The Tulip Driven Life

By: Thomas F. Booher  I would encourage you to read (in print or online) Matthew Poole's commentary on I Corinthians 5. The PCA has been leavened with scandalous wickedness for years & hasn't purged it out. They have not because there has been a lack of a will to do so. This is not an indictment of those who truly have fought (and were largely ignored even by naive conservatives) to purge the leaven that was among them (and it isn't just Greg Johnson/Side-B issues, it's woke-ism, feminism, phony racist charges, etc.). But it is to say that whether we like it or not, in Presbyterianism you are covenanted together, even if the worst leaven isn't in your Presbytery.  This spreadsheet is constantly updated and shows how grim things really are in the PCA. Overture 37 is already dead, and overture 23 is on the brink of failing as well. Both of them, but especially 23, would have focused on eradicating "gay but celibate" Christian pastors in the PCA.  https:/...

By: Thomas F. Booher Christ predicted woe and destruction on cities that did not repent at His preaching, and after He had done many miracles there (Matt. 11:21-24), saying that it would be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Sodom than for them. This indicates that not only was Christ healing, but He was preaching repentance from sin, which means He was also engaging society by telling them that they in fact were sinners that needed to repent to be saved. Christ healed, and Christ told those whom He healed that they were sinners that needed spiritual healing, not just physical healing. For those that did not repent, Christ now pronounced woe on them (on whole cities!) and warned them of their coming doom. Now it is interesting to note that the sin of Sodom was sexual sin, and homosexual sin gets a special mention all by itself (Jude 1:7). For Christ to use Sodom as an example of moral perversion and wickedness means that Christ is pointing out that the kinds o...

By: Thomas F. Booher I don't think enough Christian bloggers are blogging about the Christian contribution to the state of affairs in the United States today, Matt Walsh notwithstanding. I would say American Christians as a whole are apathetic, even though we like to talk  about being on fire for Jesus. That fire is usually outside the United Sates, one or two weeks a year on a "mission's trip" that largely consists of taking selfies with starving children to ensure God doesn't forget the good deeds we did there.  We are more concerned about silly things that may or may not be biblical like social justice, AIDS, Israel, invisible children, warring around the world, or sex trafficking than we are about the much larger and directly biblical social concerns of abortion and, yes, gay marriage. Or just gay sex in general. Not that I care to know or interfere with the preference of two dudes and what they do in their shared bed. But what I do care about is...

By: Thomas Fletcher Booher Quick, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the great commission? Starving children, poverty, tents, preaching the gospel in the wilderness to these stricken people so that they may receive an inheritance in the kingdom of God? I googled the great commission and the most common image that comes up is of a globe, either with the cross or Jesus' hands over it. The general idea in people's minds seems to be that the great commission is meant to stir us to take the gospel far and wide, on a global scale, so that those who do not have it can hear it and be saved. But is this really what Jesus meant?   Yes and no. Let's look at what Jesus actually said. Matthew 28: 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teachi...

By: Sean Rice Lady Gaga's message in  Born This Way  is 'you were born like this - so there is nothing wrong; celebrate it!' But what if things aren't that sweet and simple? Right up front, this isn't a post about lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender lifestyles (which is mainly what Gaga is singing about  in her song ); we're talking about the entire human condition. When it comes to sin, wickedness, and depravity, we were born this way. This is who we are.  (1)  But that's a problem; despite what Gaga says, that's nothing to celebrate.  (2)  The solution isn't to feel better about our sin and say 'I'm on the right track'; it's to be born  again  -  Christian parlance for putting your faith in Jesus  and letting God change you, letting Him fix what is broken in you. THE CHILDREN OF CHERNOBYL: BORN BROKEN It was the second-last day of an event called  Youth Quake  when the prayer request came out....

By: Thomas Fletcher Booher Sometimes it is good to talk on current issues. I assume most people reading this will be aware that Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia and leader of the Passion Movement was invited to give the benediction at President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony. Then a gay rights group dug up a sermon some 15-20 years ago that Giglio preached where he called homosexuality a sin. A big stink was then raised, and Giglio withdrew to not cause a greater controversy. A pro-gay "pastor" has replaced Giglio.  Four years ago Rick Warren faced similar heat, but he was not removed. So in four years the tide has turned in the public eye and in the White House- to condemn homosexuality as a sin is to not be with the times, with the beliefs of today, with what the god of "today" says.  I want to address how this has happened. It has happened because Christians don't know their Bibles and what it says about...

By: Sean Rice An American publication named  Slate  recently published an article by Will Oremus called 'Was Jesus a Homophobe?'* Surprisingly, given that it is a pretty left-leaning publication, I actually agree with a lot of what Oremus had to say. He doesn't seem to stretch facts to come to favourable conclusions. He does criticize Paul for wording things a little harshly when it comes to homosexuality (most Christians would criticize Paul's use of language, too - how many of  you  would stay if your pastor dismissively told the troublemakers in your church to castrate themselves? See  Galatians 5.12 ), though I don't disagree with the strong tone that Paul sometimes takes on issues. Will Oremus writes, '[Was Jesus a homophobe?] Yes and no. While it's reasonable to assume that Jesus and his fellow Jews in first-century Palestine would have disapproved of gay sex, there is no record of his ever having mentioned homosexuality, let alone express...

QUESTION:  Is homosexuality unnatural?  is it perverse?  Is the only natural sex that which is potentially procreative?  Set out your position, drawing from Richard D. Mohr's article in comparison or contrast.  I have to say that, overall I agree with many of Richard D. Mohr’s arguments. I think only on religious grounds, or on the arguments of teleology, can one show that homosexuality is unnatural. Mohr does a good job showing that many men and women throughout history have had homosexual desires and passions, even if it has been in the minority. So, one cannot really say that it is unnatural in the sense that it is something that people have not found appealing or desirable. Mohr points out that what most people believe in any given society do not determine right and wrong or morality. After all, Nazi society with its racism and mob rule were deemed as moral. As we all know, the United States enforced slavery, and many argued that blacks were less than hu...