On a conservative LCMS website:
By 2005, Premillennialists will be as scarce as hens teeth. Their emotional, revival-driven, cultish worship will fade into oblivion with them. They will disappear like the Pilgrims after Christ didn’t return in 1666.
(I think he mostly means dispensational premillennialists, but I don’t wish to put words in his mouth.)
Unfortunately, this prophecy [...]
A snippet from an email conversation I was having earlier this morning:
You know, it’s easier to love the sinners than the Pharisees, but it’s easier to manage the Pharisees than the sinners.
I preached Sunday morning’s sermon at GCBC. Probably the most straightforward and hardest-hitting gospel presentation I have ever made in my life… and at the end of it I had two kids come up and comment on how they thought for a while that I was yelling at them. I responded, as straight-faced [...]
We love TeamPyro. Thanks to Phil Johnson and the Pyromaniacs for adding us to their blogroll. (Wow, we even got a boldface.)
I always get a little spooked when somebody says that after they read the rabbis, they understood the New Testament better. You can mean that in a good way or a bad way; after you’ve had a lot of the bad way, I think being a little gun-shy is understandable.
That said, this article on [...]
Dave Farquhar takes on Digg commenters who wouldn’t know a historical Christian worldview if it bit them. Also he points out that being a Christian doesn’t mean that you think that Tim LaHaye is any sort of theologian or spokesman for Evangelicalism. And he says something about substitutionary atonement.
We ought to do a [...]
I preached the first of two sermons leading up to Reformation Day today. It’s sort of a “we need a new Reformation, and it’s the same as the old Reformation” theme, but I wasn’t obvious about it, I don’t think.
It moves fast, and I would encourage people who care to look up the passages [...]
Let’s take a look at the following verses:
2 Timothy 2:11-13 Listen
11 The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself. [...]
Speaking as a Christian and a Doctor Who fan, I find this to be completely stupid, an exercise in misdirection that takes glory away from Christ. I mean, the Doctor is fun to watch because he’s so human; Jesus as depicted in the Bible would have both saved Rose and made her like Him… [...]
Last Sunday, Pastor Arden Hodgins preached a sermon entitled “Why Judas?” in which he gave eleven reasons why Jesus chose Judas Iscariot as a disciple despite knowing Judas’ heart and destiny. It was one of the finer sermons I’ve heard Pastor Arden preach.
I especially appreciated his fourth reason (which was borrowed from J.C. Ryle [...]
I just heard from my father by phone that D. James Kennedy has gone to his reward.
Update: verified. In other news, I think I scooped everybody on this one. Bit of a surprise.
Update: changed from an “aside” to a full-blown post.
Do female church leaders of various kinds fall in groups of threes? Maybe. Today I’ve heard about Mother Teresa, Paula White, and Juanita Bynum. (I know, “fall” in the usual sense doesn’t apply to any of them, but it says something when divorce [...]
I preached yesterday morning for the second of three weeks at Grace Community Bible Church, if you’re interested. Only 45 minutes, if you can believe that.
A tiny receipt for a Babylonian temple payment may confirm a minor detail in Jeremiah, and rekindles the debate as to the historical accuracy of the Bible. Also see the comments for the usual internet idiocy, ramping all the way up to full-on British-Israelism. Is there a variant of Godwin’s Law that says [...]
Apparently Jerry Falwell is dead. Wow.
Bloomberg confirms.
Update: Tom Ascol weighs in with the best words yet.
Meredith Kline has gone to his reward.
Bruce Metzger, whose books God used to convince me that He used the fallible church as a means to the end of delivering an inerrant Scripture, has gone to his reward. Thanks, Dr. Metzger. He was one important link in the chain Christ used to draw me out of the cult I was [...]
The following is an email response (lightly revised) to a friend who does not live in the USA. He asked whether I thought America was becoming a police state and cited a recent incident as perhaps an indication of this trend.
Oh yeah, yikes, the UCLA taser incident was kinda big news here, too. [...]
To the Jew first. Converted Israel, he declared, will give life to the dead world … just as we have found, among the parched hills of Judah, that the evening dew, coming silently down, gave life to every plant, making the grass to spring and the flowers to put forth their sweetest fragrance, so shall [...]
Just thought I’d point out a forum known as the RSQUBF LiveJournal Community (which also has a main website) for those interested in the truth about the University Bible Fellowship (UBF). I’m not entirely sanguine about some of the remarks made there, and how they’re made, but perhaps the remarks I have in mind [...]
Last Sunday Pastor Arden Hodgins preached a sermon on the root of worry (MP3). I’d recommend listening to it; I found it quite edifying. This coming Sunday will feature the second half.
Update: The second half is available here (MP3).
Tomorrow is my favorite day of the year. No, I don’t trick-or-treat. No, I’m not into holidays for the devil. But the last day of October has been more than “All Hallows’ Eve” for 489 years now.
It’s Reformation Day. It’s the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the Ninety-five Theses to the [...]
This is excellent. I’ll have to post it on the front page.
Check out Jerry Bridges’s article, “Gospel-Driven Sanctification.”
I’d particularly recommend reading this article if you’re suffering from the fallout of years spent slaving away in a false, works-righteousness centered “ministry” like the University Bible Fellowship.
Speaking of UBF. At first [...]
On Wednesday evening, the church I attend had the distinct pleasure of welcoming (again) Pastor Andrea Ferrari to hear news from the beautiful land of Italy.
I’d like to share some of what we heard from this kind-hearted, strong and passionate Christian pioneer. And thus to hopefully invite your prayers and supplications to the Lord [...]
