It Pleased God…to Create
The words “it pleased God…to create,” in Westminster Confession of Faith 4.1, refer to divine willing, to the decree of God. Creation is due to the will of God. It is not necessary to the divine essence, however. The Triune…
Category Reformation21
Only for a Time
I was interested to see that the cessationism/continuitionism issue is surfacing again–due to Matt Chandler’s recent sermon, “A Supernatural Community and a Personal Word.” Matt’s introductory argument is as follows: Many Christians do not experience the extraordinary gifts of the…
From the Ears to the Brain to the Heart
Shortly before college I read Mortimer Adler’s little classic How to Read a Book. That may sound like an odd title. After all, how could somebody read the book unless they already knew how to read? And if they did…
A Prayer for the Church (Galatians 5:16-26)
Our Father in heaven, we rejoice to remember that hidden in the holiness of your Son, you count us holy in your sight. Not only as we pray, but as we live each day, you see us as saints, set…
Low Visibility
Quite a number of contemporary theologians have made the observation that J. Gesham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism is every bit as relevant today as it was when it was first released in 1923. Machen explained that he had written this…
A Secular Age
In writing A Secular Age, Charles Taylor has slowly, and thoroughly built what is in essence his life’s work. He first lays out the terms that he intends to work with in defining secularism. This is more than what flies in public spaces, and the…
When Sitting Under Less Than Biblical Preaching
Preachers are weak and imperfectly sanctified men. They hold the treasure of gospel ministry in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin (Eccl. 7:20). Not many should…
Lloyd-Jones on Racism and the Gospel
There was a recent advertisement on Twitter for a Christian event in Mobile, AL titled, “Shrinking the Divide: A Gathering for Racial Reconciliation” featuring John Perkins and Russell D. Moore. There were some immediate negative responses from numerous professing Christians…
Stumbling on a Two-Way Street
Sin is a two-way street. There is the offender and the offended. We may not think of sin in those terms, especially in instances where we are the offended party. But the truth of the matter is that we bear…
Taking Exception
At the 2018 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Committee on Review of Presbytery Records (CRPR) presented its annual report. The Assembly tasks this committee with reviewing the minutes of each of the PCA’s Presbyteries. CRPR…