A World Without the Fall -- Thomas Kinkade's Take on the World

If you are a fan of the late Thomas Kinkaid's work, there is nothing to see here, so you should move along.

If you are not a fan of Kinkaid (I certainly am not), you might be interested in this essay by Daniel Siedell who lays out a very interesting take on Kinkaid's pre-fallen world and its tie to law without the gospel.  Mike Horton even makes an appearance in the essay.

You can read it here:  Click Here

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (May 21-27)

Sunday Morning (5/21):  This Sunday, Lord willing, I will be preaching on Pentecost from John 15:26-16:15.

Sunday Afternoon:  I am leading our afternoon catechism service and we will be taking up Lord's Day 39, and the fifth commandment.  Our afternoon service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (5/23):  I am continuing my series on the sacraments, and this week we are continuing to address Baptist arguments against paedobaptism.  Bible study begins at 7:00 p.m.

The Academy:  The Academy is on hiatus until next Fall.

For more information and directions, check out the Christ Reformed website:  Christ Reformed Church

“This Jesus, Who Was Taken Up” -- Acts 1:1-11 A Sermon on the Ascension

Here's the audio from Sunday's sermon on our Lord's ascension:

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This Week's White Horse Inn

The Worship Experience

The worship wars are over, and most Protestant churches now feature a praise band or worship team. In the quest for relevance, today’s churches offer worship experiences that are in tune with the expectations that parishioners receive from contemporary pop culture. However, some are beginning to recognize that this pop-music worship style lacks a certain transcendence, and in their quest to find a sense of the sacred, many are abandoning evangelicalism and are becoming Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. So is this new appreciation for Gregorian chants and swinging incense a healthy reaction? What is worship anyway? That’s what’s on tap on this edition of White Horse Inn.

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Ken Jones on "Routine Traffic Stops" and the Trayvon Martin Case

Ken Jones addresses this controversial subject on the White Horse Inn blog.  Click Here

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (May 14-20)

Sunday Morning (5/14):  This Sunday, Lord willing, I will be preaching on Christ's Ascension from Acts 1:1-11.

Sunday Afternoon:  I am leading our afternoon catechism service and we will be taking up Lord's Day 38, and the fourth commandment.  Our afternoon service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (5/16):  I am continuing my series on the sacraments, and this week we are addressing Baptist arguments against paedobaptism.  Bible study begins at 7:00 p.m.

The Academy (5/18):  The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. We are resuming our series on Michael Horton's theology text, The Christian Faith.  We'll be continuing to work through chapter three--"The Source of Theology:  Revelation."  Note:  This is our final academy session until next Fall.

For more information and directions, check out the Christ Reformed website:  Christ Reformed Church

"God Himself is Judge" -- Psalm 50

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon.

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Reforming Youth Ministry (Part 2)

What’s wrong with contemporary approaches to youth ministry? In order to address this question, last week Michael Horton began a discussion of this issue with Brian Cosby, author of Giving up Gimmicks: Reclaiming Youth Ministry from an Entertainment Culture, and on this program we’re presenting the conclusion of that discussion. The White Horse Inn: know what you believe and why you believe it.

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Horton on Same-Sex Marriage

Mike Horton addresses the question of same sex marriage.  He writes, "how would someone who believes that sin is unhappiness and salvation is having `your best life now' make a good argument against same-sex marriage? There is simply no way of defending traditional marriage within the narrative logic that apparently most Christians—much less non-Christians—presuppose regardless of their position on this issue."

Mike's point is that same-sex marriage is here to stay until the basic narrative changes.  Sin is not "unhappiness" but a violation of God's law.  The gospel is not "your best life now," but the good news that Jesus saves us from our violations of God's law.  If we don't get that right, we can't change the narrative.

You can read the entire essay here.  Click Here

The Escondido Seminary

Westminster Seminary California will be publishing a new book which celebrates the seminary's 30th anniversary.  Westminster Seminary California: A New Old School is written by W. Robert Godrey and Darryl Hart and recounts the history and doctrinal distinctives of WSC.

Here's the pre-publication info from WSC's blog (Valiant for Truth--To read more, Click Here):

In a word, the seminary has sought to carry on the legacy of Old School Presbyterianism, an ethos embodied in the Scriptures, carried on in 16th and 17th century Reformed theology, trumpted from Old Princeton through the mighty pens of the Hodges, B. B. Warfield, Geerhardus Vos, and J. Gresham Machen, and subsequently planted in the sun-soaked earth of Southern California. Though WSC is is relatively new, it is nonetheless an Old School institution, hence a new old school.

The book spells out not only our history, details of key events in the seminary's life, but also our key theological committments within the broader evangelical culture. As one who has read a pre-publication draft of the book, I can tell you that it is as much about WSC as it is about the changing evangelical theological landscape on the West Coast. One of the chief contentions of the book is that WSC has never waivered in its committment to the Reformed faith, but rather, the changing and fluid evangelical scene around the seminary has certainly changed. Once committed to such things as biblical inerrancy, for example, many evangelical institutions have drifted from their doctrinal moorings, and they have done so in a relatively short amount of time. WSC has held the same ground for thirty-plus years. We have not moved to the right; the surrounding theological culture has moved significantly to the left.

Here are the chapters:

    1. The Call of the West

    2. Heritage from the East: Roots of the Vision

    3. The Founders, Their Vision, and Their Work

    4. The Faculty

    5. Changing Evangelical Environment

    6. Challenges Among the Reformed

    7. The Growing Old School

This will be must reading!