All people—regardless of gender, ethnicity, culture, or time—are part of the “culture of humanity.” We all share similar physiological, biological, and emotional characteristics such that when music expresses emotion on that level, its meaning is universal. Christians must not fall into the trap of ignoring or even denying universal meaning in music because there are... Continue Reading

We will not come to God, if we believe his motive is to deprive us, wound us, or restrict our pleasure. Have you ever known someone who lost a parent through death or divorce and is bitter with God? We must be convinced that God wants what is best for us, or we won’t pursue... Continue Reading

As we look at how the ending of the Bible story contains pictures that we can gather along the way, we begin to again see an important foundation for biblical theology: the Bible story ends in a way that relates to all of what has come before. There are echoes of Genesis in Revelation, as... Continue Reading

After waiting to see if the 2023 synod might accommodate churches with different views, Sherman Street Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids led the way to the exit. In its resolution it wrote: “Our policy of full inclusion is settled, as is our determination to allow space for a variety of views and to embrace the resulting... Continue Reading

The ultimate hardening of some who at one time professed faith in Christ ought to leave us unsettled in heart. The severity of apostasy is that there is no return. This ought to be felt by those who continue to profess faith in Christ. There will always be Judases among the people of God in... Continue Reading

Roughly speaking, postmodern contextualism has at its heart the twin convictions (1) that claims to human knowledge always come within a linguistic, social, and cultural context, and (2) that this threefold context makes it impossible to know universal, transcendent truths. For the postmodern contextualist, truth is local to a particular culture or society; truth is... Continue Reading

Believers must ready themselves. Some are destined for captivity, and to captivity they will go. Others are destined to be killed by the sword, and so it will be (cf. Jer. 15:2; 43:11). Such events do not mean God has abandoned or forgotten about them; the power of the beast does not suggest God’s sovereign... Continue Reading

“No one, least of all Christians, should welcome civil war in the Church. But too many Church leaders have grown arrogant due to the rank and file’s reluctance to seem unpleasant or uncharitable by confronting their deceit and manipulation, and a unity based on acceptance of false teaching is a unity of the damned. As... Continue Reading

Wherever you want to lay the blame for the disintegration of male and female relationships—the industrial revolution, the sexual revolution, the tech revolution, the invention of the birth control pill, the legalization of abortion, any moment will do well enough—the point is that women have been trying to redress their grievances without facing the spiritual... Continue Reading

Parents can only instruct their children “by the way” (Deut 6) if parents and children are in the same place at the same time, a lot of the time. This proximity is what our society is so eager to dissolve and what we easily surrender. Yet it is not just time at home that matters.... Continue Reading