reformation21

In a day when government handouts are the norm why should people want to work? What is "good" about working anyway? William Boekestein has a word for us. https://loom.ly/TU-yohE

Work Hard. And Don’t Forget to Rest For people listening to God’s voice, the importance of work is a given. The Bible is a record of God working to redeem a people to work for him. And the fourth commandment presents a proper ratio for work: “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work” (Ex. 20:9). Over eighty-five percent of...

What is the joy in being a pastor today? Unfortunately, many people see a bully under every pulpit. This article is good change of pace. For those who are pastors and for those who love their pastor this will be a good read. https://loom.ly/ClGz8cs

Abraham’s Servant & Pastoral Ministry For fifty years, Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. He is regarded as one of the most important musicians in American history. A reporter once asked him, “What is the most difficult instrument to play?” Bernstein reflexively replied, “Second fiddle! I can...

Can Cessationism go to far? Ryan Denton is a cessationist, but he is troubled by some of the forms used to express this doctrine today. What forms? Check it out. https://loom.ly/plDw3-w

What is a Hyper-Cessationist? As a capital “R” Reformed person, I would call myself a cessationist. This simply means that I believe God has “ceased” giving any new doctrine and/or new ethics. You could also describe it as the belief that there is no more canon to be given. It also means God will not give any more infall...

For those looking to engage with others during this election season. Here is a good place to start. https://loom.ly/Zw_zKZU

Seven Principles for Civil Engagement In an age of interconnectivity, communication has never been easier. With the ability to interact and engage with fellow human beings at the touch of button, conversation has never felt so accessible. With such technological privilege, one would think that hyperconnectivity with our fellow man would...

Our world is image driven. Should the church follow the world in this pursuit or should we take a path that is counter-cultural? Who decides? https://loom.ly/779Gixs

On Images (or Against Images) We live in an image-obsessed culture – everything we do is captured in images: photographs, drawings, videos, and TikToks. Images and images and images and images. They help us think. They help us learn. They help us better understand ideas and concepts. ‘I’m just a visual person,’ some will...

Our world is image driven. Should the church follow the world in this pursuit or should it be counter-cultural? Who decides? https://loom.ly/779Gixs

On Images (or Against Images) We live in an image-obsessed culture – everything we do is captured in images: photographs, drawings, videos, and TikToks. Images and images and images and images. They help us think. They help us learn. They help us better understand ideas and concepts. ‘I’m just a visual person,’ some will...

Will the PCA's Directory for Worship set the denomination up for controversy and division? Terry Johnson helps us to think through the issue. https://loom.ly/8V4oYvk

A Directory of Worship for the PCA? The PCA’s “Directory for Public Worship” (DPW) has been in constitutional limbo since its adoption at the Third General Assembly in 1976. Book of Church Order 56-58 have full constitutional authority (sacraments and membership), while Book of Church Order 47-55 (basic principles, preparation, ...

Did Erasmus back translate the last five verses of Revelation from the Latin Vulgate into Greek? Erasmus says yes, but many advocates of his text say no. Read the article to find out. https://loom.ly/PKZGLmw

Erasmus & the Final Verses of Revelation Let me begin by establishing the parameters of this little article. It is not an attack on the Textus Receptus or the Majority text from which the TR emerged. This article takes up a very specific historical issue, which can be summarized in a question. Did Erasmus back translate the last five verse...

How should we think about the Trump assassination attempt? Jim McCarthy gives us a pastoral perspective. https://loom.ly/Q8XAI4M

Four Takeaways from Trump’s Attempted Assassination On Saturday, July 13th, the 45th President and republican nominee, Donald Trump, was struck by an assassin’s bullet that grazed his ear during a rally in Butler, PA. This shocking attack, the first of its kind in 40 years, has left many scrambling for answers to difficult questions while processin...

Many years ago, Francis Schaeffer asked, "How shall we then live?" Today on Ref21, Barry Waugh takes us to the Beatitudes for a primer on answering that very question. And surely this is the question of the hour. https://loom.ly/F61JO7I

www.reformation21.org

Is the EPC at a crossroads? Zachary Groff thinks so and has a lesson from history to share. https://loom.ly/KMb6OEM

www.reformation21.org

Is it ethical for physicians to assist patients in hastening their own death? Should Christians who are facing death accept the offer of an assisted death? Carl and Todd talk to physician Ewan Goligher about these important issues addressed in his book How Should We Then Die? Ewan draws from general revelation and Scripture to persuade and equip Christians to oppose physician-assisted death. https://loom.ly/-MJDitk

How Should We Then Die? | Mortification of Spin Is it ethical for physicians to assist patients in hastening their own death? Should Christians who are facing death accept the offer of an assisted death? Carl and Todd talk to physician Ewan Goligher about these important issues addressed in his book How Should We Then Die? In his book, Ewan draws...

Nelson addresses the concerned elders and laity in the EPC as Memorial Park Church of St. Louis seeks to join their ranks. https://loom.ly/SWeOVvI

An Encouragement and Appeal to Concerned Officers and Laypeople in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) Dear brothers and sisters in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Greetings, and Grace and Peace to those who love and serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

"Perhaps one of the saddest realities of many Reformed churches in the United States is that there is a much absence of the spirit of evangelism among believers." https://loom.ly/YCuTUFI

Every Place is a Place to Talk about Jehovah Several weeks ago, I had a very embarrassing interaction at a small Asian restaurant in my town. I was grabbing lunch with one of the elders from Christ Presbyterian Church to have a time of fellowship. After we prayed for the meal, a very kind old lady approached us and asked us: “Are you gentlem...

Ann Hall to the PCA's Alongside Care and sees a soft feminism. https://loom.ly/lJmv0Cg

A Tedious Slog through More Soft Feminism A Tedious Slog through More Soft Feminism: A Review of the PCA’s Alongside Care (Lawrenceville, Georgia: PCA Committee on Discipleship Ministries, 2024, $14.99) Ann Hall

A La Carte (July 3) A La Carte: Jesus Calling and the PCA / Why do we believe so many lies about heaven? / Kevin DeYoung’s theological explainer / Ancestor worship in the church / Dear little one / Thoughts on b…

Derrick Brite continues to review The Revealed God! Check it out! https://loom.ly/gBQ0Ysw

Review of Johnson's The Revealed God In a previous post, I asserted that the Trinity debates of the last several years have not ended. I mentioned that there were other classical views that were being challenged or outright rejected, such as divine simplicity, and that a soon – to – be released book was set to argue that there were...

What does it mean to be a scholar who lives coram Deo? https://loom.ly/uUBkyWM

Scholarship & Coram Deo I recently finished Luke Timothy Johnson’s The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar (Eerdmans, 2022). I was eager to read it. I am always eager to read an autobiography about the intellectual and scholarly life of a person so accomplished and prolific as Johnson. The author provides a list ...

Warfield said that Systematic Theology is indispensable to the preacher's work. See how Maximus the Confessor can help us to preach the right theology from the right text. https://loom.ly/w_xfXcs

www.reformation21.org

How Dangerous is it to go to a church in the west? https://loom.ly/V60gR7I

A Church Is a Dangerous Place to Be A big stage with smoke machines and flashing spotlights, emotional music and songs, a man wearing jeans and a shirt with tattoos standing on a podium, a sign that reads “Welcome! You are loved here!” These are the pictures that come into our minds when we think about typical broad evangelical ch...

"Single believer, you are exactly where God wants you to be right now." Hard to hear? Madelyn can help. https://loom.ly/hjx_L58

The Single’s Choice, Part 2 Since his conversion, the apostle Paul had not had an easy life. He experienced frequent hardships, dangers, and persecutions for the gospel’s sake (2 Cor. 11:23-27). His letters to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are known as the Prison Epistles because he was currently under...

Jim McCarthy reminds us to be thankful to God for godly and pious mothers. https://loom.ly/008peeE

The Gift of a Pious Mother In remembrance of his late mother, the 19th century Southern Presbyterian B.M. Palmer wrote, “Ah! We have but one mother on earth. Who can replace her in our thought? She who bore us in the walls of her flesh, in the strange community of a dual life; she who nourished us in feeble infancy from her...

Madelyn Moses, producer at Side by Side Productions, shares some lessons about singleness and contentment. Read and learn! https://loom.ly/6mbUtNU

The Single's Choice, Part 1 BREAKING NEWS: a runner has tripped and fallen during their race! Wait, that runner looks familiar…It’s you. What happened that put you flat on your face?

Mark Jones reads Dane Ortlund's book, Gentle and Lowly, in light of a few years reflection. Check it out. https://loom.ly/CUQwORM

Gentle & Lowly In Light of a Few Years Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Crossway, 2020), by Dane Ortlund, has been very well received in the broader Reformed and evangelical world. I was asked to review this book years ago, but it seemed that any form of engagement other than full appreciation was going to...

Neil Shenvi & Pat Sawyer join Todd and Carl to discuss how contemporary critical theory’s ideas about race, class, gender, identity, and justice have dramatically shaped how people think, act, and view one another —in Christian and secular spheres alike. Listen now: https://loom.ly/_EodLxU

Critical Dilemma | Mortification of Spin Critical theory and its expression in fields like critical race theory, critical pedagogy, and q***r theory are having a profound impact on our culture. Carl and Todd sit down with Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer, authors of Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology, to....

Are the Trinity debates over? https://loom.ly/gBQ0Ysw

Review of Johnson's The Revealed God In a previous post, I asserted that the Trinity debates of the last several years have not ended. I mentioned that there were other classical views that were being challenged or outright rejected, such as divine simplicity, and that a soon – to – be released book was set to argue that there were...

"The Reformed largely insisted that the great philosophers were aware of the universal corruption in humanity and the miseries resulting from our corruption." Read more https://loom.ly/b0G9R2A

Plundering the Pagans: Reformed Theology and Pagan Authors Occasionally, I see and hear comments about the relationship between Reformed theology and the pagan world. Some are nervous and hesitant to appreciate non-Christian authors whereas others sometimes express deep appreciation and admiration for those who do not profess the faith but say things that m...

Good friends Kevin DeYoung and Matt Eusey join Carl and Todd for the momentous occasion of 500 episodes. After reminiscing about the early days, the conversation turns toward the importance of meaningful friendships. Watch the video podcast at youtube.com/-Video or listen via your favorite provider.

God offers us eternal and secure deliverance in Jesus, but He owns us, not the other way around. https://loom.ly/xKmQqzI

Jesus is the Better Bitcoin We are approaching a once-every-four-year phenomenon. No, not the Olympics or the pageantry of elections, but the Bitcoin-halving (due in April). Monetary rewards for mining new bitcoins (which happens through computers solving complex math problems) get cut in half. Prior halvings coincided with al...