Nevertheless, in the providence of God, between creation and the parousia, life is such that pagans do see and speak truth. Nothing about the antithesis prevents us from acknowledging that reality. We are not  obscurantists. We affirm the goodness and fallenness of creation. Fearlessly, confident in the Scriptures and the Christian faith, we engage the... Continue Reading

 I am not saying there is nothing decent or honorable in other religions or in people from other religions. Ultimately, there is no good deed apart from faith, but Christians should recognize that Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus (and secular atheists for that matter) can be charitable, honest, and kind. Exclusivism does not demand that we reject... Continue Reading

Kottke claims that “In 1997, wired teens created online diaries, and in 2004 the blog was king. Today, teens are about as likely to start a blog (over Instagramming or Snapchatting) as they are to buy a music CD.” And there you have it. Teens determine the meaningful paths to communication. Actually, as you see... Continue Reading

To be relevant to the future we have to know our history. Part of the reason the entire modern church music movement is so vacuous is that it ignores the entirety of church history. We can be naïve and we don’t always know what to do with music. Today it’s become a way of getting... Continue Reading

Verses like Hebrews 12:1, 2 and Romans 12: 1, 2 are a kind of starting over to serve and give ourselves anew to be the Lord’s.  We confess our sins and start over.  We remember our Father loves us and desires to bless His children, and we go into the future starting over refreshed, renewed. ... Continue Reading

The little moments of life are profoundly important precisely because they are the little moments that we live in and that form us. This is where I think “Big Drama Christianity” gets us into trouble. It can cause us to devalue the significance of the little moments of life and the “small-change” grace that meets... Continue Reading

But I realized today that if my first response is not wonder, awe, humility — if these texts do not lead me to meditation or devotion but rather to apologetics, if they lead me to defend God rather than trust Him, then I’m committing the same kind of idolatry that the skeptic does when he... Continue Reading

Although we’ll never be all this and we’ll never find all this in any mere man, it’s still a great ideal for pastors and those who train them to aim at. And it’s a reminder of the only Perfect Pastor, who was more than a mere man, and who surpassed all expectations in every part... Continue Reading

What we experienced was “normal” for our context, and many other missionaries can testify to similar kinds of things. I call these sorts of scare tactics “demonic bullying.” In a place where the number of Christians is less than 1 percent and the rest of the population is consciously or unconsciously worshiping the enemy, this... Continue Reading

The goal of speaking of the sins of another to those who have a need to know and a right to know about them is to bring about restoration of the offending party, it is not to harm their reputation or satisfy the tingling ears of those who love gossip, which is what the tale... Continue Reading