An Immigrant in Ohio’s Thoughts on Springfield
Sometimes, both sides are wrong.
Leftists have been quick to dismiss the real issues in Springfield and conservatives have been just as fast to sensationalise it. I know some conservatives do not want to hear this, but the truth is, we have become guilty of much of what we hate about the Left. As a Ghanaian-Canadian immigrant in Ohio,... Continue Reading
4 Principles for Doing Biblical Theology
A healthy way—perhaps the best way—to do biblical theology is to follow the lead of the apostles and examine how the apostles wed the Old Testament to their discourse.
Once we’ve detected the Old Testament quotation or allusion and explored the Old Testament background, now we must take a step back and ask the million-dollar question: How is the apostle using the Old Testament? New Testament writers don’t interpret and apply the Old Testament the same way each time. Most contemporary readers assume the... Continue Reading
How Important Are Your Prayers to God?
We are the agents of His activity and it is all accomplished through prayer.
Prayer is not a side issue. A nice panacea for us when we’re in trouble. A little mantra we chant to make us feel better. Prayer connects us to the God of heaven and can thus do anything God can do. It is not “A” work; it is “THE” work of the believer. We are... Continue Reading
Megan Basham’s Civil War
My interest is not in striking a blow either for or against Basham and the like-minded folks who feel empowered and justified by her claims. Rather, I want to talk about why I think the book is important and how a more expansive framework might help us understand the strife and atmosphere of suspicion more accurately.
Basham’s Shepherds for Sale is a book that addresses the political and market captivity of the church from a particular angle. It does so with greater or lesser effectiveness with regard to the charges she makes. But her ultimate point is that the church is often subject to influences that may be hostile to its actual mission.... Continue Reading
The Quickest to Anger Are Often the Slowest to Forgive
Misplaced or unjustified anger makes us think and act irrationally. In fact, sin is so devious it can even trick us into thinking we are due forgiveness, when in reality we should be seeking it.
Forgiveness is a difficult doctrine, both to understand and to practice. There will, unfortunately, be situations in all our lives that will require us to extend extraordinary forgiveness to another person. And when those times come, the Lord will be near to help us process our pain and grief, and his Spirit will gently and... Continue Reading
Thank God for His Mercies to Your Nation
During this election season when many are especially focused on the state and future of our nation, let us cry out in prayer to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
“In your loving concern, set over us a good government that practices justice and opposes corruption. Give us governmental leaders who will be a terror to all those who do evil, and will praise and protect those who do good.” 1 Kings 10:9; Rom. 13:3 “Lord, thank you for planting us on a fruitful... Continue Reading
Crave the Lord’s Delicacies
Why Do We Choose Displeasure Over Delight?
Delight requires dedication. It requires discipline. Tuning out the world to center our attention on the God of the universe seems like it should be easy, but experience proves otherwise. Therefore, we must heed the words of the apostle Paul who said, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7b NASB). Consistent, diligent... Continue Reading
The Certainties of the Christian Life
God’s Word does not eliminate earthly uncertainties, but it illuminates heavenly realities.
Because our Father has clearly communicated with us, the Christian life is one of certainty. But what exactly are we certain of? What specific truths keep us tethered to eternity when the tangible world around us is liable to sudden disaster and the minivan’s check-engine light comes on (again)? God has given us many such... Continue Reading
Prayer Releases Spiritual Power
Why is prayer such a vital part of combatting the spiritual forces of evil?
We live between these two moments in history; Jesus has already ultimately defeated Satan, sin, and death, and yet they have not yet been destroyed. During this present age, Jesus wants us to spread his righteous rule over earth (Matt 6:33) THROUGH HIS POWER. The fact that this can only be done through his power was stressed by Jesus in the words that preceded his great... Continue Reading
Living by Faith in an Uncertain World
Learning to be content with little—even to rejoice in it—is one of the true marks of Christian maturity.
In this world, Christians may often face earthly uncertainty. Who but God knows what tomorrow may bring? But our hope is secure because it is bound up in Christ, and we are secure in Him. Thus, we cherish the thought embodied in the hymn “A Debtor to Mercy Alone”: Yes, I to the end shall... Continue Reading
A Recovered Martyn Lloyd Jones Sermon Describes This Moment in Evangelical Theology
An ecumenical strain marks certain corners of the contemporary Protestant theological academy.
Rome has repented nothing since 1517 and has only changed tactics in attempting to bring us under her tyranny. As with the Anglicans in 1977, so with many evangelicals today. These men have forgotten that false teachers come in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15); that bad company ruins good morals (1 Cor. 15:33); that Rome and... Continue Reading
Fearing God the Father
When we are justified, we know God as our Judge, but when we are adopted, we know God as our Father.
If we fear God our Father we will tremble with delight at his incomprehensible love. We will stagger at the thought that we are his adopted children. We will long to share in his holiness by embracing his loving yet painful discipline that trains us. “I am a child of God, God is my... Continue Reading
What a Rare Brain Cancer Is Teaching Me about the Art of Remembering and Forgetting
When pain and tragedy strike, we are usually so quick to forget the character and nature of God. Like the ancient Israelites, our spiritual amnesia sets in rapidly.
This is the art of the Christian life: reconciling what needs to be remembered with what needs to be forgotten—concerning both our faithful God and our sinful selves. Jesus and his disciples point us to this reconciliation of remembering and forgetting at the Last Supper and the days that follow Jesus’s death. As Jesus—a real-life... Continue Reading
Machen’s “Attack”
The things about which men will fight...and flay heads?
“The present condition of the Presbyterian Church is an offence against God. But the Spirit of God is all-powerful, and the darkest hour sometimes just precedes the dawn.” Machen was direct, forthright…salty, even. This is obviously not the (summarized) “sermon” you’d want to hear on a Lord’s Day morning if that was all there was... Continue Reading
Is Modern Postmillennialism Confessional?
Westminster Affirms the Historic Doctrine of the Imminent Second Coming
Specifically, Westminster affirms that the day and hour of the second coming are unknown but that believers ought to watch and pray expectantly for it, believing that it is near. The WCF thereby makes no allowance for modern—that is, partial-preterist—postmillennialism. In the final portion of its concluding chapter, “Of the Last Judgment,” the Confession delivers... Continue Reading
Is the New Pro-Choice GOP Committing Political Suicide?
Each of us is shut up to the Ruler and Judge of men and nations (Romans 14:12). Therefore let each earnestly seek his mind, and then, having found it, vote as his or her conscience dictates.
Speaking personally, I judge that at times it may be necessary for me to vote for a better pro-choice candidate in order to avoid the election of a worse one and the dire consequences that would ensue. Pro-life stalwart Steven Mosher agrees, arguing that only a Trump victory—unlikely without the support of pro-lifers—gives hope of... Continue Reading
What Is Distinct about the Theology of Hebrews?
Hebrews introduces us to the only mediator who can reconcile sinful human beings to the infinitely holy God.
While Hebrews urges us to fix our hearts and hopes on Jesus, who sits at God’s right hand in heaven (Heb. 12:1–2), our preacher is vividly aware of the faith-threatening challenges that confront his hearers on this sin-sick earth. The original congregation had endured the loss of social acceptance, property, physical safety, and freedom (Heb.... Continue Reading
London’s Suffering; London’s Sin
St. Paul's was "as much a den of thieves as a house of prayer." On a daily basis St. Paul's welcomed "respectable citizens such as merchants, lawyers and their clients, but a various and colorful collection of crooks, con-men, and others."
The Puritan Thomas Brooks would preach about the Great London Fire and the collapse of St. Paul’s, calling his hearers to faith in Christ. He would write, “London’s sufferings should warn others to take heed of London’s sins. London’s conflagration should warn others to take head of London’s abominations. It should warn others to stand... Continue Reading
Past Them, through Them, over Them, around Them
God has placed his richest blessings within our deepest wounds.
As we entrust our sorrows to him, we find that he has first entrusted them to us. He has assigned to us these sorrows so we can in turn consecrate them to him. He means for us to faithfully steward them, confident that they will guide us into deeper submission to his purposes and deeper... Continue Reading
10 Ways to Fracture Your Church
Church is a place to love others and to be loved, to give and take.
To arrest a possible breakup, you need to talk about the threat before the root of bitterness grows. Deal with it quickly. Like cancer, it must be handled as soon as it is discovered because any delay only allows the cancer to grow. Jesus’s Prayer for the Church Toward the end of Jesus’s life... Continue Reading
An Army of the Ordinary
You and I can make a difference.
Keep working for the Lord…You and I may be just very ordinary people. But we can do some extraordinary things with the help of our Lord. We might just be ordinary, but our God certainly is not. The longer you are a Christian, the less you speak about “coincidence” and the more you speak... Continue Reading
Where Does Your Help Come From? (Psalm 121)
Jesus is the helper of his people now and for eternity.
[God’s] got you now, present tense. But he’s got you in the future too. He will keep you from evil. He will keep your life. He will keep your going out and coming in not just now but into eternity. It’s not just a promise for this life but for all time. God has promised good to his people throughout... Continue Reading
Churchill Wasn’t the Bad Guy
Deconstructing everything leads to false history.
Because Churchill insisted on fighting, Cooper [popular historian] suggested, he is the real villain of the war. Churchill, he said, wanted war to make up for his part in the disaster at Gallipoli in World War I. Though nothing in Churchill’s writings suggests this, Hitler clearly articulated his intentions and, despite what Cooper claimed, it was not to pursue... Continue Reading
Men Lead by Singing
Men who sing the faith with their families are preparing them for a life of work, warfare, and worship.
At the end of life, when he is no longer able to sing, the man who has led his family in song will have a rich repertoire at hand and will have prepared himself well for the eternal song of the saints of God in heaven. Singing is a manly and powerful means of... Continue Reading
Politics, Conscience, and the Church: The Why, What, and How of Political Disagreement
All Christians care about justice, but we don’t always agree about how to identify injustice and how to right those wrongs.
While Christians may not like the alternatives, voting for a party that celebrates murder in the womb, transgenderism, and a host of other sexual deviancies is at best exceedingly unwise and at worst sinful. Christians live as dual citizens of an earthly nation and the heavenly kingdom. To paraphrase Aristotle, politics is the science... Continue Reading
Devotion Begets Devotion: Encountering God in the Bible
God works on our hearts as we read the Bible. He meets with us and entices us to return and meet with him again.
God reveals himself to us in the pages of this holy book. To the novice and the expert, to the young and the old, God offers himself to those who would take up and read. The force of gravity that one object exerts on another depends on a few factors: the mass of each... Continue Reading
The Temptation of Self-Trust
My self is no more an unconquerable deity than was Baal or Zeus or Artemis of the Ephesians, no more able to help me, and no more worthy of worship.
There is the temptation to trust our own wisdom. Proverbs warns us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (3:5–8). To believe that our own wisdom is sufficient to guide us not only is foolish but is the essence of sin. That belief led the first... Continue Reading
Retiring from the Game
If you’re young and think that retirement is too far down the road to contemplate, don’t be fooled.
If I’m unwilling to do the work, then it’s time to retire. I see too many pastors who want the paycheck, prestige, and honor, but are in cruise-control and are phoning in their sermons and counseling sessions. These are just some of the things I presently take into consideration as I think about what things... Continue Reading
One Simple Question a Friend Can Always Ask
How would you like me to pray?
When we say, “I’ll pray for you,” it can often also become a way of exiting the conversation. When someone is sharing details that are too intimate or too uncomfortable or too painful, we can extricate ourselves pretty neatly with a statement like that. But in asking, “How would you like me to pray?” we... Continue Reading
Churchill and the Crusades
Jesus Christ will defeat His enemies in history, and every knee will bow before Him as Lord and King.
What makes me sad is that over the centuries hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions, of brave men died successfully protecting the West against the invasion of Muslims. Yet, in the last thirty years or so, our governments have essentially surrendered to Islam and turned places like London, Malmo (Sweden), the Twin Cities, the Paris... Continue Reading