Margaret, though, was quite keen on promiscuity, and her life course was set. Though she was too cunning to campaign under the banner of free love and freedom from the burden of children, that was her heartbeat. She chose contraception as her cause and was heralded for efforts in “family planning,” even though her personal... Continue Reading

Almost any parent can switch into combat mode and wield the heavy hand of authority. But it takes grace from God to be a parent who sits down and converses with his or her child. Tell your teens why you are placing certain restrictions on their phone, talk to them about the various idols of... Continue Reading

Think about it while detaching yourself from your favorite multi-site, mega big-box preacher. Isn’t hitching ourselves so fully to one man’s teaching just a little odd? Doesn’t it smack, just a tad, of man-following? Even idolatry? And, if “it isn’t about me,” as one multi-site preacher is fond of saying, then why not take your... Continue Reading

What gives these schools the right to engage in that catechesis? The business of the public school is akin to the business of a group of tutors hired by a group of parents. It has become, instead, the business of a group of self-imagined forward-thinking missionaries introducing students to their new and enlightened world, against... Continue Reading

Most clergy I know are preachers, builders, managers, and some are scholars, but few are pastors. A pastor is one who shepherds a people. As the above passages from Psalms and the Gospel of John note, pastors know their sheep by hand, the the sheep know their shepherd by his voice. Pastoring is personal, while... Continue Reading

God alone knows whether intensifying persecution would do the church in the West good. We simply know that we are to expect persecution but not to desire it or romanticize it. Be aware that if God brings suffering at the hands of wicked men, visible good could come in God’s providence. Or, it could remove... Continue Reading

Living in a world where the worst that happens is that I receive critical pushback on a blog post is one thing; living in a world where Christians cannot rent space in order to worship on a Sunday, where millions of abortions take place every year, and where every ethical value I hold dear is routinely... Continue Reading

Perhaps the greatest reason for so little interest in the Old Testament is that there has been so much Christ-less teaching from the Old Testament. At a popular level, Old Testament preaching has often degenerated into mere moralism (e.g. “Ten lessons from the life of Moses”). At an academic level, there seems to be a... Continue Reading

… I am more aware now more than ever before in my ministry how little parents know about what’s happening. And because I’m not a parent, I feel terribly inadequate in telling you this. But I can’t not tell you. After seeing the innocence in the eyes of ten year olds who’ve carried secrets nobody, let alone a child, should carry; after... Continue Reading

This law means that convictional Christians in New Jersey may no longer participate in these professions without compromising their faith. It also means that children with unwanted same-sex attraction will have no help from licensed counselors. Christians and other people of faith in New Jersey have just had their marginalization ensconced in law.   Governor... Continue Reading