Got $100? Buy a Home in Detroit!“If an e-mail popped up in your inbox promising a house for $100, you’d expect to see it sent from a guy in Nigeria asking you to wire him several thousand dollars first. But this depressed housing market dream is real. And Detroit, Michigan, artist Jon Brumit and his…
Today we start reading another classic book–Jeremiah Burrough’s The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. This follows some other great classics we’ve read together: Holiness by J.C. Ryle, Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen, The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross by A.W. Pink, The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards, Mere Christianity by…
Rare Prenatal Testing Court CaseThis is awful on several different levels. “In the months before their daughter was born in 2007, Deborah and Ariel Levy worried the baby might have Down syndrome. … A doctor at the Legacy Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine assured them that a sample of tissue taken from the placenta early in…
Last Friday I encouraged you not to take your iPod to church. Not surprisingly, this generated a bit of discussion both at the blog and across some other social media (Twitter, Facebook, and so on). It’s a good discussion to have, I think. I realize that I am probably overstating my case just a little…
Ref.ly Makes Sharing the Bible EasierLogos Bible Software just launched a new website called ref.ly (think bit.ly). It allows you to share Bible verses as links via Twitter and other places where you have a limited number of characters and want to keep the URL as short as possible. Megachurch Survey“The report – “Not Who…
At the very heart of the gospel, at the very heart of the Christian faith, are two great miracles, two inseparable miracles, through which a dead man is brought to life. The first miracle is justification; here a condemned sinner is made right in the eyes of a perfect judge. The second miracle is regeneration;…
Christian Audio Twice Yearly SaleMy friends at Christian Audio have begun their twice yearly sale on digital downloads. Most books are now available for download at just $7.49. Wendy Shalit Reviews DirtWendy Shalit reviews a book about housekeeping, of all things. “Frenzied and oppressed though grandma may have been, she managed to survive without a…
If you’ve never read Lou Priolo’s Pleasing People, well, it’s a good thing to add to your list of things to do. The book takes aim at the human desire to orient our lives around pleasing people instead of first and foremost pleasing God. In one of the chapters, Priolo looks at clothing ourselves in…
O Pulpit, Where Art Thou?Erik Kowalker visited over thirty churches in the Portland area and noticed a conspicuous absence of pulpits. He combines this observation with the traditional centrality of the pulpit in Reformed churches and it leads to some interesting food for thought. The Rise of Child Abuse as a Result of AbortionRandy Alcorn:…
The following quote is from the pen of Horatius Bonar (1808 – 1889), the great Scottish preacher, poet, author and hymn writer. It talks about the nature, the true nature, of unbelief. It’s worth reading and pondering. In all unbelief there are these two things–a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of…
Here is a brief quote taken from John Newton’s A Review of Ecclesiastical History which was published in 1769. It strikes me that the words he wrote them are perfectly applicable today: Whenever and wherever the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith have prevailed in the Christian Church, and according to the degree…
We’ve come to another Friday and with it, another version of Free Stuff Fridays. This week’s sponsor is Reformation Heritage Books, the mission of which is “to glorify God and strengthen His Church through the publication and distribution of Puritan and Reformed literature.” They are offering a generous prize of 5 complete sets of their…
Yesterday I described the book as The Perfect Technology. There was perhaps a little bit of hyperbole involved, but I think the point was well-taken. I was actually surprised to see how many people agreed with me. Maybe as Christians we are unusual in this regard; maybe Christians are, almost by definition, readers and, thus,…
You’ve Got LiesBeth Spraul, who attends Capitol Hill Baptist Church, has written a very good article about chick flicks and the lies they brings. A Review of N.T. Wright’s JustificationGuy Waters has a thorough and excellent review of N.T. Wright’s latest book Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision. It all leads to this unsurprising conclusion:…
About a year ago I wrote a review of Amazon’s Kindle reading device. At the time, I loved it. That was then. A couple of months ago I traded my Kindle to a friend for a stack of old-fashioned ink-on-paper commentaries. This is now. I think I made a good trade. He is enjoying the…
Paying Down DebtRandy Alcorn answers a question about paying down debt. The question is a bit long and involved, but starts like this: “The question I have is that we are reaping consequences from bad choices. My husband and I have a young family and are still paying down $100,000 of student loans from both…
I’ve always loved Acts 12. It is such a fascinating bit of writing–a little story in three acts, each of which fits so well with the others. I was reflecting on the chapter this morning and thought I’d share a little bit of that. The chapter begins by describing the beginning of Herodian persecution against…
An Open Letter to Mike TysonTed Kluck writes an open letter to Mike Tyson: “As a fellow parent (two boys, 6 and 3) I was deeply saddened by the news of your loss this week. To be honest, I always cringe a little when I see your face in newspapers and magazines, feeling as though…
I spent a few minutes yesterday reading about the new iPhone–the iPhone 3G S. It sounds spectacular. With every generation of the phone the wizards at Apple get one step closer to what people wanted the iPhone to be from the outset–an amazing, innovative, gizmo that does so many things so well. Watching the videos,…
Master Scripture Index for New Studies in Biblical TheologyI can’t imagine how long this took. Andy Naselli has compiled a master Scripture index for the entire series “New Studies in Biblical Theology.” How Tim Keller Found ManhattanCT writes about Tim Keller in their most recent issue. “Standing 6’4″, with a bald head, glasses, and a…