Posts by Todd Pruitt

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Christ and His Gospel as the source of our unity

Todd Pruitt
Jul 30, 2007
Baptist Press recently reported on an important messgae delivered by Dr. Tom Ascol at the Southern Baptist Founders Conference in late June ( Baptist Press - Gospel is focus of SBC unity, Ascol says - News with a Christian Perspective ). I would hope all Southern Baptists, indeed all those who call...

Spurgeon on Faithfulness

Todd Pruitt
Jul 30, 2007
Thank God for the good reverend Spurgeon. Check this out ( Pyromaniacs: Encouragement for the "Narrow-Minded Bigot" ).

Beckwith Back to Rome

Todd Pruitt
Jul 30, 2007
I have been asked my opinion both on this blog and in other conversations about the recent announcement by Frank Beckwith. Dr. Francis Beckwith’s conversion, better yet, reversion to Rome was very interesting to me. For those of you who don’t know, Francis Beckwith is a well-known scholar,...

Paris Hilton and the Meaning of Life

Todd Pruitt
Jul 27, 2007
I agree with Bernard Goldberg who named Paris Hilton’s parents among the people who are ruining America. His point is that the impact of parents upon their children is beyond calculation. Where were they when young Paris needed to learn that life was about more than money and Gucci and parties? It...

The Darkness of Depression

Todd Pruitt
Jul 25, 2007
On Albert Mohler's radio program Dr. Russel Moore has a very helpful discussion with David Powlison on the topic of depression ( The Darkness of Depression ).

The Spirit of Charles Finney

Todd Pruitt
Jul 25, 2007
"Old Truth" has an interesting post ( Bait And Switch "Festival Evangelism" ) on some of our not so modern approaches to evangelism. What we are seeing is the sad but enduring legacy of Charles Finney's pelagianism.

I Still Must Protest (2)

Todd Pruitt
Jul 25, 2007
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI approved the release of a statement that has caused a minor stir among watchful Protestants and even some Catholics. The statement declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church. To be precise the Vatican’s wording asserts that the Church of Rome is the...

The Good Reverend McCheyne

Todd Pruitt
Jul 24, 2007
Robert Murray McCheyne died when he was only 29 years old (1813-1831). His was a comparatively short life but what awesome things God was pleased to accomplish through this particularly weak vessel. The illnesses and frailty with which he struggled became the very means by which God filled him with...

We Need the Gospel

Todd Pruitt
Jul 23, 2007
Michael Spencer over at "internet monk" wrote this very timely and insiteful article ( internetmonk.com » Blog Archive » Message to Tom Ascol: Write the Book ). It is a plea for Tom Ascol, an SBC pastor in Florida and president of Founders Ministries, to write a book calling pastors and churches to...

Dever on the Atonement

Todd Pruitt
Jul 23, 2007
In the May 2006 issue of Christianity Today Mark Dever wrote this excellent article ( Nothing But the Blood Christianity Today A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction ) on the substitutionary atonement of Christ's work on the cross. Dever is the pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C...

I Still Must Protest (1)

Todd Pruitt
Jul 23, 2007
I am a Protestant. There is no getting around it. And since “evangelical” has lost all meaning in the church today I find myself turning once again to that word birthed in the religious and political turmoil of the 16th century: Protestant. The Protestant Reformation was a movement of protest. It...

Augustine on the New Life in Christ

Todd Pruitt
Jul 18, 2007
N.R. Needham, a wonderful church historian has written a very fine book called The Triumph of Grace: Augustine's Writings on Salvation. Follow this link ( Link: Augustine on the New Life in Christ ) to a chapter from that book that deals specifically with God's grace in the conversion of sinners...

Journey Through Job

Todd Pruitt
Jul 17, 2007
Mining For Wisdom is a great devotional book that takes the reader through the book of Job. The author, Derek Thomas is a world-class authority on Job. I highly recommend it. You can order the book through my recommended reading list. Go to the "devotional" section and you will find a connection to...

Job's Unsettling Question

Todd Pruitt
Jul 17, 2007
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” This stunning question was offered up by Job in the aftermath of that dark day when his children, his wealth, and his good name were taken from him. Later, even his health would be shattered and his mind tortured. Job’s question...

John Piper on suffering and God's sovereignty

Todd Pruitt
Jul 16, 2007
This is a great messagae on God's sovereignty in suffering ( The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God :: Desiring God ). It was a message delivered by John Piper at the 2005 Desiring God National Conference. The text, audio, and video of the message are available by following the link. Be...

Meet the Puritans

Todd Pruitt
Jul 14, 2007
Here is a great resource for information on and writings by some of the great Puritans ( Monergism :: Puritans ). Enjoy!

Horton on Grace (2)

Todd Pruitt
Jul 12, 2007
More good stuff from Michael Horton’s article in the most recent issue of Modern Reformation Magazine: “We work very hard today to make grace normal rather than utterly disorienting. We bend over backward backwards to show how Christianity is ‘practical,’ how it conforms to our common sense and...

Being Gospel-Centered

Todd Pruitt
Jul 11, 2007
The Strategic Ministry Planning Team at Metro East has spent time during our work talking about what it means to be a Gospel-Centered or Gospel-Driven church. I found this article ( GospelDrivenLife: The Gospel must be everything ) today on Mark Lauterbach's blog that says it quite well. Please...

Confessions of a 'Numbers' Pastor

Todd Pruitt
Jul 11, 2007
Jim over at Old Truth has an interesting article ( Confessions of a 'Numbers' Pastor ) on the modern church's obsession with numeric success. Check it out.

Horton on Grace (1)

Todd Pruitt
Jul 11, 2007
Michael Horton has written an excellent article in the July/August edition of “Modern Reformation” magazine ( http://www.modernreformation.org/ ). The title of the article is “Grace: How Strange the Sound.” As I read it I was reminded once again how easy it is for Christians to have shallow or...

What Revival Looks Like

Todd Pruitt
Jul 9, 2007
George Whitefield knew a thing or two about revival although, I suppose, no man is an expert. Under his preaching untold numbers of men and women were moved to repentance and faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. His ministry had taken him on the long journey to the American colonies more than...

Toys 'R' Us and the Destruction of Manhood

Todd Pruitt
Jul 6, 2007
Okay, the title might be a bit of an exaggeration but stick with me. My experience today was confirmation that Western society as we know it is changing for the worse. Just a few hours ago I took my two sons (ages 9 and 7) to the famous supplier of toys with one goal: to buy two cap guns. I love...

Signs of Life

Todd Pruitt
Jul 2, 2007
One of the best books I have read on the Gospel and the nature of salvation is John Ensor’s The Great Work of the Gospel. In a chapter entitled “The Great Work Enjoyed” Ensor writes: Those whom God declares righteous, he makes righteous: “You shall be clean from all your uncleanness…and I will give...

The Crook in the Lot

Todd Pruitt
Jun 28, 2007
Thomas Boston is remembered as one of the great Puritan pastors in 16th century Scotland. He was a champion of sound doctrine at a time when it was under attack. His book The Fourfold State of Man is still one of the most important books ever on the doctrine of man. But in 1737 a smaller book was...

Boys Should Be Boys

Todd Pruitt
Jun 26, 2007
When I first saw The Dangerous Book for Boys at Barnes and Noble I assumed it would be another experiment in turning little boys into little girls. After all we live in a day when feminists like Gloria Steinem have advised that “we badly need to raise boys more like we raise girls.” It seems that...

How will they know unless someone tells them?

Todd Pruitt
Jun 25, 2007
The following is a message recorded by the actor Kirk Cameron and played to the pastors gathered for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention last week. It bears repeating: Can I speak to you from my heart for a moment? I realize that, theologically, I’m not worthy to wash your socks...

Southern Baptists and Integrity

Todd Pruitt
Jun 21, 2007
Last week the Southern Baptist Convention convened in San Antonio, Texas. On the final day Dr. Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida stood to offer the following resolution that had previously been submitted to the resolutions committee: Resolution on Integrity in Church...

An Unregenerate Denomination?

Todd Pruitt
Jun 20, 2007
In May, John Hammett, professor of theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina made a special plea to the students gathered for chapel to take the issue of regenerate church membership seriously. Each semester a faculty member at Southeastern is asked to...

The More Things Change

Todd Pruitt
Jun 19, 2007
Okay, so I’ve been re-reading a lot of Lloyd-Jones while on vacation! But what he said and wrote on almost any topic bears repeating in our own time. As I read The Doctor’s thoughts on preaching and the church I cannot help but observe how relevant he still is. Observing the “feel good preaching”...

Good Medicine from the Good Doctor

Todd Pruitt
Jun 16, 2007
In 1927 the 27 year old David Martyn Lloyd-Jones left a prestigious career in medicine to follow God’s call to pastor a small impoverished church in rural Wales. The churches in Wales were not even a shadow of what they had been at the turn of the century during the great Welsh revival. Now the...

Killing for Convenience

Todd Pruitt
Jun 6, 2007
In a recent article on the Henry Institute’s web page ( www.henryinstitute.org ) Russell Moore calls attention to the tortured morality of Donna Schaper, the pastor of Judson Memorial Church. Judson is an historic American Baptist church in New York. In an article written for Tikkun, a liberal...

Men of the Word

Todd Pruitt
Jun 5, 2007
In his great book Christian Leaders of the Last Century J.C. Ryle, writing in 19th century England makes this observation of the men used by God to help usher in revival in the generations that preceded his own: “They taught one set of truths. They taught them in the same way, with fire, reality,...

The Gospel - Part 1: "A Matter of First Importance"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
One of the trends taking place in the modern evangelical church that is most alarming to me is the disappearance of the Gospel. That sounds ironic doesn’t it? Of all places that the Gospel is missing it certainly couldn’t be the church! You may be tempted to dismiss me as an alarmist. “How is the...

The Gospel - Part 2: "In Our Place"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
The Gospel is all about the work of God on behalf of sinners. It is the news that through His beloved Son, God has done everything necessary for sinful man to be forgiven of his sins and receive full pardon from the sentence of death. This was all done through the ministrations of a crucified...

The Gospel - Part 3: "Still the Power of God"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… Romans 1:16 What a great promise on which the church may cling! When the power of God has been identified with everything from “holy laughter” to big budgets it is good to be reminded of the true...

The Gospel - Part 4: "God's Third Way"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
Man is incurably religious. The problem is that because of sin we are hopeless to find our way into the truth apart from the intervening grace of God (Romans 8:7-8). The Gospel, the message that Jesus died on a cross in the place of sinners, is not something that will appeal to man unless God opens...

The Gospel - Part 5: "Getting the Gospel Right"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
As early as His covenant with Abraham God promised to save people from every “language, tribe, people, and nation” (Gen 12:1-3; Rev 5:9-10). God has promised this and it will happen! What a wonderful source of encouragement for the church to know that her evangelistic efforts at home and around the...

Guidance - Part 1: "The Lord My Shepherd"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
The question of guidance is an important one for God’s people. Over the years I have been asked more times than I can remember how one knows the will of God in a given circumstance. It is an important question for two reasons. First, it assumes correctly that God does indeed have a will. There are...

Guidance - Part 2: "Our Goal, God's Glory"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
What a comfort it is to know that God is a Shepherd for His people (Ps 23). The image of God as Shepherd helps us to understand the care He takes in leading His flock. God knows exactly where He is going and He is committed to bringing His people along. Aimless wandering is not something that...

Guidance - Part 3: "Look to the Word"

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
Every culture knows that God is and yet because of sin this knowledge is distorted so that instead of being led into truth there is a further falling away (Rom 1:18-25). Thankfully however God did not abandon the crown of His creation even though it was His right to do so. Because of common grace (...

Help for the Weak

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
I love reading the Puritans. Often misunderstood in our own day, the Puritans have in recent years been rediscovered by historians who have found that their grim caricature bears little resemblance to the real men and women who made up this 17th century movement within Protestantism. In their day,...

Losing Jesus

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
The late Donald Grey Barnhouse once pondered what it would look like if Satan were to take over an entire city. His observation, made some fifty years ago, bears repeating in our own day. Dr. Barnhouse believed that a city where Satan truly ran the show would quite possibly be very moralistic...

A Divine Cordial

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
I know the title of this article sounds a bit odd to modern American ears. A cordial refers to a sweet after dinner drink or a variety of chocolates that have a sweet liquid center. It was not unusual for the Puritans to refer to certain passages of Scripture as cordials from God or Divine cordials...

The Whole Book, A Christian Book

Todd Pruitt
May 25, 2007
The Bible, the whole thing, is a Christian book. The Old Testament is for Christians just as much as the New Testament. The division of the Bible into two testaments has often been misunderstood. It has allowed for a fractured view of the Bible to be enshrined in our thinking. We easily come to...