American Christianity has forgotten that “faith is costly, and spiritual growth involves sacrifice.” Sacrifice was the calling card of the Christian in centuries past. Jeffrey Macdonald’s book Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul By G. Jeffrey MacDonald (Basic Books, 238pp., $25.95) is a fascinating and well-written expose... Continue Reading

John Piper’s T4G2010 message “Did Jesus Preach Paul’s Gospel?” defended the unity of Paul and Jesus in their understanding of justification and imputation. After his message John joined a panel discussion with Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, John MacArthur, and me. The following is an excerpt from that panel discussion. Ligon Duncan: John, let’s... Continue Reading

A review of N. T. Wright’s After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, HarperOne, March 2009 Against the backdrop of the recent economic crisis, N.T. Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, opens with a persuasive call to recover character. Many Christians focus on “getting saved,” but what about the rest of the Christian life? Often we... Continue Reading

Readers are a hopeful lot. Ask most serious readers what they intend to read over the next month, and you are likely to hear a considerable list. Books stack easily in more ways than one. The stack of books to be read beside the desk or reading chair is a statement of hope. No matter... Continue Reading

Jerry Rankin, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, spoke to The Christian Post last week about his new book with missiologist Ed Stetzer called Spiritual Warfare and Missions. In the interview, Rankin explained what Satan’s most effective strategy is to stop the expansion of the Kingdom of God and why missions... Continue Reading

How does a four-year-old tome by little-known leader of a Glenside, Pa., seminary, dealing with the religious beliefs of a figure who’s been dead for two centuries become a best-selling book? How does a book become a best-seller? This is a question I often ask myself — for a variety of reasons. But now here’s... Continue Reading

Mega-churches across the country’s heartland have served as the training grounds for many of the Fox show’s contestants, with parishioners doing their part with prayers and text votes. She isn’t employed by the show and viewers never see her sparring with Simon Cowell. But Leesa Bellesi exerts her own kind of pull on “American Idol,”... Continue Reading

Great Commission Publications announces the release of God’s Story Bible Coloring Book. The book contains 158 coloring pages. The contents contain activities based on Toddler, Preschool and Younger Elementary lessons in the Show Me Jesus curriculum. Show Me Jesus is Bible-based, Christ-centered curriculum that teaches the unfolding story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. Seven... Continue Reading

Stark’s latest book, God’s Battalions: the Case for the Crusades, takes on one of what most Americans would consider a truism: that the Crusades were simply evil and irrational. Not so fast, my friend, says Dr. Stark! Rodney Stark is a prominent and prolific sociologist and historian of religion. His Curriculum Vitae lists 28 books... Continue Reading

We are still a conservative church and thoroughly evangelical in outlook……Through a style and structural change we have rebranded and replanted. As an adolescent Tullian Tchividjian had plenty of reasons to enjoy a relatively calm path into early adulthood. He was the fourth of seven children born into an active and supportive environment. He was... Continue Reading