Theologians sometimes speak of the ordinary means of grace, a term that refers to the preaching of the Word, the sacraments (or ordinances, if you prefer, as most Baptists do) and prayer. These three means are to be the foundation of the church’s activity. They are simple measures and ones that can often be overlooked.…
Yesterday I read R.C. Sproul’s new book The Truth of the Cross. It’s just a short book, coming in at just 167 small pages, but as we’d expect from Sproul, does not waste a word. It’s a great little book and one that gave me a lot to think about. I wanted to share just…
I’ve been reading R.C. Sproul’s latest book, The Truth of the Cross. It’s just a small book but you know that if Sproul is writing about the atonement that it will be well worth reading. Just seven pages in he discusses visiting a bookstore in a local mall. He found shelves and counters full of…
Aileen and I were blessed, when we first began dating, to be members of a church where there were many elderly couples. They were couples who exemplified so many beautiful qualities. Christians for decades, they shone with the light of Christ and were living proof that, though physical beauty fades with the years, true inner…
Barb needed help. In fact, she had asked our friends, her next door neighbors, to help her clean up her house a bit. She was having trouble with her finances and wanted to sell off some valuable items in her house, but first needed to tidy up a bit. I decided to pitch in. Our…
I’m on vacation this week. Aileen and I are perched in a nice little cottage just over a dune from a beautiful beach. The cottage is great. It has electricity and all kinds of good amenities, but no phone and no access to the internet. There is a television but it is useful only as…
Around here we know John Ensor as the author of a couple of books I’ve reviewed: The Great Work of the Gospel and Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart. But there’s more to him than his books. Last year he took the position of Executive Director of the Urban Initiative Program of Heartbeat…
Our culture has an obsession with underappreciation. Everywhere you look there are discussions about this topic. I cannot think of many subjects that are discussed more in the sports world; there are always and forever discussions about which player is the most underappreciated or which position generates the lowest amount of recognition. Look around and…
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers…or sometimes just because I really like them. It is a way of introducing my readers to blogs that they may also find interesting and edifying. Every two…
There have been several occasions on this site when I’ve taken the opportunity to express a bit of disgust or alarm with environmentalism. When I do that, I typically get an email or comment asking why I am opposed to protecting the environment. Because I usually only mention these things in the A La Carte…
This article is probably going to seem far too self-serving. Yet I’m willing to recklessly plow ahead regardless. Yesterday, while I was talking to Kevin Boling on “Calling for Truth” we received a call from a reader of this site who asked an interesting question. He wanted to know how he, as someone who reads…
Yesterday evening, Boeing rolled out their next generation airliner, the 787 “Dreamliner.” A high-tech, mid-sized, wide-body, twin engine jet airliner, the Dreamliner is being hailed as a great technological innovation, primarily for its use of composite materials. These materials make for a much lighter aircraft which in turn leads to significant fuel savings and allows…
A couple of nights ago I received the second endorsement for The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. As I mentioned the first time an endorsement came in, I will continue to share these because, in many ways, I feel that this book was a community effort as readers of the site prayed for me, encouraged me,…
A recent article at Psychology Today is getting a lot of attention. I noticed it at a couple of blogs and then saw it come across the wire at Digg, so it is being widely read. The article offers “Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature.” In the preamble the authors, Alan S. Miller and…
Several weeks ago I completed a brief project building a website for a church called Jacob’s Well, an upcoming church plant in Middlesex County, New Jersey and a part of the Acts 29 Network. As I was building the site I didn’t think much of the name, of its origin or its important. That changed,…
Last night in the news I caught a headline titled something like “Eltron Rocks Royal Tantrum.” It seems that Elton John, having just arrived at a concert venue where he was scheduled to sing before a live audience of tens of thousands and a televised audience in the millions, had his car stopped about fifty…
While July 1 is Canada Day, the nation actually seems to take July 2 to remember the birth of our nation. All the stores were open yesterday and are closed today. So today seemed like a good time to thinking about the day. I do not have a lot of customs on this site, but…
It looks like Evan Almighty is sinking. Thought by some to be a sure-thing summer blockbuster, it garnered some glowing reviews in the Christian media but only lukewarm reviews in the mainstream. With other, better family fare now on the big screen (think Ratatouille which has opened to rave reviews), Evan Almighty is going to…
The term hyper-Calvinist is often used as a pejorative. Almost any Calvinist who adheres to the doctrines of grace is likely to be considered a hyper-Calvinist by at least someone. Frankly speaking, a hyper-Calvinist can be any Calvinist to a person who doesn’t understand Calvinism. So today, just briefly, and because the term has come…
This isn’t a book review. Though I often refer to a particular book, I mean this more as a series of statements on intelligent design. The concept of intelligent design has undeniable appeal. Forming a kind of middle ground between creationism and evolution, it claims to reconcile the claims of modern science with what seems…