This past Sunday evening, we had our annual Ministry Equipping and Training Seminar here at Inter-City Baptist Church. During this time we have ministry-specific seminars and also general sessions. I did a general session on "Discipling the Next Generation: The...
I’ve read about people who go on technology fasts—some to concentrate on more important priorities, some to relate with other cultures or eras, some to prove to themselves that they aren’t really technology addicts after all. I’ve never felt the need to abstain. But...
I prepared a biographical presentation on Adoniram Judson for our recent church family camp. As is usually the case, I get far more out of these preparations than I am sure the listeners do, and some of the best lessons are the things I am not looking to learn. One of...
C. S. Lewis once remarked that the biblical “accounts of the ‘miracles’ in first-century Palestine are either lies, or legends, or history. And if all, or the most important, of them are lies or legends then the claim which Christianity has been making for the last...
I’ve written in the past about a few websites that provide access to a wide range of electronic resources. When looking for academic resources sometimes you know exactly what you are looking for, and the most convenient way to find it is to search for a specific...
What question do seminary students get asked more than any other? I’ll bet you know even if you’ve never been to seminary or met a real-life seminarian. No, it’s not what brand of lapsarian they are, believe it or not, nor even whether they prefer the Erasmian or...
The pastor had a tough assignment. While on sabbatical he’d received word from his fellow elders that a group of Jewish families in the church were beginning to cause a bit of trouble. They were threatening to abandon their Christian confession and return to the...
Sharia is Islamic law. However, it is not limited to the areas that Americans believe should be regulated by law but extends to the minute details of life. Sharia has two sources: (1) the Qur’an, which Muslims believe is divine revelation delivered by Muhammad, and...
The leadership of an institution is a stewardship entrusted by both God and men. I followed a man who shepherded this congregation for forty years. The same man was the founding president of DBTS. I serve a congregation with a clear set of doctrines and by-laws which...
Recent decades have provided Christians with an increasing evaluation of and interaction with various world religions. The growth of immigration from non-Christian nations combined with a greater global awareness through travel and communication have confronted...
From time to time, people assert that if a person believes God has predestined all things then that person will necessarily tend to downplay the importance of prayer. But is that really true? Granted, we all pray less than we ought, but does belief in divine...
I just finished a helpful book by Thomas E. Bergler, The Juvenilization of American Christianity (Eerdmans, 2012). Those of you who know me know that books on youth ministry are not my typical cuisine, but this was no typical book on youth ministry. Instead, it was a...
Adoniram Judson, pioneer missionary to Burma, was not afraid to, and it changed his view and cost him dearly. I encourage, yes, challenge you—do not think you hold to a biblical mode of baptism that is not believer's baptism by immersion, unless you can read this...
I wasn't one of the privileged few who got to pre-screen the History Channel's miniseries, The Bible, but I thought a retrospective word about the series might be useful for those who didn't get a chance to watch. Here are a few of my observations, first positive,...
One of the tensions of pan-denominational evangelicalism that fixates entirely on Gospel essentials is the eclipse of the bookends of biblical theology: creation and new creation. Details about the doctrines of creation and eschatology are interesting, we are told,...
Although St. Patrick’s Day appears on our calendars each year, most modern celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day have little to do with the person behind the holiday. This coming weekend many people will wear a little extra green, some will celebrate their Irish heritage,...
I had the privilege of preaching in seminary chapel yesterday. One of the great blessings of my current ministry is that I get to teach seminarians each week and preach in the chapel regularly. I often try to preach from texts of Scripture that I think will help shape...
Each year DBTS hosts the William R. Rice Lecture Series, named for the Seminary's founder and first president. We are pleased to announce that the speaker for this year's event on March 20, 2013, will be Prof. Brent Belford. His topic will be “Paul's Pastoral Use of...
Several years ago Michael Haykin put together a short anthology of letters written by notable believers of the past about the subject of marriage. The letters provide interesting insight into a side of the Protestant Reformers, Puritans, and others that’s rarely seen...
If you’ve ever worked your way through Matthew’s gospel, looking up the Old Testament texts he cites, then you’ve surely puzzled over what he has to say about Hosea 11:1 in Matt 2:15. Matthew claims that when Jesus returned with his parents from Egypt he fulfilled...
I have been using photos of biblical locations in my teaching for a number of years and am often asked where does one find appropriate images. One helpful place is Holy Land Photos, the site of Dr. Carl Rasmussen, who is Professor of Biblical Studies at Bethel College...
The recent tiffs over the role of personal obedience and activity in sanctification is symptomatic of a much deeper theological struggle that has intensified in the last decade, viz., the definition of union with Christ and the relationship of that union with...
One of the benefits of attending the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society is the opportunity to visit the meeting’s exhibition hall. In the hall one can peruse the latest titles from major Christian publishing houses and can purchase such books at...
One of the commonest errors about law relative to Christian conduct is that God no longer uses fear or laws to promote Christian conduct. I was born and raised in a fundamentalist milieu that was at times excessive in its proliferation of rules and regulations. I...
The orthodox teaching of the church has always been that Christ is fully God and fully man. Christ was tempted at every point like as we are, but with one exception—unlike us he had no sin nature, and, in fact, did not sin (Heb 4:15): Christ as God could not have...
In my previous post I described the announcement of a papyrus fragment that Harvard professor Karen L. King titled "The Gospel of Jesus Wife" because it apparently contains the phrase "Jesus said to them, 'My wife....'" I suggested then some scholars had already...
The intersection of common grace with special grace is on my mind today, but not for a particularly "spiritual" reason. Bow season has begun here in Michigan and I'm anticipating the pleasure of taking one of my boys out this afternoon to see if one of us can woo a...
Recently I saw on MSNBC’s “Today’s Entertainment” a blog post titled “Bill Nye the Science Guy asks parents not to raise creationist kids.” Nye’s title, “the Science Guy,” comes from his popular science program for children, “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” that ran from...
This is a guest post by my friend David Doran, Jr., who is the Director of Outreach at Inter-City Baptist Church and a student at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. If you were anywhere within 1,000 miles of another human being this summer—let alone a TV—you heard...
If you ever take a tour of Jerusalem (or if you have already done so) with an evangelical group, you will undoubtedly stop at the Garden Tomb near Gordon's Calvary. Wayne Stiles has a helpful post entitled "The Garden Tomb-Contemplating the Resurrection of Jesus,"...
One of the major “characters” in the Christmas story is—perhaps surprisingly—a star, one that some wise men follow from the East all the way to Bethlehem. The star makes a brief appearance in Matthew’s gospel (2:2, 7, 9, 10), before passing off the scene (and into...
I did not eat at Chick-fil-A on August 1st. I've got a good excuse: they don't have Chick-fil-A's in Michigan, and Toledo is forty miles away. But honestly, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway, because I don't like fast food chicken (my refined fast food palate...
This is a new online journal that has apparently just become available with volume one, number one. The articles can be accessed on the home page as individual pdfs, or one can download the entire issue. Check it out here.
"I’m going to be gone soon. Don’t be sad. I’m not afraid of death.... Mother, we are all going to die someday. Don’t be discouraged by my death. Continue in your faith."... After a final public condemnation meeting, the militiamen shot him by the roadside and dumped...
Anne-Marie Slaughter kicked the hornet’s nest two weeks back when she published an article with that title in The Atlantic. In it she explained why the feminist ideal—women can have it all, a family and a fulfilling career at the same time, just like men—is still...
Each year I look forward to Al Mohler’s summer reading suggestions. His lists contain just the kind of books I enjoy reading for recreation. Unfortunately, although Mohler has introduced me to a number of new authors, I’ve never made it through one of his summer...
Who was John Stott? It’s been nearly a year since Stott died and his legacy is still taking shape. I suspect that for many of us he’ll be remembered as the author of one or two books on our shelves—probably The Cross of Christ and/or Basic Christianity—or as the name...
On May 30, a group of Southern Baptist leaders issued a document titled “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” I initially ignored this statement as just another anti-Calvinist diatribe published by individuals whom...
I appreciate Erik over at JC Ryle Quotes, who shares a quote from J.C. Ryle, a 19th century pastor, every day. This one on how to spot a false teacher certainly helped me think more clearly about false teachers: “What more common than to hear it said of some false...
Yes. I suppose I should qualify that answer. A church should not switch from (abandon) the KJV to another version of the Bible if it would truly be harmful to the well-being of the church. But it is difficult to imagine there are many instances where this would be the...
During the past few months, a number of helpful resources related to the Protestant Reformation have hit bookstore shelves. This post will highlight two of the more significant volumes. Whitford, David M., ed. T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology. London:...
In light of Bill Combs’s recent posts on the King James Version, I thought it might be helpful to look briefly at another Bible translation that dominated Western Christendom for even longer than the King James. From time to time, KJV-only advocates have argued for...
I heard that phrase once a month growing up, and for years never considered the possibility that Baptists would administer the Lord's Supper any other way. I attend a church today in which I hear much the same thing, but now know that the practice is rarer than I...
Did you take any Greek in seminary or Bible college? Perhaps you teach it. If so, then I suspect you’ll know what I mean when I say that my second-year Greek class has entered that time in the semester when I’ve got to start talking about Heinrich Bizter or posting...
"Hello, my name is__________, and I approve this message." This awkward disclaimer became part of standard political jargon in 2002, when the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed. Specifically, its "Stand By Your Ad" provision demands that all political ads run...
In a previous post I noted that the Preface to the 1611 King James Version is an embarrassment to KJV-only advocates because in it the translators of the KJV make a series of statements that argue against the KJV-only position. Since KJV-only proponents insist that...
Introduction Many recognize that Habakkuk 2:4b is the center of Habakkuk’s theology. ((Mr. Meyer is a PhD candidate in Biblical Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He currently serves as an Administrative and Library Assistant at...
2007 William R. Rice Lecture Series Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2007Speaker: Dr. John WhitcombTheme: “Recent Trends in Creationism” Lectures:The Creation of the World – mp3The Origin of Man – mp3Dinosaurs and Men – mp3 About Our...
2010 William R. Rice Lecture Series Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010Speaker: Dr. Michael VlachTheme: “Replacement Theology: Has the Church Superseded Israel as the People of God?” – notes Lectures:Introduction to Replacement Theology – mp3A...