Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
April 9, 2021
GAFCON dodged a bullet this week. Just when you thought that division between GAFCON chairman and ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach and Nigerian Primate Henry Ndukuba was irreparably damaged and a parting of the ways was inevitable, a compromise was reached.
Read moreBack in March, 2020, many of us pressed pause on "regular" church, assuming we would be back in a few weeks. Four months later most churches are trying to sputter back to some form of in-person ministry, and we've all realized the impact of this crisis will not be measured in weeks or even months, but years. We must prepare for church after Covid-19, writes Derek Allen.
Three hard realities have emerged.
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A new survey finds churchgoers say they plan to return to in-person services. Many churches are already meeting in person, but attendance has typically been smaller to accommodate for social distancing. That will likely change, a Lifeway Research poll suggests.
A study of 1,000 U.S. Protestant churchgoers found 91% said they planned on returning to in-person worship when it is safe to do so.
Read morePlease don't misunderstand me, I am not opposed to prayer and Bible reading. But the spiritual disciplines are either the means by which we reach God, or they are a joyful response to a gracious God who has already reached us. And Christianity is either primarily about our performance, or about Christ's accomplishments on our behalf when we didn't perform well (Be ye perfect!), and the death he died as our substitute when we deserved to die because of our sin.
Read moreWe hope and pray it will not be so in 2021. But who knows? As Walter Russell Mead observed, "We are still in the midst of the greatest pandemic in 100 years, the greatest economic contraction in American history, the most polarizing president, I think it's fair to say, that we've seen certainly in my lifetime, a summer of racial unrest and polarization and the sort of Black Lives Matter and the police violence and other issues.
Read moreUsing feminine pronouns and names for a biological male or male pronouns and names for a biological female is comparable to agreeing with an anorexic that she is indeed overweight. It feeds a gnostic delusion and encourages further abuse to the body. -- Robert A.J. Gagnon
For revisionists and liberals, the afterlife is an afterthought --- Anonymous
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
December 11, 2020
A half truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. --- J.I. Packer
You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. -- C.S. Lewis
Read more"Walk more closely with God. Get nearer to Christ. Seek to exchange hope for assurance. Seek to feel the witness of the Spirit more closely and distinctly every year. Lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily threatens you. Press towards the mark more earnestly. Fight a better fight, and war a better warfare every year you live. Pray more. Read more. Subdue self more. Love the brethren more.
Read moreIf we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the end all this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions. --- J. C. Ryle
Read more"Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word." ― J.C. Ryle, Holiness
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
October 16, 2020