Today we continue our readings in John Murray’s classic book Redemption Accomplished and Applied. We are in the second section of the book which deals with the application of the atonement to God’s elect. We’ve looked at effectual calling and regeneration and turn now to faith and repentance. SummaryRegeneration, which we looked at last week,…
How Protestant Pastors Spend Their TimeEd Stetzer writes, “A new study coming out of Lifeway Research shows that ‘Protestant pastors in America are working long hours, sometimes at the expense of relationships with church members, prospects, family and even the Lord.’” Sand Drawing“Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of ‘America’s…
If you’ve read this blog for a while, I guess you know that I’m a fan of The Lord of the Rings. I’m not one of those Tolkien fanboys who is going to react with offense when you get a fact wrong. Rather, I’m a fan of a good story and it’s beyond dispute, I…
Flying HighChristopher Hitchens on the latest terrorist attempt: “It’s getting to the point where the twin news stories more or less write themselves. No sooner is the fanatical and homicidal Muslim arrested than it turns out that he (it won’t be long until it is also she) has been known to the authorities for a…
Do you remember learning to do long division back when you were in grade school? It was probably fourth or fifth grade when we learned to do it. It was a long and laborious process and one that, even in my day, seemed irrelevant. After all, we all had calculators and we knew that they…
The Wonder of Apple’s TabletYou can tell that I’m excited by this product. MG Siegler has an article explaining why the tablet is such an intriguing product and why you shouldn’t immediately write it off. Top Theology Stories of 2009Collin Hansen offers up his top ten theology-related stories of 2009. Where Have All the Evangelicals…
Today, the second to last day of my vacation, I offer this little reflection on Bruce Waltke’s Old Testament Theology. It is a massive book and more than a little intimidating, but still very much worth the read. After six introductory chapters, Waltke turns to Old Testament theology proper in a chapter entitled “The Gift…
Climategate and WikipediaGene Veith offers good reason to use Wikipedia only with some hesitation: “This also raises questions about the nature of Wikipedia. Yes, it assembles a vast amount of information and makes it easily accessible. But since virtually anyone can change that information, unreliability is built in. (Let all students beware.) I understand the…
A little while ago I participated in one of those silly memes that made its way around the Net, filling out a list of really boring things about myself. My mom enjoyed it but figured she could do better. Today she and Aileen got a couple of my sisters together (since we’re all together for…
Yesterday was a good day. How could it be otherwise, really? We were together as a family: my parents, my brother, my three sisters with their husbands and children and, of course, my wife and kids. It was a wonderful kind of chaos as the twenty-one of us crammed into quite a small house to…
Our Christmas morning began at a reasonable hour here in Atlanta, Georgia. For the past couple of days we’ve been staying with my sister’s family and we enjoyed watching our kids and their kids open their presents. In just a few minutes we’ll be heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee (about two hours away) to meet up…
Today, Christmas Eve, we continue with our reading through John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied. In the last chapter he provided an examination of the effectual calling; this week he turns to the next step in the chain of events that together comprise the application of the atonement to the elect: regeneration. SummaryThe effectual calling,…
In The Marketing of Evil, author David Kupelian disusses how so many of the social ills we see in our society have not merely happened, but have been actively marketed and promoted by men and women with specific, unbiblical agendas. One pearl of wisdom which Kupelian repeats throughout his book is that the person who…
I don’t often watch the extra features included on DVDs these days, but a while back I must have been bored, because I sat and watched a couple of hours of extras for a series I enjoy. I was interested to learn that the creators of this show, before they began creating episodes, spent a…
Reforming Christian WeddingsI was very interested in this article from Conrad Mbewe. It is a call for the reforming of Christian weddings within an African context and shows some of the issues they are battling on that continent. J.C. Ryle QuotesErik Kowalker of J.C. Ryle Quotes: “Beginning Monday December 21st through Christmas Eve, I will…
Not too long ago I received an email from Luke Muehlhauser who blogs at Common Sense Atheism. He introduced himself as “a former Christian who now writes one of the most popular atheism blogs on the ‘net,” and asked if I would be interested in a brief exchange of letters. This is not the first…
Measuring Oral Roberts’ InfluenceJohn MacArthur on the death of Oral Roberts: “One thing all the obituaries agree on is that Oral Roberts paved the way for all the charismatic televangelists and faith-healers who dominate religious television today. He did more than anyone in the early Pentecostal movement to influence mainstream evangelicalism. He parlayed his television…
Here is a hymn we’ve only begun to sing recently at our church. It’s an old one and, I assume, one that may not have had a great melody (since Josh, our lead worshiper, has composed his own melody for it–I wish I had a recording so you could hear it). We sang it today…
I read a great quote earlier this week on Timmy Brister’s blog and thought it was worth sharing. It comes from D.A. Carson (in his book The Cross and Christian Ministry). What struck me about these words was just how many of these ways of destroying a church I’ve witnessed either up-close or from afar.…
Another Friday, another batch of free stuff. It is becoming common to talk to people (at church, for instance) who say, “I don’t read your blog very often, but I do always read it on Fridays…” People who know me but don’t read my blog often feel the need to apologize for not reading it.…