The Measure of All Things

The agnostic Greek philosopher Protagoras is credited with the phrase, “Man is the measure of all things.” Since the context of the statement is not available to us, we can only guess what he meant. I won’t even attempt to speculate right now—but the statement is full of bluster and conceit, it seems to me. […]

Churchquake

When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness. Acts 4:31 (HCSB) If you check out the website of the US Geological Survey, you will find a FAQ button, and then you will find a […]

Postmodern Idolatry

The philosopher Rousseau or Voltaire or someone is reported to have said, “In the beginning God created man in His own image; then man returned the favor.” How true. If mankind is good at anything, it is in creating gods to his own liking. This is especially true in the postmodern world. Postmoderns pick and […]

The Holy Spirit Helps Us

I got on my Harley the other day to go get the cobwebs out of my mind. It’s amazing how clear my mind can be when I feel the rush of wind in my face and there’s nothing between me and the clouds but God’s clean air and a bird now and then. As it […]

The Cloister Gospel

James McDonald has written about the “Five Distortions of the Gospel in Our Day.” He describes the shallow substitutes for genuine New Testament proclamation and evangelization as the “cake mix gospel” in which key ingredients (e.g. repentance) are left out; the “cultural gospel” in which the main focus is to appear to be relevant; the […]

Revival Praying

In churches that desperately need revival, one can often hear the prayer being offered, “Lord, send revival to our church. You know how much we need it.” But revival doesn’t come . . . because that is not revival praying. The words may be spoken passionately; the prayer may be uttered fervently and loudly; but […]

Come and Dine (or Die)?

As a young preacher I often listened to Southern Gospel music on Sunday mornings while preparing to go to church. I listened to the Florida Boys, the Inspirations, the Happy Goodmans, and many others. I didn’t have many options back then—I think we got three channels on our black and white television.One song I remember […]

The Pope Is Right

While Baptists have significant areas of disagreement with the Vatican, we share many of the same creedal and moral convictions. Furthermore, we are prudent to identify those areas of consensus and to collaborate with those who share our moral and ethical perspectives whenever we can do so without compromise. Just this week (February 1, 2010), […]

The Undivided Christ

Does Jesus save us if we do not honor Him as Lord? Another way of asking the question is: can we accept Jesus as Savior and not submit to Him as Lord? This is not a new question, although it recently became a hot-button item among evangelicals. Several authors argued that a person can be […]

Denominational Dysfunction

Southern Baptist Convention leaders have lamented for several years now the declining baptismal statistics being reported from our churches. Add to this sad story the current trend of decreasing financial support for convention-wide programs and you begin to understand why denominational leaders are getting nervous. (I won’t even mention the fact that younger pastors and […]