Last night I had the privilege of speaking to a big group of teens who traveled up from Tulsa, Oklahoma to do some missions work here in Toronto. What a great encouragement it is to see those teens serving hard and sharing the gospel. (Hi, Emily’s mom!) The Most Dangerous Countries for Women – The…
Your church is heavily influenced by evolutionary thinking. It is founded on principles created by pagans and for pagans. You have succumbed to hellish thinking and imposed it upon your church. At least this is the case if your church has a nursery or a Sunday school or any other kind of program that involves…
Father & Son – “Chris Bray and his father, Kenneth, attended the launch of STS-135, the final space shuttle mission, on July 8. Thirty years earlier, they saw the launch of STS-1, the very first one. Possessing nearly identical photos of himself and his father at the two launches, Bray uploaded a composite image of…
You have probably heard of Christianity Explored, an evangelistic course that uses DVDs and workbooks to lead people through the gospel of Mark and ultimately to call them to become followers of Jesus. What you may not know is that there is also an excellent version of the course that targets a younger demographic. It…
Should Christians embrace evolution? It is an increasingly urgent question and one that seems increasingly difficult to answer. Like you, I have grown accustomed to hearing Christians declare that, in the end, it doesn’t really matter a whole lot what you believe about creation, whether you embrace a literal six-day creation or a version that…
How to Evaluate Your Sermons – Here’s one for the preachers: “We must regularly evaluate our preaching to know if we are growing as preachers. Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) said to his ministerial students, ‘I give you the motto, ‘Go forward.’ Go forward in personal attainments, forward in gifts and in grace, forward in fitness for…
Last week I enjoyed a vacation with my family. As with most of my vacations, I spent quite a lot of time reading. Along the way I managed to finish several books and thought I’d offer up brief reviews of each of them. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson – Every summer I…
Jason Dunham of Scio, New York, joined the U.S. Marines in the year 2000. Just 18 years old when he enlisted, he quickly showed leadership ability and was chosen as a squad leader in Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment. Dunham’s unit took part in the invasion of Iraq and it was here that…
My apologies to those who were looking for the final post in Reading Classics Together. I was on vacation last week and just plain forgot to write up the Reading Classics article. I’ll catch up this Thursday! Meanwhile, here are some links that may be of interest… 9 Lessons Concerning Sickeness – Here are 9…
Here is a wise word from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from his work Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. It will help to know that the biblical context for what he is writing here is Psalm 42. The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self…
We are finishing up a week’s vacation today and heading home from a great little cottage we’ve been parked at for the past week. It’s been a wonderful vacation–the kind that was quiet and relaxing and lasted just long enough (but not too long). Good times. The Most Risky Profession – Writing for CT, Mark…
This week’s sponsor for Free Stuff Fridays is, once again, CBD Reformed, a regular participant in these giveaways. As always, they are giving away 5 great prize packs, each of which contains 3 books. Five winners will each receive: In addition, CBD Reformed is offering a 4-day sale (July 15 – July 18) on the…
Outsourcing Memory – “Research suggests that we no longer remember facts, because we know the Web will do it for us. … A study published in today’s Science suggests that the Internet has changed how we remember facts. The study shows that the Web has become a sort of external hard drive for factual information.…
This is not a book review. I will be discussing a book—a rather popular book, at that—but I will not actually review it. Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages is a perpetual bestseller, one that is a near-constant presence on the New York Times list as well as the Christian lists. And, like so many…
Rest – A Four-Letter Word? – This is worth reflecting on. “Eleven years ago, I wrote about an observed hurry, in which we have lost our bearings, our sense of proportion. ‘Unavailable’ seems a word from the past, going the way of cursive writing. But of course, with the aid of technology, it is more…
Whatever David Platt is selling, people are buying it. At last count 750,000 copies of Radical were in print and it had been on the New York Times list of bestsellers (paperback advice) for 52 weeks. That is no small achievement! To be frank, it is the kind of achievement every author dreams of. Radical…
When Piper Touched My Chin – I thoroughly enjoyed this article from Clint Archer. “My question was a thinly veiled attempt to tease out some Piper-esque wisdom on this potentially spicy topic. He leaped over my trap with a single bound. His underwhelming answer was decaffeinated of all controversy. No passionate gesticulating, no mention of…
I had no knowledge of either the book or the author when I began reading Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling (having been asked by some of the readers of this site to do so). I had seen the book as a fixture on the Christian bestselling lists, but had never taken a look at it. The…
We have planned a day at the beach today which means that it will largely involve a beach chair, a Kindle and a selection of cold beverages. And, of course, I’ll spend some time making sand castles with the kids. Sounds like the makings of a good day… The Lure of the LED – This…
There was a time when Christians used militaristic language without shame. Only one or two generations ago, Christians often spoke of being part of an army fighting against the forces of darkness. Hymns like “Onward Christian Soldiers” were sung often and were sung proudly. But in recent years, this type of language has fallen out…