QUEEN “Thou know’st tis common, all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity” HAMLET Ay, madam, it is common. Hamlet, Act I, Scene II As Hamlet reflects upon the death of his father, he mourns the brevity of life and the painful triviality of death. We too feel this as we survey what has befallen Paris, Bamako, Brussels, Ankara and Istanbul. These cities and their citizens felt the unnatural commonness of death. ISIS...
On the internet over the past few years, Christian leaders have taken time to voice their opinion about IRS form 4361 (Russell Moore, Gospel Coalition via Justin Taylor, Matt Wittmer and Dave Ramsey have all spoken on the matter). For those unfamiliar, form 4361 is the form that a minister may sign within his first two years of ministry to opt out of Social Security.[1] In order to opt out the minster must sign the...
Nearly two years ago I wrote a blog post entitled, Church Security Teams? Verdict: Unbiblical, that seemed to be quite popular. Although, if I had my druthers it would have been popular because people agreed with it. But seeing as the article garnered a paltry two Facebook likes and the comments were rife with disagreement, it seemed to be popular (or should I say unpopular?) for my brazenly stupid idea of suggesting that church security...
“Covert Messiah” is the latest theory delving into alternatives to the New Testament understanding of the origins of Christianity. Joseph Atwill explains that Christianity was originally an elaborate hoax created by the Roman government as a means of pacifying the usually tumultuous land of 1st century Judea. He writes, “Jesus Christ is a fabricated cover story for an Imperial psychological warfare operation born out of the First Jewish-Roman War in the first century.”[1] Based on his...
There has been much clamoring surrounding the fiscal cliff of late. Interest groups of every shape and color want to make sure they aren’t the ones to feel the blunt force of spending cuts or tax increases. One interest group has caught my eye amidst the commotion. This is the adoptive families interest group. For months now, politically active Christian groups have been raising quite a stink about the adoption tax credit (standing near 13k)...
A few weeks back, my fellow blogger, John Dunne, posted an article in which he critiqued his Amillenial[1] beliefs. I too am an Amillenialist and became one around the same time as John. I think we both read the same book (A Case for Amillenialism by Kim Riddlebarger) within a few months of each other. We also regularly attended Friday night lectures with Dr. Riddlebarger at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim. As time has passed,...
Shortly before graduating from Biola University in the Spring of 2008, I took a job working as a part-time pastor at a new, predominantly Korean, inner city church plant in Los Angeles. A couple months into the job, I found myself in Buffalo, New York for our denominations’ annual conference. I still cannot forget a conversation that I had—along with two other colleagues—with a certain Army chaplain. Talk about a collision of Christian worldviews. Here...
Before my title causes you to misunderstand my position, I want to say a few things. I like guns. I really do. It is part of the reason that I have a concealed weapons permit. More then that, I believe in self-defense. If someone enters my home to harm either myself or my soon to be wife, I will dispense the appropriate deadly force. Yet my belief in the use of force in one area...
During April 2009, Presbyterian pastor Tullian Tchividjian released a book entitled Unfashionable. The book was met with strong acclaim from a number of prominent Christians including J.I. Packer, Don Carson, Ravi Zacharias and surprisingly, Michael Horton. Perhaps the books greatest endorsement came from the pen of Tim Keller who wrote the book’s forward. Yet somewhere in the blogosphere, a wise man by the name of Tim Challies had a different take. At one point Tchividijian’s...
Note: If you are new to this series on the two-kingdoms, please take the time to read past articles. It will help you understand the issues at hand and the theological arguments in favor of the two-kingdoms approach. The church is very busy in this modern day. Busy with activities, busy with ministries, busy with administration. But now the church is busy with something new. The church is now busy “renewing” and “redeeming” the world...
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