If you lack the conviction or the courage to stand up and say to your church, who you are accountable to lead, “It is wrong to kill unborn babies, God hates it and God will judge it,” then you should not be a pastor. If you don’t have the guts to say “These are children—we must stop killing them”...

For the excellent book For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper , Justin Taylor composed a chapter on the great work John Piper has done in properly framing abortion as a theological as well as ethical issue. Taylor writes: Evangelicalism—in the Reformed camp or elsewhere—is not...

Al Mohler addresses two of the most recent (but not uncommon) horrors coming out of the abortion industry. The bottom line is that once the legality of abortion is accepted, it is difficult to provide a reason why any abortion for any reason ought not be provided. Abortion also makes arguments...

From beginning to end the Bible tells one story, God’s Great Story . It is the story of God’s glorious work of redeeming a people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This story includes creation, human sin, the fall of all creation, God’s covenant with his people, the...

On Sunday morning we were blessed to have Michael Oh in the COS pulpit. He preached an outstanding message entitled "The Individual's Suffering and the Salvation of the World." It was taken from Psalm 22. On Sunday evening I preached a message entitled "Evil, Disaster, and the Justice of God." It...

From John Piper: 1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother's womb (except in the case of abortion). 2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed. 3. Babies can...

Perhaps you have heard the news that Ted Haggard is going to have his own reality show on TLC . I know. Just when you think someone's willingness to abase himself and his family can't be any greater... Over at Ref21 Carl Trueman helpfully points out the difference between genuine shame and the...

Harvard’s Richard Lowentin quoted in the Jan. 9, 1997, New York Review of Books : We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to ful"ll many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the...

This morning I read a report on the tragic suicide of Bill Zeller, the 27-year-old son of fundamentalist preacher George Zellar. Bill was a Ph.D candidate at Princeton University and a well known internet programmer. In his suicide letter, Zeller reveals for the first time that he was the victim of...

Kevin DeYoung has an excellent post on the importance of moral language in the face of such events as Saturday's mass murder in Tuscon. I have no doubt Loughner is messed up, crazy, off his rocker, and out to lunch. It seems that he’s needed help for a long time. But why jump to conclude that this...

"The pulpit is the Thermopylae of Christendom: there the fight will be lost or won. "To us ministers the maintenance of our power in the pulpit should be our great concern, we must occupy that spiritual watch-tower with our hearts and minds awake and in full vigor. It will not avail us to be...

This week's message was entitled "Our International Anthem" and was taken from Psalm 96. You can listen to or download it HERE .

David Wells, author of the indispensable No Place for Truth was interviewed for the most recent edition of Tabletalk Magazine . It is worth reading. The first question posed to Dr. Wells was, "Besides the Bible, what has been the most influential book you have read this past year?" Now, when a man...

Carl Trueman has an excellent piece over at Ref21 about being the frequent target of email criticisms. For me, the season also brought the usual Christmas accusation by email from somebody with time on their hands that I am a false teacher. Now, the world is full of people whom I regard as false...

In October, Westminster Seminary hosted their annual Preaching Conference . The keynote speaker was Dr. Dennis Johnson of Westminster Seminary California. Dr. Johnson (B.A., Westmont College; M.Div. and Th.M., Westminster Theological Seminary; Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) has taught at...

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/18023976 w=400&h=225] Ask R.C. Live (Nov. 30, 2010) from Ligonier on Vimeo .

So it's official. Tenth Presbyterian has a new Senior Minister. Liam Goligher was an excellent choice and I look forward to meeting him. My problem with the whole thing is that there will now be one more British accent on Sundays in the Philadelphia area. That means preachers like me are just going...

The Pastoral Selection Committee of Tenth Presbyterian Church here in Philadelphia has put forward Liam Goligher to serve as the next Senior Ministier. To my mind, this is an excellent selection. Dr. Goligher is an outstanding preacher and writer. I have personally benefited from his ministry. His...

Sam Storms has posted his favorite books of 2010 HERE . On his list is one that could easily have made mine but I neglected to list it. It is Tom Schreiner's outstanding 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law . He also lists a volume that has been on my wish list for a while - God's...

From Michael Gerson writing in The Washington Post : Christmas has become a kind of alternative religion, offering watered-down versions of profound theological doctrines. Its miracles are found on 34th Street, not in Bethlehem. The visitation of Gabriel has become the visitation of Clarence,...

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/12425590 w=400&h=225] What is the Gospel? from Southern Seminary on Vimeo .

Read about a woman who cannot experience fear.

“That God would take human flesh, and that not of one of the great and the good but of a child born of apparently dubious parentage to a young woman scarcely more than a child herself, that he would be delivered in a stable - these are things that are an affront to us as human beings. That God...

The following video is of Princeton professors Robert George and Cornel West. It is an excellent discussion. Dr. George is perhaps the most formidable conservative intellectual in America while Dr. West is a well known man of the left. Their discussion is a model of respectful dialogue. Among the...