Come Down, Lord!

I wrote previously on the need to prepare for persecution by memorizing Scripture.  Here I want to recommend a tremendous resource.  I have been working on memory work for a number of years but I have not found a resource anywhere near as available as Bible Memory.    I really can't explain it to you.  It has be tried.  If you will click on the image below you should be able to get a 20% discount.   If you have any difficulties please let me know. If you need the promo code I will be happy to send it to you. If you are interested in memorizing this is the resource to use.  One verse a day and in two years you will have memorized more than 700 verses!

There are some things that Michael Krahn has written that I appreciate and agree with.   I agree, for example, that the threats against the mayor of Aylmer are "evil and cowardly," and I agree that we ought to be praying for our civil leaders (1 Timothy 2).   But Krahn's letter is overly simplistic and (I think) unfair to those on the other side.  Here I want to respond - as a local(ish) pastor - to his 7 "thoughts and commitments." 1. Krahn writes : " Defiance is sometimes necessary, but blind defiance is no better than blind obedience. Blind defiance and blind obedience are both unhealthy, knee-jerk reactions.  Informed  defiance and  informed  obedience can have a conversation; blind defiance and blind obedience can only have conflict.   I will stay informed, enter many conversations, and  follow the laws of my province while at the same time making it known that I think there are better ways. This is how a healthy democracy wor...

Once again, I am reposting what I have posted elsewhere.  That blog has now been removed.  What I have written here (though a few years old) is still relevant.   Reading both ( John MacArthur  and  Michael Brown's ) books has been a valuable learning experience for me.    I hadn’t planned to read Michael Brown’s book because I was quite certain I knew what he would say and even more certain that I would disagree.    However, after listening to a presentation by John MacArthur to some of his Masters’ students and then a dialogue (also on  YouTube ) between Michael Brown and Phil Johnson I decided it was important to consider more carefully what Brown had to say. From the beginning I have been sympathetic with John MacArthur.    Not only did my sympathies lie with cessationism (the teaching that the miraculous gifts have ceased), I have long appreciated the ministry of a man who has been a faithful shepherd.  ...

The following was originally posted in 2016.  I have since edited and updated it.  The picture is of Dr. Lionel Gurney founder of the RSMT now call Reach Across. In 2016 I received the following in a mass email sent to the local ministerial:  "Because I am up thinking about this, I thought I would bring it to everyone as well. I am always fascinated by what shapes people's thinking, choices, life, be it family, culture, books, dogs, amoebas, etc. So I was just wondering if as an exercise you would like to answer the top ten (at the moment) people, books, movements that have shaped your thinking in your ministry and view of God and the world. Obviously outside the Bible, and it does not have to be solely "Christian"." Its an intriguing invitation and one that got me to thinking... who/what has most influenced me?  The author of the email assumes - as he should! - that the Lord Jesus will be first on everyone's list.  He assumes, too, that the Bible will be i...

  The new bill speaks in its preamble of "the myth that a person's sexual orientation and gender identity can and ought to be changed." It then prohibits advertisements "for conversion therapy." At first glance I saw no real problem with the bill (apart from the ideologically driven preamble). I didn't hardly know what conversion therapy was, nor had I any interest in learning more. But I read on... and discovered that conversion therapy is defined as "a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender, or to repress or reduce a non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour." Still I didn't see anything too worrying about what I was reading. As a pastor I don't offer "a practice" or "treatment" of any kind to anyone let alone those mentioned specifically in the bill. And I can't exactly advertise what I don't offer. ...

The following was originally posted on our church blog in 2014 .  It has been edited slightly. Here I offer a review of David Gushee's book followed by a plea, which is directed to those who are LGBT, along with their families and their friends.  A Review Gushee is not the first to  change his mind  on what he calls “the LGBT issue,” and he won’t be the last.    The question is, does he have a case?    Should the rest of the evangelical community follow suit?    Is this a reformation worthy of our participation?    Gushee has concluded it is, and he wants you to carefully reconsider what has been the Church’s consistent (and almost unanimous) teaching for 2000 years.    In fact, his book comes as a plea to the broader community of which Gushee has long been a part.    Should we listen to him?    As I interact with his book I want to examine three of his arguments and show why his book – far from he...