Many modern Christians believe that God’s kingdom will be manifested solely in the future. This means that we are living in a purely secular kingdom with purely secular laws cut off from the governance of heaven. This is the worldview of deism! If this is the view of any part of the church, then the secularists are right in condemning the mixing of any of God’s laws with the State. How can God as [...]
A Christian should never fear having his “system” scrutinized by the plain teaching of the Bible. The rallying cry of the Reformation was ecclesia reformata quia semper reformanda est, “the church reformed because it must always be reforming.” This should be every Christian’s rallying cry. The church needs to take another look at the topic of eschatology, the study of last things. The topic has no [...]
Our forefathers in the faith did not retreat from involvement in society and politics. They did not turn civil government—the making, enforcement, and adjudication of laws—over to Satan and those who serve him. They did not surrender the ministry of civil government to those who are in rebellion against God. Instead, they sought to base civil government and law upon the truth. The founders underst [...]
The people in Jesus’ day saw the kingdom of God only in externals. They visualized the kingdom of God as coming, not through regeneration, but by revolution. Jesus said of His followers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled” (John 6:26). It was Jesus’ message about mankind’s need for salvation and about [...]
America has entered troubling times. The massive expansion of federal government power with its destructive laws and policies is of grave concern to many. But what can be done to quell the abuse of power by civil authority? Are unjust or immoral actions by the government simply to be accepted and their lawless commands obeyed? How do we know when the government has acted tyrannically? Which action [...]
In the New Testament, Israel was controlled by the Romans. Only Roman citizens had political standing (Acts 16:37; 22:25– 29; 25:9–12). Jesus had a political trial because the Jews did not have the authority to put Him to death (John 18:30–31). His accusers brought false civil charges against Him (Luke 23:1–2) to force Pilate’s hand (John 19:12). We’re not subjects of Rome. “Render to Caesar the t [...]
Many Americans might be surprised to learn that the United States Supreme Court building has a number of depictions of the Ten Commandments and other lawgivers prominently displayed, some of which are carved in stone, adorning entryways and visible in the chamber where the justices sit. Isn’t this a violation of the First Amendment and the “separation of church and state”? Histor [...]
This is Part Two of a book review written in 2009 of the book, Dual Citizens: Worship and Life Between the Already and Not Yet. Part One can be found here. In the “Preface” to Dual Citizens, Jason Stellman approvingly quotes Dutch theologian Geerhardus Vos, who “famously said that ‘eschatology precedes soteriology.” “But,” Stellman continues, “I wou [...]
Every Sunday, millions of people attend church services in this country. They usually hear a nice message about Jesus and what He did during his three-year earthly ministry. What is mostly missing is the “go and do likewise” application for each listener of these weekly sermons. What actual difference does what Jesus said and did make to 21st century Christians? A constant need is cris [...]
Many prophecy writers try to get around the biblical meaning of genea by translating it as “race” when it should be translated as “generation” since this is what the word means in the genealogy in Matthew 1:17 where it’s used four times and cannot mean “race.” There weren’t 42 races, but there were 42 generations. Wars and Rumors of Wars Skeptics read the Olivet Discourse in the right way, but co [...]
John Piper writes that Christians “exert influence as happy, brokenhearted outsiders” who should only count on having limited and temporal success this side of heaven. “American culture does not belong to Christians,” he continues, “neither in reality nor in biblical theology. It never has. The present tailspin toward Sodom is not a fall from Christian ownership, &lsq [...]
Ideas have consequences and history often provides some interesting examples. The book review below was written in 2009 and there have been several ironic turns in the intervening years. The author of the book, Jason Stellman, was a PCA minister in the Pacific Northwest Presbytery and served as the prosecutor at Peter Leithart’s trial over teaching “heresy.” Leithart was acquitte [...]
Change takes time and people are generally impatient. It is easy to get frustrated and discouraged by what we see happening around us, but Christians need to have a long-term vision. The Church has existed for 2000 years, Israel for 2000 years before that, and the patriarchs 2000 before that. We have the time; now we need the vision. Unconditional Surrender: God's Program for Victory A primer [...]
In a paper titled “Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law,” law professor Arthur Leff laments the impossibility of disconnecting law and religion. In his refreshingly honest assessment of the dilemma, he wrote: My plan for this Article, then, is as follows. I shall first try to prove to your satisfaction that there cannot be any normative system ultimately based on anything except human wi [...]
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command yo [...]
Pushback is beginning against the “cancel culture” and Southwest Airlines, Netflix, and the NFL are right in the middle of it. In the upside-down world of today’s politics and culture, there are celebrities and groups getting silenced and/or shouted down for “unapproved” facts and beliefs. These attempts to shut down freedom of speech are not going unnoticed. The Imp [...]
Christianity’s failure to be a practical religion in the past 150 years or more has meant the success of a perverted and twisted secularism and an advancing militant Islam that are doing incalculable harm at home and abroad. Humanism and Islam have gained the upper hand by default. The rejection of any type of this-worldly application of the Bible has resulted in the proliferation of a man-centere [...]
Every area of life is affected by the Gospel. There is not one topic of discussion, or any activity, that is outside the realm of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel announces that King Jesus is victorious and is moving and growing His Kingdom throughout history. In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). A defeatist eschatology and a generally pessimistic worldview has created a weak an [...]
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. (1 Corinthians 12:4–6) In His providence, God supplies individuals and churches with the talents they need to perform the work for which He has called them. [...]
The Gospel is not just “getting people saved.” Salvation is the start of a lifetime-long journey of sanctification and growth. For too long, the Church has been abandoning its role as the “change agent” within culture and society. Cursing the darkness is much easier, because shining a light requires more effort and more time. But the fact that it’s difficult doesn&rsq [...]
