“When we obey God,” Victoria Osteen declares in one show, a smile plastered across her face, “We’re not doing it for God. I mean, that’s one way to look at it. We’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy. So, I want... Continue Reading

Spiritual disciplines dangle the promise of making it possible for me to do what I cannot do: make myself acceptable to God.  But practices can never do that.  That misguided promise makes Spiritual Formation attractive and gives it the “appearance of wisdom.” But changing my outward reality cannot change my sinful nature, and my sinful... Continue Reading

Nuri, his wife, and their three children—15-year-old twin boys and an 8-year-old daughter—made their way east along with others, including Nuri’s wife’s brother and his wife. They eventually caught a ride in a pickup truck to Qameshli, a Syrian city near the Iraqi border. (The family asked that their real names not be used for... Continue Reading

A key part of the Schaeffer shtick is to make sure his audience knows how “important” he was. “You see, only in the Mafia, the British Royal family and big time American religion is a nepotistic rise to power seen as normal. And I was good at it. And I hated it while hypocritically profiting... Continue Reading

“When these two boys, identical twins, were asking deep theological questions, who was there to help them?” Mohler asked. “Who was there to guide them? Who was there as an evangelical thinker, apologist, theologian, friend, pastor and guide to help them to understand these questions?” A recent Wall Street Journal story profiling twin brothers who followed separate... Continue Reading

“Rev. Benton is an adjunct professor in communication at Harrisburg Community College and York College of Pennsylvania. He served as pastor at Pennsylvania congregations and at one in the Hudson River Presbytery in New York State. As a member there, he brought a complaint against the presbytery for failing to discipline another minister for conducting... Continue Reading

The surrounding culture has shifted, the remaining effects of Christianity on the culture are ebbing and most people don’t want to be at odds with the people in the office, their family, or the social circle. This is why the mainline churches such as the Presbyterian Church USA have abandoned much of historic Christian teaching.... Continue Reading

Left to ourselves, we would be trapped in our sin.  But there is a way to overcome sin (“to overcome the world”).  The path to change is not through spiritual disciplines; it is through faith in Jesus Christ.  You overcome sin by persevering in the faith and believing in the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.... Continue Reading

“His conviction that he was an instrument of God’s providence polished his certitude and fueled his determination. But when one professor, the closest friend he had ever had, disagreed with his plan to replace exclusive student clubs with more democratic residential quads, Wilson never spoke to him again and never had another very close friend.”... Continue Reading

Patrick Sookhdeo has resigned his posts as a trustee and international director for Barnabas Aid International. Board member Julian Dobbs confirmed the resignation this morning. Dobbs said the board has accepted Sookhdeo’s resignation as a trustee, and is considering his resignation as international director of the organization. A ​statement from the trustees of Barnabas Aid... Continue Reading