My father, who’s been in heaven since 1988, inadvertently taught me about praying to the saints. I was struggling with what to say and do with one of my sons who seemed to be adrift. We met for breakfast one morning, and as I slid into the booth, an involuntary prayer went up from my... Continue Reading

There has been an interesting series of posts over the past week or so between Kevin and Tullian. It started when Kevin, who is on sabbatical writing a book on Holiness, posted an article on the Gospel Coalition blog entitled “Make Every Effort” In doing my daily search for news for The Aquila Report, I... Continue Reading

To put the matter differently, the impression one derives from reading Matt 18 is that the sin in question is not, at first, publicly noticed (unlike the publication of a foolish but influential book). It is relatively private, noticed by one or two believers, yet serious enough to be brought to the attention of the... Continue Reading

The PCA was originally formed of southern churches, but now has a much broader base. Today the PCA is the largest conservative reformed denomination in the English speaking world. As an EPC pastor who just attended the 2011 PCA General Assembly in Virginia Beach, I’d like to speak in praise of the PCA. I came... Continue Reading

Father’s Day is a poignant occasion for me, as for many. I never knew my biological father, who died in an accident. Mom and I lived near Detroit with her oldest sister and her husband, who were childless. That’s how I got a Pop. Pop was larger-than-life. Born in Nebraska in 1904, he epitomized the... Continue Reading

While looking through his father’s papers shortly after his death, John Piper found a small sheet with the following fifteen counsels, titled “Things I Have Learned.” Following are the list and Piper’s own comments. He didn’t make most of these up. Some of them go back to his college days when he was absorbing the... Continue Reading

It is not an exaggeration to say that diversity is part of the air we breathe today. Every time we step out our front doors, we feel the winds of diversity blowing. We are conscious of it in the political realms, in the worlds of art and education, in our sports loyalties, in our social... Continue Reading

But I don’t want to see any flag flying outside the church and, please, never inside. How incongruous that should have a baptismal font to which we call all who profess faith and their children and a Communion Table to which we invite all communicants of our own and other evangelical congregations while in the... Continue Reading

It is a non-negotiable of the Christian faith, deeply rooted in the teaching of Christ that he is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and that no one comes to the Father, “but my Me.” [John 14:6]. Non-Christians who have an understanding of Christianity may well find this claim offensive, but they should not... Continue Reading

Pragmatism says that visible results are the yardstick by which we must judge whether or not something is true or useful. Driven by pragmatism, today’s Evangelical church often bases its methods and message on the study of human management philosophy and market studies of the unsaved, rather than study of God’s Word. The results are... Continue Reading