Fear is like the monster under my kids’ beds — its power is fueled not by what’s really there, but by what might be, what we imagine could be. Fear is a hollow darkness in the future that reaches back through time to rob our joy now by belittling the sovereign goodness of God. But... Continue Reading

Since the Bible mentions an unforgivable sin, there has been much speculation concerning its specific identity. Some people have jumped to the conclusion that abortion is the unforgivable sin, because murder is one of the most heinous of sins and abortion has been considered a form of murder. Is this a valid conclusion concerning the... Continue Reading

Is watching Downton Abbey justified for no other reason than because, in the end, the sinners get their “just reward”? Sin is bad, and none of us here would promote it. But lest we become, quite literally, like the Pharisee who, while gazing at a group of sinners, said, “God, I thank you that I am not like... Continue Reading

God propitiates his own wrath. Know anybody else like that? Will China pay off the US debt? Will any of the victims of Bernie Madoff personally pay his financial debts? When does the offended personally provide the means to take away his own offense? Only God. This is why he is love. Not that his... Continue Reading

In response to a civil lawsuit alleging that it covered up numerous cases of child sexual abuse, Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) has pledged to “carefully review” each accusation. However, the lawsuit—which claims the association of Reformed church plants discouraged victims’ parents from reporting abuse to authorities and had victims forgive their abusers in person—has also... Continue Reading

Let’s put it this way: what if sin did not enter the world at a particular point in time, with a real, historic first sin? Well then we have to say that God must have created a sinful, fallen world. Sin must be a part of what God considers ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). Now either... Continue Reading

The very fact, however, that our own Directory of Worship (DOW) could never hope to be approved by a majority of our Presbyteries and thus gain constitutional authority, and the fact that the DOW actually adds to rather than takes away from the elements of worship considered acceptable under the Regulative Principle, should indicate that... Continue Reading

It’s practically an obligation for younger pastors in the PCA to question the motives of the founders of our denomination. For many it’s self-attesting in the same way Nickelback’s music is considered unlistenable. I’m certainly not young but I share the uneasiness about much of what is constituent in our short institutional history. There is,... Continue Reading

I suspect that which was terror for him has lately become a marketing opportunity for others, that the closest some of his modern acolytes come to Anfechtungen is finding out that the release of the new iPhone has been delayed by a week. To adopt the aesthetics of the hipster or the stand-up comic and... Continue Reading

It’s always been the case that Christianity has been derided by some. But now it’s not just people in far off Hollywood or in far away academia. It’s people next door. It’s the people you work with, the people you live with, the people you go to school with. How will the church of Jesus... Continue Reading