Over on the Pulpit blog, Nathan Busenitz — who has graciously commented over here — has asked us charismatics to add any further killer arguments to his list of the top 10 charismatic objections to cessationism. I am not sure if he will have time in his seminar itself to address those that I offer below as additions to his very helpful list, but I suspect, given his gracious demeanor, I may find myself debating this issue with him further... Read more
Over at Challies’ second live-blogging post on the Shepherds’ Conference, following John MacArthur’s dismissal of amillenialism, Steve Lawson struck a blow for the kind of preaching I have been talking about in my series on the T4G Statement Article 4. The last post in that series was entitled Must Expository Preaching Always be a Series? I have also posted often in the past about the vital point that Steve Lawson made: “Two deadly dangers face the church as it advances... Read more
UPDATE – More on this issue in Spurgeon and millenial mud-slinging Once again, it’s time to remote-blog a conference my friend, Tim Challies, is so helpfully live-blogging. In the first session of the Shepherds’ Conference MacArthur came out strongly in favour of premillennialism (no surprise there), but what was a surprise, it seems, was the strength of his opposition to amillennialism and other views — here is a quote from Tim’s report: “The thrust of the message was simple: of... Read more
This continues our series on preaching, which is based on the fourth article of the Together for the Gospel Statement. The previous post in this series was entitled “Are There Three Types of Expository Preaching?“ Tim Challies defines expository preaching as “preaching that takes the point of the text as the point of the sermon.” In my view, he wisely differentiates it from his definition of textual preaching — not by whether it is part of a longer series working... Read more
One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve been thinking and reading about preaching recently is that we can’t seem to agree on what “expository preaching” actually is. This is critical for our understanding of Article 4 of the Together for the Gospel Statement, which has prompted this series on preaching. Some seem to feel that true expository preaching only occurs when a book is dissected verse-by-verse, week-after-week. The folks over at Expository Thoughts have a clear preference for preaching through a... Read more
Richard Rahn is an economist at The Washington Times, as well as Adjunct Fellow of Economics, Technology, and Democracy at the Discovery Institute. In yesterday’s Washington Times, he posted a column concerning the lack of economic development in most Muslim countries. The immediate challenge is this — shouldn’t we in the West be doing something to help alleviate this poverty? Would the investment of more of our money in this way help to change the perception of the West that... Read more
There are those today who would argue that belief in the inerrancy of Scripture is merely a modern invention. In the following passage from Calvin’s Institutes, we see that the reformer could easily have signed the Chicago Statement. As a reformed charismatic, I am, of course, also intrigued by the concept of the Spirit’s work in attesting to us that the Scriptures are the Word of God. It is concerning to me that so little emphasis seems to be placed... Read more
In today’s Martyn Lloyd-Jones Monday, I come to one of the most fascinating questions about preaching. I am not sure exactly what was in the minds of the people who crafted the T4G statement which highlighted the importance of expository preaching. As we shall see in later posts, people differ on whether to define expository preaching as, by necessity, part of a longer series on a book of the Bible. Spurgeon held somewhat different views to many today on the... Read more
Wesley Smith reports that a scientist in “Nature” online agrees that the controversy surrounding embryonic stem cell research is NOT a scientific question, but rather an ethical one. “. . . the real question with regard to stem-cell research is whether the potential medical benefit and scientific knowledge outweigh any harm done to the embryo. The answer depends strongly on the value assigned to the embryo, which is not a scientific question.” At least they’re starting to think about it... Read more
In light of the recent controversy over the finding of the so-called “Jesus Family Tomb,” I thought I would highlight a recent article from John Piper about the resurrection. Eight Reasons Why I Believe Jesus Rose From the Dead Jesus himself testified to his coming resurrection from the dead. The tomb was empty on Easter. The disciples were almost immediately transformed from men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (Luke 24:21, John 20:19) into men who were confident... Read more
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