Other religious accommodations include the legal use of sacramental wine during national prohibition (1920-1933), and the use of the drug peyote in the religious ceremonies of the Native American Church. The latter accommodation, allowed by many states, was disallowed as a constitutional right by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990, thus moving Congress to enact... Continue Reading

Our nation and its well-being are important, yet someday our nation won’t exist. Someday there will be no more United States of America. No more laws, courts or judges. On that day the only thing that will matter is your relation to the Judge. He sent his Son to live the perfect life none of... Continue Reading

The Heidelberg Catechism is a real gem. Thoroughly biblical, deeply compassionate, wonderfully comforting – the list could go on. Often times, however, I struggle with teaching it to my kids. Though the answers are rich and wonderful, they are sometimes quite long. Because of this, I have tried some different tactics.   When my older... Continue Reading

God’s love for us doesn’t mean that he will always give us what we want when we ask for it. He might respond in complete silence. He might not bring healing, provide us the job we want, or make our greatest dream come true. But he always gives us just what we need. As the Gospel Transformation Bible puts... Continue Reading

Its death was announce in the late 2000s by many. Url Scaramanga wrote an R.I.P. on the Emerging Church in 2008, Anthony Bradley wrote a “Farewell to the Emerging Church”  in 2010, Susan Gosselin writes that it was an eleven year movement, John Piper said that the emerging church “is a fading reality” in 2010, and even Tony Jones... Continue Reading

But there’s another kind of differing believer. Believe me, you will encounter them. They’re the ones who refuse to accept others who make differing judgment calls. Instead, they keep pushing others to conform to their conclusions. They get upset at those who resist. They take offense when no offense is given. Earlier, we saw that it’s... Continue Reading

This was a story of heroism. The woman was a matriarch who knew how to take control of her own womb, a loving mother who knew poverty and starvation were far worse than death before birth. This was also a story of a nation. Our country was advancing in its high regard for women, leaving the barbaric days of back-alley... Continue Reading

I had allowed my soul to become distressed, and that was sin. Instead of seeing the attack on me as an occasion to imitate Christ and to grow in my sanctification, I had resisted God’s Spirit, who had brought this painful event into my life for my edification, that I might remember where my treasure is.... Continue Reading

True faith is said to be the sole instrument (sola fide) of justification and salvation. True faith is also the instrument of union and communion with Christ and it is the headwaters of the believer’s new, Spirit-wrought life in Christ. In other words, true faith is essential to good works.   In part 1 we focused... Continue Reading

According to Peter, this time in between the inauguration and the consummation is a time that is marked by God’s grace so that all may be brought in to the kingdom before the second coming of Christ.   When talk turns to exile, Christians ought to understand the full sense of that term. God’s kingdom... Continue Reading