The Centerpiece of God’s Saving Purpose in the Universe

What is God’s glory? The Bible speaks of God’s glory in two primary ways. First, there is the intrinsic glory of God, which is the sum total of all His divine perfections and attributes. It is who God is—His infinitely vast greatness. Glory in the Old Testament (kabod) originally meant “heaviness,” “importance,” or “significance.” It came to represent the stunning magnificence of certain objects, such as the blazing sun or the regal majesty displayed by a king. Hence, glory came to be used to describe the magnificent splendor and awesome radiance of God Himself revealed to man.    Continue at Steve Lawson

How Christian Modesty Acts

Yesterday we looked at attributes of clothing for the Christian woman. But while we pursue clothing that is modest, a modest spirit exhibits grace to others regardless of how modest we think they are. Modesty leaves no room for pride, hypocrisy, or judgmentalism. Instead, where it sees a problem, modesty expresses love for God and concern for His glory; a tenderness and care for the souls of others; and a humility in dealing with an issue. Modesty is very much connected with humility, evidenced in our words and actions.

If you know a believer that is wearing immodest clothing, recognize that it might be because of a difference in opinion. Out of love for a sister in Christ and concern for her witness, go to her and gently, kindly talk about these things. There are tonnes of resources out there to help you do this, most of them free of cost online.


Sometimes another Christian woman is wearing something immodest as result of poor teaching. A believer may be immodest out of ignorance – they are simply not aware of it. I know someone who gained some weight, making all of her clothes tight. She didn’t realize she looked vacuum packed, and just needed someone to gently point it out, and she went shopping.

I don’t know any believer who would dress in a deliberately immodest way. It is almost always a result of poor teaching or spiritual immaturity. And where there is disagreement within the bounds of Christian freedom, we must be gracious there, too, and let the matter rest.   Continue at Christian Pundit

7 Theses on “Celebrity Pastors”

Over the past months there has been a good deal of back and forth on the blogs (good blogs from people I respect) about the dangers of “celebrity pastors.” As is often the case with these matters, there are many legitimate concerns to be made and many overreactions to avoid.

So, in no particular order, here are seven theses to keep in mind.

1. Celebrity is not a terribly helpful word. A celebrity is simply someone who is well known and easily recognizable. So in one sense, there are celebrity pastors. But “celebrity” often carries negative connotations, especially in Christian circles. A celebrity is someone who is famous for no substantial reason. We hear “celebrity” and think “vain,” “status-seeker,” “important for superficial reasons.” Unless this is what we want to say about some well-known Christians (and maybe it is), we should avoid calling them “celebrity pastors.” Both were famous and influential in their own circles, but there was a difference between Macho Man Randy Savage and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Keep Reading...

Harold Camping glorifies God: Seventeen Ways

NOTE: this is a companion-piece to Harold Camping is not a false prophet.

It is tempting to write "Inadvertently, unintentionally, and by means of contrast" — and let that suffice. However...

First, Harold Camping glorifies God because all things are God's servants (Psalm 119:91). Camping can't not glorify God. You can't not glorify God. You will either glorify Him as His servant, or as His tool; but you will glorify him (cf. Isaiah 10:5-16).


Second, Harold Camping glorifies God because, by his refusal to repent for past false guesses and his insistence on "doubling down" and putting all his weight on yet another guess, he illustrates God's wisdom in warning us: "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly" (Proverbs 26:11). Keep Reading...

For Whom is the Church?

Anthropocentrism – it’s a big word with a simple meaning:  man-centredness.  All of us should know that this is a problem with our natural human condition.  We want the world to revolve around us.  By nature, we find a world with God in the centre difficult to accept.  This way of thinking is common enough in non-Christian circles.  How sad it is, then, to see this way of thinking also accepted by many who claim the Name above every name.  In one of his books, popular author Max Lucado penned the following:

I’ve seen you stalking the malls, walking the aisles, searching for that extra-special gift.  Stashing away a few dollars a month to buy him some lizard-skin boots; staring at a thousand rings to find her the best diamond; staying up all Christmas Eve, assembling the new bicycle.

Why do you do it?  So her eyes will pop, his jaw will drop.  To hear those words of disbelief:  “You did this for me?”

And that is why God did it.  Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way.

Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, “Do you like it?  I did it just for you.”[i]

That sounds nice.  It appeals to our emotions.  God’s acts of creation and providence exist just for us.  Doesn’t that make us feel good?  It might make us feel good, but it is not what Scripture teaches.  In the Psalms (e.g. 8 and 19), for instance, we find that God’s work in this world is not for us, but for him – for his glory! Keep Reading>>>

Real Passion vs. Artificial Enthusiasm

When we consider Christ as the very incarnation of divine glory, it ought to put all our other passions in proper perspective. It ought to make us ashamed that our focus is so far off and we are not really passionate about the one thing that ought to excite us the most.

We imitate all the world's passions. We invent gimmicks to try to win worldly people by appealing to whatever mania has captured our culture's attention at the moment. We devote our energies and our emotions to things that are not even worthy of our attention. We do things to stir artificial passion—which is an especially sinister form of false worship.

Our passions should not need to be whipped up by spiritual cheerleaders and stadium chants. We shouldn't have to be worked into an emotional state by hype and melodrama and musical manipulation. If we can get pumped to a fever pitch by some rock-star pastor's antics rather than by the truth of the biblical message, then whatever we are feeling isn't even a legitimate passion in the first place. Continue Reading>>>

The Bizarre Passions of Worldly Culture, and Why They are Incompatible with a True Passion for God's Glory

There's plenty of passion in the world today. Unfortunately, a lot of it is evil passion—lust, anger, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, self-love, and so on. Even whatever good feelings there are in this world are misspent—squandered on trivial things: sports, entertainment, recreation, and the pursuit of personal happiness. We're expected to be deliriously excited about things like that; and we're generally discouraged from taking serious things seriously.

In fact, it's one of the supreme ironies of our culture that raw passion per se (even if it's utterly irrational) is deemed perfectly acceptable, but devotion to God is generally seen as a sign of serious imbalance.

It's true. An earnest worshiper of God is likely to be regarded by our society as a deranged person—especially if he declares his faith. Meanwhile, young girls are practically expected to scream till they faint in the presence of boy-band celebrities. Men can be as fanatical as they like about their favorite sports team. Students can thoroughly immerse themselves in some mindless fantasy game. Anyone of any age can be wholly obsessed with some celebrity or pop star they have never even met. No one bats an eye at those things. Continue Reading>>>