I’m excited about this book because I was able to set forth how the gospel shines so brightly, revealing the glory of Christ in the salvation of his people. The study of hell, while admittedly weighty, does drive you to see the powerful grace of God in the gospel.   Questions about hell continue to... Continue Reading

Self-deception is a real and present danger for believers. Many convince themselves that watching “soft porn” (because that is precisely the secular classification that many of the scenes in television shows today would have received 20 years ago) in the opening episodes on a television show isn’t that bad because “while there is intense violence... Continue Reading

“We have so many incredible things to be thankful for and sing about – we’ve been forgiven, justified, and adopted as God’s own children and made joint-heirs with Christ. We’ve been rescued from eternal destruction. We’ve been given eternal life. Jesus SAVED us! That’s something to sing about.”   Have you ever wondered why God... Continue Reading

In every place he poured his heart and soul into the work and saw many precious souls come to faith. By the time jungle living broke his health and forced him to return to Greece, he left behind an organization comprised of a thriving central compound, thirty-seven school teachers, twenty-two evangelists, twenty airstrips, a three-plane... Continue Reading

One of the most recent, and I would suggest, best interactions with the NPP is Robert Cara’s Cracking the Foundation of the New Perspective on Paul. I believe Cara succeeds on many levels. Before I get to my assessment I want to describe what Cara has done.   Admittedly the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) isn’t... Continue Reading

What if it’s actually not good–what if it’s actually sub-Christian–to think of God’s nature abstracted wholly from the things he has made? What if, as Jonathan Edwards said, God’s “supreme excellencies” are known through His works? What if the things of earth do not, in fact, grow strangely dim in light of his glory and... Continue Reading

Ryrie is most compelling when he connects Protestant behavior with underlying religious beliefs. For example, Protestants tend to question and reject authority, because they believe with Martin Luther that every believer is a priest before God. Ryrie shows how this tendency gave rise to anti-apartheid initiatives in South Africa, advocacy on behalf of migrants and refugees, and anti-abortion campaigns. At... Continue Reading

“I think many of the old hymns, the ones that have endured–and plenty of the newer hymns too, actually–tap into a deeper reality than a lot of the more explicitly emotive stuff. In a strange way, the old gospel hymns affect us more emotionally by not dealing primarily with how we feel.”   The gospel... Continue Reading

Reform Thought in Sixteenth-Century Italy is interesting in other ways to anyone who has an interest in the 16th century religious thought. If there was every an example of heterogeneous thought, it was in Italy at this time. A Reformation of the church was clearly needed, but opinions differed as on its nature and extent.  ... Continue Reading

In every age, Christians have had to carefully navigate their culture, to ensure that they are taking their cues not from the world around them, but from the Bible. In every age, Christian parents have been responsible to help their children separate culture lies from biblical truth. This is as true today as it has... Continue Reading