Gospel writers Matthew and Mark seem to be chronicling the same event in Jesus’ life when they tell the story of him cursing the fig tree. However, their accounts appear to differ when it comes to their description of when the tree withered. Matthew 21:19 – And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he…
It was on this day in 1525 that former monk Martin Luther married former nun Katharina von Bora. Luther was 41 and Katharina 26. Their marriage was very significant and made a statement nearly as important as Luther’s famous “Here I stand” at the Diet of Worms. It stood as a bold display of a…
Let’s file this in the “better late than never” category. A few people have asked if I could put together a list of Father’s Day gifts and I have not been able to do so before today. Still, in a world of Amazon and rush shipping, it is not too late to order any of…
I am in the unique and enjoyable position of receiving copies of most of the latest and greatest Christian books and I like to provide regular roundups of some of the best and brightest of the bunch. Here are some of the notable books that I’ve received in the past week or two. A Theology…
This is my once-monthly post on the Puritan John Owen. In this series of posts I am sharing some of what John Owen says about putting sin to death, or what he calls mortification. I have been going through his book Overcoming Sin and Temptation and trying to distill each chapter to its essence—to a…
I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I publish occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Here are a few notable links I’ve collected over the past few weeks. The Betrayal by Douglas Bond. Reviewed by Tony…
I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now–it’s coming up on ten years. I’ve been at the daily blogging thing for almost as long. This means that I’ve got an extensive backlist of articles from years gone by. I thought it might be fun to pull out some of the articles…
Modern Parables is a Bible study series that uses short films to teach the parables of Jesus. The idea behind it all was to use film to recapture or recreate the kinds of emotions that Jesus’ 1st-century audience would have felt when first hearing those parables. It is remarkably successful. These are high-quality films that…
Welcome to June! To ring in the new month I’ve got great new desktop wallpaper for you to download. This month’s wallpaper was created by Jeff Nine of Oklahoma City, OK. It comes in two variations–one that includes a calendar for this month and one that does not. A few notes: Your desktop or laptop…
This is now the fifth installment in a series that takes a brief look at important theological terms. You can see previous posts on the terms theology, Trinity, creation, and man. Today it continues by looking to the Fall. What do Christians mean when we talk about “the Fall” (note the capital F)? “The Fall”…
I know, I know–there’s a certain level of irony when you provide “bullet points” on death. Nevertheless, here are five important things that the Bible tells us about death. 1. Death is the result of sin Genesis 2:17 — “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for…
I am in the unique and enjoyable position of receiving copies of most of the latest and greatest Christian books and I like to provide regular roundups of some of the best and brightest of the bunch. Here are some of the notable books that I’ve received in the past week or two. Lifted by…
A few days ago I shared John Bunyan’s wisdom on why some who profess faith in Christ eventually backslide. Today I want to follow him a little bit farther. Having covered the why, I’ve now drawn from Pilgrim’s Progress instruction on the how. In each case I’ve given my short summary followed by Bunyan’s own…
This is the fourth installment in a series on theological terms. You can see the previous posts on the terms theology, Trinity, and creation. Today the series moves to man. Surprisingly, attempting to define man in simple terms is not an easy task. There are many things that could be included in the definition and…
I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I publish occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Here are a few notable links I’ve collected over the past few weeks. (Note: I’ve formerly titled this feature “Reviews I…
The Apostle Paul had a lot to say about preaching, but I think the majority of it can be grouped under six main headings or ideas. You could, of course, extract specific teaching points from each one, but I think there’s value in looking at them in a broad sense. Here is what Paul says…
Today I’ve got another batch of books that I didn’t review. Life is such that there are lots of great books that I just cannot find the time to read and many other books I’m simply not qualified to review. These books tend to find their way into these round-ups of the ones I received…
Simply stated, creation refers to everything that exists that has not always existed. It refers to all that God has brought into existence, which is everything apart from God himself—including angels and, eventually, Satan and his demons—since God is the one and only thing that has never been created. There are a variety of ways…
I’ve been at this blogging thing for quite a long time now—a bit over 9 years. I’ve been at the daily blogging thing for almost as long. This means that I’ve got an extensive backlist of articles from years gone by. I thought it might be fun to pull out some of the articles I…
Welcome to May! To ring in the new month I’ve got a couple of great new desktop wallpapers for you to download. This month’s wallpapers were created by Anna Cirlot. A few notes: Your desktop or laptop may take any of the sizes, depending on your monitor size and a host of other considerations. If…