O Jesus, Savior of my life, My hope, my joy, my sacrifice, I’ve searched and found no other one Who loves me more than you have done. So I denounce my lingering sin Whose power You have broke within My ever weak and faithless frame. Its vigor’s crushed in Jesus name. For your death did at once proclaim, The Father’s glory and my shame. And you did seize my cup of guilt And drank all that the chalice spilled. No condemnation now I dread Because you went for me instead To bear the curse and wrath and rage, To pay the debt I would have paid. Yet your work finished…
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The Innermost Meaning of the Cross
“But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” -Isaiah 53:10 “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness.” -Romans 3:25 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” -Galatians 3:13
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Death, Be Not Proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then? One short sleep past,…
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Where I think the Gerson essay goes off track
Michael Gerson has two essays this week excoriating evangelicals for their support of President Trump—one long piece in The Atlantic and another shorter piece in The Washington Post. His basic thesis is that evangelical Trump supporters have discredited their Christian witness. Indeed, they have abandoned it altogether. In the longer piece for The Atlantic, Gerson writes: The moral convictions of many evangelical leaders have become a function of their partisan identification. This is not mere gullibility; it is utter corruption. Blinded by political tribalism and hatred for their political opponents, these leaders can’t see how they are undermining the causes to which they once dedicated their lives. Little remains of…
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Intersectionality as Religion… It’s infecting evangelicals too.
David French argues that Intersectionality is not merely an ideology but a religion. I think he is right about this. French writes: It was foolish for anyone to believe that a less Christian America would be a less religious America. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, God “put eternity in man’s heart.” Traditional Christianity and Judaism aren’t just being removed from American life; they’re being replaced. The more passive person often fills his heart with the saccharine sweetness of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. The angry activist often stokes the burning fires of intersectionality. And when commitment collides with confusion, commitment tends to win. [emphasis mine] If you are not familiar with intersectionality,…
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Was the apostle Paul married? Yes, he was. Here’s how we know.
In my sermon this morning at Kenwood Baptist Church, I made the case that the Apostle Paul was not always single but was once married. This observation emerges from Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9. You can download the full sermon here or listen below. Here’s how we know that Paul was once married. Paul writes: 8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. If we want to understand how this verse applies to us, we need first of all to whom it is addressed. Your English versions say that Paul addresses “the unmarried and the widows.”…
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NBC News article accuses Billy Graham of leaving a “painful legacy for LGBTQ people.”
NBC News has an article chronicling Billy Graham’s “painful legacy” for LGBT people. Here’s the lede: Evangelicals across the country are mourning the death of Billy Graham, an influential preacher who died in his home in Montreat, North Carolina, on Wednesday. But while some are celebrating his legacy, others are grappling with the lasting damage his actions have done to their communities. Over the course of Graham’s 99 years of life, he reached millions of Christians around the world and had an outsized impact on the national political landscape. For many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, however, Graham was a crusader against them, one whose efforts shaped the…
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94% of women in entertainment industry experience sexual harassment/assault
USA Today has published a stunning report about sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry. Here’s the lede: USA TODAY surveyed 843 women who work in the entertainment industry in a variety of roles (producers, actors, writers, directors, editors and others) and asked them about their experiences with sexual misconduct. The results are sobering: Nearly all of the women who responded to the survey (94%) say they have experienced some form of harassment or assault, often by an older individual in a position of power over the accuser. Worse, more than one-fifth of respondents (21%) say they have been forced to do something sexual at least once. Only one in four…
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It’s not conversion therapy; it’s just conversion.
Last week, Jackie-Hill Perry spoke on the campus of Harvard University for a campus student group called Harvard College Faith and Action (HCFA). For those unfamiliar with Jackie-Hill Perry, she’s a poet and a Christian who was converted to Christ out of lesbianism. She is courageous, bold, and unambiguous about the gospel and what it requires of us. Word got out on Harvard’s campus about the event, and a group of students and professors organized a protest. They demanded that the event be cancelled. When it wasn’t cancelled, some of them showed up to the event and heckled Perry from the crowd. The ruckus among protestors began days before the…
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When Billy Graham rejected theological liberalism
In the early 1940’s, the ministry “Youth for Christ” was being led by two fiery young evangelists—Charles Templeton and Billy Graham. These two men were travelling around the world together preaching at rallies and calling people to Christ. Eventually, Billy Graham would part from the ministry and begin his own evangelistic work through what would eventually become the Billy Graham association. But in those early days, Graham was tag-teaming with Templeton with Youth for Christ. At the time, very few people knew that Templeton’s faith was coming unraveled even as he was calling other people to Christ. Templeton had been converted as a young man, never went to college or…
