I confess, this entire issue leaves me astonished. Sure, it is part of judgment, yes, our hands are covered with blood, so yes, the Lord is just to turn us upon ourselves. I get all of that. “We need examples of masculinity” is all I hear. Look, the family, as God designed it, provides that. A father, and a mother.

Anxiety.  Worry.  I will confess, it is a besetting sin.  I am not sure why.  Maybe I picked it up from my parents, not because they expressed it to me, but because I was astute enough to recognize how difficult their lives were. How little we had, and how hard they worked just to get by. Yes, it is a

One of the strongest arguments I know for the inspiration of Scripture is Romans 1. Why? Because all of mankind in all of his many centuries of writing about himself has never come close to the depth and accuracy of Paul’s diagnosis of man, the creature, in rebellion against God, his Maker, as is found in these handful of sentences

Rational people had come to the same conclusion SCOTUS did on the topic of Presidential immunity for, well, as long as the republic has existed. You cannot have a functioning Presidency if the President can be imprisoned after his term for doing what he had to do as President. That does happen, in banana republics, communist countries, etc. But it

So I just got an email from the promoters of the 1946 Movie—the film that has face-planted, badly, since its “release” months ago. For some reason, its producers have kept it next to impossible to actually see, and, having seen it myself, I know why (it’s horrible). They are doing a “2024 Road Tour.” In their own words, they are

Well, I guess there has been some progress. At least now I know that yes, brother Briggs was making reference to me, hence, I am a dangerous man to be warned about globally, evidently. I doubt I will get much in the way of serious response about the allegation of kenoticism. It is all wrapped up in the use of

You can tell when certain folks have just completely run out of meaningful commentary and argumentation, or, never possessed any to begin with. When people argue that someone who accepts the biblical teaching of God’s sovereign decree, election, the perfection of the atonement, etc., should, as a result, not engage in apologetics, not seek justice for the pre-born, not prophetically

Well, I should probably just get on my bike and let this whole thing blow over, but, I really can’t.  There are some important points that, as is normally the case, are being lost in the fog of battle. Maybe someday someone will go, “Hey, there were some folks who really did try to encourage everyone to chill out and

the more they stay the same. That’s the old adage. And in a sense, it is quite true. Recently the topic of Roman Catholicism has been front and center on Twitter. Taylor Marshall, a convert to Roman Catholicism (of some sort, anyway, though surely not the same sort as Pope Francis holds), has been posting short, sort of “in your

The Paris Treaty of 1783, which brought an official end to the Revolutionary War and acknowledged the existence of the United States of America, began in this thoroughly secular, Darwinian, non-binary, marry whoever you want at any age you want, way: In the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity. We live in a day when acknowledging the “Name

Over the centuries many interpretations have been offered for the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Outside of the basic understanding that these letters represent the state of these local churches in the first century, others have viewed them as representing ages of the church down through history. It is easy to see how this is an

Last evening I spent a few hours talking with a former Christian, now a “skeptic.”  Andrew Rappaport had me join him for the discussion, which I thought was going to be more on the history of the NT, manuscripts, etc., but turned out to be a more general “there’s just no evidence” exchange. You can watch it here. You will

A new book has dropped by a convert to Roman Catholicism, R.R. Reno, The End of Interpretation: Reclaiming the Priority of Ecclesial Exegesis. Anyone can immediately see the relevance to the current downgrade amongst Reformed Baptists and the Reformed community more broadly with reference to sola scriptura and scriptural sufficiency.  I posted a picture of the cover, front and back,

Evidently it does not matter how plainly I speak, or write. There are those who simply refuse to hear, or read. I truly know how Doug Wilson must feel…daily. Let’s try this again. The issue is the exegesis of a particular text of Scripture that is very difficult. Do we say its intended meaning, both as the author wrote it,

While going over Calvin’s rebuttal of Sadoleto’s letter from 1539, I read a paragraph where Calvin held Sadoleto’s argument to a biblical standard. Calvin was a scholar of the early church. He cites from patristic sources regularly. He read widely in what was available to him in his day. And yet he gave us an example of what it means

Evidently our Great Tradition Baptist thought leaders have decided to stay far, far away from actually telling us how we can define the GT in light of the Second Nicene Council, as per Monday’s Dividing Line. Fully understandable! The reality is, these men have no *consistent* way of disambiguating the traditions in theology proper they wish to demand of us

צְדָקָ֥ה תְרֽוֹמֵֽם־גּ֑וֹי וְחֶ֖סֶד לְאֻמִּ֣ים חַטָּֽאת δικαιοσύνη ὑψοῖ ἔθνος, ἐλασσονοῦσι δὲ φυλὰς ἁμαρτίαι. Proverbs 14:34. The LXX provides a good translation here. Righteousness lifts up, exalts, a people, a nation. But sin is a reproach to any people, nation.  LXX: lessens any people.

Ask yourself a question: have you seriously engaged the study of Scripture, so that you have basic, foundational hermeneutical principles clearly in your thinking? Are you considering the original context, author, audience, and the genre of what you are reading (didactic, poetry, etc.)? Are you looking to the entire argument of the book or epistle, and then, finally, to the

The importance of sola scriptura can be seen when men who thought they held to it begin moving away from it, and express their newfound objections. Of course, which road they are traveling will say a lot about the consistency of their arguments. So, let’s say you are headed down the road for Rome, or Constantinople, or, if you lack

So I was finishing up my 21st conference at Covenant of Grace Church in St. Charles when I heard people talking about “the coming storm.” So I started looking at the weather and my travel plans. Let’s just say I am thankful that I invested an extra four hours of travel today and have managed to get myself out of

I would like to briefly respond to an argument presented by Dr. Tim Stratton which he styles the Omni Argument Against Calvinism: 1- If Calvinism is true, whomever God provides “irresistible grace” to will go to heaven and not suffer eternal hell. 2- If God is omnibenevolent, He would not desire to, nor would He, send anyone to suffer eternal

I preached a message at a funeral last evening. One of the dear, dear women of our fellowship passed away last week, leaving her wonderful husband and children to deal with all the proper realities of Christian grieving (anyone old enough to love is old enough to grieve), which is always grief in the presence of hope, and yes, even

I really hate to waste Christmas Eve on this kind of stuff, I really do. It is honestly depressing that folks who *should* be willing to read and listen fairly are unwilling to do so. I do not know what is behind all of this, but maybe someday I will figure it out. I have used pretty much all of

Just a note to announce I intend to interact with the presentation in Dr. James Dolezal’s books, God without Parts: Divine Simplicity and the Metaphysics of God’s Absoluteness (2011) and All That Is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism (2017), especially by using the audio from his presentations on these topics to the Southern California

I just saw that Dr. Stratton just posted a further video in the “we won’t listen to the other side but will accuse the other side of not listening” saga that, personally, I’m finished with. But I wanted to note the description which, I assume, comes from Dr. Stratton directly: First, there was nothing in the structure of my discussion

Just a quick thought. I have always liked tech. OK, I was NOT in the tiny little group of nerds who did the Tandy computer thing in high school with the cassette tape recorder as the “drive,” but I wasn’t too far behind. I wear Garmin watches that connect to my iPhone and I am typing this on an incredibly

I recently saw a comment on Facebook by someone named John Cranman. I will be honest: the name did not ring any bells with me until I did a search and discovered that the gentleman I discussed Romans 9 with on Unbelievable in London was named John Cranman. Assuming we are dealing with the same individual, this sort of makes

Someone asked me a question yesterday that basically said, “Don’t you think Bahnsen would have done better than you against Craig?” I actually smile at such questions, though there is a tinge of sadness, too. We all miss Greg, and most of us wonder what he could have accomplished had God given him a much longer life. And I am

The following is a Twitter thread (hence the “choppiness” and brevity required in that context). The fact that the structures of the SBC seem to be intent upon defending Litton and making his plagiarism just “go away” tells us much about the future value of continuing to support those entities without any real chance of effecting change within them (as

One of the things I really enjoyed about our initial jaunt into roadtripping was getting to meet new folks in smaller churches. I met with the elders of a church in Las Vegas, Redeemer Community Church and had dinner with them. I aged 1000 years when I realized that their oldest elder is just a bit younger than my youngest

Two new books to point you to this morning! Jason Lisle has finally released his book on Fractals, which he told me he was going to write years ago. I love fractal art, and have been using various fractal generation programs since the late 1990s. I’ve ordered my copy! Jeffrey Johnson has written a work appraising the theology of Thomas

Recently a graphic appeared that gave quotes from Tim Keller (2011), JD Greear (2019), and Ed Litton (2020). The last two are parroting Keller, and Litton, as seems to be the norm, is parroting, directly, Greear. Now, my point is not the plagiarism scandal that is showing just how corrupt the SBC leadership is right now. My point is the

By now everyone has seen the original statement of faith from Redemption Church where Ed Litton pastors, and most have at least had the opportunity to watch his appearance on CNN talking about Critical Race Theory. The problem we face with the new President of the SBC (who has tremendous power in assigning people to committees which, as we saw

My dear friends in Frankfurt are doing their own webcast (they say they were encouraged by the DL to do so), so if you are a German speaker, make sure to give them a listen and a thumbs up!

Woke up this morning with a tune from my youth stuck in my mind. A song I haven’t sung in at least 40 years I’d say. Yet there it was, the whole chorus, clear as day: Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Emotional manipulation is a powerful weapon, and it has been used to fundamentally end the experiment in liberty begun in the 18th century in what became the United States. A lot of things had to be accomplished to bring about this end, to be sure. For example, you had to fundamentally change how the population viewed mankind, moving from a

The story is told that as Luther was arriving in the town of Worms, five hundred years ago this week, the wagon he was riding in turned a corner near the wall of the city. There, someone, knowing that Luther would probably approach the city from that direction, had scrawled on the wall, “Luther: the Saxon Hus.” Now for most

When Paul explained the glory of the body of Christ to the Corinthians, he used many analogies to try to communicate a supernatural truth, that God is forming that body sovereignly through the progress of the Gospel in the world. Now consider what that meant at that time. Though surely there was not the level of travel that is possible

Allow me to start with a little historical fiction. I think most historians of American history in the 19th century would agree with me here. If Jackson had not been killed by friendly fire in early May at Chancellorsville, and had been present to lead his troops the first day at Gettysburg, the battle would have been very different. Historians

Consider: The one in whom all things “hold together” (συνέστηκεν, Col 1:17) Became flesh (σὰρξ ἐγένετο, Jn 1:14). The eternal acted in time. This validated the importance of the temporal, without transforming the eternal *into* the temporal, or thereby limiting it. Human language is necessarily temporal in nature, as is our thought process. Because of this, the temptation of our

So a couple of days ago over on Twitter, where I continue to fly just underneath the radar, I broke the Internet. Of course, I made the fatal mistake of thinking, “Folks will think before reacting” (duh), “Folks will look up the terms and see what I’m talking about” (duh), “People will realize there is a background to what I’m

One of the strongest admonitions of the Mosaic law to the nation of Israel was straightforward: idolatry will bring destruction to the people. Even if your very wife should secretly entice you to worship other gods, you are to expose her and be the first to cast the stone to end her life (Deu. 13:6-11). Such detestation of idolatry requires

The following was originally a Twitter thread. In light of many threads today: ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις προσευχὰς ἐντεύξεις εὐχαριστίας ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων to make petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanks, for all men (1Tim 2:1) followed by the inclusion of kings and those in authority. The string of nouns together with the specific command to include “kings and all in authority” is often

Those who know me know I have avoided, assiduously, conflict over the topic of eschatology. Raised dispensational pre-millennial, I was taught in the circles of my youth that this was a definitional issue, and that divergence from that narrow viewpoint was a sign of significant theological error. In Bible college I encountered other views, and while at first repelled, I

Remember, we are but mortals, seeing not even an inch in front of us into the future, and forgetting so quickly the past. We judge by the present. We judge in deep ignorance. Even three centuries of darkness would be but a brief interregnum of just judgment in God’s purposes. What if, just perhaps, such a period will reveal with

“In this world, therefore, the dominion of good men is profitable, not so much for themselves as for human affairs. But the dominion of bad men is hurtful chiefly to themselves who rule, for they destroy their own souls by greater license in wickedness; while those who are put under them in service are not hurt except by their own

In the future it will be wise to speak…well, with wisdom, in what is posted initially in a public setting. It seems bots are often only interested in certain words and phrases at the start of things. So my first paragraph might seem somewhat disconnected. You’ll get the hang of it. So Alaric was a Visigoth leader who led his

Want to be ready to survive the coming global socialist revolution? Oh, I don’t mean survive literally—that is in God’s hands. I mean survive spiritually, with a strong heart, sound convictions, and most importantly, a clear conscience? The fast rising “soft totalitarianism” we are facing uses shame as its greatest weapon. Shame on you for holding those ideas! Shame on

Most folks know A.W. Pink for his book on the Sovereignty of God. You may have had a “cage stage” Calvinist slap you upside the head with a copy. I still remember the first time I read it as well. It is definitely a classic, well worth the time to ponder. I was thinking about the events of Christmas. I

I wanted to share this sermon from two weeks ago from John chapter 9. This chapter’s importance is often overlooked.

Most of you are too young to remember an edition of the Living Bible (paraphrase) called The Way. I still have one from about forty years ago. They were big with the teenagers, as was that phrase, “the Way” (and about the same time, “One Way” with the index finger pointing upward). Many folks will recognize that the phrase “the

We will do a special edition of The Dividing Line on Monday at 4pm EDT to respond to this statement from Jimmy Akin. Rome’s apologists have lived for decades on attacking sola scriptura. Pope Francis shines a light they cannot diminish on their systemic failure. But I would like to also look at some comments from “Pastor” Dr. Raphael Warnock

Oh King of all the nations! You have blessed the United States of America for more than two centuries. Through wars and strife You have honored the recognition contained in our founding charter that mankind has certain inalienable rights. Even when we did not consistently apply those truths, You honored Your truth, and used this nation to defeat great evil

There was a time, not long ago, when a debate was a big deal. Much time and effort went into arranging it, preparing for it, setting up, etc. Of course, those doing the debates, if they were serious minded people with long-range goals, would spend hours and hours and hours preparing, studying, reading, listening. I can honestly say that for

John Piper’s article demonstrates that even godly men can fall into the same pit of error: this isn’t about either Trump or Biden, both of whom are horribly flawed candidates. This is about a Marxist revolution and whether you will even *get* to vote in 2024. The reality I wish he understood is seen not in Trump’s arrogance or Biden’s

A brief reflection on suffering and God’s comfort set to the virtuoso guitar artistry of Seb Goldswain with pictures from my recent rides around Arizona. Please share with someone who might need encouragement in Christ.

Dr. Michael F. Bird is a bright, insightful New Testament scholar with quite the publications list, much of which is useful and helpful. I have been benefitted by his research in a number of areas, primarily in response to particular movements related to Christology, etc. A few years ago I began to notice what seemed to be a leftward arc

P. Andrew Sandlin linked to this article. It may honestly be one of the most miserably stupid things I have read this year, which, given this is 2020, is saying a great deal. It is historically laughable, and there isn’t a thimble-full of intelligent reasoning to be found in its words. I hope my estimation of its value is clear?

I worked with Pastor Williamson when he was down in Australia. Now he is in Cornwall, UK, and for daring to speak the truth about homosexuality, he and his church are under attack. Given that the police in most countries are far more concerned about making sure you are damaging your own health by being “masked up” than they are

A few years ago I set up a basic blog account, used it for a while, then dropped it, but kept it around. I just wrote what I think is a useful, maybe even important, article, and posted it there. Could have posted it here, I suppose, but I felt more comfortable keeping it where it is. But, you might

Don’t all sins lead to death? In one sense, yes, of course, in light of God’s holiness and our guilt. But when John is talking to his children in 1 John 5 about sins leading to death and sins not leading to death, he has a specific sin in mind. This is made clear when he specifically says that we

So over the next few weeks you will see some important discussion of “sacramentology.” I would imagine the appearance of Francis Chan, a TMS graduate, with Hank Hanegraaff, convert to Eastern Orthodoxy (better known formerly as the Bible Answer Man), on his webcast, promoting an Eastern Orthodox view of the Eucharist, will result in a lot of talk. How much

By now we have all seen the disgusting video of the Portland thug kicking a man unconscious—a man already traumatized by being attacked by the mob of criminals (these are not protestors, they are criminals and revolutionaries, enemies of the nation). The cowardly thug, even if he were to be arrested, would, of course, be released and never prosecuted. The

I was just noting once again how modern readers who are attempting to shoe-horn their current theologies into the early church abuse those very writings. For example, it is well known amongst fair minded scholars that multiple views of church governance existed in the earliest periods of the church. Plainly, the letter from the church at Rome to the church

Sometimes a graphic helps. Here is how God designed the universe. All things He made are defined by their relationship to Him. We function rightly when our relationship to all other things is properly aligned by seeing those things as they related to Him, or, to put it another way, we can only relate to the created universe as we

Just a quick note about the Bible of the early Church. Just some background information. What is today known as the Hebrew Masoretic Text, which was formalized nearly 1000 years after the birth of Christ, existed, clearly, as one of a few Hebrew textual traditions in Jesus’ day. There were Aramaic glosses of the Tanakh (TNK = Torah (Law), Neviim

I wrote the following in a Facebook group in response to someone asking for Greek help. Someone else, using Strong’s and Thayer’s (always a dead give away you are talking to someone who does not, in fact, read Greek), was arguing that Colossians 2:13-14 does not teach Christ paid our sin debt. Here is my commentary: The key statement, of

Church, as we get the opportunity to testify as to why we are meeting to worship Christ, let’s stand on the right foundation. This isn’t because “this is just really important to us,” because some of our fellow citizens are just as dedicated to their sports (sometimes moreso!) or other such activities. No, that may be a valid argument against

Tomorrow afternoon I will have the honor of opening the Scriptures once again at Apologia Church (we live stream the sermon around 4:45-4:50pm our time on Facebook) where I will move us on to the next point in our Doctrines of Grace series, that of the “Terrible, Horrible L.” Everyone’s least favorite point, right? Well, it should not be. Not

Nate Collins is a graduate of SBTS, Ph.D. in New Testament. He is the head of Revoice, the pro-homosexual organization, and is himself married, as a homosexual, to a woman. He recently spoke of experiencing “the wounds of toxic spirituality” at SBTS because John MacArthur, according to him, compared “gay people to people who practice beastiality (sic).” In Leviticus 18

I was just thinking about the large, portable (sorta) dual-cassette tape recorder/player we had donated to us about, oh, 1984 or so. You could dub one tape to another at “high speed” (probably 2x). For years we bought file folder labels at the office products store and typed, on a typewriter, the title of our tapes, whether they were Dividing

When Jesus said “take up your cross,” no one who heard Him utter those words thought about “difficulties and trials in life,” or “an attractive cross one wears around the neck.” In fact, they were shocked, stunned, and probably offended. Remember, Jesus had called the crowds to Himself to tell them about what discipleship looks like (Mark 8:34). He wanted

When I first spoke to John Cooper about his song, Terrify the Dark, I brought up the line that had struck my mind upon first hearing it. “My doubt will answer to your scars.” Seven words. But they invoke so many central realities of the faith. When you think it through, the Christ event is everything in the faith: the