I found this John Owen excerpt proper considering yesterday’s post about church gimmicks and boosting attendance:
“…evangelical theology insists that the glory of religious worship is its internal and spiritual nature…To the natural man, therefore, no religious worship is pleasing unless he can see something of glory and splendor.”
“Notional religion must ever devise new rites, novel […]
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Last week I was interviewed by a member of the Associated Press in regards to a blog article I had written earlier this year, Free Gas Giveways to Save Souls?
The writer, a very kind gentlemen, was doing a piece on Churches that promote Gasoline gift-cards and such to get attention and increase attendance, and he […]
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It should be widely agreed upon that the American church is largely in a state of apostasy. The evidence for such a statement should be obvious: false doctrine and heresies abound, blatant sins are often casually overlooked, and more people than ever profess Christ and maybe even attend church on occasion –but clearly without evidence […]
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Posted in Book Reviews on Aug 20th, 2008 4 Comments »
Counted Righteous in Christ
John Piper
Should we abandon the imputation of Christ’s righteousness?
I picked this book up because of my recent exposure to those who deny the imputation of Christ’s “active” obedience on behalf of believers. Some proponents of New Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism have headed in the direction of denying the historically-protestant doctrine of […]
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Posted in Worship, Puritans on Aug 16th, 2008 No Comments »
I’ve heard it said that John Owen affirmed that to take away the Regulative Principle of Worship would be to take away the entire foundation of Puritanism. To this I would agree, but would add to it that a true denial of the RPW would be to undermine Christianity in its entirety, not simple […]
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Before you read the quote below, let me preface it by saying that I count many people as brothers and sisters in Christ who somewhat align themselves with the doctrine that this puritan is condemning. My reason for posting this is not to call anyone’s profession of faith into question. We must understand that there […]
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The Genius of Puritanism
Peter Lewis
My first inclination to pick up this book came from an endorsement by the great preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones that caught my eye. Lloyd-Jones’ endorsement read:
“Lewis provides an excellent foretaste of the rich meal that readers of the works of the Puritans can enjoy. His arrangement of the matter—the brief biographical […]
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Below is an excerpt from The Almost Christian Discovered, by the Puritan Matthew Mead. The subject he discusses is how to determine whether conviction of sin is from conscience or from the Holy Spirit. But before we get to his words, I’d like to share what stuck out to me in this passage.
Under point 5 […]
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Posted in Theology, Puritans on Aug 4th, 2008 3 Comments »
“…many more…men…would scorn to be thought evil, in practice despise any time spent on Theological study as a fruitless waste of time…
“The chief spring of sloth is indwelling sin, ever itching for the pursuit of pleasure. Any mind that is enslaved to lust, desire, and wantonness is unable to give serious attention to our subject […]
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In my last post, I attempted to argue that spiritual growth is a slow process, that visible growth or even the effect of the Word is not always immediately evident to us, and the two areas which I considered were when we preach to others and when we sit under preaching of others.
By God’s providence, […]
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