10. Portrait of aVirtuous Woman

“Who can find a virtuous [thrifty and devoted] woman? For her price is far above rubies.”

31:10. Who can find. While a virtuous woman might be difficult to find, it is not an impossible task. God has many daughters of grace whose value is far above rubies. These great ladies become the mothers of Israel (the church). The virtuous woman is a woman who can be depended upon. She is capable, has a high energy level, maintains a high sense of dignity, and is capable of handling her household duties . . .


9. Inviting God’s Wrath on 9/11

The decision from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now official: all clergy are banned from next month’s 9/11 ceremony. Once more there shall be no spiritual minister allowed to speak at the ten-year memorial service for the 9/11 victims and their families. At a time when people’s thoughts and hearts instinctively turn to God and prayer, the organizers of the memorial service for this national event are consciously and deliberately omitting God from their thoughts. Nonetheless, “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity” (Ps. 94:11). The thoughts of these godless organizers are, as the Bible says, empty . . .


8. Ladies, Take Up Your Arms

Our pastor was back from vacation today and preached a wonderful sermon based on Ephesians 6 and spiritual warfare. The sermon reminded me of a section from Mark Chanski’s book, Womanly Dominion, where he offers some helpful advice. Chanski writes:


7. Teaching Children About Things to Come

It’s never too early to explain the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion. In fact, the sooner we begin teaching our children, the better off they will likely be. Even those seemingly tedious and stuffy doctrines, beliefs that we might not fully understand ourselves, can be important to investigate and share with our families. I am reminded of this because my oldest granddaughter, who turned ten last Independence Day, is currently attending a Christian school in Florida and is encountering some important—and controversial—end-times beliefs. Though the school is solidly evangelical in the major tenets of the Christian faith, from my Reformed perspective, the school has a theological bias in the area of eschatology, the future final events, embracing a relatively new theory called dispensationalism. Historically, dispensationalism is a distinct theological school of thought that traces it origin back to c. 1830 and popularized through the teachings of John Nelson Darby . . .


6. 10 Reasons Why Arminianism is Untenable

The apostle Paul gently reminded his Corinthian readers—folks who were prone to boast of their understanding (1 Cor. 8:1)—that they only possessed the partial character of present knowledge. He writes, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). This was written to stress the importance of emphasizing a dependence upon God’s grace, especially in understanding spiritual matters. Someday, the apostle reveals, we will all share in and experience a far greater and deeper understanding of God. In contending for that limited understanding of God and his revealed Word, I approach the topic of salvation with the viewpoint that the traditional Reformed understanding is the only proper and consistent way to comprehend the issue. I am firmly convinced that any system opposing the classic Protestant view of God, man, sin, and salvation does harm to the consistent testimony of Scripture and will fail at some point . . .


5. The Doctrine of the Carnal Christian

One of the great crises of our day is the ever-growing popularity of the teaching known as the carnal Christian. This doctrine sets forth the proposition that after a person becomes a Christian there is a choice to grow in grace, follow the Lord and become a spiritual Christian, or to remain a babe in Christ and live in a fleshly manner like a natural man. Supporters of this teaching point to 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 which reads . . .


4. The Importance of Exegesis

Exegesis involves work. Many of us probably cringe at the very word but the importance of due diligence in understanding what the Bible actually says cannot be overstated for one simple reason—because it is the very word of God. That is to say, Scripture does not merely contain the words of God but as Paul tells us—Scripture is theopneustos, God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16). Because of this we must recognize that we have been entrusted with something special from God. We attempt to engage in clarity because we are handling divine truth. Mankind finds himself in the unique position that he has the opportunity to hear the voice of God through the text of Scripture. The nature of canon alone should give us a hunger and thirst for the God-breathed words so that we may know exactly what the Lord has revealed to us . . .


3. How Christians Are to Treat One Another

It is no mystery as to how the Lord wants Christians to treat one another. However, humility and honesty are essential for spiritual maturity . . .


2. The Perseverance of God Confirmed by Scripture

I was recently contacted by J. C. Thibodaux of Arminian Perspectives after he took umbrage with one of my recent posts concerning the topic of Calvinism. He challenged me to respond publicly to an article he had written against the perseverance of the saints. You can read his article here. My response is posted below . . .


1. The Great American Dustbowl

I first became intrigued with the story of the Great American Dust Bowl after the History Channel premiered its production of ‘Black Blizzards’. This special documented the harrowing account of the dust storms that ravaged America’s heartland in the 1930s by weather phenomenon known as ‘black blizzards’. These blizzards were far more menacing than any weather event man had before encountered. Hurricanes were limited to coastal regions lasting only a few hours; tornadoes were sporadic but could be eluded by going underground; the effects of snow could be abated with shelter and fire, but no one or nothing could escape the wrath of black blizzards. Dust clouds boiled up, tens of thousands of feet in the sky and rolled along with inimitable ferocity sweeping across the nation, blotting out the sun along the way until the mountain of black earth at times stretched across to the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing was spared from the black blizzards . . .