Reformation21

Were the Jehovah’s Witnesses right? Among their central boasts is that they have revived the covenantal name of God, the Hebrew YHWH, sometimes pronounced Yahweh and sometimes Jehovah, that Jesus came to restore. Ancient Hebrew has no vowels so the precise pronunciation may never be known. Given...

Paul’s friends in Philippi faced significant internal and external threats. Externally, they were confronted by opponents who threatened their lives. Paul himself was chained at the time of writing his letter to the Philippians in Rome, awaiting the emperor’s decision on his life. In Philippi,...

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The service ended a couple of minutes ago. The momentary silence of the sanctuary was punctured by the children, whose failed attempts to whisper quickly rose to shouts as they joined friends. A gentle buzz of pleasantries then filled the ambient...

As you think about the items that fill your to-do list, where does “pursue purity” fall in your rank of priorities? I suspect that while we all desire to pursue purity, many of us probably aren’t sure exactly what that should look like! It’s a priority in principle, but often not in practice. How...

Preachers love pulpits. We dream of Calvin’s crowned pulpit with the spiral staircase, Spurgeon’s rail pulpit in London, Palmer’s marble pulpit in Columbia, or the “high pulpit” of the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah. But my favorite is the pulpit I have the privilege to fill each Lord’...

When I told a friend in Italy that I was not familiar with the name Patrick Zaki, he was surprised. Zaki’s name has appeared frequently in the Italian news ever since his arrest in Cairo, Egypt, about nineteen months ago. And the news media continue to follow as his trial is repeatedly postponed...

For decades now, Christian congregations have had to deal with differences in musical styles in Christian worship. Some prefer "contemporary music." Others prefer "traditional music." The differences become a source of contention. Sadly, we now have the term "worship wars," as a label to describe...

Note: Read more from the author's "Runner in a Race" series here. One of the many lessons I learned from my cross-country ski coach was to keep my head up and look ahead when skiing, particularly when skiing up a steep hill. Going up a sharp incline is hard work, and it is natural to look down when...

Several years ago, I went hiking in the Smokies with a group of friends. This wasn’t a trail I was familiar with, and I wasn’t in the best of shape at the time. I soon began to lag behind the group. They would always return for me to try and encourage me and walk with me. My pride would always...

C.S. Lewis is among my very favorite authors, and The Great Divorce is arguably my favorite book. In the inventive work of fiction, the inhabitants of a gray, dreary, and inconsequential hell take a bus to the outskirts of heaven and meet with a variety of saints. The most powerful and poignant...