I am quite often asked why I would care to devote so much time and effort to the defense of a Reformed view of Christianity. A few days ago, for example, I received an email asking if it really matters what we believe on the issue of open theism. After all, either way we are…
I’m going to be straight with you: I did not finish this book. Generally I will not review a book until I have read it from cover-to-cover, but in this case I just couldn’t do it. I got about two thirds of the way through and had to call it quits. It wasn’t that the…
It has been too long since I posted some recommended reading from other blogs and Web sites. I will remedy this today. You are free to understand this post as being an indication that I am busy writing my first week’s “lesson” for Cutting It Straight and am also engaged in moving my site to…
It seems I absolutely have to move this site to a new server this weekend. While it may not sound like that big of a deal, let me assure you that it is. Moving the site, the forums, databases and so on without losing any information is quite the daunting task. And what’s more, I…
I believe our churches need to be seeker sensitive. There, I said it! And not just a little bit seeker sensitive either. I believe they should be wholly, entirely given over to the idea of seeker sensitivity, for this is the highest calling of a church. Hear me out. Seeker sensitivity in our day seems…
If you read this site on a regular basis, you’ll know I have been doing some research on the topic of what happens to children who die before they can hear or accept the gospel. I first wrote about this here. This is an issue almost every Christian faces at some point during his pilgrimage…
Here, once again, are my weekly ramblings, restored to their rightful day of the week. This is a chance for me to address all the topics I wanted to write about during the week but couldn’t make into a whole article. Today the pope denounced the imbalance of wealth that exists between the world’s rich…
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace is the first book I have read by Michael Horton. It will certainly not be my last. On the cover of the book J.I. Packer declares the book “a breaktaking workout” and his praise is justified. This book points us back to the Reformation and ultimately to the Bible itself…
If I had a dime for every time I have heard someone tell me “it changed my life!” I’d be a rich man (even if those dimes were Canadian currency). I remember hearing people walking out of the theatre after watching The Passion of the Christ and saying how the movie had changed their life.…
While much has been written about the church growth movement and Purpose Driven principles, I believe that Who’s Driving The Purpose Driven Church is the first book-length treatment dealing specifically with this topic. The title is slightly deceptive, as this book deals particularly with Rick Warren’s best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life which has sold…
Christianity has been in the news the past few days, and frankly I think most Christians wish it was not. It seems Christianity is best kept a little under the radar, for when it hits the mass media little good can come of it. First we had Jimmy Swaggart and his comments about homosexuals. On…
This is the “official” announcement launching the “League of Reformed Bloggers.” This is a news aggregator and blogroll featuring bloggers who write from the perspective of a Reformed worldview. This is being co-hosted and moderated by yours truly and David at Jollyblogger. Our desire is to provide a place where those who write and read…
I was cleaning up my hard drive this afternoon and came across a whole bunch of different site design concepts that never actually made it onto the Web. While there was good reason for a lot of them, I could a couple that were actually pretty good. Since I have never used them I figured…
A couple of weeks from now I will be starting a Sunday evening study at my house which will be geared towards new Christians. It will be called Cutting It Straight. I anticipate it covering the basics of Christian beliefs and doctrine. Initially I do not intend to do “Bible study” as much as topical…
There are more biographies devoted to Charles Spurgeon than to just about any other Christian figure. The first were written before his death (including his own autobiography) and hundreds have been written since. In the two years following his death, new biographies were published at the rate of one per month! One would be justified…
In the past few days I have noticed a surge of interest in the 40 Days of Community program, the follow-up to the 40 Days of Purpose program some 20,000 churches have already participated in. The initial launch of 40 Days of Community is the Fall of this year, which would explain the increased interest…
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For…
Safe in the Arms of God is described on the cover as “truth from heaven about the death of a child.” In this short, but intense book, John MacArthur answers the question of what happens to children – those unborn, stillborn, or youngsters – when they die. This is a question that has perplexed Christians…
This morning I was reading an interview with Jaci Velasquez over at CMCentral. Velasquez is a Christian singer/songwriter who has achieved quite a lot of success in the mainstream market, especially the Latin market. Not too long ago she decided, as so many musicians do, to expand her portfolio and give acting a try. Her…
I wanted to write something about worship today. I started thinking about what I would write while I was sitting in church watching the band practice for a few minutes before the service. I got no ideas from watching them. During the service, though, I began to think about whether people view worship as an…