Introduction to the Science of Unbelief
Why study unbelief?
If unbelief lies at the center of humanity’s relationship with God, then understanding unbelief becomes essential for understanding the human condition itself. We live in an age of unprecedented knowledge and profound confusion. Never before in human history has information been so abundant, so accessible, and so immediate. Through the internet, social media, digital... Continue Reading
Continue the Christian Life How You Started the Christian Life
The Christian never moves on from the gospel.
The gospel is much more than a ticket to heaven. And if we are to continue in the way we started—if we are to NOT move on from the gospel, it means that the gospel becomes, over time, the driving force behind every part of our lives. The world’s fastest man, for the moment,... Continue Reading
Discipleship is More Than Just Instruction
We’re not just to learn all that Christ commanded, but to obey it as well.
As people who were formerly alienated from God and hostile in mind (Colossians 1:21-22), we need obedience and faith modeled to us. Those we’re discipling need that as well. They don’t just need us to tell them about Christ; they need us to show them Christ from the Word and from our lives. Read:... Continue Reading
I’m a ‘Pile of Dirt’
…and so are you, but even in this low estate, God gives us Meaning and Purpose. Don't let pride make you blind to the goodness of being human.
We reject our humanness (with its limits and weaknesses), but Jesus embraces it. He not only calls it “very good” in the beginning but shows us how it is good through taking on a body of His own. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. John 1:14 Admittedly, I’ve not spent... Continue Reading
Five Myths That Keep You from Reading the Institutes
Calvin’s “Institutes” have an undeserved reputation for being long, technical, and forbidding.
You will not agree with every line, and Calvin would not have wanted you to take his word over Scripture’s. But you will rarely find a guide this wise and this warm, one so convinced that God is worth knowing. John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509. Five centuries have passed and this... Continue Reading
The Spirit as Seal and Pledge
The indwelling Spirit in us is the earnest and promise of our inheritance and our full redemption.
As we are filled with the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, put sin to death by the Spirit, and show the fruit of the Spirit, we can be assured by God that the Spirit lives savingly within us now and is our seal and pledge of greater things to come. What encouraging truths these are!... Continue Reading
Pornography—Idolatry, Adultery, Coveting, Hope
To successfully battle the problem, we must come to the place where we realize the heart is the issue and porn is the bad fruit on a tree whose root is in idolatry.
It is no accident that Paul chooses coveting as his primary example in his discourse on the struggles with sin. He is pointing to our problem with the heart. We want what we want when we want it. Pornography is a distorted desire of the heart where we demand to have something we should not... Continue Reading
When Christians Get the Yips
How the Fear of Man keeps us down.
Fear will always tell you to hold the ball. Faith tells you to throw it. Don’t let the yips steal the joy of simply playing the game God has called you to play. The yips. The word itself can strike fear into the heart of even the greatest athlete. The yips is a phenomenon... Continue Reading
The Infinite Gulf: The Creator-Creature Distinction and the Limits of Human Knowledge
The moment we think we have fully wrapped our minds around God, we have ceased to worship the God of the Bible.
The study of systematic theology is a glorious, high-stakes privilege. But we must never forget that we are stepping onto holy ground.…He has crossed the infinite gulf of existence to speak to us in words we can understand. He has accommodated His infinite light to our weak, creaturely eyes.…remembering that the goal of all true... Continue Reading
The Ongoing Reformation of the Christian Reformed Church
Synod 2026 met from June 12-18 and its decisions reflect a denomination that is continuing its renewal. Delegates and discussions reflected a settled stance on marriage and sexuality.
In 2021, Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan ordained a deacon in a same-sex marriage. A group of unrenowned pastors and lay leaders started the Abide Project with the goal to maintain biblical sexuality in the CRC. The conflict came to a head in 2022 when the CRC’s annual synod adopted the Human Sexuality... Continue Reading
Declining Birth Rates and The Battle for the Mind
Birth rates are declining, but has the church forgotten her role?
Has the church begun to balk on her duty to uphold and protect the truth? Is the church crumbling to outside pressure to be conformed to the world? How will the battle for ideas be lost? It won’t be through procreation, but it will be through the church bending the knee to another lord other... Continue Reading
The Real Reasons We Don’t Read the Bible
Reading the Bible well takes time and focus, and many modern people are woefully short on both.
Life and death hang on our ability to hear God—and to hear God, we have to read (or at least listen while someone else reads). He reveals Himself, His will, and His gospel through words. Therefore, you can argue that reading is the most important thing we’ll ever do. Why don’t you read the... Continue Reading
How Was Jesus’ Authority Different to the Scribes?
Jesus, who is Himself fully God, spoke with the full authority of God.
When we hear the words of Jesus, we are not simply listening to a learned rabbi or sound theologian. We are hearing the Word of God speak. At various points in the gospels, we are told that Jesus taught ‘with authority’. For example, Matthew says ‘When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were... Continue Reading
The Danger of Ongoing Sin
The true Christian’s desire is to kill all sin. Troy Appleton
Sin is never to be kept within a secure safe box or cage. Sin is a poisonous snake which must be crushed to death. The works of the Puritan divine John Owen (1616-1680), especially his works on the Mortification of Sin, are well worth the reading but they can be deeply challenging to 21st... Continue Reading
Cultural Enemies
Jesus made it very clear that He did not come to bring peace but a sword.
Don’t have enemies because you are caustic and abrasive. Don’t have enemies because you are unfeeling and unloving. But…do have enemies because you stand for truth. After all, Jesus did. If you are a true follower of Christ, you will have enemies. A lot of enemies. This isn’t a popular idea. Many Christians seem... Continue Reading
How to Recognize Sowers of Discord
Sowing discord is one of the most prevalent and most disregarded sins in the church today.
If you find yourself still making excuses for sowing discord (or for aiding and abetting others to sow discord), you’ll be ruined before you know what hits you (Proverbs 6:15). God doesn’t like it when people mess with His wife. There is no foolproof formula for recognizing sowers of discord, but Solomon wants to... Continue Reading
Your Everyday Work, Ordered by God
Serving Jesus Christ in the whole of life includes our jobs, vocations, and careers.
Don’t consider the work you do everyday as without value. No one may appreciate you, but God sees and is pleased when we are faithful in our work. Our work is ultimately done for Him, and is among other good works He has made for us to do in His world, as His people. ... Continue Reading
God Wants Us for Himself (Ephesians 1)
We as Saints as God’s Glorious Inheritance
Holy and blameless before Him; adopted now and fully in the future; allotted as an inheritance for Him; redeemed now and fully one day as God’s own possession…what a day it will be when God has us perfectly unto Himself and what it will mean for us! The riches that we have in Christ... Continue Reading
Scotland and the Birth of the United States
Fighting for religious liberty is about as quintessentially Scottish and American as it gets.
In our time, when this liberty appears to be threatened again by politicians imposing policies that churches deem immoral, a good dose of the old Scots-Irish spirit may again be in order. Scottish Presbyterianism, with its robust theology, disciplined government by elders, and strict piety, would significantly influence America through the waves of Scots-Irish... Continue Reading
Fool #3: The Sower of Discord
He doesn’t think of what he does as “evil.” He just has “concerns.”
This fool is worthless. He is wicked (Proverbs 6:12a). Nothing good will come of your friendship with him. Perhaps that sounds harsh, but it’s what Proverbs teaches. The Sower of Discord is the third of Solomon’s three fools in Prov 6:1-19. This person knows what’s good for God’s people better than God himself does.... Continue Reading
PCUSA Votes Clergy Monogamy Overture out of Order, Refers for Further Study: ‘Moral Chaos’
Part of the strategy behind the overture was to expose how radically liberal some elements within the PCUSA have become.
The overture and the pushback it received within the increasingly liberal PCUSA prompted national headlines. Three committees in the denomination—the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice, the Advocacy Committee on LGBTQIA+ Equity and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy—appended “advice and counsel” against the overture after it was introduced. A committee of... Continue Reading
Presbyterian Letter to Churches on Ministry & Missions, 1791
Exhortation to make use of every providential means of God for the prosperity and increase of His church.
“A spirit of union, piety, and discipline is particularly necessary for this purpose. By this our church was revived, and became flourishing in our fathers’ days; by this it hath been cherished to our own times, and by this it must be secured.” As the United States remembers the 250th anniversary of political independence... Continue Reading
The Family Ties That Bind: How Muslim Families Impact Christian Witness and Political Discernment
If present trends continue in our nation, we will find it increasingly difficult to share Christ with Muslims and oppose their demographic takeover.
As we see the effects of the mass migration in Europe, there is a growing urgency for Christians in America to build things that last and protect what is good. And to do so with bold evangelism and wise engagement in the public square. As we have seen over the years, negative words directed... Continue Reading
PAiSTOR
The Exorbitant Cost of Easy Answers...
Pastors, do the reading first. Do the struggling first. Bring your confusion and partial understanding to the text before you bring your question to any resource, digital or otherwise. Arrive at your study having already sat with the passage long enough to know what you do not yet understand. Then, if you reach for AI... Continue Reading
Genesis 1–11 as Introduction and Paradigm
The logic of these chapters is foundational to understanding all of Scripture.
Starting at the beginning to recognize features of God’s and the serpent’s work can invigorate our study of Scripture, clarify difficult passages, and help us recognize God’s character in his repeated actions. The early chapters of the Bible present stories that seem distant from our experiences, difficult to comprehend, even disturbing. Yet in them... Continue Reading
3 Neglected Aspects of Spiritual Formation That Destroy Us
The work of David Powlison and J.I. Packer remind us of three pivotal themes in our spiritual life. We neglect these to our detriment.
Spirituality is an area of ongoing interest to those outside the Christian faith, and so our neglect of these themes—motivation, repentance, and holiness—does more damage to our witness than we realize. If someone can look at your life and not see differences in your motive, a daily practice of repentance when that motive is off,... Continue Reading
The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching and the Unity of Scripture
The recovery of Irenaeus’ Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching reminds us that Christianity did not emerge as a corruption of apostolic faith, but as its continuation.
To read Scripture apostolically, then, is not merely to extract moral principles, distill doctrine in abstraction, or isolate proof-texts. It is to perceive the coherence of God’s saving work in his ordained story from creation to new creation, centred upon the person of Jesus Christ. This may be one of the most important lessons the... Continue Reading
True Knowledge Leads to Worthy Walking
We are Christians. And we must live in a manner consistent with that name.
We might be tempted to think that living “worthy” means garnering enough merit to deserve respect. And we know there are at least two problems with that. First of all, we know that we will never be worthy of the Lord, no matter how hard we try. But secondly, we know that as Christians, we... Continue Reading
Gyros, Lamb Chops, and the Church: A Warning Against Doing Christianity Alone
The Good Shepherd never intended His sheep to live outside the flock He gathers and sustains. You need the Shepherd, and you need His herd.
Perhaps you have a good reason for being unchurched. Maybe pain or disappointment from the family of God has left you with a bad taste in your mouth. If that’s your story, that pain matters, and it shouldn’t be minimized. Just “going back to church” may not be reasonable. I instead challenge you to take... Continue Reading
The Bible Verses Dividing Washington: How Matthew 25 Became a Political Litmus Test
'He told me that Matthew 25 was about individuals, and not nations,' Sen. Raphael Warnock said, referring to Speaker Mike Johnson. 'The text actually says nations.'
At a congressional hearing on the Department of Homeland Security’s Minnesota deportation efforts, the Rev. Mariah Tollgaard, a United Methodist minister in St. Paul, read a statement criticizing the president’s immigration policies and mentioned Matthew 25. In response, GOP Rep. Michael Cloud, a former communications director at an evangelical megachurch, brandished a Bible and argued... Continue Reading