Category Archives: Lectures

Reading Genesis as History: Implications for Science and the Age of the Universe

UPDATE: The Conference went great and as many of you might have seen below in the comments, I posted a link to my talk on “Reading Genesis as History”. The entire talk with Q&A are available for your free viewing at the following location. Enjoy!

I will be presenting at this year’s online Apologetics conference. Click on this link and see the schedule for the conference. Thursday’s (April 19th) sessions are free to the public and that is the day I will be presenting – at 8 PM EST. My topic is entitled, “Reading Genesis as History: Implications for Science and the Age of the Universe.” Please do consider attending and check out the other topics that are going to be discussed and make sure you check them out too!

Culture News: The Most Disturbing Presentation of the Year?

Well, many of us all use facebook and twitter and any number of other social networking programs online. And ultimately, many of you have started playing games over those social networks. So, what’s the big deal you ask? Just watch this presentation all the way through and you tell me if there is problem…

See the article here  that originally offered the “title” of this post: The Most Disturbing Presentation of the Year

The Law and Laws: A Biblical Overview

The above article is something worth reading if you are interested in understanding the use of the Law in Scripture and how it applies to us today. Here is an excerpt:

I. Introduction

Paul says in Romans 7:14 that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” Our attitude towards God’s law ought to mimic the Apostle Paul’s positive attitude. A very important interpretive principle should guide and direct our understanding and our application of God’s law to our lives and the lives of others, a principle that is often neglected or dismissed in this day and age: the principle of periodicity.

The Princeton scholar, Geerhardus Vos, summed this up well at the beginning of his book on Biblical Theology by stating:

  • The method of Biblical Theology is in the main determined by the principle of historic progression. Hence the division of the course of revelation into certain periods. Whatever may be the modern tendency towards eliminating the principle of periodicity from historical science, it remains certain that God in the unfolding of revelation has regularly employed this principle. From this it follows that the periods should not be determined at random, or according to subjective preference, but in strict agreement with the lines of cleavage drawn by revelation itself. The Bible is, as it were, conscious of its own organism; it feels, what we cannot always say of ourselves, its own anatomy. The principle of successive Berith-makings (Covenant-makings), as marking the introduction of new periods, plays a large role in this, and should be carefully heeded.

Therefore, one of the foundational principles of correctly interpreting the Scriptures is that one respects and listens to the covenantal context of any given passage in Scripture when the meaning is being interpreted and application is made. To better understand the law, one must apply the principle of periodicity in studying the function of the law in the pre-fall, post-fall, and New Testament eras.

II. The Principle of Periodicity and the Pre-Fall era

First, in the Garden of Eden, Adam was under a covenant of works: there was law. The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) states, “God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which He bound him and all his posterity, to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience . . .” (19.1). In that garden the tree of life and the testing tree of the knowledge of good and evil contained the seeds of the gospel. The tree of life was essentially a symbol of the best life that awaited Adam if he were to pass his probation in that garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signified the law because it was given as a “trial of obedience and by sin (no less than that) [was] made the occasion of death and the minister of condemnation.”

Recognizing the role and application of the law as conditioned by the covenantal context is especially important in the differences evidenced between the pre-fall situation and that situation following the fall of mankind. For example, works play a fundamentally different role in the pre-fall covenant, a covenant of works, than they do in the post-fall covenantal period, in the covenant of grace. In the pre-fall covenant, works function as a condition of acquiring life; in the post-fall covenant they follow the act of justification and demonstrate that one has life in the Son.

Let’s now turn our attention to the periods after the fall…

[Continue Reading]

2008 National Desiring God Conference

The Power of Words and the Wonder of God

All the video from the conference is now online:

You can also read Dr. Piper’s message here. Abraham Piper provides this summary for us:

The way we talk can undercut the cross. This much is clear in 1 Corinthians (1:17; 2:1). But does all eloquence minimize the gospel? Does the pursuit of verbal impact necessarily preempt the power of Christ?

Both George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were eloquent, each in his own way. Did this “empty the cross of its power”? More than that, the Bible itself contains many portions that are nothing less than eloquent. How do we make sense of this?

A pointer is found in the context of 1 Corinthians. Here Paul makes clear that there is a kind of eloquence that exalts self and therefore cripples the cross. But this isn’t the only brand of eloquence. There’s another kind, a distinctly Christian eloquence, that humbles self and exalts Christ.

Our eloquence will never be the determining factor in causing someone to believe the gospel, but it still makes a difference. We can hope for at least 5 benefits from Christian eloquence:

  1. keeping interest
  2. gaining sympathy
  3. awakening sensitivity
  4. speaking memorably
  5. increasing power

[HT: Abraham Piper]

Fitna, The Islamization of Europe, and America’s Future

This movie may be too disturbing for some people. I encourage you to watch it, though, because it will show you the real face of Islam that actually agrees with everything the Koran teaches. Read the verses and pay careful attention to what they are calling Muslims to do in order to serve their god, Allah. If the movie is too much, please scroll on down and read the transcript I’ve posted below.

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Below is a transcript of a speech given by the creator of the film, Geert Wilders (Chairman Party for Freedom, the Netherlands), at the end of September, 2008, on the topic of Wisdom and Courage. I would highly recommend that you read through it and take to heart what he is saying about Islam and the need for Western resistance. Islam is not going away and the last thing Westerners, especially Christian Westerners, need to do is ignore what is going on in Europe and in their very own back yards. Islam will not rest until it is either defeated or the whole world is converted to or conquered by Islam. Muslims do not believe that their will be peace in the world UNTIL Shariah Law is implemented in every nation for all the people of the World.

Please read the article below and start thinking about things you can do to help stop this movement of Islamization in the Western World.

[HT: Berny]

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Geert Wilders, chairman Party for Freedom, the Netherlands

Speech at the Four Seasons, New York
September 25, 2008

Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in a row, the government declares a national emergency. So Four Seasons, that’s new to me.

It’s great to be in New York. When I see the skyscrapers and office buildings, I think of what Ayn Rand said: “The sky over New York and the will of man made visible.” Of course. Without the Dutch you would have been nowhere, still figuring out how to buy this island from the Indians. But we are glad we did it for you. And, frankly, you did a far better job than we possibly could have done.

I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe? Patriots from around Europe risk their lives every day to prevent precisely this scenario form becoming a reality.

My short lecture consists of 4 parts.

First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. Thirdly, if you are still here, I will talk a little bit about the movie you just saw. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.

Continue reading Fitna, The Islamization of Europe, and America’s Future

Worldwide Classroom at Covenant Theological Seminary

Justin Taylor reports:

A new website for Covenant’s Worldwide Classroom:

Learn from wherever you are in the world. The free courseware available on this site includes every class you need to help you in life, ministry, discipling and equipping others, and taking your faith deeper and mind to greater degrees of Biblical understanding. Our hope and prayer is that no matter where God has stationed you in his Kingdom or how he has gifted you to serve, you will find that these resources encourage and strengthen your ministry. You may download, use, and share this courseware at no charge for non-commercial purposes.

The seminary itself also has a new website, and also “a new Living Christ360 website, which is the media ministry of the Seminary with daily broadcasts and devotionals from Bryan Chapell.”

Gheens Lectures by Simon Gathercole

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has now posted online lectures by Simon Gathercole (NT lecturer at the University of Cambridge), delivered there in November 2004:

The first three talks in these Gheens Lectures served as the foundation for Gathercole’s book, The Preexistent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

[HT: JT]

Intro to Islam

James White has been posting his new video series about Islam on YouTube. This is an excellent introduction regarding what Muslims believe about their own religion, as well as Christianity. I encourage you to watch these three 8 minute videos and learn something about this fast growing religion, especially if you haven’t studied before now. Here are the 3 videos Dr. White has posted so far…

Intro #1

Intro #2

Intro #3

Biblical Training

Biblical Training

This is an excellent web site for everyone interested in learning more about God and His word. Especially for those who do not have the funds or the time to train in a traditional education setting. I would encourage everyone who’s interested in learning more about the God and the Bible to visit this web site and register for a class that interests you.

Here is a list of some of the professors who offer courses at BiblicalTraining.org:

Enjoy and May God richly bless you as your study His word!

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

G. K. Beale on Revelation

Here is a great seminar on the Book of Revelation, given by G. K. Beale. You should definitely give it a listen sometime! It will be well worth your time given the clarity of thought that will come to you as you study the WHOLE Bible over the coming years. Enjoy!

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

[HT: James Grant]