Latest Article

  • Biblical Discernment in Christian Literature

    PrintVolume 26, Issue 4, August/September 2020 Biblical discernment today, if not at an all-time low, is surely bumping along at the bottom of the pond, and nowhere is that more evident than in Christian literature.  Most people, if a book or blog post is written by a credentialed Christian author, and published by at least a semi-respected Christian publishing house, let down their guard and accept unquestionably whatever is disseminated. This is true not only of the average believer but also of many in leadership. For example, Subversive Sabbath, the Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World by A. J. Swoboda, won Christianity Today’s 2019 Book of the Year award in the spiritual formation category, and thus would presumably represent spirituality as understood by mainstream evangelicalism today. Written by a pastor/seminary professor, the book’s strength lies in its reminder that the believer needs rest as grounded in the Sabbath…Read More »

Recent Articles

  • The Enneagram Part 2

    PrintVolume 26, Issue 3, June/July 2020 In the first article on this subject, I began by developing a case for biblical authority and sufficiency, stating that anything that attempts to by-pass Scripture as the source of truth for Christian living …Read More »

  • The Enneagram – Part 1

    PrintVolume 26, Issue 2, April/May 2020 If you have not heard of the Enneagram yet, you will soon.  According to Wikipedia it “is a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types. …Read More »

  • Girl, Wash Your Face A Critique

    Print(Volume 26, Issue 1, February/March 2020) The best lies, the most potent lies, are rooted in deception. Obvious lies seldom get out of the starting gate, while well-disguised lies are racing around the track.  John 1:5 informs us that Jesus …Read More »

  • Music and Worship

    Print(Volume 25, Issue 7, December 2019/January 2020) As a pastor, I have long been an interested observer of the ever-changing ebb and flow of music as related to the church and, specifically, worship.  As a Baby Boomer, I have personally …Read More »

Recent Book Reviews

  • Live Not by Lies, a Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher

    PrintRod Dreher, author of the popular The Benedict Option (see my review here:  https://tottministries.org/?s=The+Benedict+Option) has written Live Not By Lies as a warning about the soft totalitarianism he sees rapidly overtaking America.  The means of resisting the propaganda is, according …Read More »

  • Gospel Conversations, How to Care Like Christ

    PrintGospel Conversations, How to Care Like Christ by Robert W. Kellemen (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015) 397 pp., paper, $18.99 Gospel Conversations is a long, intense and thorough manual for biblical counseling.  The big idea communicated throughout the book is that …Read More »

  • Francis Asbury: God’s Circuit Rider

    PrintFrancis Asbury: God’s Circuit Rider by Charles Ludwig (Milford, Michigan: Mott Media, 1984) 206 pp., paper, $5.94 used. If someone is looking for a short, simple history of American Methodism, Francis Asbury would be hard to beat. Written at about …Read More »

  • Social Justice Goes to Church

    PrintSocial Justice Goes to Church, the New Left in Modern American Evangelicalism by Jon Harris (Greenville, South Carolina: Ambassador International, 2020) 205 pp., paper $16.99 Jon Harris has written an important book documenting the history leading up to the modern …Read More »