Their gospel accounts can be sufficiently corroborated and have been accurately delivered to us through the centuries. The authors lacked motive to lie to us about their observations and died rather than recant their testimony. Would the Gospels withstand the scrutiny of a cold-case investigation? Yes.   The case for the reliability of the New... Continue Reading

As a Christian, you are given a new identity that you grow into…you then become more of who you were made to be. Christian identity formation works because if will give you the most grounded sense of being and the most transcendent path to becoming.   Given that I’m writing a lot on identity, including my... Continue Reading

Will we face “bitterness” in this world? Yes; undoubtedly we do, and we will continue to throughout our time as the church militant. But the greater truth is that we have The Sweet One, The Gentle One, The Good Shepherd—and, because of this, what else do we really need?   Number 168 in the 1994... Continue Reading

Of the writing (and reading!) of books there is no end, but attention to an immense literature dealing with questions of political power and authority, and how Christians can most wisely think (and act) in terms of these issues, is an important task.   The task assigned to me is to provide something of a... Continue Reading

May God help us all be humble learners while also maintaining vigilance and discipline to test the spirits behind what we consume, especially about new and trendy ideas. As John MacArthur wrote in his study Bible, “Christians are to have a healthy skepticism regarding any teaching.” This includes healthy skepticism about resources for missions.  ... Continue Reading

Praying will never be easy. The battle is often unseen, distractions are constant, and motivation sporadic. Nevertheless, we must have praying churches. In order to have praying churches, we ourselves must pray. Without this essential ministry, we accomplish nothing that will last.   Once upon a time, in a world far, far away churches had... Continue Reading

Before he vanquished his people’s enemies, he would first teach his people to love their enemies (Luke 6:27-31), and then suffer under the hands of his enemies in order to atone for his people’s sins. He upended Israel’s present worship practices (John 2:13-22; Luke 19:45-46) and taught truth that penetrated through their external religious façade into... Continue Reading

If covenant blessing requires perfect obedience, then we—like Israel—stand under the shadow of Mount Ebal. The mountain of blessing is across the valley, inaccessible. Left to ourselves, we are covenant breakers under the curse. Unless…Unless someone can obey for us. And that’s the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ! He came as the... Continue Reading

If the Church of England continues to reject God’s Word, it will indeed die for lack of true knowledge, from sheer starvation and thirst. A church cannot live on aesthetics alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Only on that rock can we truly behold the beauty from which and for which... Continue Reading

Unfortunately, sometimes people will take any kind of leadership—including throwing away centuries of good—if that leadership change promises to make everything hunky-dory . . . as if any change could do that. After all, isn’t that how Hitler rose to power? And in our own century, isn’t that the promise which has led to the... Continue Reading