The Conquering Truth

IVF is getting a lot of attention this past week because of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling. For those who do not know, IVF refers to “in vitro fertilization”, and is a fertility procedure where multiple eggs are harvested from a woman, fertilized in a laboratory, and then one or more are selectively implanted back into her (or a surrogate’s) uterus. And all of this matters because the basic pro-life position is that life begins at conception meaning that each of those harvested eggs that are fertilized deserve the same protection and life-honoring treatment that any other image-bearer of God should be afforded under His law. And that’s really the heart of the discussion, because IVF is marketed as a this purely positive treatment for those who greatly desire to have a child, but not much attention is placed on the process itself, where in the Western world there are currently millions of frozen but fertilized embryos, many of which, no one has any plans to implant, and which will eventually, if nothing is done to prevent it, be destroyed.

There are a few major ways to study history. One is the great man method which basically teaches that history is shaped by great men that rise up and lead and so studying those important men is the way to understand history. Another is to study history as a pattern of political or societal events where one cultural event by its nature leads to the next. Many modern educators completely reject the idea of history having any real patterns and instead, just study societies as stand-alone representations of human behavior. But Christians should think about history differently. And from a Reformed perspective in particular, Christians should think about history as an ordained series of people, circumstances, and events planned by a God who knew the end from the beginning and is moving the world from that beginning to the end in a way that manifests his glory.
Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson

Altar calls are a common feature of church services around the world. But are they Biblical? What theology and history are they based on, and what do they teach converts and church members about the gospel?
Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson

The Bible says a lot about debt and slavery and teaches that the two are tightly connected, going so far as to say “the borrower is a servant (slave) of the lender”. And as Christians, when we read God’s word, it is our duty to take God’s commands and instructions seriously. But if you asked the average Christian if slavery is bad and then examined the amount of debt they have, would you come away with the sense that their stated beliefs and actions were in alignment?

Tim Keller spent his life arguing that through winsomeness we can get people to accept the gospel. If the world sees Christians as good and kind, then the world would see the goodness of God and come to faith. He argued that if we are kind and thoughtful, then people will want to hear the gospel from us. And here’s the thing: if all you are talking about is what the life and conduct of a Christian should look like, there are lots of situations where we would agree with him. But that’s exactly why we take issue with the position. As we say early in the episode, there is no “balance” between being offensive and being pleasant. Our obedience to Christ requires different things of us at different times, and we aren’t responsible for how the world responds to that obedience.

Pentecostalism teaches that the gift and practice of speaking in unknown languages in the church today is a continuation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts. But this view is fundamentally at odds with what scripture teaches about tongues. First and foremost, it misses what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 where he explains to the church that the gift of tongues was a sign for unbelievers. Quoting from Isaiah, Paul references the passage where God prophesied that he would speak to Israel in other tongues but even then, they would not hear.

Prayer is essential for the Christian life. But if we think about it incorrectly, we may never understand how to pray with zeal. We are better equipped to pray when we properly understand God’s authority and our proper relationship with him. Because God created man to glorify Him, and saved His people to do His work in the world and to labor for His name, our zeal in prayer is tied very tightly to our zeal for God himself and for the work He has called us to do.

Dispensationalism is one of the most popular views of eschatology (the “end times”) in American evangelical churches, particularly among Southern Baptists where it has been estimated that over 80% of Southern Baptist churches hold to some form of dispensational eschatology. And in case you’ve never heard the term dispensationalism, you’ve probably heard of the “rapture”, which is most commonly associated with the dispensational framework.

Our world is very confused about the roles of men and women and this is particularly true in the United States and even in our more conservative churches. And while there is a lot of complexity in this topic, there are some basic scriptural commands and decrees of God that help frame the issue.

You can’t go anywhere around Christmas without hearing the familiar sound of a Salvation Army volunteer ringing their bell beside the familiar red kettle asking for donations. But how many people know that the Salvation Army is a false church that teaches a falses gospel based on works righteousness and who believe that men can become perfect and completely without sin in this life?