Reformation21

Cultural appropriation—the art of appropriating aspects (songs, stories, apparel, traditions, rituals, etc.) of some (minority) culture by an entity that doesn’t inhabit that culture—seems to have secured its rank among the cardinal vices of our age. Those found guilty of said vice in fairly recent...

In early 2008 some of my college roommates and I spent our Spring Break hiking through a beautiful section of the Appalachian Trail. During our first night in the mountains of western North Carolina the biting cold awakened me. I still remember my discomfort and uncontrollable shivering, but I...

What use are the Ten Commandments today? We already know them, and we already know no one follows them. Except Jesus, and that’s why we need him. Let’s move on. Yet, as Treebeard would say, let’s not be so hasty. [1] The Decalogue, like the Gospel, has a way of compressing galaxies of truth, wisdom...

When the great Protestant reformer Dr. Martin Luther famously stood before the Roman Catholic Diet of Worms in Germany in 1521, he had been called upon by the Holy Roman Empire to explain himself—or more specifically, his doctrine. He did so with great capability and earnest humility. What we...

As we saw last time , a Christian is like a runner in a race in that he must run. Obviously, a runner doesn’t take a seat in the stands when the starting pistol goes off. He runs. How does a Christian run? By trusting and obeying the Lord Jesus. Paul equates finishing the race with having kept the...

It is always tragic to hear of a police shooting or an unjust use of force by police officers. Anytime anyone in a position of authority abuses that authority, it is especially abhorrent in God’s sight, because God ordained authorities like the police to punish wrongdoers and reward those who do...

Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let...

For the most part, Christians know that Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) are a cult and have some strange beliefs. But when they begin to talk about God and his Son, Jesus; when they ask about faith and salvation; when they use what appears to be a normal Bible; when they speak the “Christian language,”...

We are rounding the curve into the reckoning phase. When disaster strikes, people (or communities, or nations) often move through three stages: crisis triage, reckoning/ regrouping, and finally redirecting. Crisis triage looks like keeping the ship afloat and surviving till tomorrow. Shell-shocked...

My pastor’s wife friend was nearly in tears. “We have to set up for church and take down every week. Then I lead the singing while I also parent my kids. Nearly every evening, we have someone from the church showing up at our house with an urgent need for hospitality or counseling. We’ve had people...