Join, or Die?

William Boekestein
Feb 20, 2020
In 1754, Benjamin Franklin published a cartoon called “Join or Die.” It pictured a snake cut into eights representing the British colonies in the New World. Franklin argued that unless the colonies formed one body, they would never be able to resist the powerful threat of the French and their...
Red, Red Wine and Brown, Brown Bread

Red, Red Wine

Mortification of Spin
Feb 19, 2020
Following up last week’s discussion on church discipline, Carl and Aimee bring up the closely related topic of the Lord’s Supper. What does church discipline tell us about the importance of church membership and the Lord’s Supper? Should membership in a church be required in order for a person to...
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Mortification of Spin

James Baird: A Personal Remembrance

Terry L. Johnson
Feb 17, 2020
James MacKenzie Baird, Jr. August 11, 1928 – January 31, 2020 James M. Baird, Jr. was among the most consequential Presbyterian pastors of the mid to late 20 th and early 21 st centuries. He was one of a dozen or so men who rightly could claim to be a founding father of the Presbyterian Church in...

A Mark of a True Church

Mortification of Spin
Feb 12, 2020
The term “church discipline” might have a negative connotation in the ears of many, but the team wants to dispel some of the misconceptions about it. Just what is “church discipline?” When needed, it’s a component of discipleship. So, when is church discipline necessary and justifiable? Where does...
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Mortification of Spin

What Would Justin Martyr Do?

Richard Winston
Feb 11, 2020
Last December, Netflix released The First Temptation of Christ , a film that depicts Jesus as gay. The tagline reads, “Jesus, who’s hitting the big 3-0, brings a surprise guest to meet the family.”[1] The surprise guest is Orlando, Jesus’ partner, who returns home with Jesus from the desert only to...

All Things in Christ

Richard C. Barcellos
Feb 11, 2020
...which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in...

Not a Daughter of Sarah?

Feb 7, 2020
That’s supposedly me. I read that about myself yesterday. Just a couple of hours after reading an OPC pastor in my own denomination telling others on Facebook to call my church to put a stop to me. Then he gave my church’s information, showing a picture of my pastor. Not a daughter of Sarah...

Doddridge and Evangelical Dissent

Ryan McGraw
Feb 6, 2020
Robert Strivens, Philip Doddridge and the Shaping of Evangelical Dissent , Ashgate Studies in Evangelicalism (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015). 201pp. Hardcover. For many students of Reformed Orthodoxy (1560-1790), the eighteenth century “high orthodox” period is notoriously difficult to navigate...
We are but sheep...

The Care of Souls

Mortification of Spin
Feb 5, 2020
Todd starts this conversation by setting the ground rules and letting everyone know his preferred pronouns: he, him, and his. The bearded one also claims to have the definitive pronunciation of the author’s name of the book topic of today’s conversation. The Care of Souls by Harold Senkbeil...
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Mortification of Spin

Preaching for the Broken

Mark Johnston
Jan 31, 2020
'What makes a preacher choose any book or passage of the Bible to preach on?' That's the sixty-four thousand dollar question I tend to ask myself on not a few occasions and feel I have to answer to my congregation (usually when I'm beginning a new series). I suppose there is a degree of similarity...