Idolatry

Thanksgiving is an interesting exercise. It implies that the thanks given can be received. When growing up my mom would make my favorite dish on my birthday. I would thank her, and she would receive the thanks with a hug. It is this very thing that shows the inadequacy of idolatry. The idol is...

During this month, as the LGBTQ+ community annually parades its banner colors they blasphemously hijack from God’s noahic covenant, [1] Christians will benefit revisiting Genesis 19:1-25 [2] ( as Carl Trueman has recently called for such posts in this World Magazine article ) . Here, God visited...

Under God, Over the People We live in an era of growing governmental interference and intervention in the life of the local church. So what is the proper Biblical relationship between the civil magistrate and the church? Our hosts reach across the pond to discuss the topic with Oliver Allmand-Smith...

The second commandment is tricky business. Let me state the matter in the form of a question. Do verses 4-6 of Exodus 20 constitute another commandment, a second commandment, or are these verses simply part of the first commandment stated in verse 3? Roman Catholicism says, no, they are a...

“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:7). Over half a century ago, the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones, minister at Westminster Chapel, London, aimed the penetrating light of the first commandment at modern idolatry, saying, “There are many people today who never darken the...

Catharine Brown – Cherokee Missionary and Teacher When Catharine Brown arrived at the Brainerd School, the missionaries thought she wouldn’t last long. Beautiful and proud, she carried herself with gravity and reticence, as it was fitting for the daughter of an influential family. Would she be able...

The Cure for Unjust Anger Jonathan and James welcome Brian Hedges to the podcast. Brian is the lead pastor at Redeemer Church in Niles, MI and is responsible for breathing new life into one of the works of John Downame, a 16th century Puritan who was known as a “physician of souls.” In The Cure for...

In Anthony and Cleopatra (3:2) Shakespeare described it as the “ green sickeness”. In Othello, he called it the “ green eyed monster ”. Immanuel Kant described it thus: “inherent in the nature of man, and only its manifestation makes of it an abominable vice, a passion not only distressing and...

“As long as he believes in something, that is what’s important.” With those words the man in front of me simultaneously dismissed the authority of God and justified a younger relative who had embraced an animistic system of belief. For the older gentlemen, it was the act of believing in something...

Mikael Agricola and the Reformation in Finland Like Primoz Trubar in Slovenia, Mikael Agricola was a Protestant reformer who had to develop a language before he could spread the gospel. From Farmer to Bishop Born around the year 1509 in a small village on the southern coast of Finland, Agricola (...