Ligonier Ministries The teaching fellowship of R.C. Sproul

The year 1971 was a tumultuous time in American history. Three years earlier, the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago became a stage for riots, with armed police and guardsmen marching through the city streets. That same year, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. The nation was divided over the war in Vietnam. In May of 1970, gunshots rang out on the campus of Kent State University. In 1971, the Nixon Administration declared a “War on Drugs.” Onlookers thought the American nation might unravel before it was to reach its bicentennial anniversary.   Keep Reading

Martin Luther confessed, “The Scriptures are our vineyard in which we should all work.” And work in that vineyard he did. Luther’s formal education initially took him into the fields of the arts and sciences. He was schooled in the subjects laid out and developed by Aristotle. His keen mind prepared him well for master’s studies in law. All the while, he struggled deep in his soul.   Keep Reading

It’s one of those moments we wish we could have seen firsthand. It took place in the square before the Water Gate. At daybreak, Ezra brought out the law. He unrolled the scroll and began reading. He kept on until noon, and all the while the great crowd gave their rapt attention. The law was read, interpreted, and studied. Nehemiah 8, which records this event, also tells us that this Bible study session resulted in worship. The people were humbled, and their faces looked to the ground. They bowed before God as He revealed Himself in His holy Word.   Keep Reading

B.B. Warfield's world, once he arrived at Princeton in 1887, was not very large at all. His house, the Old Hodge House, conveniently situated him next to Alexander Hall, which contained Princeton Seminary's dorm rooms and classrooms. Across the lawn stood Miller Chapel. His own well-stocked study — as editor of The Princeton Review he had a constant flow of books sent to him — could be supplemented by a short trip to the seminary's library. Yet, Warfield's impact belies this small world, stretching far beyond the tree-lined campus of Princeton. Keep Reading

It’s one of those moments we wish we could have seen firsthand. It took place in the square before the Water Gate. At daybreak, Ezra brought out the law. He unrolled the scroll and began reading. He kept on until noon, and all the while the great crowd gave their rapt attention. The law was read, interpreted, and studied. Nehemiah 8, which records this event, also tells us that this Bible study session resulted in worship. The people were humbled, and their faces looked to the ground. They bowed before God as He revealed Himself in His holy Word.   Keep Reading

One of the most important paragraphs in the Bible may very well be Romans 3:21-26. This densely packed paragraph offers a thorough and glorious discussion of justification by faith. Not surprisingly, this paragraph plays a crucial role in the history of doctrine. Martin Luther camped out here. And not surprisingly, the roots of this paragraph extend throughout the Bible itself. Two key places deserve notice. The first takes us back to Exodus, while the second comes near the end of John's Gospel. Keep Reading

When it comes to Saint Patrick, the true story is even more exciting than the legend and the myth. The facts are far better than the fable. This day that belongs to St. Patrick has become about leprechauns, shamrocks, pots of gold, and green—green everywhere. Famously, the City of Chicago dumps forty pounds of its top-secret dye into the river. A green racing stripe courses through the city. But long before there was the St. Patrick of myth, there was the Patrick of history. Who was Patrick? Keep Reading

Why do you work? I once heard a rather depressing answer that went something like this: "We get a job so we can buy our kids shoes, so they can go to school, so they can get a job someday, so that they can buy their kids shoes, so that they . . . " In other words, work is meaningless. In fact, from this perspective life itself becomes rather meaningless—simply an endless cycle. Keep Reading

Maybe it began earlier than the 1950s and '60s, but those decades seem to mark the rise of the fascination with youth in American culture. The famous line that celebrates all things young, often wrongly attributed to James Dean, declares, "Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse behind." Keep Reading

R.C. Sproul, theologian, pastor, and founder of Ligonier Ministries, died on December 14, 2017, at the age of 78, after being hospitalized due to complications from emphysema. Dr. Sproul is survived by his childhood sweetheart and wife of fifty-seven years, Vesta Ann (Voorhis); their daughter, Sherrie Sproul Dorotiak, and her husband, Dennis; and their son, Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr., and his wife, Lisa. The Sprouls have eleven grandchildren, one granddaughter deceased, and seven great-grandchildren.   Keep Reading