Tag: god
-
Resolving the Cruz/Carlson Debate: Not All Who Are Israel Are Israel
A shorter, edited version of this article was recently published at The Federalist. — Some months ago, the Christian doctrine of “ordo amoris” (the order of loves) made its way into mainstream discussion after J. D. Vance invoked it in an interview on the immigration issue. Now, something similar is happening with another Christian doctrine,…
-
Encouragement to Pastors for the Weekly Grind
Fellow pastors, it’s the eve of the Lord’s Day. Prepare yourself to lead your people into the presence of the Lord tomorrow. Prepare yourself and your heart for battle so you can lead your congregation in fighting the good fight. Prepare yourself to give the comfort and healing balm of the gospel, as a physician…
-
Bring Your Guns to Church
One of the most fun conference talks I ever gave was this one in Monroe in 2020, developing a theology of self-defense and applying it to congregations. Thanks to Aaron Fudge, I now have an AI-generated transcript I can share. I have not edited this, but hopefully it’s pretty accurate. — # Bring Your Guns…
-
James 2 and Care for the Poor: Helping Without Hurting
These notes are basically sermon follow-up from sermons I preached 10/6/19 and 10/13/19 — the sermons are available of our website. — In the sermon on James 2:1-13, I mentioned identity politics. I recommend this document on race and privilege to help clarify the issue: https://theecclesialcalvinist.wordpress.com/2017/08/31/critical-theory-and-the-unity-of-the-church/ In James 2:1ff, James is saying that judgment in…
-
How Cultures Change
This is an excellent summary from Joseph Spurgeon of how cultural change happens. There is a top down “elite theory” component and a bottom up “grass roots” component, and the church is central to it all since the church is both elite and grass roots, and will always be the source of spiritual renewal through…
-
Dispensationalism’s False Prophets
Does Genesis 17:8 mean Israel as a permenant right to the land of Palestine and deserves unconditional political support from Christians and America? Here are a few considerations: This land promise was not unconditional. See Genesis 17:1 and the covenant curses in Deuteronomy 27-28. Later in history, God judged Israel and Judah by exiling them…
-
A Thread on Natural Affection
A Thread on Natural Affection: In recent years, the Reformed segment of the church has been roiled by debates over natural affection. Interestingly, Scripture has very little explicit material on natural affection (“storge” in the Greek), but it does mention the lack of natural affection (“astorge”) as a sign of apostasy and idolatry in a…
-
Notes on the Use of YHWH and Jehovah
Some are arguing we should never use the name “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” for God, even when the Tetragrammaton was used in the Hebrew OT. My response: What’s the concern here? I don’t see why not knowing the exact pronunciation for the Tetragrammaton matters. We don’t know how lots of ancient words were pronounced. In some…
-
Chilton on Western Civ
David Chilton on the blessings of Christian civilization/Christendom: The whole rise of Western Civilization – science and technology, medicine, the arts, constitutionalism, the jury system, free enterprise, literacy, increasing productivity, a rising standard of living, the high status of women -is attributable to one major fact: the West has been transformed by Christianity. True, the…
-
Some Notes on Acts 27-28
Some notes on Acts 27-28: *Paul and his shipmates arrive on shore on the 14th day. Whether this is the Sabbath day, the Lord’s Day, or a generic 14th day, doesn’t much matter. What matters is that it is symbolically associated with the Sabbath. *Stoking up a fire on the Sabbath was a capital crime…
TPC Pastor's Page 