A few months ago a filmmaker sent me a copy of a documentary he had completed a short time before. Light In the Darkness tells about just a small part of the work Christians are doing in India. The film came to me shortly after I had visited Northern India and seen the smallest glimpse…
Please order my book and film Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History.
Money: An Instrument of Blessing – This article from 9Marks lays out the big difference between the prosperity gospel and a biblical way of understanding money: One says that money is an instrument of blessing while the other says it is an indicator of blessing. There’s a world of difference between. Evolution is a Matter…
As a cofounder of Cruciform Press, I like to provide occasional updates, including thoughts on our recent releases. I try to mention titles shortly after they appear, so this one is a bit tardy. It’s a good book, though, and one I didn’t want to let pass by. In Torn to Heal: God’s Good Purpose…
Every pastor, and I suppose every Christian as well, has a kind of theological toolbox, a means of dealing with the questions and concerns that appear throughout life. I was thinking recently about the tools I use most often and narrowed it down to two. There are two grids I’ve found especially helpful, and ones…
The Biggest Contradiction – David Murray looks at the contradiction between Paul’s justification by faith alone and James’ justification by works. “Can these opposing statements be reconciled? I believe they can, and the key is to understand that although Paul and James both speak of justification, they are speaking about two different kinds of justification.”…
Few questions are more pressing among Evangelicals today than the time and the manner in which God created the world and all life within it. Did he create the world in six literal days or did he create the world over millions of years? Was human life a spontaneous creation of God or did it…
Sexual History – Russell Moore shows wisdom and pastoral concern in his answer to this question: When dating, how much should a Christian know about a future spouse’s sexual history? Rescuing from Hell and Renewing the World – A very important article from Piper: “[T]he way to achieve the greatest social and cultural transformation is…
Marriage is under attack. Marriage has always been under attack. The world, the flesh and the devil are all adamantly opposed to marriage, and especially to marriages that are distinctly Christian. Marriage, after all, is given by God to strengthen his people and to glorify himself; little wonder, then, that it is constantly a great…
Life in a Dark Place – “[D]oubt is something we evangelical Christians need to get talking about. I often think doubt is like the topic of pornography was 15 years ago—a lot of people were struggling with it, but we hardly ever spoke of it. We have come at least part of the way on…
I am in the midst of a series of articles on the seven ecumenical councils of the early church. These councils commenced with the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and concluded with the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. Between these two events were five more, each of which attempted to understand and establish…
What Are We Really Watching? – Al Mohler on Downton Abbey: “[M]ost viewers are likely unaware of what they are actually seeing. They are not merely watching an historical drama, they are witnessing the passing of a world. And that larger story, inadequately portrayed within Downton Abbey, is a story that should not be missed.…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by NeuYear, a once-per-year sponsor of these giveaways. NeuYear is a beautiful full-year wall calendar that I came across a couple of years ago; I’ve had one on my wall ever since. It comes in two versions, uncoated (i.e. paper) and dry-erase and is double-sided, portrait on one…
Praying in circles is fast becoming a thing in some Evangelical churches. People have been taught to draw circles around the things they want, or even to walk in circles around the things they are sure the Lord ought to grant them. In either case, they are to pray around those things and in that…
Do You Know What Your Missionaries Actually Teach?! – “Stop sending prosperity-preaching missionaries to the jungles of Peru. They’re killing the villages here. Your missionaries are spending tens of thousands of dollars, traveling across land and sea, invading and settling into new cultures, and it’s all for nothing. They’re doing more harm than good.” Sleep…
Please order my book and film Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History.
Westminster Books – Westminster Books is having a sale on many of their bestselling books of 2013. Now’s the time to stock up! The Universe Had a Beginning – Stephen Meyer tells the story of how Hubble showed Einstein that the universe was not eternal but must have had a beginning. School Wasn’t Canceled for…
CHURCH PLANT MEDIA ~ A LA CARTE Happy New Year from your friends at Church Plant Media! Now that we are several days into 2014, we wanted to take a brief look back at some posts from 2013. We also wanted to ask you, the readers of Challies Dot Com: how can we serve you…
You have heard the distinction as often as I have—the distinction between head knowledge and heart knowledge. We learn facts about God, about his character, about his Word, but it is not until those facts reach the heart that they become spiritually beneficial. They say the journey from the head to the heart is the…
6 Ways to Look Godly While Not Growing – Here are six ways you might maintain an appearance of godliness even though you’re not growing in your faith. Is Recreational Marijuana Use a Sin? – Here is Joe Carter doing what he does so well: “Although many Christians consider the answer to the question to…