When Penny Serenade or It’s a Wonderful Life becomes the handmaiden of that greater transcendent vision, and the longing is named—our Lord Jesus who has come to fill the eternity in our hearts with His life lived for us and His death on the cross on our behalf—and we receive the gift of heaven by repentance of our sins and faith in Jesus Christ, or share His life with another, then—then—we really get the picture.

Reared on a Christian hope of redemption (he was, after all, the son of a Lutheran minister), Nietzsche was unable, finally, to accept a tragic sense of life of the kind he tried to retrieve in his early work. Yet his critique of liberal rationalism remains as forceful as ever. As he argued with masterful irony,... Continue Reading

I've reviewed some of the biographies in the Christian Biographies for Young Readers series, and this is another great addition. These books make important figures in church history very accessible to young readers. I also appreciate the author's honesty about their failings, such as Luther's anti-semitic writings, briefly mentioned in "Did You Know?". We should honor the saints of old but recognize that they were fallible human beings in need of a Savior, too.

Trust in the Spirit to convict you of sin, to uncover its ugliness, and rebuke your defenses. Trust in the Spirit to reveal to you the fullness of Christ and his love for sinners. Trust in the Spirit to give you hope that Christ will grant relief from sin. Trust in the Spirit to bring the cross of Christ into your heart with its sin-killing power. Trust in the Spirit to be the author and finisher of your sanctification, despite your weak resolve. Trust in the Spirit to enable you to pray with sighs and groanings too deep for words (Rom. 8:26) through which you will find victory over your sin.

"We may observe the proper use and value of the preaching of the Gospel, which is the great instrument by which the Holy Spirit opens the blind eyes. Like the rod of Moses, it owes all its efficacy to the appointment and promise of God. Ministers cannot be too earnest in the discharge of their office; it behooves them to use all diligence to find out acceptable words, and to proclaim the whole counsel of God. Yet when they have done all, they have done nothing, unless their word is accompanied to the heart by the power and demonstration of the Spirit."

“About 10 years ago, while I was on a mission trip, I got a compulsion to put Psalm 1 to music,” he said. He liked the tune, how the words were straight Scripture, and that it was different from the typical modern worship song. “I got this delusional idea to try to do them all,”... Continue Reading

"Authority is rightful say-so, the power to commend belief and command obedience. Authority is linked to authorship, for who has more right to say-so over something than the one who conceived and originated it? [He then references Rom. 13:1, Rom. 4:17, Gen. 6:18, 15:18, Exod. 19:5 and Deut. 7:6] All three persons of the Trinity are involved in everything that God does, creating and covenanting alike: omnia opera trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt (all the external works of the Trinity are indivisible). This includes exercising authority."

One segment of the documentary focuses on the “Great Unconformity” with a trip to the Grand Canyon. The Great Unconformity is a geological formation that appears globally where granite bedrock is separated from sediment layers on top by an erosional layer caused by flood flow.   NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – A new documentary on... Continue Reading

If you’ve benefited from the spiritual teaching in Rohr’s earlier books, take a moment to consider afresh whether you ought to place yourself under the teaching of such a person. My advice is that you should not. Thank God that you were stimulated to something good by his work, but acknowledge that he teaches another... Continue Reading

Reformed theology teaches that regeneration is not conditional upon faith.  That is, we disagree with the Arminian teaching that faith precedes regeneration.  It is true that the regenerated sinner receives new life, and a new heart, and truly does embrace Christ by faith.  But regeneration is monergistic: God alone changes the dead heart.  Regeneration is... Continue Reading