Church
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Our Promissory God
Several decades ago a Canadian schoolteacher Everett Storms read the Bible through 27 times specifically counting God’s promises. The number he came up with is 7,487. We might dis‐ pute that number, but of this there must be no doubt: you can find thousands of God’s promises in the Bible. If you read nothing but… Continue reading
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What Whites Owe Blacks
Fledgling editor Timothy Dalrymple of Christianity Today (Astray?) has called for the evangelical church to pay blacks reparations for the Unites States’ history of slavery and 19th century ministers’ defense of it. Dalrymple invoked the biblical account of Zacchaeus to buttress his proposal …. Read the rest here. Continue reading
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The Diabolical Disappearance of Answered Prayer
In 2020, it’s difficult to imagine a Christian college president anywhere writing such a bold, faith-drenched book. Such simple, fearless faith poses an embarrassment to the minds of many modern well-educated Christians deeply vested in Enlightenment rationalism and soft-core Christian deism, which sees God as so transcendent and aloof as not to be actively, eagerly,… Continue reading
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John MacArthur on the Abiding Authority of Biblical Law for Modern Nations
In what must be the boldest, most fearless, most biblically drenched sermon by a megachurch pastor in 2020, John MacArthur today declared that: (1) nations must recognize the true God; (2) political rulers must operate according to “biblical law”; (3) biblical law is designed for all nations, not just the Jews; (4) there are no… Continue reading
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Boisterous Irrelevance
Theological hyper-specificity and theology without Christian worldview are two hazards leading to irrelevance during the great battles of the time. Our calling is to fight where the “battle rages,” where “the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battle-field.” Continue reading
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What About Mask-Wearing as Christian Charity?
My CultureChange e-newsletter “Mandatory Masks, “Shelter at Home,” and (Anti-) Social Distancing: A Christian worldview analysis and a brief theology of the state” raised several valid questions. One of them is whether wearing a mask during COVID-19 as a Christian fulfills our obligation to love our brothers and sisters. We should not insist on our… Continue reading
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Church Bulletin Insert, December 2020
“Let’s always remember that we can worship just as well alone as we can in a group, and that the church isn’t a building or a meeting, but God’s people wherever they are.” Continue reading
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J. I. Packer on De-Mystifying God
By “mystification” I mean the idea [often held in traditional views of God] that some biblical statements about God mislead as they stand, and ought to be explained away…. [S]ometimes [in the Bible] God is said to change his mind and to make new decisions as he reacts to human beings. Orthodox theists have insisted… Continue reading
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Cultic Characteristics
These days, you may find yourself labeled a cultist simply because you believe the Bible or affirm historic Christianity, so far has modern Christendom come from its own history. However, even within the broad bounds of orthodox Christianity, certain individuals, churches and ministries manifest cultic characteristics. I’ll mention several of those characteristics. Isolation First,… Continue reading
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Crusading Christianity
Passion for Catholicity In recent years I’ve tried to make a chief feature of my ministry catholicity, specifically, orthodox Christians working together for wholesale reformation. Culture-reclaiming Christians committed to Biblical authority, the apostolic Gospel, and historic orthodoxy should not allow their secondary differences to divide them. The stakes are too high; our culture is too… Continue reading
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The Empirical Heretics
G. C. Berkouwer has riveted attention on the dangers of the empirical heretic, by which he denotes that false teacher who, while in conformity to the creeds of the church, propagates doctrine (or advocates actions) that diminish the proclamation of the Gospel (The Church, in Studies in Dogmatics [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976], 381). Operating safely… Continue reading
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Hatred for History
For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear, some new thing (Acts 17:21) . . . they soon forgot . . . (Psalm 106:13) Richard Weaver said in Ideas Have Consequences: “It has been well said that the chief trouble with… Continue reading
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Prophetic Preaching or Expository Preaching?
Over the past thirty years or so, there has been a big emphasis on “expository” or “expositional” preaching. This is the practice of preaching straight through the Bible (or a portion of it) sequentially, exegeting a particular portion and expounding it. This surely is an acceptable way to preach, and it has a long history.… Continue reading
P. Andrew Sandlin 