Bud

A biblical verity that evangelicalism has largely missed or denied in our day … Having the mind of Christ necessarily implies having the spine of Christ.

“A godly Christian may know neither compromise nor negotiation.” Abraham Kuyper, On The Church

From a biblical standpoint (and what other standpoint matters?) … Justice = Righteousness

Christian … a reminder … for us, humility month doesn’t start tomorrow. It continues tomorrow. “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’.” Luke 9:23

“The truth is not always cherished in the bosoms of pastors.” John Calvin, Institutes, Book IV

Just so we’re clear: nfl players can beat their wives or girlfriends, drive drunk, and do hard drugs, but we draw the line at them saying “Christ is king.” Got it.

“Reading maketh a full man.” Francis Bacon

The purpose of the CREC is not to be the PCA without Tim Keller or the OPC without D.G. Hart. We reject third-wayism and dualism, but there is much more that comprises who we are. We are a communion of Reformed churches deeply interested in cultural renewal within the church and the home, theology that comes out of our fingertips, and a liturgy that enriches God's people with joy. Our confessions, diverse yet unified, reflect our catholicity. But it's our shared distinctives that truly define us. We acknowledge that these may differ from the trajectory of other Reformed bodies, but they are the pillars of our 130+ churches. Among them are our eschatology, epistemology, and ecclesiology. Our postmillennialism is deeply embedded in our lives. This is more than a preference for historical optimism. Postmillennialism is how we see the Bible moving. It is far from a mere academic discussion. In fact, it would not be easy to function happily in the CREC without that eschatological predisposition. It impacts everything from our preaching/teaching to our education and interpretation of the times. Our presuppositionalism asserts that we are not ashamed of the Word of God or its language. The language of the Scriptures is the vocabulary of heaven, and we submit to its wisdom in totality. It further gives us confidence in affirming doctrines like six-day creationism, though many consider us Neanderthals. It is nearly impossible to come into the CREC denying that Genesis paradigm. We do not belittle tradition but restore tradition to its rightful place. The testimony of the church (tradition) leads us to a high and reverent esteem of the Sacred Scriptures. Our paedocommunion practice is fundamental to our existence as a whole. Without the communing of baptized children, the CREC would fail to offer the grounds for our covenantal theology. Covenant communion is the way we enflesh our theology of children. We affirm that baptized children shall receive all the covenant benefits. We also believe that they are integral members of the body of Christ, without whom worship would be incomplete. While some congregations can function outside this system, they must understand that they are co-laboring with an undeniable majority who believe life and table, water and word, bread and wine, worship, and participation belong unto them. We are happy to form fraternal relations with many denominations, and we have a growing sense of unity with a host of institutions and denominations who share our conservative political convictions against the insanity of the leftist ideologues. And the goal is to build much more on those in the months and years ahead. While we wish to continue growing, we understand that not every church is a good fit for the CREC. While we cherish the hundreds of inquiries received worldwide and the overwhelming interest in our communion, we also want to grow in a manner that honors who we are without diluting the principles that made us who we are.

“We’re not called to adjust the Bible to the world; we’re called to adjust the world to the Bible.” P. Andrew Sandlin, Reformationally Correct

“We’re not called to escape from the earth, but to subdue it for the Lord’s glory.” P. Andrew Sandlin, Reformationally Correct

“God’s people are to live by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth. And we can’t live by it if we don’t know it.” P. Andrew Sandlin, Reformationally Correct

A fascinating confession on the consequences of deChristianization. Even Dawkins now identifies as a cultural Christian as the demons are unleashed in the West. A telling lesson for pietistic & 2 Kingdoms Christians on the value of Christian culture. telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/0…

“The surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves.” John Calvin

“This Easter, therefore, when you sing, ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today,’ mentally insert the words ‘Christ the Lord is reigning today.’ This, too, is what we celebrate at Easter.” P. Andrew Sandlin

“It is one thing to perform what you owe, and another to owe what you do not perform.” John Calvin, Institutes, Book IV

I think there are a lot of church leaders watching Moscow and the whole mood thing, and trying to figure out why KDY, Lig, and other Eva leaders keep lobbing attacks on us. Maybe this tweet might help. The short answer, is that we see the numbers on the blog post, the podcast listens, the app downloads, etc... Their people are tuning into @canonpress, @CrossPolitic, and reading @douglaswils blog. We are answering questions and living out our biblical convictions in away they are not. Consider these three things: 1) COVID exposed their lack of leadership as they both Lig/KDY and most of Eva caved to unconstitutional government mandates 2) Lig blurbed Woke Church 3) KDY has a cosy relationship with the drifting TGC Their people are looking for answers and they are not getting sound, logical answers. In addition to this, they smell the inconsistency in their own leadership. Lig said that if we were “put in a room, you’d have them in a fetal position in 3 seconds". But the reality is, and everyone knows it, is that the reason why they don't accept our invitation into that room, is because they don't want to be challenge. Wether they would fall into the fetal position or not, we will never know, because they won't even get into that room with us. They would rather stay in the TGC eco chambers. They would rather pretend the abolition movement just got started after Roe ended. They would rather maintain the respectability of the Pharisees towers, than actually work through real disagreements and real conversations. How is that Lig chides us for slandering, when his followup sentence to that says this: “No reason to think they are even Christians", and where are all the cries from the discernment tweeters and bloggers calling out Lig for being mean? Ah, it is because they are all on the same team, or at least cobelligerents. My kids can see right through my inconsistencies as a parent, and in the same way their members in the pews and their pupils in the classroom smell their inconsistencies. Now if the people under them brought up their inconsistencies, they would not be able to graduate from RTS, etc...so instead they tune into us for a little encouragement and hoot and cheer us on with their windows rolled up, on their commute to RTS or church. This is why, seemingly all the sudden, the Moscow Mood is getting all this attention. As always, we are glad to pay for their trip to Moscow, and have some good jolly back and forth.

“It is easier to boast about tomorrow than it is to show humility in the present.” Jeffrey Meyers, A Table In The Mist

“Subtract fear from a Christian’s response to God and what remains is a faithless Christian.” Jeffrey Meyers, A Table In The Mist

It’s a challenging time to lead a church. Some of the challenges are obvious, the stuff of daily headlines and social media screeds: wokeness, the advance of transgender ideology and the medical establishment’s promotion of “gender-affirming” mutilation, the suspension of all standards of sexual purity, a toxic political culture that combines the boot-stamping tyranny of 1984 with the soul-numbing diversions of Brave New World. In most sectors, our cultural elites are hostile to Christianity, not with a mild liberal “I don’t believe, but you have every right to your opinions” but with a blunt “Christians are a threat to everything decent and good and need to be stamped out.” The church’s war has never been with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. But the battle lines aren’t always so obvious. Our political and cultural enemies are truly demonic. Like the harlot city, our world had gone mad drinking the cup of the Lord’s wrath. We can’t airbrush our way out. We need the kind of exorcism that only comes with prayer, fasting, and the audacious witness of martyrdom. Our battle isn’t with flesh and blood, but flesh and blood end up twisted beneath the ruins. We have to fight with a compassionate eye to the wreckage: Young men and women who permanently alter their bodies; devastated families; homosexuals who long for normalcy; aggressive antifa activists. If we don’t love these enemies as sheep without a shepherd, we’re not seeing them through the eyes of Jesus. Given the political and cultural turmoil, we’re liable to get caught up in counter-agendas, and reshape the mission of the church around anti-wokeness or Christian nationalism or some other movement du jour. We’re tempted to spend the bulk of our time and energy “confronting the culture” on social media or podcasts. Those are temptations. Our ministry is no longer Christian if it’s driven by threats and fear-mongering. However eye-catching in the short run, negative agendas build no permanent things. A culture war is hardly worth winning if, in the end, we’ve created no culture worth defending. We must stick to basics. It’s not sexy, but the most politically potent thing you can do as a leader in the church is teach the whole Bible without hesitation or apology, sing Psalms, including the mean ones, pray, train leaders, shepherd your people, build a strong community, defend the weak, celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The only way to forge the civilization of the Spirit is by distributing the Spirit’s gifts. This is not retreat but the opposite. It’s the only path to cultural and political victory, because the only genuine victory is the victory of God. As we like to say around here, worlds die. Ours has died, and the only known antidote to death is resurrection. We’re called to live in and mediate resurrection life to a world in its death throes. Which is to say, we’re called, always and everywhere, to follow and proclaim Jesus, the triumphant Lord of heaven and earth, society’s only Savior. - Peter Leithart

The unequivocal direction of history: "All the nations you have made will come and bow down before you, Lord, and will honour your name" - Psalm 86:9

“Who can deny that it is most just and most becoming in God to do good to those who worship him, and to punish with due severity those who deny his majesty?” John Calvin, Institutes, Book II