The Danger of Schism

A Defense of the Old Perspective on Paul
What Did St. Paul Really Say?

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing:
How Charles Finney's Theology Ravaged the Evangelical Movement.

It is Ironic that Charles Grandison Finney has become a poster boy for so many modern evangelicals. His theology was far from evangelical. As a Christian leader, he was hardly the model of humility or spirituality. Even Finney's autobiography paints a questionable character. In his own retelling of his life's story, Finney comes across as stubborn, arrogant—and sometimes even a bit devious.

A Primer on Hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism, simply stated, is a doctrine that emphasizes divine sovereignty to the exclusion of human responsibility. To call it "hyper-Calvinism" is something of a misnomer. It is actually a rejection of historic Calvinism. Hyper-Calvinism entails a denial of what is taught in both Scripture and the major Calvinistic creeds, substituting instead an imbalanced and unbiblical notion of divine sovereignty.

Hyper-Calvinism comes in several flavors, so it admits no simple, pithy definition. Here are a few definitions to consider. I'll comment briefly on these and then propose a more comprehensive definition...

Better Than Any Fad
This article is adapted from the transcript to Phil’s 2005 Shepherds’ Conference seminar on this topic.

Calvinism on Trial
Dave Hunt released a thick (444-page) book titled, What Love Is This? Calvinism’s Misrepresentation of God. As the subtitle suggests, Mr. Hunt is strongly opposed to Calvinism. In effect, he says Calvinism is a different gospel. He also suggests that the teaching of Calvinism so misrepresents God that Calvinists are guilty of worshiping a god of their own making. He has such harsh words for Calvinists that many readers have concluded he is consigning Calvinism to the dung-heap of the cults—and in several places one might even get the impression he is not too sure about the salvation of anyone who is committed to Calvinism as a system of theology...

Christianity Astray:
Is "New Evangelicalism" Really Pseudo-Evangelicalism?

Dead Right:
The failure of fundamentalism.

Gambling: The Moral Antithesis of Charity

God Without Mood Swings:
Recovering the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility.

Perhaps the most difficult biblical dilemma for those of us who affirm the classic view of an utterly sovereign and immutable God is the problem of how to make sense of the various divine affections spoken of in Scripture. If God is eternally unchanging—if His will and His mind are as fixed and constant as His character—how could He ever experience the rising and falling passions we associate with love, joy, exasperation, or anger?

The History of Heresy
Five errors that Refuse to Die.

The Law of Contradiction
No lie is of the truth.

Loving God's Image in Our Neighbors
When some Pharisees put Jesus to the test concerning the greatest of all God's commandments, He answered with a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:5: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

A Biblical Model of Lay Ministry
Nehemiah is often regarded as an ideal role model for spiritual leadership—and he certainly is that. He had all the strengths of good leadership: he was decisive, well-organized, a wise overseer of other people, a good administrator, and a skilled project manager who knew how to get things done.

The Nature of the Atonement
Why and for Whom did Christ die?

The Prayer of Jabez

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 

Programs, Get Your Programs
Exposing the flaws of the Fad Driven Church

R. L. Dabney on why Paul excluded women from preaching

Speaking of Pulpits...
Pastors often express interest in the pulpit at Grace Community Church. It is famous as one of the first pulpits ever mounted on a hydraulic lift, so that it can be adjusted for height, and it can even descend all the way beneath the platform, all at the touch of a button.

Strange Things I have Eaten

Supralapsarianism & Infralapsarianism

Teaching Your Children Spiritual Truth

You Can't Handle the Truth
Addressing the tolerance of postmodernism.

What's All the Controversy About
John MacArthur and the Blood of Christ?
A reply to some lies being perpetrated by fundamentalist zealots.

What's Wrong with Wright
Examining the new perspective on Paul.

Who Is Jehovah? Who Is Jesus?