Posts by Todd Pruitt

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Truth and Controversy

Todd Pruitt
Feb 10, 2010
Much of the Bible is polemical in nature because in the Scriptures God is routinely refuting errors. We see this as early as Genesis which operates in part as a polemic against pagan creation myths. The prophets often functioned as polemicists, in some cases even mocking pagans and their gods. This...

A little Hamlet does the heart good

Todd Pruitt
Feb 10, 2010
Actor Brian Cox teaches young Theo some Hamlet...

Another Snow Day

Todd Pruitt
Feb 10, 2010

Concerning the Gospel

Todd Pruitt
Feb 9, 2010
From a contribution by Andreas Kostenberger in Faith Comes By Hearing : Five Observations About the Gospel: 1. Divine, not human: The gospel is God’s saving message to a world living in darkness and a humanity lost in its sin. The gospel is not a human message, nor was its conception a function of...

A heretic by any other name (1)...

Todd Pruitt
Feb 9, 2010
I have had my fill of Brian McLaren. I have read his books up through "Generous Orthodoxy" which is neither orthodox or generous. But I am glad that others are still reading him with a clear eye so that those who have drunk from the bitter stream of error can know that there still is a voice for...

The Moral Insanity of NOW

Todd Pruitt
Feb 9, 2010
It has been said, "It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. NOW opens it's mouth and once again removes all doubt. In a report from the LA Times the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) is offended by the Focus on the Family Super...

Charles Simeon - A man who understood to Whom he answered

Todd Pruitt
Feb 8, 2010
From an address by John Piper: In April, 1831, Charles Simeon was 71 years old. He had been the pastor of Trinity Church, Cambridge, England, for 49 years. He was asked one afternoon by his friend, Joseph Gurney, how he had surmounted persecution and outlasted all the great prejudice against him in...

As one with authority

Todd Pruitt
Feb 8, 2010
"Throughout the history of the church the greatest preachers have been those who have recognized that they have no authority in themselves, and have seen their task as being to explain the words of Scripture and apply them clearly to the lives of their hearers. Their preaching has drawn its power...

Books Available This Month:

Todd Pruitt
Feb 8, 2010
Scandalous by D.A. Carson Discovering God in the Stories of the Bible by Phil Ryken Wired for Intimacy by William Struthers The Masculine Mandate by Richard Phillips

"Bigotry in modern parlance..."

Todd Pruitt
Feb 8, 2010
"Now-a-days, if a man is very reverent towards the word of God, and very desirous to obey the Lord's commands in everything, people say, "He is very precise," and they shun him; or, with still more acrimony, they say, "He is very bigoted: he is not a man of liberal spirit;" and so they cast out his...

My Life Story - "An Inconsistent Account"

Todd Pruitt
Feb 8, 2010
"As to myself, I would tell you how it is with me if I could: at the best, it would be an inconsistent account…I am a sinner, believing in the name of Jesus. I am a silly sheep, but I have a gracious, watchful Shepherd. I am a dull scholar, but I have a Master who can make the dullest learn. He...

The Problem of Evangelical Minimalism

Todd Pruitt
Feb 7, 2010
Michael Horton, in an article for Nine Marks Journal , struggles with the question of what exactly is an evangelical. It feels like a renewed storm, or at least a squall, has been gathering around the term "evangelical" lately. More and more self-described evangelicals are realizing that not...

The weather outside is frightful

Todd Pruitt
Feb 6, 2010

"An Awfully Freakish-Sounding Story"

Todd Pruitt
Feb 5, 2010
You can be sure that if we remove the offense from the Gospel then what we will lose is the Gospel itself. Let us not, in our attempts to bring the Gospel to our culture, present a positive but ultimately powerless message to those whose greatest need is the crucified and risen Savior. From Russel...

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel..."

Todd Pruitt
Feb 4, 2010
Euan Murray is a Scottish rugby player that has been making a few waves lately for refusing to play on the Sabbath. Murray is a Christian and will not be playing with his team as they face France this Sunday. The Guardian interviewd Murray. He suggests that the path many professional sportsmen...

"An Atmosphere of Orthodoxy"

Todd Pruitt
Feb 2, 2010
Great Post from Martin Downes : Churches need external and internal defenses against heresies. 1. The external defense comes in the form of clearly worded confessional statements. These statements need to be comprehensive enough to state the truth with clarity and to safeguard the truth against...

Sunday's Sermon

Todd Pruitt
Feb 2, 2010
Sunday's message was part 28 in our current series through Hebrews. It is entitled "I Need You" and is based on Hebrews 10:24-25. You can listen to or download it HERE .

The pastor's public persona and private life...

Todd Pruitt
Feb 2, 2010
Thanks to Justin Taylor for posting the following insights from Paul Tripp: Pastors, these notes from Paul Tripp’s seminar are worth reading carefully and prayerfully: • The Pastor: Who Do We Think He Is Anyway? • The Pastor: Not Yet Perfect, Still Under Attack Here’s one section, on the temptation...

God and Cancer

Todd Pruitt
Feb 1, 2010
The AP has picked up on Matt Chandler's story. Chandler is the well known pastor of Village Church in Dallas. His recent diagnosis with brain cancer has given him a platform to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus and the sovereign goodness of God in all things. His theology teaches that all men are wicked...

Are the Scriptures Sufficient?

Todd Pruitt
Feb 1, 2010
Check out this week’s episode of the White Horse Inn . They have been dealing with Galatians. In the most recent episode the hosts address the finality of the Scriptures as God’s Word and the claims to ongoing revelation made by modern neo-Pentecostalists and the Church of Rome. The response to...

"America's Favorite Unopened Text"

Todd Pruitt
Feb 1, 2010
In the latest issue of Modern Reformation David Nienhuis addresses the problem of biblical illiteracy among evangelicals. Dr. Nienhuis, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, has had a front row seat to this alarming problem. In a 2004 Gallup study of over one thousand American teens, nearly 60...

Encouraging God's People Through Exposing Error

Todd Pruitt
Jan 30, 2010
"Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John...

Deed not Creeds?

Todd Pruitt
Jan 30, 2010
PLEASE take time to listen to Ligon Duncan's message from the 2008 Together for the Gospel conference. The church today needs this challenge. I have been heartened in recent years by the evidence that a younger generation of evangelicals are hungry for sound and vibrant doctrine. May it grow! The...

Book Note

Todd Pruitt
Jan 30, 2010
I have not read Dug Down Deep yet but will try and do so next month. That said, it looks helpful and is endorsed by some folks who I respect very much. "More than forty years of quadriplegia has underscored to me the matchless value of knowing—really knowing—the doctrines of the Christian faith...

Relationships in the 'Already/Not Yet'

Todd Pruitt
Jan 30, 2010
“The problem with relationships is that they all take place right smack-dab in the middle of something, and that something is the story of redemption, God’s plan to turn everything in our lives into instruments of Christlike change and growth. You and I never get to be married to a fully sanctified...

What do you think about God?

Todd Pruitt
Jan 29, 2010
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8788549&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1 DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo ...

The TBN Cesspool

Todd Pruitt
Jan 29, 2010
John MacArthur weighs in on Trinity Broadcasting Network, the most successful purveyors of heresy in the world. The continued growth and influence of TBN is baffling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the thick aura of lust, greed, and other kinds of moral impropriety that surrounds...

R.C. Sproul Q & A

Todd Pruitt
Jan 29, 2010
Where are the prophets in the church? How does Jesus prophetically speak to His church today? Does He know when He is coming back? R.C. Sproul deals with these questions HERE .

Why I still like Christopher Hitchens

Todd Pruitt
Jan 28, 2010
From an exchange between Christopher Hitchens and Maryiln Sewell, a Unitarian minister: Maryiln Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in...

The fading discipline of biblical discernment

Todd Pruitt
Jan 28, 2010
The landscape of contemporary evangelicalism has become a garbage heap littered with all manner of heresy and sentimental sappiness. Exactly how this has come about may be debated but it is certainly related to both the failure of preachers to proclaim the whole counsel of God and American...

"Half a God is not God at all"

Todd Pruitt
Jan 28, 2010
Tim Keller weighs in on The Shack : Over the holidays I read a good (and devastating) review of William P. (Paul) Young’s The Shack in the most recent print edition of Books and Culture: A Christian Review (Jan/Feb 2010.) It was a reminder that I was one of the last people on the planet not to have...

The Tyranny of the Savior State

Todd Pruitt
Jan 28, 2010
Americans would be wise to understand that the more power we invest in the state the more liberties we surrender. Perhaps this is what the majority of Americans desire but I doubt it. Nevertheless, it is never a good or noble thing for the state to take away the people's liberty under the guise of...

"Thy Word is Truth"

Todd Pruitt
Jan 27, 2010
Check out THIS MESSAGE by Sinclair Ferguson - Powerful! The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are inspired by God; that is, they are “God-breathed.” Because it is the Word of God, the Scripture is the final, inerrant, authoritative norm for faith and practice. Since the Enlightenment, however...

Al Mohler's Study

Todd Pruitt
Jan 27, 2010
I want one of these... http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8693850&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1 Al Mohler - Study Video from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo ...

Mark Dever's Study

Todd Pruitt
Jan 27, 2010
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7713246&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1 Mark Dever - Study Video from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo ...

The Tragic Legacy of Harry Blackmun

Todd Pruitt
Jan 27, 2010
In 1994 noted theologian Roger Nicole wrote a letter to Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun on the occassion of his retirement from the court. Blackmun is best known as the author of Roe V. Wade. April 13, 1994 Mr. Justice Harry A. Blackmun United States Supreme Court Washington, D.C. Your Honor:...

"If I must have some failing..."

Todd Pruitt
Jan 26, 2010
"I was born to fight devils and factions. It is my business to remove obstructions, to cut down thorns, to fill up quagmires, and to open and make straight paths. But if I must have some failing I would rather preach the truth with too great a severity than to ever once act the hypocrite and...

"The Linchpin of the Plan"

Todd Pruitt
Jan 26, 2010
"The God of the Bible is the righteous God of holy love. The trouble is, however, that we have become paradoxically the glory and garbage of the universe. Our great need is peace with God, and not just with God but also with one another. … "There is no shalom, however, without sacrifice. Peace is...

Why I Need the People of God

Todd Pruitt
Jan 26, 2010
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1shORg1qjVE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

The Slough of Theological Liberalism

Todd Pruitt
Jan 26, 2010
The latest edition of the Nine Marks Journal focuses on theological liberalism, particularly in the so-called evangelical church. In the "Editor's Note" Jonathan Leeman writes: In general, the danger of liberalism, which we define broadly as gospel-denial within the church, occurs when we allow the...

Greg Beale on Inerrancy (3)

Todd Pruitt
Jan 25, 2010
From Martin Downes : Part 3: The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism What have been some of the contributing factors to what you have called the 'erosion' of inerrancy in evangelicalism? There are a number of factors. One has to do with the well-known term ‘postmodernism’. What I mean by that...

Book Notes

Todd Pruitt
Jan 25, 2010
The Unquenchable Flame by Michael Reeves Published in 2009 by IVP UK, The Unquenchable Flame is, without question, the best, most enjoyable introduction to the Protestant Reformation I have read. It would have made my top five of 2009 if I had read it last year. I understand that it is going to be...

Sunday's Sermon

Todd Pruitt
Jan 24, 2010
Sunday's sermon was part 27 in our current series through Hebrews. It is entitled "Draw Near and Hold Fast" (Heb. 10:19-23) and can be listened to or downloaded HERE .

The Pastor's Job Description

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
"And my heart aches for pastors these day, it really does, because it's seemingly more difficult now than it was in past years. We live in an anti-authority culture, we live in a culture that has lost all respect for people in positions of influence and authority. It tears down everybody, tears...

At such a time...

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
"At such a time, what should be done by those who love Christ? I think, my friends, that they should at least face the facts; I do not believe that they should bury their heads like ostriches in the sand; I do not think that they should soothe themselves with the minutes of the General Assembly or...

"Ashamed of the Gospel" (3rd Ed.)

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
The new edition of John MacArthur's Ashamed of the Gospel is now available at Monergism Books for less than $16.00. In the late 1800s, Charles Spurgeon warned that the church was drifting away from the purity of the gospel, candy-coating God’s Word rather than boldly proclaiming the truths of...

Science and Faith

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
Coming in March to Westminster Theological Seminary : Speakers will also include Discovery Institute Fellows Dr. Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design ; Dr. Michael Behe, author of Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution and...

The Bible Can't Be Boring!

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYVF16C24yE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Yes, the President's position on abortion does matter

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
It is certainly an incovenient truth for many that the President's position on abortion has a significant impact on the practice of abortion in the United States. In an excellent article at First Thoughts Joe Carter writes, What if I told you the only significant influence the President has on the...

Greg Beale on Inerrancy (2)

Todd Pruitt
Jan 22, 2010
The following is part two of Martin Downes' interview with Greg Beale on biblical inerrancy: Part 2: Dealing with denials and criticisms of the doctrine of inerrancy What are some of the consequences of denying inerrancy? Ultimately, if you hold just to limited infallibility (for example, just the...