Only as we turn our ears away from the false promises of this passing age to God’s Word, to His saving revelation in Christ as the only gospel, and to the glory of the triune God as our only goal, can we expect to see a genuine revival of Christian discipleship, worship, and mission in... Continue Reading

Editor's Note: On Friday morning (Aug 10) we published a blog article by Carl Trueman on Seminaries and Spiritual Formation. During the day the Ref21 blog lit up with response from Sean Lucas, a brief rejoinder from Carl, a restatement by Sean, and final thoughts(?) by Carl. Since it appears to have ended, we are combining the last four posts together for your convenience.

Calvin taught that there is comfort in knowing "that no task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God's sight." The greater comfort, however, comes from the gospel, where Calvin says, "we are apprehended by God's goodness and sealed by his promises."

I do not think that seminaries need somebody doing 'spiritual formation' precisely because I think that seminary professors should all be doing it, with the key qualification that this is only to the extent that they can given things such as the restrictions of class size and seminary purpose.

For example, in the English translation of the Hebrew Bible, we read: "The other events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel" (2 Chronicles 33:18). Undoubtedly, students often asked their rabbis what it was that Manasseh had said to God when he repented during his Babylonian captivity. The Prayer of Manasseh gives an answer to that question, either factually or as a piece of fiction

I wish I could tell you that most pastors are preaching the Word. I can’t—some are not. Here are five things we may choose to do instead of preach the Word.

Many IM proponents insist that Muslims who convert to Christ should hold fast to various Islamic practices and avoid the identity of “Christian” altogether. This avoidance exceeds the realm of labels, as converts are called to remain inside Islamic religion and retain their Islamic cultural and religious identity.     1. Messianic Muslims and Muslim... Continue Reading

Dr. Davis is trying to make the intinction debate an issue about people, but the truth is that this isn’t about people; it’s primarily about ceremonial representations of eucharistic theology. Secondarily, and perhaps no less significantly, it’s about the authority of the Church to ensure that the Lord’s service is performed in a manner that... Continue Reading

Jesus also knew we have a deep spiritual hunger that only he can satisfy. To end that famine, on the cross the Father ground up – kneaded up – his dear, dear willing Son. And from this crushing and grinding and kneading and molding and baking on the cross came a loaf with sweet life... Continue Reading

If one secularist says morality is broken and needs to be fixed, then another can say it is not broken and does not need to be fixed. So they are left with nothing but arbitrary opinions as people try to pick and choose their own morality. Morality has always been a problem for secular humanism... Continue Reading