Why tell a Muslim something that we are just going to have to retract later on? … I do not believe it is helpful to start out by saying something that is grossly misleading at best, and heretical at worst. It is far better to tell them of the love of Jesus Christ, and to... Continue Reading

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and Archbishop William Lori, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ ad hoc committee for religious liberty, sent a joint letter to Congress on Friday urging lawmakers to pass the conscience protection legislation. “Both of our denominations value God’s gift of procreation,” Moore... Continue Reading

Regeneration is a momentary act, bringing a person from spiritual death to life. It is exclusively God’s work. Sanctification is an ongoing process, dependent on God’s continuing action in the believer, and consisting of the believer’s continuous struggle against sin. God’s method of sanctification is neither activism (self-reliant activity) nor apathy (God-reliant passivity), but human... Continue Reading

The irony should not be missed. The very gospel Western missionaries took to Africa, Asia and Latin America is now coming back to the West with an educated fervor for the Good News that even the Wesley’s could not match. It is darkest before the dawn, but the dawn we do know comes. We only... Continue Reading

In luxurious, entertainment-soaked societies, people – especially Millennials – aren’t concerned with what is logical as much as they are about what is appealing. This is not necessarily how things ought to be, but how they are. How, then, can marriage defenders address this increasingly emotive, hostile environment? Enter “You’ve Been Framed: A New Primer for the Marriage... Continue Reading

In the not too distant future, the only couples replacing themselves in America will be religious couples. As Last puts it, although there are many good reasons to have a baby, at the end of the day, “there’s only one good reason to go through the trouble a second time: Because you believe, in some... Continue Reading

The stewardship of my vacation time was once a glaring failure in my life. A few years ago, I was lovingly confronted by a dear friend and fellow pastor that I was not using all my vacation time. In his rebuke, he explained to me the reasons I should be taking every day of vacation... Continue Reading

Except that TULIP is not Calvinism. …there is a sense in which these points are not Calvinism at all, because, while Calvin’s theology does implicitly teach them, they were formulated after his time in the context of controversy, and he would never have accepted them as an adequate summary of or even as the essential... Continue Reading

I was also heartened by the fact that the Committee of Commissioners for the Interchurch Relations Committee (ICR) pressed the issue regarding membership in the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The NAE is a seriously flawed organization. The ICR Permanent Committee will have to be more diligent in the coming year in reporting on what... Continue Reading

So where does this leave us all? In a confused mess. I do not think that it is sinful to stay in the Church of Scotland. However it is sinful to stay, talk of reformation and renewal and yet not fight for it. We must not hide behind pietism, truisms, or a distorted view of... Continue Reading