1517 Has Moved!

While I will continue to keep this site for the sake of the many helpful links, I am now blogging at the new Mortification of Spin site hosted by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. There I am joined by my cohorts Carl Trueman and Aimee Byrd. Hope you enjoy the new site.

Block on Worship

The latest installment of Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit includes a discussion of Daniel Block's excellent new book on worship - For The Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship.

This week, the gang flips through the pages of Daniel Block's book, For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship. The team concurs: Block's ideas on today's fundamental elements of worship, such as singing and prayer, are thought-provoking and worth a read. The gang discusses what true worship is - does Old Testament ritual practice have a place in worship or are we just spinning our wheels? In usual fashion, they offer their two cents on today's catchy contemporary jingles juxtaposed to the rich psalms and hymns of old.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 19 in our series through the Book of Acts. It is entitled "The Killing of the Righteous One" and is taken from Acts 7:44-53. You may listen to or download it HERE.

Also, Covenant Presbyterian is now podcasting the sermons.

Christless Christianity

“All the dogma and the death and resurrection of Jesus stuff was not the attraction.”
- Bart Campolo

And that's the problem.

In an interview with Jonathan Merritt, Bart Campolo, son of Tony Campolo, explains his coming out as an atheist.

It is a sad story. But Campolo's admitted ambivalence about doctrine goes a long way in explaining his current state. In his own words it was not the doctrines or truth claims of the Bible that drew him to Christianity but the struggle for justice. While justice, being an attribute of God, ought to be prized by Christians, the gospel is the matter of first importance. And according to Bart it is not the gospel which drew him to Christianity but the appeal of changing the world. However, Christianity is not a showcase for our good works. It is not a platform from which to pursue justice. Christianity is something in which to believe. Supremely it is believing upon Jesus by whose death and resurrection we are saved.

Campolo proves the words of the Apostle Paul that if not for the resurrection then our faith is in vain.

As an aside, Mr. Merritt's final sentence in the article is practically incomprehensible.

Why the Reformed Baptize Their Babies

The latest edition of Mortification of Spin addresses an issue that attracts no small amount of controversy: Paedobaptism. Carl, Aimee, and I discuss why Presbyterians baptize their babies. The other benefit is that it's going to drive Frank Turk absolutely crazy.

This week the gang's in deep water discussing the holy sacrament of baptism - How should we treat it? Who should administer it? Why does it even matter? They reveal key exegetical defenses, share helpful resources for those on the fence, and tell what convinced them to hang up their own credobaptist views for paedobaptist ones. Come on down to the river... the water’s fine!

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 18 in our series through the Book of Acts. It is entitled "The Rejected Redeemer" (Acts 7:17-43) and can be listened to or downloaded HERE. We are also now podcasting our sermons.

De-Cisions, De-Cisions

In is excellent book Leading with a Limp, Dan Allender points out the isolating nature of decision making.

To decide requires a death, a dying to a thousand options, the putting aside of a legion of possibilities in order to choose just one. De-cide. Homo-cide. Sui-cide. Patri-cide. The root word decidere means "to cut off." All decisions cut us off, separate us from nearly infinite options as we select just one single path. And every decision we make earns us the favor of some and the disfavor of others...

A good leader will, in time, disappoint everyone. Leadership requires a willingness to not be liked, in fact, a willingness to be hated. But is is impossible to lead people who doubt you and hate you. So the constant tug is to make the decision that is the least offensive to the greatest number and then to align yourself with those who have the most power to sustain your position and reputation in the organization.

This is one of the reasons that leadership can be so lonely. I suggest that this is particularly true with leadership in the church. In businesses and even most non-profits the leader has a certain amount of leverage that pastors do not possess. Pastors are called to lead (or help lead) the very ones who pay his salary. It may sound carnal to be concerned about things like providing food and shelter for ones family but pastors actually do think about such things.

Everyday the pastor is aware of the fact that with each decision he makes he is alienating some of the very people he must be building bridges toward. The tension can be excruciating at times.

Mortification of Spin

On this week's Mortification of Spin, Carl, Aimee, and I are joined by Rachel Miller to discuss the Patriarchy movement.

Join a provocative conversation with Rachel Miller, editor and writer for the Aquila Report, as she enlightens us about the patriarchy movement, its driving forces, and its many dangers that have gone under the radar in reformed circles. It's all talk about headship, gender roles, and the Duggars. Listen to the team tackle sinister elements of the movement and how to approach it from a pastoral perspective. They laugh, they pry, they get serious.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday we continued our series through the Book of Acts. The message was part 17 and is entitled "Promise, Rejection, and Deliverance" (7:1-16). You can listen to or download it HERE.

Also, we are now podcasting our sermons.

Michael Horton on MOS

Michael Horton joins us on the latest edition of Mortification of Spin. Carl seems to think that Aimee and I fawn a bit too much over Dr. Horton. And perhaps we do. I just think Trueman is jealous that we don't treat him with the same deference.

Gallantly riding in from the White Horse Inn, our guest, Michael Horton -- author and fellow podcaster -- shares his thoughts on reformed theology and how he came upon it garbed in silk and laden with puka shells. Join the usual Spin Team as they discuss some of the nuts and bolts of the reformed faith, ponder how to "get the Gospel right" and discover Dr. James Boice's fascinating role in Horton's 'journey' to reformed theology.

Mars Hill in Forbes

Over at Forbes, Rob Asghar has written quite an interesting piece on the Mars Hill debacle. Whether he knows it or not he makes a case for denominationalism and sound polity:

Some organizations are more wired than others for spectacular success or spectacular failure. Nondenominational megachurches are one example. They often can be free-wheeling, Wild West-style operations, unencumbered by national bureaucracies. That frees them to respond to grow quickly … or to grow malignantly.

The central focus of the article is on the malignant nature of toxic leading and following. Along the way he makes statements that the church ought to carefully consider. Without dispensing with the responsibility to restore the one who has sinned, the church must also consider realities such as sociopathy. In other words, the church must not be naive about the reality that some pastors, no matter how sincere their repentance, must never serve as pastors again.

With toxic leaders, there are no happy endings, no matter how hard you pray. You just have to move on. That may seem especially sad to those Mars Hill congregants who want Driscoll to undergo a disciplinary process so that that a newly mature, repentant and humbled version of himself might someday take the pulpit.

But a number of psychologists have told me that the truly toxic leaders, the ones who manage to cause trouble on the scale of a Driscoll, are tragically irredeemable as managers. Oftentimes, the disciplining process only teaches them new ways to exploit the system while pretending to obey it. (Bear in mind that Driscoll himself has been claiming for years that he’s been making progress on his shortcomings.)

Could it be that this writer for Forbes has a better grasp of the consequences of pastoral malpractice? Certainly he raises some important questions about the difference between a pastor whose sins and frailties are common to most Christians and the one who is simply not qualified for the role to begin with.

Read the entire article HERE.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday we jumped back into our study of Acts. It is part 16 in the series and is entitled "Witness and Opposition" (6:8-15). You can listen to or download it HERE.

Also, Covenant Presbyterian is now Podcasting its sermons. If you don't already, get the Podcast app and look up Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Yes, you can trust the Bible...

Michael Kruger is continuing his helpful series of posts entitled Does the Bible Ever Get it Wrong. These posts are in response to a series by Peter Enns denying the historical reliability and theological unity of the Bible. Dr. Kruger has assembled a team of world-class scholars to address various questions concerning the Bible's reliability.

Here they are so far:
Greg Beale  
Craig Blomberg 
Darrel Bock 

Dating or Courtship?

The latest edition of Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit is up and running. For this program we chose a topic over which there are no strong opinions...

Dating? Courtship? What do those words mean? Do they even matter in today's hook-up culture? What is the best option? Always ready to ruffle some feathers, the gang takes this subject head-on and, in usual Spin fashion, doesn't pull any punches. Their discussion centers around the Duggar family's world of courting rules and regulations. Though Aimee & Todd are the only hosts with daughters, Carl tries hard to throw in his two cents: "Just have sons." Listen in to this casual conversation as the crew destroys the spin once again.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I wrapped up our series through Job. It is entitled “Blessing Comes in the End” and can be listened to or downloaded HERE.

Your Best Life Then...

Our culture has come to value only things that are practical, things that work. Every idea or conviction is judged by its utility: Will it help me raise my kids, build a successful marriage, live a healthy life? When an idea or conviction doesn’t come through, we find it easy to move on to another product. So often, when people come to Christ, they are promised ‘victory in Jesus.’ Smiling people tell about how they once were unhappy, but now they are filled with buoyant exultation. Broken marriages are fixed, wayward children are returned to the straight and narrow, and depression is banished. 

God nowhere promises us temporal prosperity, but the way he has redeemed us makes all of our trials cruciform, that is, shaped not by the circumstances themselves but by suffering and victory of Christ…The message we are given to proclaim is not that God has come to make our lives better, more interesting, more influential, more virtuous, or more successful, but to bury us and make us alive. 

Michael Horton from A Place for Weakness (pp 46-47)

The Triumph of Sentimentality

I recently began reading Homespun Gospel: The Triumph of Sentimentality in Contemporary American Evangelicalism by Todd Brenneman. Dr. Brenneman is Assistant Professor of Christian History at Faulkner University. His knowledge of the sentimental heart of American evangelicalism is, I'm sure, quite extensive given the fact that his PhD dissertation focused on the work of Max Lucado.

I am not very far into my reading at this point and it is clear that I will take issue with some of Dr. Brenneman's presuppositions. However, it is also clear that Brenneman understands a great deal about what drives contemporary evangelicalism. One particular passage in the introduction affirms (excruciatingly so) my own experience in a "broadly evangelical" church.

[Evangelicals] have looked for ways to construct a sense of community among those who participate in their culture, primarily through the rhetoric of affect. Evangelicals like those examined in this work conceptualize "the social world as an affective space where people ought to be legitimated because they have feelings and because there is an intelligence in what they feel that knows something about the world that, if it were listened to, could make things better." They live in an aesthetic world where emotion is the currency to interact not only with other human beings but also with God. They produce commodities that enable themselves to "feel as though it expresses what is common among them" without recognizing the differences that exist among even evangelicals about what constitutes the appropriate way to follow God's commands and expectations.

Modern evangelical literature and practice appear to be outlets to habituate practitioners to a culture of simplicity that reduces the practice of religion to the creation of feeling. In such a mind-set, human beings complicate life, but God offers something more straightforward. Doctrinal division, intellectual inquiry, and elaborate constructs of religiosity all move humanity farther from God, whereas emotionality can move them closer...[The] work of evangelical culture is to sentimentally reconstruct the details of history, biblical interpretation, and theology to craft a vague or simple version of the religion.

Eerily familiar.

Phil Johnson on Spurgeon

The latest Mortification of Spin is up and running. On this episode we interview Phil Johnson of Grace To You, the original Pyromaniac, and resident expert on all things Charles Spurgeon.

This just in: "Polite Society" has banished Carl, Aimee, and Todd to live on Leper Island! While exploring the island they found another outcast,  one who was marooned long ago - Phil Johnson. Phil, of the self-proclaimed Pyromaniacs, chats with the gang about starting fires with Frank "The Turk" and "Dispy" Dan Phillips, Charles Spurgeon's prolific preaching, the cult of celebrity pastors, and proper forms of worship. The conversation moves from levity to depth, with all the pomp, circumstance, and pizazz you've come to expect from the spinners. Listen as the crew mortify the spin as only they can.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 10 of our series through Job. It is taken from chapters 38-41 and is entitled "God Answers." You can listen to or download it HERE.

Beloved Bandwagons...

The latest Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit is up and running.

Today our Reformed trifecta considers hopping on the ol' evangelical bandwagon. The gang highlights some understated dangers of churches whose leadership present an alluring faux intimacy and show lack of integrity. They also give loyalty to said leaders and their man-made standards over loyalty to God's standards. With the continued kerfuffle surrounding some well-known pastors, the gang raises an important question: Why don't we speak up before things blow up?  Join today's conversation to heed what well-known pastor, blogger, professor, and all-around big-time Christian celebrity, Carl Trueman, and two other people, have to say on this hot topic.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 9 in our series through Job. It is entitled "Speaking Up For God" and is taken from Job chapters 32-37. You can listen or download it HERE.

Unbelief is not a virtue

I really like Michael Kruger.

Dr. Krueger is a Professor of New Testament and President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. He is also author of the enormously helpful Canon Revisited and The Question of Canon. In addition he is proprietor of one of the best blogs going - Canon Fodder.

Recently, Dr. Kruger began a series of posts in response to Dr. Pete Enns' series over at Petheos. Dr. Enns, formerly of Westminster Seminary is now teaching at Eastern University (presumably more amenable to a lack of confidence in the Scriptures). It is a sad thing to see the devolution of a man's faith played out on social media. Appropriately, Dr. Enns entitled his corner at Patheos "Rethinking Biblical Christianity." Once you get past the stunning hubris of the title, it is clear that Dr. Enns' project is not merely to deny the inerrancy of Scripture but to change the way we think about Christianity itself. I suppose he deserves credit for understanding that once you throw out confidence in Scripture, a redefinition of Christianity becomes necessary.

I am thankful that men like Michael Kruger, Greg Beale, Darrell Bock, Andreas Kostenberger, and others are not content to sit back and yawn at a fellow scholar's zeal to popularize skepticism and unbelief among ill informed evangelicals.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 8 in our series through Job. It is entitled "Who Needs Justification?" and is taken from Job chapters 29-31. You can listen to or download it HERE.

Grief and prayers for a broken body

* Given the current climate, I have no doubt that this post will be frustrating to some. Some will think my comments are inadequate and I'm sure they are in any number of ways. But if we are to have honest conversations about race then we will have to tolerate each other's inadequate thoughts. My purpose here is not to comment about race so much as to reflect on what is most needful at this moment.


Social media brings out the worst in us (that 'us' includes me!). It is a means by which we can post our immediate thoughts with a sense of minimal accountability. Facebook in particular is a public venting forum for all our least carefully considered thoughts. This feature of social media is on sad display in these days following the tragic situation in Ferguson, MO.

It is not my purpose to write about the death of Michael Brown. The mere thought fills me with fear and trembling. Rather, I simply wish to make an appeal that we put down our weapons, cover our mouths, and for a moment simply grieve over the fact that our nation is still so divided over race. It is doubly grievous that Christians are so clearly divided. The level of certainty that some are displaying across social media is remarkable. Before the facts are even in, one side has Michael Brown painted as a thug and the other has whites licking their chops to see another black man killed.

I understand why those who have little or no knowledge of the gospel would post racially inflammatory and accusatory posts. I understand why the Christ-less would use the situation in Ferguson to advance political and ideological agendas. But does not Christ call us to something better? Does not Christ call me to refuse impulses to see all young black men as criminals? Does not Christ call me to grieve with the family of Michael Brown? Does not Christ call my black brothers and sisters to refuse to see whites as merely cogs in the wheel of institutional racism?

Let us not insist that the black community in Ferguson stop grieving. Let us seek to understand why a black father would fear for the future of his son. Let us also not compel white Christians to make definitive public statements concerning a situation of which we still know so little.

Let us instead pray. Let us pray for the family of Michael Brown. They have lost a dearly loved son. Let us pray for the churches in and around Ferguson, some of whom are doing beautiful work to press for peace. Let us pray that those churches will have a greater influence over the climate in Ferguson than the insurgent criminals and political opportunists. Let us pray for law enforcement who have a profoundly difficult task in a community on edge. And, yes, let us pray for the police officer who shot Michael Brown. We do not know what happened on that terrible night. We do not have enough information either to convict or acquit. And, in the end, that is not our job anyway.   

Finally, pray for the body of Christ. We seem to be a shattered body at the moment. What does our suspicion of and, in some cases, hatred for one another proclaim about the power of the gospel? What does our racial strife tell the world and our own sons and daughters about our love for God and our conformity to a Lord who loved those who cursed Him? My heart comes close to despair.

But the gospel will not allow hopelessness. The gospel will not allow cynicism. The gospel will not allow us to forget or treat as insignificant the fact that our Lord promised to make for Himself a people from among all the peoples who will triumph over the very gates of Hell.

I'm more real than you

The latest Mortification of Spin is up and running.

On this edition we sit down with Dr. Derek Thomas to talk about Peter Frampton, tattoos, and pastoral authenticity. Take a listen HERE.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 7 in our series through Job (chpt 28). It is entitled "Will God Answer?" and can be listened to or downloaded HERE.

Robin Williams, Sentimentalism, and Blunt Truths (Updated)

The death of Robin Williams has sparked a lot conversations about depression and suicide. It has also generated no small amount of sentimental nonsense from the world of broad evangelicalism. Wishes of "Rest In Peace," "Genie, you are free," "Now he is free from the pain," etc. can be seen across the Facebook landscape.

Mr. Williams' tragic death has also been an interesting window into celebrity culture. "I never met Robin Williams but I knew him," "I felt like I knew him through his work," and other such posts reflect one of the chief characteristics of the celebrity culture: the illusion of intimacy. The irony is that Mr. Williams' suicide proves the point that we certainly did not know him through his work or any other way for that matter.

I understand the sentiments. It is terribly sad when a man takes his life. And when it is someone widely recognized, someone whose movies we enjoyed, someone who made us laugh, the sadness is quite real. It is also appropriate. Christians, above all other people on earth ought to grieve (though not like the world) over the reality of death. It should be an especially sharp grief for Christians when we ponder the death of those who have died in their sins apart from a saving relationship with God through Jesus.

And while none of us were present in the closing hours of his life, there is no indication that Robin Williams repented and turned in faith to Jesus. Certainly it is right to take care that our public pronouncements are seasoned with grace. But it would be doubly offensive if our desire to be kind degenerated into outright falsehoods like, "Now he is finally free."

The blunt truth but ultimately liberating truth is that there is no freedom, no peace, and no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. We do not serve the cause of Christ or further the joy of man by speculating on how Robin Williams has 'em rolling with laughter in Heaven. His death is a tragedy, not because there will be no Mrs. Doubtfire 2 but because the peace that apparently escaped him in this life is now eternally beyond his reach.

*Clarification:
It is clear that some of my brothers and sisters believe my words are too definitive in this post. Let me try to be more clear: We DO NOT know the spiritual condition of Robin Williams at the time of his death. I thought I had made that clear. However I can see why some might read my final sentence as too definitive. Also, there is absolutely NO evidence from Scripture that those who commit suicide go to Hell because they commit suicide. I have no doubt that genuinely converted brothers and sisters can find themselves for various reasons so beyond any sense of hope that they end their own lives.

This post is a response to the overflow of, what I believe, are deeply troubling responses from Christians to Robin Williams' death. As I have written in this post, the death of Mr. Williams is a tragedy and something for which we ought to grieve. However, in that appropriate grief we must be careful to not distort truth with statements that could be profoundly misleading.

That said, my final statement would be better phrased something like this - "His death is a tragedy, not because there will be no Mrs. Doubtfire 2 but because the peace that apparently escaped him in this life may also be eternally beyond his reach. Certainly it is right to hope that something he heard in his upbringing or from faithful Christians later in life may have come to mind and in his final tragic moments opened his heart to call out to Jesus."

*Clarification:
It is clear that some of my brothers and sisters believe my words are too definitive in this post. Let me try to be more clear: We DO NOT know the spiritual condition of Robin Williams at the time of his death. I thought I had made that clear. However I can see why some might read my final sentence as too definitive. Also, there is absolutely NO evidence from Scripture that those who commit suicide go to Hell because they commit suicide. I have no doubt that genuinely converted brothers and sisters can find themselves for various reasons so beyond any sense of hope that they end their own lives.

This post is a response to the overflow of, what I believe, are deeply troubling responses from Christians to Robin Williams' death. As I have written in this post, the death of Mr. Williams is a tragedy and something for which we ought to grieve. However, in that appropriate grief we must be careful to not distort truth with statements that could be profoundly misleading.

That said, my final statement would be better phrased something like this - "His death is a tragedy, not because there will be no Mrs. Doubtfire 2 but because the peace that apparently escaped him in this life may also be eternally beyond his reach. Certainly it is right to hope that something he heard in his upbringing or from faithful Christians later in life may have come to mind and in his final tragic moments opened his heart to call out to Jesus." - See more at: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2014/08/robin-williams-sentimentalism.php#sthash.vKeromzX.dpuf

*Clarification:
It is clear that some of my brothers and sisters believe my words are too definitive in this post. Let me try to be more clear: We DO NOT know the spiritual condition of Robin Williams at the time of his death. I thought I had made that clear. However I can see why some might read my final sentence as too definitive. Also, there is absolutely NO evidence from Scripture that those who commit suicide go to Hell because they commit suicide. I have no doubt that genuinely converted brothers and sisters can find themselves for various reasons so beyond any sense of hope that they end their own lives.

This post is a response to the overflow of, what I believe, are deeply troubling responses from Christians to Robin Williams' death. As I have written in this post, the death of Mr. Williams is a tragedy and something for which we ought to grieve. However, in that appropriate grief we must be careful to not distort truth with statements that could be profoundly misleading.

That said, my final statement would be better phrased something like this - "His death is a tragedy, not because there will be no Mrs. Doubtfire 2 but because the peace that apparently escaped him in this life may also be eternally beyond his reach. Certainly it is right to hope that something he heard in his upbringing or from faithful Christians later in life may have come to mind and in his final tragic moments opened his heart to call out to Jesus." - See more at: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2014/08/robin-williams-sentimentalism.php#sthash.vKeromzX.dpuf