Feasting is Fighting
In the war for the world, that ancient, yet active campaign to extend the rule of King Jesus to the four corners of the globe so that the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the seas, food is not neutral. Nor is it utilitarian, a simple means of physical sustenance […]
It Is So Passe To Come Out As A Gay Pastor, Unless You Are In The PCA
By Gabriel Rench I grew up in the PCA. I spent about 19 years of my life in that denomination. I was a member at a PCA church in Texas, New Mexico, and Oregon. I am grateful for my time in the PCA, and my faith is forever indebted to the PCA. Not only was […]
Justice Redefined: How Social Justice Undermines the Gospel
Guest Post By Levi J. Secord The Q&A at this year’s Shepherds’ Conference revealed how deep the divide is within evangelicalism over social justice. In debates like this, defining terms is vital. Many evangelicals fail to realize there are two competing views of justice. A new definition of justice has crept into evangelicalism laying the […]
The Church is Plan A
By George Grant The Church is Plan A. And there is no Plan B. The Church is the means by which the Lord has purposed to demonstrate His grace, His mercy, and His providential rule in the world. The orthodox Christian faith cannot be reduced to personal experiences, academic discussions, dogmatic formulations, philosophical revelations, or […]
A Brief Primer on God’s Ordained Spheres of Authority
By Toby Sumpter Introduction We live in a world obsessed with power and power disparities. On the one hand, the modern world professes not to trust power – e.g. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely – and of course there is no shortage of examples of power misused, authority abused. But the current modern egalitarian […]
Endurance: From Beginning to End
By George Grant The race really does go to the tortoise and not the hare. It is perseverance that ultimately will win the prize, not knowledge, not talent, and not connections. It is that undying tenacity that sets itself on the end, that finishes the race, that completes the task, and that fulfils the responsibility. […]
Top 10 Blogazine Articles in 2018
Here are the ten most popular articles from the CrossPolitic Blogazine in 2018. These articles garnered a lot of attention this year and they highlight key aspects of the work at CrossPolitic, especially illustrating the vision for the blogazine. This is also a great way to review the past year. Here’s the countdown: Jason Farley […]
When the State Came for My Niece
Note from Managing Editor: Given the sensitive nature of this material, the author of this piece asked to remain anonymous. The author hopes this story will be helpful to many people. This past year my 15-year-old niece decided she was a boy. For the last two years, kids at school have bullied her, thrown rocks […]
Social Justice, Biblical Justice, and Our Discipleship Problem
By Gabriel Rench Justice Needs the Bible There has been a lot of chatter back and forth the last couple years around social justice and the church: definitions are vague, people are talking past each other, and both sides have not really pursued productive conversations. One thing is for sure, the discussion has largely focused […]
The Gods are Falling before Him
Guest Post by Joost Nixon Last year on a rainy day near Kathmandu, a Nepali friend and I were on an evening errand for milk. We were tight-rope walking on top of walls because the rain had transformed the dirt roads into goo. Our route took us near a rare unplowed field and an adjacent […]
Choosing to Not Choose is Still Choosing
We knew it would only be a matter of time before this sort of thing becomes more common. A couple of women who identify as men have a child, which they have decided to not assign a gender to, and thus allow their child the freedom to “discover” itself. You can watch the interview here: […]
Forward Toward the Philistines
Guest Post by Jared Longshore Secularism is all in a tizzy. She is hot and pouty. She’s fired up and making her demands. She’s defying the armies of the living God, and she’s soft as cotton… which is not a good combo. God’s people have struggled at times with going forward at God’s command. He […]
69 year old, Christians, and Pedophilia
By Jesse Sumpter You can’t make this stuff up. A 69 year old Dutch man, named Emile Ratelband, has decided he wants to identify as a 40 year old. He has even asked a court in his hometown to make it legal and change his birth certificate to say he was born on March 11, […]
The Antifragile Pastor
Guest Post By C.R. Wiley, First Posted November 15, 2018 A lot of ink has been spilled on the subject of fragility, particularly when it comes to young people—you know, safe-spaces, and coloring books on college campuses, and all of that. And while I could add my voice to the chorus, I think fragility is […]
What Happens if Roe Vs. Wade is Overturned?
Here is my concern about the overturning of Roe vs. Wade: what happens when the law comes? Sin revives and we die. To undo Roe is to choose the death of America. That makes sense if you believe in resurrection. But we can only pray for the end of Roe if we trust that God raises the dead.
Nouveau Pelagianism
In his Confessions, Augustine (354-430) describes mankind’s universal sinful bent as “concupiscence.” The Greek word epithumia (ἐπιθυμία) occurs 38 times in the New Testament. It describes the utter enfeebling of mankind’s freedom of will through the bondage of sin. It is the fallen nature’s inclination to wickedness, desire for immorality, and passion for iniquity, that […]
Education and Hope
Haarlem is a beautiful little Dutch town on the River Spaarne, fifteen minutes by train from Amsterdam. Founded sometime in the 10th century, in 1245 it was granted city status or stadsrechten and was made the capital of the province of North Holland. By the 14th century, it had become a mercantile hub as a […]
Just Preach It
When I was in seminary, the “Church Growth Movement” was just getting its sea legs. So, of course, it was all the rage in the hallowed halls of academia—if not amongst the profs, most assuredly amongst their charges. Filled with uninformed enthusiasm my peers tended to gobble up every fad and fancy that came down […]
Self-Examination As a Check Against Idolatry
The years leading up to the Scottish Disruption and those immediately afterward produced some of the most remarkable servants of God in the history of the church. Andrew Alexander Bonar (1810-1892) was a member of that galaxy of brilliant, Reformed Scots preachers, writers, and missionaries which included his brothers John, James, and Horatius, as well […]
The Whirlwind Bides His Time
Having recently had The Rev. Joseph Carlson as a Guest on the recent episode of CrossPolitic, I thought it might be nice to get one of his sonnets before you. This is for the 24th Sunday of the Trinity Season in his book of Sonnets for the Church Year. Waiting Four hundred years – the […]