With the well known errors of Harold Camping fresh on our minds it may be helpful to read up on what reliable biblical scholars have written about the end times. Here are some excellent titles for you to check out: The Bible and the Future by Anthony Hoekema Christ and the Future by Cornelis Venema...

Well tomorrow is the big day. I was listening to a "Camping-ite" today on a national radio program. At the end of the interview I noticed that my face hurt from being in a constant cringe for almost 45 minutes. The man was a deeply sincere fellow and quite articulate. Unfortunately he has given...

I'm looking forward to the following titles: Reformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by Carl Trueman John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock by Iain Murray Welcome to the Story by Stephen Nichols

Kevin DeYoung has posted a helpful article on how churches ought to evaluate themselves. He draws on a conversation he had with the pastor of a declining church. The pastor attributed his church's decline on the fact that their music and liturgy were historic rather than contemporary. But DeYoung,...

Is it appropriate to apply the word "incarnation" to mere men? I have been uneasy for some time about the use of the term "incarnational" to our attempts to make Jesus known. I see no warrant from Scripture to apply this term to our evangelism or ministries of mercy. John Starke over at the Gospel...

I cannot more highly commend to you the work of John Dickson. A pastor and evangelist, Dr. Dickson is also a scholar of ancient history. He is also one of my favorite preachers. Simply put, if you see his name on it, get it. One of his most recent project is a documentary on the life of Jesus which...

Robert Godfrey, church historian and President of Westminster Seminary California has written a series of helpful articles shedding light on Harold Camping's history and strange approach to biblical interpretation. "The End of the World According to Harold Camping" •Part 1 •Part 2 •Part 3 •Part 4 •...

Recently Drs. Carl Trueman and Greg Beale of Westminster Seminary spoke at the annual Clarus Conference in New Mexico. The theme was "Scripture: God Speaks." G.K. Beale •“The Effects of Meditating on God’s Word” (Ps. 1) •“How to Guard the Good Deposit of Scripture” (2 Tim. 1:13) •“The Centrality of...

Doug Wilson has a helpful post summing up his thoughts on the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. To those who would question the justice of assissination from a biblical perspective, Wilson answers: 1. Assassination is not necessarily an ungodly tactic. Ehud was a righteous judge in Israel, and he...

No one like criticism. Even when the criticism is legitimate or at least partially legitimate the sting is very real. For pastors this is especially true because so much of our work depends on being liked. The reality is intensified because of the amount of criticism that many pastors receive. In...

"When a church forfeits its doctrinal convictions and then embraces ambiguity and tolerates heresy, it undermines its own credibility and embraces its own destruction." - From an article by Al Mohler

And the abuses abound! Don Carson has written a helpful article for the latest issue of Themelios . Carson writes: Several years ago I wrote a fairly restrained critique of the emerging church movement as it then existed, before it morphed into its present diverse configurations.1 That little book...

The short answer is "Yes!" Take time to check out the latest 9Marks ejournal . The theme this month is church membership. Is it biblical? What does membership mean? What are the costs of meaningless membership? Is Church Membership Biblical by Matt Chandler Joining a Church the Ancient Way by...

On Sunday I preached part 12 in our current series: God's Great Story . It is entitled "The Nation Building God" and deals with the birth of the church. You can listen to or download the sermon HERE .

The growth of theologically conservative churches and the corresponding decline of liberal churches has been the occasion of a lot of speculation over the years. Even sociologists have offered opinions. The findings usually suggest that people can't deal with the thoughtful subtleties and...

I'm loving this book !

I recently read with interest an article by Donald Miller in which he blames "teachers and scholars" for the divisions within evangelicalism. He is almost certainly wrong. Miller makes a classic error in pitting "practitioners" against teachers and scholars. His argument runs something like this:...

No. Read more about it HERE .

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ms-gxEOtLA&w=460&h=375]

Okay, so I continue to think about Carl's post on mega-conferences with famous pastors. His warnings about a party spirit and idolatry of certain personalities will always be relevant and important. That said, I am less persuaded with his suggestion that the content of a conference is what matters...

In reading Love Wins there are times when I cannot help but almost feel sorry for Rob Bell. Almost. His use of the Scriptures is either incompetent or purposely misleading. But I don't know when the last time was that I read a book which was guilty of so many fallacies in biblical interpretation...

There are uninformed individuals who hold that the doctrine of the Bible's inerrancy is an invention of "Old Princeton" (Warfield and the Hodges); the fruit of modernist categories. This is simply not true, of course. The following two statements are from Augustine, the 5th century Bishop of Hippo...

Recently a 25th anniversary edition of Desiring God was released. I remember my first reading of Desiring God as a new seminary student. It was a disorienting experience because Piper's basic thesis was something brand new for me. At first I completely rejected what Piper was suggesting. However,...

This week the Gospel Coaltion's national conference featured a message from Don Carson entitled "God: Abounding in Love: Punishing the Guilty." You can download the audio HERE . Dr. Carson's message was followed by a panel discussion on the love of God and the reality of Hell. Take time to listen...