen and sharpen this knowledge, to gain greater knowledge and to ensure it becomes more accurate over time. For years... Continue Reading
But in All These Things We Overwhelmingly Conquer through Him Who Loved Us
We are to see the eternal as far more important than the temporal.
I confess that for most of my Christian life I have assumed that society or government would be the persecutors of the True Church, but events over the last few years have revealed that the Compromised Church in the West is probably going to be where the persecution comes from. The division between the Remnant... Continue Reading
Rahab the Whore…Mother of Christ
Would there be a place for her, daughter of the accursed Canaan, a woman who had availed herself of the profits of fornication?
Indeed, there is every reason for amazement. Here was one woman who came in last, totally unworthy, not even qualifying for the crumbs of the dogs, and yet she was given a seat of honor up front by her Great Son, the Christ, through the eternal love with which He loved her before the foundation... Continue Reading
The Ascension of Jesus
As central as the resurrection is to the Christian life, however, it is not the end of the work of Christ.
After Christ was raised from the dead, He “ascended up into heaven,” as is affirmed by both the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The particular nuance of the ascension is that after the resurrection and the postresurrection appearances, Christ ascended up into heaven to be “seated at the right hand of God the Father... Continue Reading
Canons Of Dort (26): Perseverance Is Good News For Sinners
The first thing the Reformed said about perseverance was that Christians are fallen, sinful people who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit
Christians believe because they have been called efficaciously by the Holy Spirit through the external call of the gospel, i.e., through the preaching of the Gospel. That is good news. We did not come to faith because we freely chose to respond or because we freely met the conditions of the New Covenant (in the Remonstrant view)... Continue Reading
How to Measure Your Growth in Godliness: Thomas Goodwin on True and False Growth
Growth “is a mystery to be apprehended by faith,” and is certain if you give up trust in your own works and “fly alone to Christ.”
Goodwin compared and contrasted false signs of growth with true signs of growth. Overall, he teaches us that growing in grace is not just looking holy on the outside due to the use of gifts, opportunities, special spiritual experiences, and professions. Rather, it is continually producing all of the fruits of the Spirit in your... Continue Reading
Context Matters: I Never Knew You; Depart From Me
It is clear that calling Jesus “Lord” is not enough, on its own, to gain a person entry into the kingdom of heaven.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many... Continue Reading