In season and out of season he met his engagements. His custom was to catechize at regular periods, throughout his charge, and not only the children but also the heads of families—households. This was done by announcing from the pulpit certain days in the week, to meet those of a particular district, at a place... Continue Reading

Augustine was a remarkable figure, a towering intellect with unmatched rhetorical skills. He exhibited an unprecedented capacity for self-reflection with a contemplative and even mystical streak. His impact continued throughout the Western church through the Protestant Reformation. He was a major influence on Reformers such as Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, and John Calvin. And... Continue Reading

I don’t write this in anger or seeking my “pound of flesh” as I was accused of at a presbytery council meeting when seeking to expose this behavior at the presbytery level. We must all pursue the path of forgiveness just as we have been forgiven. So, I must pursue it as well. Yet we... Continue Reading

Owen cared about worshiping the triune God properly. His theology of public worship is established on the triune God and beholding him by faith now. It’s practiced in a church’s worship service by actively communing with Christ—by looking at him—through the prescribed ordinances of worship found in God’s Word. Expressing spiritual affections by faith in... Continue Reading

Bringing together, then, the “permanency of the gifts which qualify for the office,” and the church’s judgment “that Christ is calling this man to the exercise of the office,” Murray considers it inconsistent for the elder to be installed for a specified period (despite the PCA’s “perpetual” ordination, this does not preclude churches from specifying... Continue Reading

Schaeffer stands as a positive example for the Church today as someone who understood what was truly behind the culture war raging around him. It was not a war that just began in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade; it had started in the Garden. He was no scholar’s scholar, but he was a man... Continue Reading

A third point for Spurgeon was unity, especially unity among minsters of the gospel. In a day with much division, Spurgeon’s point is a good reminder. He said, “Whenever the foot is at enmity with the hand there must be something like madness in the body; there cannot be a sound mind within that frame... Continue Reading

Over the years, Ramchandra led dozens of others to Christ, including future church leader Tara Chand. It is said that even the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar summoned Ramchandra to dissuade him from becoming a Christian. However, this only led to one of the Emperor’s servants coming to faith in Christ. Ramchandra eventually became the... Continue Reading

During this time, as far as my presbytery was concerned, I was not seen as a brother in crisis; I was just a problem. I suspect in many other presbyteries ministers are going through rough times. These brothers are experiencing a crisis in their lives.  Please do not look at them as a problem, but... Continue Reading

The most important label—one that cries out for acknowledgment from the thousands of pages of his mighty corpus—is follower of Jesus. Bavinck loved the God who saved him by grace, and amid the complexity and brilliance of his thought, there is always a doxological current. As Bavinck put it: A theologian is a person who... Continue Reading