As the old Italian proverb goes, “Translation is treason.” The treasonous nature of all translation work consists in the inability to accurately convey the nuance of meaning when moving from the original text to the receptor language. While the translator may be able to convey the bulk of meaning found within a text, he will unlikely communicate... Continue Reading

(M)y observation is that the great majority major on information, at the expense of persuasion and inspiration. You can actually estimate this (as I do) by timing how much of the sermon (or how much of the preacher’s notes) are devoted to each function. In extreme cases, a sermon can be 99% explanation of the text... Continue Reading

For the first time, less than 50 percent of respondents rated clergy “high” or “very high,” with 47 percent of 2013 respondents rating clergy in these categories.   Americans ranked clergy and other professions based on perceptions of their ethics and honesty in a December 2013 Gallup poll. “Gallup has asked Americans to rate the... Continue Reading

A pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), Brown deftly deals with the issues that are involved in lay evangelism. He correctly tells his readers to begin with God, telling us who He is with regard to His attributes, why mankind is alienated from Him by sin, and how we can be reconciled to... Continue Reading

People who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, second member of the Trinitarian Godhead, should not continue to live out non-biblical religious practices, rituals and practices that are a part of their family, community and former religious belief system, such as praying for the dead, animal sacrifice, or pilgrimages for... Continue Reading

This Christmas, my house is decorated as usual. I have wreaths and lights and stockings and gifts, but no babe in a manger. Because what I want is not less Jesus in my life, but more. By removing the brown-eyed man in my children’s Bible storybooks and by declining to purchase the “Virgin and Child”... Continue Reading

Now that they had Information, Time and Chance were finally able to create a self-replicating Something they called Life. Once they created Life they found that it not only grew into more Somethings, but began to become Otherthings, too! The Somethings and the Otherthings began to fill the Earth—from the bottom of the oceans to... Continue Reading

The first purpose statement describes Christ’s work: He came to redeem. You should never divorce the truth of the incarnation from redemption. There are two major aspects involved in our redemption: the removal of the curse and the restoration of the inheritance. Paul explained the first aspect of Christ’s work of redemption in Galatians 3:13, “Christ... Continue Reading

You want to be happy? Target sin as your greatest enemy, not your greatest friend. It is the greatest obstacle to your happiness in every way. And that is why we LOVE the name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21)! No one in the universe has done more to... Continue Reading

It is the culture of a church, the mood of a ministry, the passion of a pastor that binds consciences in a de facto manner. Its practitioners may formally reject the overt legalism of resting in one’s works or adding to God’s law. But they may not be fully aware of the effects of their... Continue Reading