A Prayer of Repentance

I got this from Justin Taylor's blog. He says: "Here is a prayer of repentance by Philip Ryken, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Consider not just reading it, but praying it."

Father, we have sinned. We confess that we do not listen to your Word. We read it and hear it, but we do not obey it. We say, “That was a great sermon!” but it doesn’t make a difference, because we are not willing to change.

We confess that we do not worship you the way you deserve to be worshiped. We are more concerned about what we get out of it than what we put it into it. We are often distracted. Our lips keep moving, but our hearts are cold and still.

We confess that we do not love one another very much. We do not want to be bothered with other people’s problems. We think the worst about others, rather than the best.

We confess that we do not always fulfill our responsibilities to one another. We are harsh when we should be gentle, and when we need to be firm, we lack the courage to say or do what is right.

We confess that we are not willing to pay the high cost of discipleship. We try to be as worldly as we think we can get away with. We prefer to squeeze our faith in around the edges of life, rather than to let you stand at the center to control everything we are and have.

We confess that we lack passion for evangelism. We think of missions as something someone else does, somewhere else, rather than something you have called us to do right here and now. We lack the courage to proclaim the gospel. We are afraid to talk about spiritual things, for fear of what others will think.

We confess that we lack compassion. We think it is important to help the poor, provided that someone else actually does the helping.

In the name of Jesus, we ask forgiveness for these and all our sins.

Some Recent Critiques of the Emergent Movement

Here are some recent thoughtful and well researched critiques of the Emergent movement. The first pair of articles are called: The Death Knell for the Emergent Church Movement (see part 1, and part 2). The other article is called Is Emergent the New Christian Left? Enjoy!

A Critique of N.T. Wright's Theology

N.T. Wright is really popular these days because he is saying a lot of good things (e.g. his book, The Resurrection and the Son of God). However, his understanding of Paul, of Israel, and of justification is controversial. Here is a helpful critique of his these very issues by Mark Seifrid, professor of New Testament at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at the 2006 Symposium on Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary (Ft. Wayne, Indiana) (just to warn you, it is very hard reading).

More than a Fad: Understanding the Emerging Church

Here is a fair and balanced article on the Emerging Church.

What role does sanctification play in salvation?

by Donald S. Whitney

Don Whitney has been Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Director of Applied Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, author of several books and a frequent conference speaker.

How important is this question? This is not an abstract question about theology, it is a down-to-earth issue for both evangelism and ministry. It is at the heart of one of the great plagues of evangelicalism—the unconverted church member. This question is at the root of the “Lordship Salvation” controversy as well as the so-called “Carnal Christian” conundrum, two intensely practical pastoral issues. Moreover, this matter relates directly to Christian parents who long for the conversion of their children. To phrase the question another way, can a person go to Heaven who doesn’t live like a dedicated Christian? If not, and we say that Christian living is necessary for salvation, aren’t we contradicting the Bible’s teaching on salvation by grace and not by works?

What is sanctification? According to question 38 of The Baptist Catechism, “Sanctification is the work of God's free grace (2 Thess. 2:13), whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God (Eph. 4:23, 24), and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness (Rom. 6:4, 6).” (This is identical to the Westminster Shorter Catechism question 35.) Regeneration is the new birth, sanctification is the growth that necessarily results from it. Justification is God’s declaration that a believing sinner is righteous because of the merits of Christ imputed to him. Sanctification is the believer leaving the courtroom where God has once and for all time declared him righteous, and immediately beginning the process whereby God’s Spirit enables him to increasingly conform to Christ’s righteousness, both inwardly and outwardly. Jonathan Edwards said of the Christian’s inevitable desire for sanctification, “‘Tis as much the nature of one that is spiritually new born, to thirst after growth in holiness, as ‘tis the nature of a newborn babe, to thirst after the mother’s breast.”* The process is progressive, but is never completed in this life. Sanctification is ultimately fulfilled in glorification.

In one sense we may say that sanctification has nothing to do with regeneration or justification, and yet it has everything to do with demonstrating that one has experienced them. (Notice statements similar to “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because . . .” in the letter of 1 John.) Sanctification alone doesn’t save, but there is no salvation without it. As Paul told the Thessalonian believers, “. . . God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” (2 Thess. 2:13). The experience of salvation begins with regeneration and justification, continues with sanctification, and is fulfilled in glorification. All who are regenerated and justified are being sanctified. All who are being sanctified will eventually be glorified. While we may distinguish between regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification, we must not separate them. In other words, the person who truly experiences one will experience them all (and in the order listed.)

So the old theological shorthand that “we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved” applies here. Sanctification isn’t included in the “we have been saved” part of salvation, but it is synonymous with the “we are being saved” part. And without sanctification, there is no “we will be saved.” For as Heb. 12:14 teaches, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

How do I “Pursue . . . the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord”? Unlike regeneration, there is much Spirit-filled human effort involved in sanctification. On the one hand, “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Col. 2:13). “On the other hand,” we’re commanded in 1 Tim. 4:7, “discipline yourself for the purposes of godliness.” God uses means of grace to sanctify us, chief of which are the personal and corporate spiritual disciplines. In the personal realm, these include intake of God’s Word, prayer, private worship, fasting, silence and solitude, etc. These are balanced by disciplines we practice with the church: public worship, hearing God’s Word preached, observance of the ordinances, corporate prayer, fellowship, etc. And all along, our confidence is not in ourselves, but in God. As Paul put it, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).

Additional Reading:
Biblical: Galatians; 1 John
Theological: Jonathan Edwards, “Religious Affections”
Practical: Jerry Bridges, “The Discipline of Grace”

*Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 2, Perry Miller, gen. ed., Religious Affections, ed. John E. Smith (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959), page 366.

(Taken from www.9marks.org)

What about the confessing Christian who lives like the world

By Michael Lawrence

Michael Lawrence is the Associate Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. A Duke graduate, he holds the MDiv. degree from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and a PhD in Church History at Cambridge University.

Fundamentally this is a question of misplaced confidence. So the first thing I do is try to determine why the person thinks he is a Christian. There are a variety of false objects of trust that could result in such a dichotomy: faith in a "decision", family heritage, baptism, church attendance, etc. Then I take them to the words of Jesus in Mark 7:6-7 and show what Jesus thought of people who were confident that they knew God, but whose lives did not reflect such a relationship. According to Jesus, true faith is a matter of the heart, and not just the lips. Then I take such a person to Luke 6:43-49, where Jesus uses the picture of a fruit tree to show what he means by a heart that has placed its faith in him. Hearts are like trees, they produce fruit that everyone can see. Hearts are like fountains, they overflow in the words we speak. According to Jesus, the faith that trusts in Him alone for forgiveness is also a faith that puts his words into practice. And so Jesus challenges our shallow confession of him as Lord. "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say. The day will come, Jesus warns in v. 49, when such a confession will prove to have been no confession of faith at all, and therefore provide no safety from the judgment of God.

I might also take such a person to 1 John 2:15-17, or James 4:4. Both warn against loving the world for the same reason: because we cannot love the world and God at the same time. We will either love one or the other, and ultimately we will follow the one we love.
I once counselled a woman who confessed to being a Christian, but who was sleeping with her boyfriend, even though she knew it was wrong. As we talked it became clear that though she gave lip service to following God, she was not prepared to follow God if it meant giving up what she admitted was an illicit sexual intimacy. She had come to me because she felt distant from God. The excitement and joy that had followed her initial commitment to Christ had dried up. After a series of meetings, in which I attempted to show her the biblical connection between true faith in Christ and its inevitable outworking in our lives, she broke off the discussion. She simply could not, would not, follow a God who would ask her to give up sex before marriage. No one can love God and the world at the same time.

Could I say, definitively, to that woman (or to anyone who confessed Christ but lived like the world) that she was not a Christian? No, for no one but God can read the human heart. What we can all read, however, is the fruit that the heart produces. And on that basis, I could give such a person no assurance or encouragement that she had found forgiveness of her sins in Jesus Christ. The free grace that forgives is also a grace that transforms, turning bad trees which produce bad fruit into good trees which produce good fruit. If our lives reflect this world, rather than God, then we must consider whether we have received the grace of God after all.

Further reading: John Piper Desiring God

(Article taken from www.9marks.org)

Do you need a degree to be a pastor?

My friends Uche and Jenna were having a discussion about this very question. Check out this excellent article by Albert Mohler: www.9marks.org (click on Articles; then click on Albert Mohler on the left side of the page).

"God told me" and the Sufficiency of Scripture

How does God speak to you? Here are some choice lines from an article by Mark Dever:

"the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture...was a keystone in the Protestant Reformation. One of the principal disputes between Rome and the Reformers was whether God had promised that He would continue to provide inspired, unerring instruction through Peter and his successors. Rome said that that’s what Jesus taught in Matthew 16. The Reformers denied this, saying that, instead, the Scriptures themselves were sufficient for our instruction, albeit with the Holy Spirit’s illumination of our minds. They taught that the Scriptures would be perspicuous—that is, clear—and sufficient. Matters important to us would be reasonably clear, not obscure. And the Scriptures taken as a whole would suffice for our needs for divine guidance."

"More in our piety than in our written theology, there has grown up the idea that God’s Word written must become God’s Word to us personally by some sort of powerful encounter with it or its meaning. This isn’t conceived of in tomes of divinity, as Neo-Orthodox theologians like Karl Barth developed it, but in simple, regular practice. I think of another friend who attended an evangelical student fellowship, where for two hours the students sang and prayed earnestly and pleadingly that God would speak to them, all the while with their Bibles lying there closed on their seats. This is the problem that “God told me” piety brings for the sufficiency of Scripture. And where we pastors and elders do not understand that Scripture is sufficient, we cannot be surprised if our church members, in sincere search for the truth, wander off to Rome on the one hand, or liberal subjectivism on the other looking for some kind of sufficient authority. Mormons particularly exploit evangelical weakness on this issue of being uninstructed about Scripture’s sufficiency."

For the full article check out: http://www.9marks.org/ (click on "Articles," and then on "Mark Dever" on the left side of the page; then scroll down to the bottom of the page with the articles in blue and find the article called "'God told me' and the Sufficiency of Scripture"; this long process is needed because of technical difficulties; however, it is worth the effort to read the whole article).

Spurgeon on Evangelism

"Men need to be told that, except divine grace shall bring them out of their enmity to God, they must eternally perish; and they must be reminded of the sovereignty of God, that He is not obliged to bring them out of this state, that He would be right and just if He left them in such a condition, that they have no merit to plead before Him, and no claims upon Him, but if they are to be saved, it must be by grace, and by grace alone. The preacher's work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them" [Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Soul Winner (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1963), 24].

"Soul winning is the chief business of the Christian minister; indeed, it should be the main pursuit of every true believer. We should say with Simon Peter, 'I go a fishing,' and with Paul our aim should be, 'That I might by all means save some'" [Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Soul Winner (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1963), 15].

Understanding Imputation

In Romans chapter 4 we encounter the crucial word "imputation," a doctrine many Christians may not be familiar with. What does this word mean, and why is it so crucial to understand? How would today's pastors score when asked to explain the term? Check out the White Horse Inn's (featuring Dr. Michael Horton) recent broadcast.

Guilt, Grace & Gratitude

Is guilt good? Should Christians feel guilty even if they understand that Christ has died for them? What is the most important motivation for Christian living? Check out this topic on the White Horse Inn (featuring Dr. Michael Horton) online radio broadcast.

The Power of the Word of God

I read this recently and was again amazed at the power of God's Word:

"God's Word has always been His chosen instrument to create, convict, convert, and conform His people. From the very first announcement of the Gospel in Genesis 3:15, to the initial word of promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, to His regulation of that promise by His Word in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), God gives life and heath and holiness to His people through the agency of His Word. From the reforms under Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23, to revival of God's work under Nehemiah and Ezra in Nehemiah 8-9, to that great vision of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14, where God breathes the life of His Spirit into His dead people through the preaching of His Word, God always sends His word when He wants to renew life in His people and assemble them for His glory" [Mark Dever, The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005), 33-34].

Isaiah 55:10-11: "10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Matthew 4:4: "Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Romans 1:16: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."

Romans 10:17: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

1 Thess. 2:13: "And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe."

Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

James 1:18: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

James 1:21: "...accept the word planted in you, which can save you."

1 Peter 1:23, 25: "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God....And this is the word that was preached to you."

So next time you doubt the power of the Word, read these passages! May God richly bless you.

John Piper on the Emergent "Conversation"

"We think the post-propositional, post-dogmatic, post-authoritative 'conversation' is post-relevant and post-saving" (thanks to Justin Taylor: http://theologica.blogspot.com/).

The Emergent Church is the Latest Version of Liberalism

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church (http://www.marshillchurch.org/), was one of the early leaders in what has come to be known as the emerging or emergent church. However, he has clearly separated himself from the emergent crowd and people such as Brian McLaren because of theological reasons. In his newest book he says the following: "the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only difference is that old liberalism accomodated modernity and the new liberalism accomodates postmodernity" [Mark Driscoll, Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 21-22; thanks to Challies: http://www.challies.com/archives/001863.php].

For an explanation and critique of "liberalism" check out the classic by J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1923; reprinted 2001).

The Essence of Folly

"The essence of folly is turning from God as the trustworthy touchstone of all reality and instead making our own preferences the measure of what is real." - John Piper (Thanks to Nadi Tadros for the quote).

A Peace Time Mentality in War Time

“The crying need of the hour is to put churches on a wartime footing. Mission leaders are crying out ‘Where is the church’s concept of militancy, of a mighty army willing to suffer? Where is the risk-taking, the launching out on God alone?’ The answer is it has been swallowed up in a peacetime mentality. Thousands of Christians do not hear the diabolic bombs dropping and the bullets zinging. They don’t smell the hellish Agent Orange in the whitened harvest of the world. They don’t cringe or weep at the thousands who perish every week. They don’t reckon with the spiritual hosts of wickedness of this present darkness. In fact it is not dark at all they say. It is bright and comfortable and cheery – just look at my home and car and office and cabin and boat” (John Piper in Pleasures of God; thanks to Nadi Tadros for the quote).

Robert Coleman on Scripture and the State of the Church

"The dynamics of the Christian faith centers in experiencing the truth of God's Word. Whether in individuals or mass revival movements, when the Scripture is believed, blessings come; when it is questioned or compromised, decline and ruin follow" - Robert Coleman

Why Must We Preach Expositionally If It's Not Explicitly Commanded in Scripture?

Why is expositional preaching so rare today? Is it a must? Is it needed for the revival of the church? Here is a helpful article by David King: www.9marks.org (click on Articles; then see the article in the middle of the page).

Why Expositional Preaching Matters

Here is a powerful testimony of one pastor of what happened when he changed his preaching from "felt needs" to expositional preaching: www.9marks.org (click on Articles; then see the article in the top middle of the page).

Onward Gnostic Soldier

Scholar Peter Jones (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary), author of The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back and other books that critique anti-Christian doctrines, including Cracking Da Vinci's Code, says that The Da Vinci Code has its roots in ancient Gnosticism: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/11862.

The Da Vinci Phenomenon

Here is a helpful article on the Da Vinci Code in WORLD, a Christian news magazine, by Gene Edward Veith: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/11861.

"God Spoke to Me," and a "Word of Knowledge": R.C. Sproul on Canon Addition

Here is something by R.C. Sproul that is worth reading. What do you think?

"There are few if any people who are lobbying to add contemporary writings to the New Testament. Nevertheless we are living in a time in which countless claims of new revelations are being made. Neopentecostal theology often views messages delievered in tongues or the utterance of 'prophecy' as new forms of revelation. Sometimes these revelations are described as true revelations but not necessarily normative for the church (despite their often containing information that might benefit the entire church). If indeed these are new revelations that have value to the church, we ask, why wouldn't they be added to the canon?

The claims of private new revelations are many. Pat Robertson routinely gets 'the word of knowedge' on national television. God reveals specific illnesses of people who live in various parts of the nation as he prays. I have seen him say things like, 'Someone in Topeka, Kansas, is right this moment being healed of a goiter.' This is an astonishing thing. Here is a man hundreds of miles from the scene who is getting supernatural revelation of the healing of a specific disease in a specific city. What puzzles me is the restricted specificity of these revelations. The disease and the city are named, but never the name and address of the person being healed. Here the prophecy can be neither verified nor falsified.

Oral Roberts tells the nation that God has revealed to him that his life will be taken if he doesn't receive a large amount of money in donations. Robert Tilton promises his constituents that he will mail them a special message from God if they send in their donations. These, of course, are crude forms of modern claims to added revelation. How these claims are entertained by the credulous is a matter of consternation for me.

But it gets more subtle. We hear respected Christian leaders claiming that God has 'spoken to them' and given specific guidance and instructions upon which they are duty bound to act and obey. They are careful to note that this divine speech was not in audible form and there is a disclaimer that this is not a new 'revelation.' Yet the message which is 'laid on the heart' is so clear and powerful that to disobey it is to disobey the voice of God. I am not speaking here of the work of the Holy Spirit by which he illumines the text of Scripture in such a sharp manner as to bring us under conviction or direct our paths. But here the Spirit works in the Word and through the Word. I am speaking of the speaking of the Spirit that men claim is working apart from the Word and in addition to the Word.

Though such claims are more often than not attended by the disclaimer that they are not revelation, the way they function is as revelation so that the distinction between them and bona fide revelation is, in actuality, a distinction without a difference" [R.C. Sproul, Scripture Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005), 59-60].

Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordained that Evil Be?

The following is recommended reading by two of our pastors at Rexdale Alliance Church, Sunder Krishnan and Steevens Audige, so that when suffering arises in people's lives we do not try to get God off the hook and give inane, shallow, and superficially comforting answers. Here is a biblical God-centred answer to the problem of God and evil by John Piper:
http://www.desiringgod.org/library/topics/suffering/god_and_evil.html

Read the Gospel of Judas

Craig Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, encourages all Christians to read the Gospel of Judas. This is what he has to say:

"What is really sad are the Christians who tell others not to read books like the Gospel of Judas at all (or to see movies like The Da Vinci Code). What a wonderful opportunity for believers to become informed and share intelligently with their non-Christian friends whose interest has been sparked in Christian origins in ways that pure scholarship alone seldom accomplishes. Censorship merely reinforces the stereotypes that we truly do have something to hide, makes Christians look ignorant at best and repressive at worst, and actually makes it harder for certain personality-types to come to the Lord at all. Read the Gospel of Judas, and the other apocrypha and Gnostic writings for that matter. You’ll have no difference sensing in a heartbeat the entirely different philosophical context and worldview in which these documents were written. Your confidence that the church made good choices in its process of canonization will be bolstered. Your faith will be based on your own investigation and you won’t have to just take the word of others, including me. God won’t betray you in the process!"

For the full article and an excellent and thorough critique of the Gospel of Judas go here: http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles2006/0200/0211.php.

How to Listen to a Sermon

Here is some helpful wisdom on how to listen to a sermon: Take Care How You Listen by John Piper: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/98/022298.html and Expositional LISTENING By Thabiti Anyabwile:
http://www.9marks.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314526%7CCHID598014%7CCIID2190814,00.html [thanks to Justin Taylor: http://theologica.blogspot.com/].

May God Raise Them Up

Arnold Dallimore: "[It is our desire]…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives" [Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, vol. 1 (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), p. 16--cited by John Piper in his address at Together for the Gospel; taken from Justin Taylor's blog: http://theologica.blogspot.com/].

Together for the Gospel Statement

My friends, Steevens Audige and Jamie Strickland just went to a conference called: Together for the Gospel featuring Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney, Albert Mohler, John MacArthur, John Piper, and R.C. Sproul. The conference came up with a statement containing both affirmations and denials about the gospel itself:
http://www.togetherforthegospel.org/T4TG-statement.pdf. This type of thing is needed, especially when divergent and unbiblical views are now in the historically Evangelical camp. It is well worth reading.

John Stott on the Cross

"Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to be saying to us, 'I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.' Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size" [John Stott, The Message of Galatians (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1968), 179 quoted in C.J. Mahaney, Humility: True Greatness (Sisters, OR: Mulnomah, 2005), 67].

"Through the mouths of preachers He will do His work - just as a workman uses a tool to do his work." John Calvin

J.C. Ryle on Religious Knowledge

"...when knowledge only sticks in a man's head, and has no influence over his heart and life, it becomes a most perilous possession. And when, in addition to this, its possessor is self-conceited and self-satisfied, and fancies he knows everything, the result is one of the worst states of soul into which man can fall....Let us use diligently whatever religous knowledge we possess, and ask continually that God would give us more. Let us never forget that the devil himself is a creature of vast head-knowledge, and yet none the better for it, because it is not rightly used. Let our constant prayer be that which David so often sent up in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm, 'Lord, Teach me Thy statutes: - give me understanding: - unite my heart to fear Thy name'" [J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, Volume II (James Clarke & Co., 1957), 182].

Why James MacDonald Is Not Emerging

James MacDonald, a native of Canada, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and preacher on the radio program Walk in the Word, writes a helpful and insightful article on why he is not a part of the Emerging Church movement: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2005/10/why_james_macdo.html.

Without Excuse: The Problem is a Lot Deeper than a Lack of Information

Michael Horton, professor of apologetics and theology at Westminster Seminary California (Escondido, California), reflects on Romans 1 in Modern Reformation magazine. I found this article helpful and relevant in understanding why people reject God, in understanding religious pluralism, and in understanding what responsibility people have before God who have never heard the gospel: http://www.modernreformation.org/mh06excuse.htm.

The Gospel of Judas: A Villain Rehabilitated?

The "Gospel of Judas" has been getting a lot of attention as of late. Here is an intelligent response by Andreas J. Kostenberger, Professor of New Testament and director of Ph.D/Th.M studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, on his website called Biblical Foundations: http://www.biblicalfoundations.org/blog/?p=34.