“Once secularism rears its head and fundamentalism responds with a clear alternative, moderate religion strikes many as redundant. Either you believe the stuff or you don’t. If you do, it makes sense to go for the real thing, which takes a firm stand against godlessness.” If your Christianity is reconstituted to the day’s fashion, don’t... Continue Reading

Second, there is no indication that the early church fathers, as a whole, believed that writings produced in their own time were of the same authority as the apostolic writings and thus could genuinely be contenders for a spot in the NT canon.  On the contrary, books were regarded as authoritative precisely because they were... Continue Reading

Piper responded that he was working on the assumption that the Bible teaches the Church must be led by “spiritual, humble, biblically qualified men,” referencing 1st Timothy 2:12, which reads: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”   Bethlehem College & Seminary Chancellor and DesiringGod.com founder... Continue Reading

Every church, big or little, urban or rural, is utterly dependent upon its Head. Without Christ’s sustaining grace, no church will last, or have any lasting impact. Every church must receive and reckon with this knowledge. But the particular gift God gives to small churches in small places is that their weakness is so very... Continue Reading

Let’s try this thought experiment: can we assume that the churches of the New Testament were real Christian churches, lacking nothing essential? If so, what could we ‘lop off’ our current practice of church life and still have a genuine Christian assembly (or ‘church’)?   Some years ago, an elderly relative visited our church. She... Continue Reading

We’re not that unique. There are plenty of churches worldwide full of people who want to throw in the towel and check out of the Bride of Christ at some point in life. Or, maybe during many points in life. But what keeps us coming back to one another over and over and over is the connectedness... Continue Reading

So, even though the saga is not over, the Moody board’s action is still a man-bites-dog story within the usually slow-moving world of higher education. As the news spread, Christian leaders asked questions: What are MBI’s problems? What forced the hand of the board, and where does Moody go from here? Is the drama likely... Continue Reading

The liberal ecumenical response is to downplay truth claims in favor of a kind of universalism. All religion, they say, is really nothing more than different manifestations of the same basic human impulse to find significance in the universe. The denominations, even the different religions are nothing more than different expressions of the same impulse.... Continue Reading

Honest preachers will admit that we all have good and bad sermons; but, if our spiritual gifts truly are what we assume them to be, we ought to most frequently be providing helpful insight from the Word of God that inspires further study and deeper devotion for our hearers. Everything we do won’t be a... Continue Reading

Hundreds, if not thousands of books have been written on prayer. Countless sermons have been preached on prayer. But the reading of books on prayer makes no one a praying man. The essence of prayer is in the praying. As Nike says, “Just do it!” It doesn’t matter how articulate the prayer is. What does... Continue Reading