The style of the book of Jonah is distinctive among the prophetic books. Aside from portions of the book of Jeremiah and Daniel, all of the other prophetic books focus primarily on the message of the prophet. The book of Jonah, on the other hand, is a biographical prose narrative...

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A passion to see Christians take God at His word inspired Dr. R. C. Sproul Jr. to write Believing God: Twelve Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept, the latest release from Reformation Trust Publishing."Of course we believe that God speaks truthfully," Sproul writes. "But do we really believe it? Does...

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Here's a glimpse at the topics to be studied in our Doctor of Ministry program at the new Ligonier Academy. There's still time to enroll for the July courses with Drs. R.C. Sproul and Steven J. Lawson. Click here for more information.DM801 − The Doctrine of Justification − A study...

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Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison If I have heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: "A Calvinist evangelist? Isn't that an oxymoron? Calvinism undermines evangelism." This accusation has been repeated so many times that few make the effort to argue it. Instead, it...

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Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not enough for many denizens of the twenty-first century. In their search for a more palatable Jesus, novelists such as Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code, feminist theologians such as Elaine Pagels, and their acolytes in...

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(...or 11 reasons I'm looking forward to March 19)Next month I get to spend three days with 11 of my heroes. It's hard to look over the line-up for Ligonier's upcoming national conference and not pause to give thanks to God for these men. They are valiant-for-truth and imitators of...

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by R.C. Sproul I remember Mama standing in front of me, her hands poised on her hips, her eyes glaring with hot coals of fire and saying in stentorian tones, "Just what is the big idea, young man?" Instinctively I knew my mother was not asking me an abstract question...

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The epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon were written by Paul during the early part of his Roman imprisonment. Paul apparently wrote to the Colossian church because he had heard that false teachers had come to the city and were spreading erroneous doctrine in the young church. He writes...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" pt. 2) Relativism and the Issue of Abortion One of the most controversial issues of our day is that of abortion. It is tearing this country apart politically, economically, socially, and in every other way. Legislation is pending in...

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by R.C. Sproul (Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" pt. 1) Our Lives Have Been Changed by the Threat of Nuclear War In the twentieth century, the buzz word that replaced evolution was relativity. We are all aware of the changes in our lives that have been brought about by...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism pt. 4) As missionaries attempting to understand the way of thinking in our culture, we must turn our attention to twin topics under the umbrella heading of secularism--pluralism and relativism. Let us think once more of the high wall we examined earlier, the...

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In Sammy and His Shepherd, Susan Hunt offers families a delightful story, built around the twenty-third Psalm, that will help children grow in their understanding of what it is to live among a community of redeemed people guided by a loving Lord. She recently participated in an interview with Tabletalk...

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Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. I've got great news -- I just saved a bundle on my car insurance. This pop-cultural punchline might just expose a real problem we have in our Christian sub-culture: we don't know what the good news is. The confusion, from one perspective, is...

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Generation to Generation by John R. de Witt When I began to consider what I should say in these pages, I found myself pulled in two directions. My first impulse was to lament the spiritual decay that people of my generation have observed at close range and to urge the...

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Eric Alexander: Left to our selves, there are many things of which we are capable: we can persuade people intellectually; we can arouse and inspire them emotionally; and we can win them to ourselves psychologically. But the one thing we cannot do is to regenerate them spiritually. That task is...

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Dr. Michael Haykin recently stopped by Ligonier's offices to record an interview regarding his new book, The Christian Lover (Reformation Trust, 2009). This interview was featured in our Renewing Your Mind broadcast yesterday. Listen here.Here are two video clips from that interview:Also, our friend John Piper mentions this book and...

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The book of Obadiah, the shortest in the Old Testament, is a brief oracle against the nation of Edom. Its date is uncertain. Scholars have proposed dates ranging from the ninth century to the post-exilic period. My own view is that it is to be dated in the early exilic...

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Tabletalk magazine is issued faithfully every month in the hope that, among other things, it will encourage readers to ponder the truths of God when they lie down, when they rise up, and, yes, even when they fly. Missionary pilot Glenn Grubb recently wrote to share how he relies on...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism pt. 3) "Be of Good Cheer--The World Has Overcome Us!" Here we see the vivid contrast between pessimistic existentialism and Christianity. Christianity also features a ringing call to courage. The most frequent negative prohibition found in the New Testament comes from the lips...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism (pt. 2)) Theater of the Absurd European films, such as those of Ingmar Bergman, Antonini, and Fellini have communicated some of the motifs of existentialism. The "theater of the absurd," a phenomenon that began in France in the 1950s and came to Broadway...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism pt. 1) Is There Anyone Who Can Help? Our dilemma is this: We are caring persons living in a world that doesn't care. We cannot look above the universe or outside the universe to find someone who cares. There is nobody out there;...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal) "Man is a useless passion." These words penned by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre provide the model of modem existentialism. In this simple statement are found the most basic elements of a modern theory of man. It is a bottom-line judgment,...

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In addition to the more than twenty series already available on DVD, we have several new collections now available.TOGETHER FOR THE GOSPEL 2008Celebrate the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and its centrality to the task of faithful, biblical pastoring, with Thabiti Anyabwile, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, John MacArthur,...

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The prophet Amos ministered during the overlapping reigns of Jeroboam II in Israel (793-753) and Uzziah in Judah (792-740). His ministry occurred sometime between 760 and 755 B.C. Amos prophesied at a unique time in the history of the divided kingdom. From approximately 780 to 750, Egypt, Syria, and Assyria...

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Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Kevin Smith Gary Thomas, in his book Seeking the Face of God, makes this statement: "Christian health is not defined by how happy we are, how prosperous or healthy we are, or even by how many people we have led to the Lord in...

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Unfortunately, it is not too long before we discover that our heroes are just as flawed as we are. History is filled with details of great men and women who succumbed to their flaws and temptations. Regrettably, we find this is true both of the heroes of the kingdom of...

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Pastor's Perspective by Daniel R. Hyde Quick. What are the Gospels? Time is up. Did you answer: "The Gospels are the biographies of Jesus Christ?" When we read the Gospels as biographies only, we basically look at them like trees apart from the proverbial forest. There is a better way...

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Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul In the history of biblical studies, we have seen in the last two centuries the rise of so-called "higher criticism." So much of higher criticism is fueled by skepticism with respect to the reliability of the biblical texts. Since orthodox Christians stand opposed...

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Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons I am a Christian, and I am a Protestant. I am a Christian because I trust Jesus Christ alone, believing that salvation is accomplished by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. I am a devout Protestant...

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The February edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Gospels." The issue looks at the main point and the main purpose of each of the four gospels. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Steve Baugh, Robert Cara, John de Witt, Daniel Hyde, Robert Rothwell and Kevin Smith. We do...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, February 2009...