In the Religious Affections Jonathan Edwards ventures this explanation of why there is song and poetry.

And the duty of singing praises to God, seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.

For this to have the weight it does for Edwards we need to remember that 1) “true religion consists very much in the affections,” and 2) there is no true Christian faith without the affections being awakened, and 3) God is most glo…

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This is mainly for husbands. I’ve seen a few more things since last Sunday’s message on John the Baptist and his crazy happiness. For example, I read this:

It is possible (but not right) for baptized believers to act in their lives as though the gospel were not true. How many conservative husbands are outraged if some liberal preacher says that Jesus did not rise from the dead, when their daily treatment of their wives makes the same statement? At least the liberal only states his heresy occasionally. (Douglas Wilson, Reformed Is Not Enough, p. 168)

Believing the gospel leads us to treat our wives differently than if we didn’t believe the gospel.

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In the parable of the tenants, the owner of the vineyard finally sends his son to collect the fruit that the tenants refused to give to his servants. The tenants had beaten and killed the servants. But the owner says, “They will respect my son” (Mark 12:6).

This sounds like God, who is represented by the owner, thinks his Son will not be killed but will be well received. This would contradict the truth that God sent the Son precisely to die (John 10:18; Isaiah 53:10).

So someone might try to argue that Mark 12:6 supports the view that God did not know what would happen to the Son of God when he came.

The usual way of defending the foreknowledge of God and the predestination of …

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The book of Judges—what a mess! It starts bad and gets worse and worse, then ends so poorly that it’s awkward to read in public.

Yet God put it in the Book and means it to be for “our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11; Romans 15:4). The author of Hebrews even goes so far as to mention Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah in his faith hall of fame (Hebrews 11:32). What are we to do with this?

Tremper Longman and Ray Dillard help us see how Judges is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)—and for pointing to Jesus.

What a collection of human beings in the book of Judges! Strange heroes they are—a reluctant f…

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Here’s a great quote from Richard Cunningham, leader of University and Colleges Christian Fellowship, in response to the question whether the gathering New Word Alive is “narrow, schismatic, conservative."

It’s only as narrow theologically as the gospel demands, but as culturally broad and generous as the gospel permits.

Watch the whole video interview.

At 9:05 PM, May 20, 2009 Ralph Winter, the founder of the U. S. Center for World Mission died.

Nobody in the area of missions had a greater impact on me. Others had a greater impact on me in the area of missions, like Jonathan Edwards, but no one actually in missions affected me more than Ralph Winter.

First, he was a professor of mine at Fuller Seminary and introduced me to the stunning works of God in missions in the last two hundred years. His vision of the advance of the gospel was breathtaking.

He wore a bow tie in those days, iconoclast that he was, and was fined by the seminary for not returning our papers on time. None of us begrudged him his scattered approach to lif…

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The folks at Westminster Bookstore have helped set up a remarkable website with serious reflections on the kinds of scientific and religious questions raised by the Dan Brown blockbuster Angels and Demons.

It’s the kind of place you could send your unbelieving friends who have questions.

Rachel Barkey is a 37 year-old wife and mother of two who is dying of cancer. She only has weeks to live.

On March 4, she addressed 600 women and in 55 minutes delivered one of the most God-centered, gospel-soaked, honest, moving, and beautiful messages I have heard. I don’t know that Rachel has read John’s article, Don’t Waste Your Cancer, but she is a beautiful example of every point John made.

Check out Rachel’s website where you can watch or download the video and audio. You will not regret the 55 minutes. Very little is more important than the things she says.

I am profoundly grateful that God has brought to Desiring God a team of directors and senior directors who are radically devoted to the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. They are Christ-exalting, courageous, kind, and creative.

One of them is John Knight, Senior Director for Development. He read President Obama’s speech at Notre Dame and has a few questions for the President. John is concerned about abortion and speaks as a father of a deeply-loved son with significant disabilities.

I recommend his article, which he posted at Bethlehem Baptist Church's disabilities ministry site: “When do we get to talk about the other consequences of ab…

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I would like to encourage all fundamentalists and former fundamentalists to feel a good breeze from the fevered landscape of controversy. It’s from an article by Kevin Bauder, the president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary, across town from us here in Minneapolis.

If you are a younger fundamentalist and hope to stay one and be a good one, read this.

If you think you are not a fundamentalist and wonder what the best ones are like, read this.

If you read John Piper and think you have to stop being a fundamentalist, read this.

If you are wondering if you can be a Calvinist without an attitude and a fundamentalist, read this.

Here’s a waft of the breeze:

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