Blog

  • Music Camp: A Report June 18, 2013Ryan MartinSince coming as the Associate Pastor of Bethany Bible Church of Hendersonville, North Carolina, in 2010, I have seen first hand a unique ministry created by the vision of the senior pastor here, Greg Stiekes, and his wife Rena. Truly, the word “unique” is not used in vain in describing this week-long ministry to children ...
  • Edwards on the proportion of reverence to boldness June 4, 2013Ryan MartinFor those who have not (yet) read it, Edwards’s Religious Affections argues what are the proper marks of a genuine work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the regenerate. Edwards believes that the affections a saint has for God and divine things are of a particular kind, and that such affections are a necessary part of ...
  • Doing Our Own Thing May 31, 2013David de BruynWinner of “Best Book Subtitle of the Last Decade” must surely go to John McWhorter’s Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Music and Language And Why We Should, Like, Care. McWhorter is witty, disarming, and generally enjoyable (if, unfortunately, lewd in places) while arguing a serious and convincing thesis. He is no grammar-maven, writing ...
  • A call to pray before studying or hearing the Word (with a resource) May 28, 2013Ryan MartinOne of the best ways we can prepare to hear from God is through prayer. The Bible teaches that we need God’s grace for us to have a spiritual understanding of his Word. It is not enough for us merely to read the Word. We must have a spiritual understanding of its message, and this ...
  • Invitation to the (Devotional) Classics May 24, 2013David de BruynWho knows how many volumes have been written by Christians through the centuries? Spurgeon’s works alone are 63 volumes, which are equivalent to the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Unlike Spurgeon’s works, not every Christian’s writings have been preserved, or been worth preserving. Wesley said we ought to be people of one book, but students of ...
  • Prayer in Gospel Ministry May 21, 2013Ryan MartinPrayer is a necessary practice of a sound church. The role of secret and corporate prayer in the life of a Christian congregation is sometimes overlooked. Mark Dever, whose insights we value, fails to list to prayer as one of his “marks” of “healthy churches.” (Dever concedes this point and briefly addresses it in his ...
  • Neglected Battle Fronts May 17, 2013David de BruynAnd the most notable era of Scottish preaching was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they had great power. In fact, the strongest reformational preaching going on in Europe at that time was in Scotland, the great preaching of the Reformation in Scotland. For two centuries it lasted. And Blakey writing in 1888 points out ...
  • Beethoven-Only? Nie! May 10, 2013David de BruynI read, with a chuckle, that some of the writers here have been called Beethoven-only, a tongue-in-cheek, but ironically inaccurate nick.  Actually, some of us believe Western music began to go wrong with Beethoven, but let me not divert matters. I understand the idea behind the title. Scott has dealt elsewhere with the straw-man argument that we represent ...
  • Letter to a Concerned Saint May 3, 2013David de BruynDear saint, You have been reading about orthopathy and ordinate affection, and perhaps it all sounds rather perplexing and intimidating. The controversy around these matters is unnerving and unsettling, and you wish it would go away.  It has caused you some real anxiety. You are close to real distress, or worse, to dismissing the whole matter. ...
  • John Wesley on how the Bible regulates affections April 30, 2013Ryan MartinThe authority of Scripture is of utmost importance to those of us who write here on the Religious Affections blog. The Bible regulates our doctrine, our practice, and even our love. We do not believe our love is arbitrary, to be expressed by our natural whim and fancy. We refuse to believe every theological concept that ...
 

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