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If I Were Starting A Denomination From Scratch

To be clear I don’t think that churches have to associate with other churches, but I think it is dangerous and generally unwise not to. Churches that don’t associate are more vulnerable to doctrinal novelty, pastoral bullying and general isolation.…

Semper Reformanda

I don’t think I ever referred to myself as “reformed” before 2014. I grew up in an independent evangelical church; we didn’t even formally associate with an actual denomination until I was a teenager. When I entered the ministry in 1994, to refer to…

The Carson Rule

We need to be convictional and civil in everything we say and write and Tweet both inside the church and out in the Public Square.

Does God Hate Our Worship?

When the lockdowns and stay at home orders first started to impact the large group gatherings of local churches, the conversation very quickly moved to matters of loyalty and legality.

The Apostles And Civil Law (5 Observations from the Book Of Acts)

As a new faith in a hostile world the early disciples had many run-ins with the law and there is much that we can learn from their example. Chief among those gleanings would be the following 5 observations.

Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority

Controversy sharpens the mind. The church didn’t clarify the doctrine of the Trinity until its substance was being challenged and denied. The same could be said with respect to the doctrine of Christ and later with the doctrine of Scripture. The same…

Is There a Command to Gather in the New Testament?

The terms in this passage could not be any clearer: God commands his people to be subject to the governing authorities. To resist those authorities is to resist God.

A Few Tips on How to Read through the Bible in a Time of Anxiety And Plague

I want to go deeper, I want to feel the refinement of my character, I want to see and savour the person of Jesus Christ as taught and revealed and celebrated in the length and breadth of Scripture. And that was a struggle for me this year – as I…

Should I Get The Vaccine?

In 2020 we found ourselves thinking and talking about a variety of things that we hadn’t thought or talked about a great deal in the past: What is sphere Sovereignty? Under what conditions may I defy the civil magistrate? Should I wear a cloth…

What Does And Does not Constitute Civil Disobedience?

These are difficult times and we are processing new situations and crises. Let’s resolve to extend grace and mercy to those who arrive at different conclusions about the factors involved in these various decisions.

My Threshold for Civil Disobedience in a COVID19 World

A time may come when Christians in North America will need to be prepared to pay a price for their principled disobedience to the state – but is now that time?

God Is like a Bear

The message of Hosea is a hard one for us to wrap our heads around. God is saying that because of their long and stubborn persistence in sin, he is resolved to punish them severely – though not finally. He will undertake a drastic pruning – but not…