Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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Church Courts and Civil Courts
When Christians cannot resolve their differences privately, God commands that we turn to the church rather than to the civil courts. Unfortunately, many Christians are unaware of this command or believe that it no longer applies today. Worse yet, many churches ignore this passage and do nothing to help Christians settle their disputes in a…
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Leadership Requires a High Pain Threshold
Edwin Friedman is one of the best authors to read on leadership. In several places, he makes the point that in order to lead well, a leader has to not only raise his own threshold for pain, but his willingness to endure someone else’s pain as well. This is why empathy can be so destructive…
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Ecclesiocentrism Is Not Ecclesiocracy
Ecclesiocentrism is not ecclesiocracy. The church’s authority and centrality derive from her mission to disciple the nation by proclaiming and applying the Word of God to all of life; her access to the heavenly throne room in prayer, which means even if she does not have access to the Oval Office or the royal chamber…
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Colonialism Was Good
Bruce Gilley’s “The Case For Colonialism” is a fascinating and insightful book. Gilley is an unsung hero in academia, a scholar courageous enough to state very politically incorrect truths. He endured the wrath of academia, the worst of cancel culture, for his line of inquiry and thesis, but has held the line. Gilley’s book proves…
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The Gospel According to Anselm: Death-Bed Pastoral Care and Assurance of Eternal Life
Theologian and philosopher Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) provides a model of death-bed pastoral care, the gospel, repentance, and assurance of salvation, all rolled together. The Reformers could not (and did not) say it any better. The gospel was alive and well in the twelfth century. Hear Anselm’s counsel in this dialogue – really a death-bed…
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Notes on Reformation Day, All Saints Day, and the Church Calendar (Part 2)
[This post consists of notes and emails sent out to TPC over the years on this portion of the church calendar that falls at the end of October and the beginning of November.] REFORMATION DAY – OCTOBER 31 On the eve of All Saint’s Day (“Hallowed Eve,” or “Halloween,” as we call it today), in…
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Notes on Reformation Day, All Saints Day, and the Church Calendar
[This post consists of notes and emails sent out to TPC over the years on this portion of the church calendar that falls at the end of October and the beginning of November.] Every year towards the end of October, Christians begin to debate whether or not it is ok to “celebrate” Halloween. Ultimately, each…
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Work Until the Workday Is Done: A Lesson from Whitefield and Tennent
A summary and application of a story told by Iain Murray in his fine book, The Puritan Hope: George Whitefield was once among a group of pastors and they were discussing the burdens of ministry, how consoling it was to consider that this life would soon be over, and how glorious it would be when…
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Israel in Exile and the Politics of the Kingdom
Some Christians use the motif of Israel’s exile to justify why Christians should not have (or seek) political power and cultural influence. We live in Babylon, so we cannot expect very much transformation of the world around us. We “lose down here,” as the saying goes. There’s no need to fight a “culture war” or…
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Charles Hodge on America’s Christian Founding
“The demands of those who require that religion, and especially Christianity, should be ignored in our national, state, and municipal laws, are not only unreasonable, but they are in the highest degree unjust and tyrannical.” —Charles Hodge — “The proposition that the United States of America are a Christian and Protestant nation, is not so…
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