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…
Now this is a good book. A really good book. It is exactly the kind of book a reviewer loves to discover: A title from a minor publisher that arrives with little fanfare and completely blows him away. And that is what I found in An Infinite Journey: Growing Toward Christlikeness by Andrew Davis. An…
Loving Him by Loving It – “To love someone means that you also love the things about someone. This is most true of our love for God. We love Him, and that leads us to love everything about Him. One of those things is His Word. To love God is to love his Word.” Remembering…
I’m kind of a jerk. For as long as I’ve been able to think about myself, my heart, my life, I’ve known that I’m a sinful person. I’ve never doubted the reality of my depravity. And if there ever had been any doubt, being married and having children and immersing myself in a local church…
Marrying a Man Who Looks at Porn – Heath Lambert provides a sound answer to an urgent question: Should I marry a man who has a problem with pornography? Snow-Diving Foxes – “I’m a fox. It’s January. I’m hungry. I want a meal. My food, however, is buried 3 feet down, deep in the snow,…
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…
A Calvinist Revival – The NY Times (of all places) has written an article on the Reformed resurgence. (I guarantee you’ve never seen Mark Dever looking cooler than he does here.) From 1994 – Well, though it doesn’t quite align with biblical theology, this short film still highlights the joy of life and the grief…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by CBD Reformed. As they always do, they are giving away five great prize packages this week. Each of the five winners will receive the following books: In addition, CBD Reformed is offering a 4-day sale (January 3 – 6) on the following three products: Giveaway Rules: You…
Worship Leader Resolutions – This is some brilliant and hilarious writing from Jamie Brown. “In this new year, I think all worship leaders can agree on a few resolutions that, if adopted, would dramatically improve the corporate/sung worship in our churches.” My favorite: “Octave jumps are so 2013. It’s time to take it to the…
Pastoral ministry is a fascinating and fascinatingly unique vocation, one of peaks and valleys, one of honor and dishonor, respect and disrespect. It can swing from brutal to beautiful and back again in a single day, or a single sermon. Jared Wilson writes, The pastoral fraternity is an interesting one. We are a motley bunch…
Cross Conference – Justin Taylor rounds up the recent Cross conference saying, “Only time will tell, but it seems that the first annual Cross student missions conference was a historic event, perhaps a key moment in mobilizing God’s people to help the nations be glad in him.” C.S. Lewis at War – Andy Naselli introduces…