PCA Teaching Elder Tom Patete dies unexpectedly after apparent cerebrovascular event
Patete served as Executive Director of Great Commission Publications since 1978
On Monday, December 17, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., there will be a gathering/visitation open to everyone at Old Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Georgia. A memorial/celebration will follow at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday morning Thomas R. Patete, longtime Executive Director of Great Commission Publications (GCP), went to be with the Lord on December 14,... Continue Reading
Freedom of Speech is a Joke (or at least the freedom to tell one)
Allowing matters of taste to become matters of law would surely be a most subjective and sinister development for society at large.
Free speech is under attack on all fronts and incidents like the hoax call to the hospital in London can be leveraged to set bad legal precedents and even pass bad laws. They certainly give insight into the gravitational pull of wider society on such matters as freedom of speech. The apparent suicide of... Continue Reading
The Kirk Without the People – The Full Story of The Tron, Glasgow
Maybe the winners in this will be those who hear and believe the Gospel because they hear it from a revitalised and renewed church
What is important to note here is that this fund was set up in the time of Sinclair Ferguson with the approval of the Glasgow Presbytery. If I were a member of the Tron I would not have given to the congregation unless I had been assured that my money would not be used to... Continue Reading
Fremont free at last; pays its way out of the PCUSA
Fremont will pay the presbytery $500,000 (over ten years) or a reduced price of $350,000 if paid in six months
In the midst of the ensuing nastiness, a 15-member mediation team was formed (six chosen by the presbytery’s committee on ministry, six chosen by the Fremont session, and three chosen by Fremont members who wish to remain in the PCUSA). An attorney described by Wilkins as “experienced in faith-based mediation” facilitated the group’s recommendation that... Continue Reading
Tidings of Comfort and Joy
I want you to rejoice in His saving, redeeming, resurrecting, glorifying grace more fully, more intentionally, more gratefully than ever before.
You could, if you are willing, find a fitting balance, as I try to do, between sympathy and normalcy. That is, don’t be surprised that I’m a little more sad, a little more shy, a little more distracted than normal. But don’t treat me like a Faberge egg, like someone too fragile to laugh at... Continue Reading
Survey: 7 in 10 Americans Are Very or Moderately Religious
Importance of religion increases with age.
Upscale Americans are less religious than those with lower levels of education and income, but better-off Americans attend religious services just as often. The Story: A new survey finds that 69 percent of American adults are very or moderately religious, based on self-reports of the importance of religion in their daily lives and attendance... Continue Reading
Fate of accused abusive pastor in the hands of his flock
“If a minister is not literally sitting in prison, he can find a Southern Baptist pulpit to stand in.”
Leaders of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention prefer to say that the denomination is a network of autonomous churches. The denomination’s constitution claims that each church is “independent and sovereign in its own sphere,” and that the Nashville-based Convention “does not claim and will never attempt to exercise any authority over any other Baptist... Continue Reading
Law, Grace and Redemption in Les Misérables
“This is not my house,” Bishop Myriel declares, “it’s the house of Jesus Christ,” a refuge for the outcast."
Deeply distraught and ill over this isolation, Valjean prepares to die wretchedly alone. Marius, however, eventually discovers the deeper truth: “You save people’s lives, and you hide it from them! You do more than that, you slander yourself while you’re pretending to unmask yourself.” In the happy reunion of his family, reconciled in love, Valjean dies, peacefully anticipating his eternal refuge
Reformed People: Get It Right, That’s Not Outreach
“I like my way of doing (evangelism) better than your way of not doing it.”
Despite, perhaps, the alarming title, my plea is to see Reformed and Presbyterian Churches whole-heartedly embrace outreach. I know many denominations are great about foreign missions, but what about local? Our neighbors need the gospel, too!
What Is Hypocrisy?
Many Christians fear that doing the right thing without the right feelings makes them hypocrites.
The hypocrite is not the Christian who struggles against sin, fights against temptation, and keeps doing what is right even on his worst feeling days. That’s a hero. The hypocrite is the Christian who uses the veneer of public virtue to cover the rot of private vice