The Pastor's Blog

A few days ago, Andy Stanley, a popular pastor from Atlanta, made some questionable comments about the Old Testament.  I have next to no desire to interact with his comments, but I do know they were enough to provoke a bunch of American Christians towards giving Andy Stanley an old fashioned American smackdown.  Phil Johnson, James White, and a few others said some stuff aboutRead more

One of the best gifts my parents gave me is a work-ethic.  A work-ethic is a survival skill, it is an act of love towards the community, and it is godly.  I thank God my parents taught me to work.  The job market may have changed some in the last decade or so, but the principles my parents taught are timeless.  Thus, to all theRead more

The sin of cowardice has a really good reputation among Canadian Christians.  People don’t usually call cowardice “cowardice.”  That would be “unkind,” “not nice,” or “unloving.”   Not being called “cowardice,” cowardice is almost often called “kind,” “nice,” or “loving.”  Cowardice has a great reputation. That’s rather unfortunate because the Bible doesn’t call cowardice “kind,” “nice,” or “loving.”  No, the Bible calls it “sin.”  It’s rightRead more

Last night I was within the vicinity of the abortion debate at Wilfred Laurier University because I wanted to announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I met this polite and articulate University of Waterloo student, and we conversed for about 45 minutes.  I share the last few minutes of our discussion to point out that secular thinking is a terrible danger to society.  Make sureRead more

On the cross Jesus Christ suffered excruciatingly, and He became the propitiation for our sins.  Propitiation is a theological word that means He completely satisfied God’s wrath towards our sin and turned God’s wrath away from us.  As I recently explained, the Gospel is a Gospel of propitiation.  That God’s wrath was turned away from us in Christ is very very very good news.  ItRead more

Winston Churchill once said, “When Civilization reigns, in any country, a wider and less harassed life is afforded to the masses of the people. The traditions of the past are cherished, and the inheritance bequeathed to us by former wise or valiant men becomes a rich estate to be enjoyed and used by all.” When Churchill was talking about “Civilization” reigning he was not talkingRead more

A bunch of big name pastors are gutting Christ’s cross-work from the gospel. Denying that Christ propitiated God, they claim that God did not pour out His wrath on Christ. For them, Christ did not bear the wrath of God. They say that God did not require blood to forgive sins. Instead, they allege, God can just wink sin away because, after all, He’s God.Read more

Why did Jesus die on the cross?  That the cross is central to Christianity makes the answer to that question crucially important.   Central to all aspects of His crucifixion is that on the cross Jesus paid the penalty for sin.  His payment fully satisfied God’s wrath so that His death turned God’s wrath away from us.   On the cross he suffered the wrath we deserve…