“I have visited congregations where the pastor told me about the influence of The Trellis and the Vine and how he modeled his church after it. Yet when I participated in the worship and listened to the sermon and saw the programs, even for just a Sunday or two, I was not convinced he really... Continue Reading

“I saw yesterday that Carl Trueman proclaimed this volume as his pick for “Book of the Year.” This is theology as doxology and devotion. As I read it I couldn’t help but give thanks given the fact that the Son has been diminished within some conservative circles. I place God The Son Incarnate alongside my... Continue Reading

Spirituality becomes self-determined, self-administered, and self-verified. I identify my felt needs, and as a consumer in the religious marketplace, I look for someone or something to satisfy those needs. The ultimate question is less "Is it true?" but "Is it pleasant?"4 Thus the final arbiter of the validity of a spiritual experience is me, myself, and I. So if I desire to be a better wife and mother does it matter if the author teaches an unorthodox view of the Trinity as long as that need is met? If I want to pursue a closer relationship with God, does it matter if an author's depiction of deity bears no resemblance to the Triune God of the Bible provided it gives me feels?

“If your heart veers toward reputation over reality, toward applause over substance, D.A. Carson’s Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor could be the most important book you read in 2017. It’s the story of his father, Tom Carson, an unheralded twentieth-century Canadian pastor who served humbly for almost six decades.”   Many of us lived as... Continue Reading

“I pretty much agree with Mike Horton’s review though I thought he was too easy on the book. I’d like to add three thoughts to Mike’s review. I’m not going to do any summary, just critique. For summary read what Mike wrote.”   This week I read Wright’s new book on the crucifixion, The Day... Continue Reading

“I and others have emphasized the contrast between Ben Franklin’s self-professed Deism and his longtime friendship with the Calvinist evangelist George Whitefield, but Lepore convinced me that his sister’s influence likely had an even stronger tethering effect connecting Ben to the faith of his childhood.”   In my Baylor graduate seminar on the American Revolution,... Continue Reading

While I applaud many of Tripp’s helpful tips on Christian parenting, I think it is unhelpful and unbiblical to view our children as “lost.” Are they sinners who need Jesus like I do? Yes, for sure! But a healthy biblical and covenantal perspective won’t let us call our kids “lost;” we’re not missionaries to our kids. Like the Heidelberg Catechism (Q/A 74) says, “Infants, as well as adults are in God’s covenant and are his people. They, no less than adults, are promised the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith.” Our job is to teach them what it means to be a child of God: to repent, believe, and follow the Lord!

If Evangelicalism is to have a future connected to historic Christianity…It will need to break the nexus of non-ecclesiastical and unaccountable platform, power, and money which currently appears to determine the boundaries of orthodoxy; it will need to recognize that errors on the doctrine of God have historically proved just as lethal to orthodoxy as those on scripture … it will need to set its biblical theology in positive relation to systematic theology and the creedal and confessional heritage of the church; and it will need to think long and hard about how orthodoxy is transmitted from generation to generation.

“I often recommend books both publicly and in private conversations. When someone takes my recommendation I try to follow up in a few weeks to ask what they think of the book, what they are learning or if the book has raised any questions for them. That has led to some very fruitful conversations and... Continue Reading

For this reason the Westminster Confession notes that outside of the church “there is no ordinary possibility of salvation” (25.2). This doesn’t mean that a Christian who cannot possibly join with the fellowship is lost (for example, there are Christians in some prisons who have no way of being part of the church or fellowship). But it does mean that those who willfully refuse to be part of a church are putting their souls in grave danger. Why? Because neglecting the assembly is a multi-layered sin against God, others, and self.