test conditions

Bit-O-Vinegar

An irenic appeal for the periodic use of vinegary speech

 

“You can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar.”

It is a good saying. And it is undoubtedly true. Bees seem invariably to prefer honey over vinegar.
 

But what if the purpose is not to attract bees? What if your purpose is to warn bees away from a danger far greater than the bad taste of vinegar? In that case the application of honey is downright cruel.
 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Would Not! Why Not? Part 1

Theme: The Lord’s Own Thoughts about Palm Sunday
 
In this week leading up to Easter, we focus on an event that shows how Jesus would have received the crowds on Palm Sunday if they had truly come to him in faith and repentance.
 
Scripture: Luke 13:31-35
 
It's an interesting feature about the critical moments in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that His own comments about them are seldom found in conjunction with the events themselves, but rather you find them somew

It's an interesting feature about the critical moments in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that His own comments about them are seldom found in conjunction with the events themselves, but rather you find them somewhere else in Scripture. Think of the incarnation or the birth, for example. You don't find our Lord's comments there in connection with the birth narratives, naturally, or for that matter even anywhere else in the gospels. You do find it later on in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 10, verses 5-7. That author writes, "Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, “Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God.”’”

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Rachel Miller on Anxiety

Biblical reflections on a common source of pain

 

Rachel Miller over at A Daughter of the Reformation (a blog you ought to read) has written an excellent post on anxiety. I encourage you to read it and pass it along.

 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

A theology of brother and sister relationships in God's household

Twitter is an easy venue for statements to be taken out of context. It’s like a bulletin board of thoughts, links, questions, and declarations. There is no context. It’s also an easy venue to set up carefully crafted propaganda, hashtag movements, and false dichotomies. So I have been engaging less and less in twitter “conversations.” That’s not always easy to do because there’s a lot of click bait out there.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Only 43 Years

It does not take long...

 

It only took 43 years for the Northern Presbyterian church to move from defrocking Charles Briggs for advancing higher criticism to defrocking J. Gresham Machen. That is a titanic shift in what is essentially only two generations.

 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

What Can the Righteous Do? Day 5

Theme: Where Will We Be?
 
In this week’s lessons we see how David dealt with injustice, and learn of our own need to find our refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
 
Scripture: Psalm 11:1-7
 
What can the righteous do? There is one more thing. David had looked around at the wicked. He has looked up to God. Now he looks ahead, concerned at this point not with the destiny of his enemies but with his own destiny and that of all who trust God.

What can the righteous do? There is one more thing. David had looked around at the wicked. He has looked up to God. Now he looks ahead, concerned at this point not with the destiny of his enemies but with his own destiny and that of all who trust God. As the last verse says, “For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face” (v. 7).

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

What Can the Righteous Do? Day 4

Theme: Where Should We Look?
 
In this week’s lessons we see how David dealt with injustice, and learn of our own need to find our refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
 
Scripture: Psalm 11:1-7
 
Where is he that they might look to him? The answer is: "in his holy temple" and "on his heavenly throne" (v. 4).
Where is he that they might look to him? The answer is: "in his holy temple" and "on his heavenly throne" (v. 4). Whenever we see the word "temple" in the Old Testament we tend to think of Solomon's great gilded temple or the later temple of Herod which was in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus Christ. But that is not what David is thinking of here. For one thing, the temple had not been built in David's time. It was built by Solomon. And although it is true that the word "temple" is sometimes used of the wilderness tabernacle, usually in retrospect by those who witnessed the later temples and saw the tabernacle as their forerunner, the context of Psalm 11 makes clear that David is thinking of the temple of God in heaven from which the Almighty looks down upon "the sons of men" to "examine them."
 

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

PSA On A Current Controversy

Some thoughts on public disagreement

 

Last week I posted a rather strong critique of the Truth’s Table podcast entitled “Gender Apartheid.” Those who have followed this blog know that I subsequently took the post down because of charges of racism that were being leveled against me. Yes, I chickened out. Those charges were wicked and untrue.
 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

What Can the Righteous Do? Day 3

Theme: To Whom Should We Look?
 
In this week’s lessons we see how David dealt with injustice, and learn of our own need to find our refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
 
Scripture: Psalm 11:1-7
 
Not only do we see injustice in other parts of the world; it is also prevalent in the United States.  The drug problem that exists in places like South and Central America is our problem, too.

What can the righteous do? Well, for one thing, they can go on being righteous. And they can stand against the evil of their society, as many in the situations I have described are attempting to do. The one thing they must not do is "flee to the mountains." 

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

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