What if the swine flu becomes pandemic?

What if the swine flu becomes bad? Really bad? Of pandemic proportions? How will the Christian respond? As Al Mohler notes this morning in “Love in Time of Swine Flu,” such an epidemic will create unique opportunities. [Aside: neither he nor I are predicting such an impact from this flu is imminent, only that it […]

Today’s Quote – Magnify God (Piper)

John Piper, “Jesus Christ and the Rescue of Joy, Part 1:” That word “magnify” is tricky. Because microscopes magnify and telescopes magnify. And they do something very different. Magnify with a microscope and you mike a very tiny little thing look bigger than it is. If you try to magnify God that way, you blaspheme. […]

Book Review: A Passion for God

Title: A Passion for God: the Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer Author: Lyle Dorsett Publisher: Moody Press, 2008; 189 pp. $14.95 Recommendation (4-star scale): Shortly after beginning seminary, I purchased a small anthology of A. W. Tozer’s works. I did not need to read long before I was taken by this writer. I knew […]

Sunday Leftovers (4/26/09)

In preparation for yesterday’s message on Ephesians 1:4 (and the one or two that will follow it), I have not only done a fair bit of reading, but have also listened to a number of sermons that have benefited me. The ones I have linked below have been the greatest help to me. [Aside: I […]

Today’s Quote – Spiritual Blessings (Burroughs)

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: Every little that [the Saints, contented men] have is but as an earnest [guarantee] for all the glory that is reserved for them; it is given them by God as the forerunner of those external mercies that the Lord intends for them.

Sunday Leftovers (4/19/09)

To bless God (Eph. 1:3) does not mean that we contribute anything to the person of God; He is God whether we bless Him, honor Him, acknowledge Him or not. To bless Him means to give thanks and to pronounce Him as being ever worthy of our praise and worship. To bless God is to […]

Today’s Quote – Spiritual Blessings (Chafer)

Lewis Sperry Chafer, Chafer’s Systematic Theology: As all these blessings indicated, salvation is a work of God for man, not a work of man for God. What a Christian experiences is what God’s love has prompted Him to do for those who had no merit before Him but who are now recognized in the merit […]

Today’s Quote – Gospel (MacArthur)

John MacArthur, A Tale of Two Sons: The typical sinner wants out of the morass of sin, and his first instinct is to devise a plan. He will work off his guilt. He will reform himself. But such a plan could never succeed. The debt is too great to repay, and the sinner is helpless […]

Grab bag

This morning I caught up on some blog reading (I only check them sporadically these days). Here are a variety of links that I found interesting and beneficial: Al Mohler, “The Delay of Marriage and the Decline of Church Attendance” Al Mohler, “The Real Population Threat” “How to Pray for Joni Eareckson Tada” (and many […]

Today’s Quote – Scripture (Calvin)

John Calvin, in Let Christ Be Magnified: The Word of God teaches so clearly, that it enlightens at the first glance. It must penetrate to the very bottom of your hearts. It is not enough to feel a few slight stings and pricks; you must be wounded, pierced through and through by the Word; and […]

Listen to some history?

A few years ago, I began subscribing to Christian History & Biography magazine. Each issue of the quarterly journal (about 32-48 pp. per issue) dealt with one single topic — a prominent person in church history (e.g., Martin Luther, or C. S. Lewis), a movement (e.g., the Puritans), or an event (faith in the Middle […]

What makes many atheists afraid of atheism

Many years ago, a friend loaned me a book and said, “I just picked this up — I think you would really appreciate it. Let me know what you think.” I was not long into the book, Henry Morris’s The Long War Against God, before I found myself fighting the urge to grab a highlighter […]

Book Review: Church History

Title: Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious Author: Christopher Catherwood Publisher: Crossway, 2007; 224 pp. $12.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): I wanted to like this book — I really wanted to like it a lot. And it has its strengths. But in the end, its strengths are also its weaknesses. A book like […]

Today’s Quote – Trials (Cuyler)

Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light on Dark Clouds: Never has [God] promised us an easy road or a smooth road, or such a road as our selfishness may select. He never consents that the flock shall decide as to the lot in which they shall be pastured, or over what deep hills he shall conduct them, […]

Today’s Quote – Heaven (Cuyler)

Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light on Dark Clouds: Heaven will have no ‘moving day’. No longer shall we be pulled away from associations which we love, and sent off into strange and uncongenial places. When you and I, brother, have packed up at the tap of death’s signal-bell, we shall never be obliged to change our […]