In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year read on The Aquila Report. That’s easy for us to determine – we just count the hits! We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run and the five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 41-50.
In 2014 The Aquila Report posted over 3,300 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read. The top story this year had over 11,200 hits.
We average 9 new stories each day, with a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to the readers of The Aquila Report. As a web magazine we are an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will inform the church of current trends and movements within the church and culture.
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year. That’s easy for us to determine – we just count the hits! We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run and the five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 41-50.
The point being, if you want to know what heaven is like, and know it for real, read the Bible. What the Bible tells us about heaven is authoritative. It is not speculation or imagination. It is what Jesus told us it would be.
“….You had the circle with the chair, and you had the cross outside the circle, and ‘S’ the self, was on the chair, and that’s the picture of the unregenerate person, the pagan. But then you have the next stage of those who are regenerated, where now, Christ is inside the circle, but not on the throne. Self is still on the throne. You’re saved you’re in a state of grace, you’re regenerated, you’re justified – but you have absolutely no fruit whatsoever because your life hasn’t changed – and that gave rise to the development of this concept of the “Carnal Christian.”
Because her article ran in an influential national media outlet, and because in it she basically insults the entire OPC and every other allegedly “hyperconservative” Christian, I felt I should try to contact her personally to convey my disappointment, and to call her to publicly apologize for her irresponsible and hateful article. I looked up her email address on the web and sent the email below to her. Since she has publicly slandered the OPC, I believe she needs to be publicly called out on this….
Biblically, the “vitals of religion” must include more than the five points of Calvinistic soteriology. This is no longer an issue of ecclesiastical power or of male chauvinism. We need a biblical cosmology, a clear statement of how the world is made that can answer both the feminist and LGBT dismissal of gender, behind which stands a pagan rejection of God the Creator. It seems to me that one of the “vitals of religion” is the understanding and defense of the foundational issue of the image of God, without which soteriology is a non-starter.
Grace Campbell attended Briarwood Christian School and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. She is the daughter of Penny and Clay Campbell, who is the minister of music and worship at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala. Campbell was a student at Samford University.
Following on from my articles on eldership (here and here), today I’m listing my Top 10 Books for Elders, with the recommendation that elders read at least one of these books on eldership every year. Why not do it together with fellow-elders? If you know of other good books on this topic please leave your suggestion in the comments and I’ll add them under “Reader Suggestions.”
To the foundational issue: Bob and Jani both have regularly confessed their dependence upon Christ and rest in him – the most recent being Bob’s conversation with me about a month ago. They are broken people who need prayer, love, and compassion. I personally intend to run as hard as I can in the opposite direction of judging his words in the moment of his crucible – I would HATE to have that standard applied to my moments of stress, which have never reached anything approaching his intensity and duration!
I am what you would call a conservative evangelical Calvinist. This is my tribe. But all the writings on the importance of the church will be met with skepticism without the acknowledgement of specific abusive systems. In other words, if you’re gonna applaud a leader and his church and point others to him and his ministry when things are fine, you will lose your credibility if your only public reaction is to call for prayer for the leader of the abusive ministry and offer none for the those abused. Because those are the ones who are most likely to question the value of the church in their life.
“During a 2007 sermon, Driscoll famously wished he could “go Old Testament” on a couple of elders. He also told the story about the fight trainer who kept his fighters in line by busting their noses. He did not disguise his anger at elders who disagreed with his direction during those messages. Those sermons are now gone.”
70% of pastors constantly fight depression and 50% of pastors feel so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living. Wait, this is huge. Let’s pause here for a moment. This means that half of the 1,700 or so pastors who leave the ministry each month have no other way of making a living. Their education and experience is wrapped up solely in the work of the ministry.
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