On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther went public with his 95 Theses, his points of contention with the theological and social abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church was a bloated political juggernaut exploiting the poor the sake of building the pope’s kingdom. Luther did not waste time or mince words. The Church was wrong on papal authority, wrong on conciliar authority, wrong on the Mass, wrong on indulgences, […]
A recent cadre of Southern Baptist pastors, theologians and academicians published a statement attempting to clarify what “traditional” Southern Baptists believe about soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). I join those who applaud the discussion. Better we wrestle with and about this than petty, inconsequential concerns. In the end, I’m confident this will have caused more heat than light, though. Undoubtedly, the statement has invited its share of champions and enemies […]
And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. . . . For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at […]
A fellow pastor sent me the following quote from John Duncan, who died last week in 1870. Duncan was a missionary from the Free Church of Scotland to Hungarian Jews. His love for Hebrew and the Jewish people merited him the moniker “Rabbi Duncan.” “Hyper-Calvinism is all house and no door; Arminianism is all door and no house.”
Hugh Binning (1627-1653) was a bright spot in the Scottish Reformation. At 19, he occupied the chair of Philosophy at the College of Glasgow. In 1650, he was ordained as minister in Govan, near Glasgow. He’s probably most known for silencing Oliver Cromwell when he tried to bridge the gap between the Resolutioners (generally pro-King) and Protestors (generally anti-King). Though he and Cromwell remained on opposing sides, Cromwell couldn’t help […]
I want to humbly add my thoughts to Ray Van Neste’s blessings on our home pastor’s retirement. Tears flow far easier than words as I realize what grace God lavished on me through the ministry of A. Ray Newcomb (First Baptist Church, Millington, TN). His reward will be great as his ministry ripples through heaven. As I reflect I realize Bro. Ray never stopped being my pastor even though I […]
On aisle four at Walmart Lidi asked, “Is Mary in heaven?” “Mary who?” “Jesus’ wife.” “Oh, you mean Jesus’ mother. Yeah, I think she’s in heaven.” “Will we see her?” “That depends on whether you will be in heaven or not. How can you be sure you go to heaven to see Mary?” “Repent and believe!” “That’s right, sweetie, repent and believe.” “I’m going to give her a big hug.” […]
In 2004, I thoroughly enjoyed a tour (free, by the way) of Dayton, Ohio’s Air Force Museum with a couple of other pastors. The museum’s picturesque history of flight was fascinating and was brought back to mind today. Today marks the 105th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ famous first flight (12/17/1903). Near Kitty Hawk, NC their “contraption” flew 859 feet in 59 seconds at a top speed of 31mph. The […]
“The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, ‘Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel […]
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a […]