The Secret Wireless

  Some reactions to Matthew Bates’ Salvation by Allegiance Alone & Gospel Allegiance . Matthew Bates, associate professor of theology at Quincy University, has written two books ( Salvation by Allegiance Alone and Gospel Allegiance) that argue for a change in the way Christians, especially Protestants, talk about faith, the Gospel, justification, and salvation. This is not a book review, but more of a theological reaction to Bates’ arguments. These are just short observations. Obviously, to do justice to these arguments would take an entire book or two, and that is just not going to happen. First, the good.   In both Salvation and Gospel Allegiance Bates lays out what he believes should be the actual content of the Church’s Gospel. His summary looks a great deal like Saint Paul’s summary in First Corinthians 15 and the second article of the Apostles’ Creed. This is a needed reminder that a preacher is not called merely to talk about the Gospel, but is actually to declare w

Cory Booker believes that women need men to stand with them. I couldn't agree more. His open letter to all men in GQ calls on all of us in the masculine sex "to listen, to speak out, and to take action." Let's do it. Start by listening to (and watching) an ultrasound. You can find them all over Youtube. It will change your life. My young bride (we were both barely 21) suspected that God might have blessed our marriage with a new life. She made an appointment and we went together to the physician. He confirmed what her own womanly knowledge had told her: she was 9 weeks pregnant. He also immediately prepared an ultrasound and we were able to see our first son, barely the size of a grape, with his vulnerable little heart firing off 153 beats per minute.    I do not have any experience in the baby-carrying portion of pregnancy. I do, however, have plenty of experience when it comes to listening to the rapid beat of human heart that is smaller than the tip of m

It is not the raging critic who's words cut the deepest. It is the one who intends not harm, but help. A well thought out critique delivered in true concern pierces the soul, where an impassioned attack would have glanced off my defensive scales. No one else could have given that message. God chose the right messenger to sneak past my sinful armor and turn me to repent. Thank God for godly critics.

Hebrews 3 12 "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,  'Today, if you hear his voice,  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.'  16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief."             Despite what some Christians believe, it is possible for Christians to fall away from the faith.  This should c

In the forgiving Word of God the incomprehensible greatness of God, the intolerable glory of His Godhead, the glory of His grace, has appeared, has appeared to eyes that cannot comprehend it even as they gaze upon it.  It has been manifested to hearts that stand in trembling awe of it even as they believe in it.  This grace of which the psalmist sings is no cheap, easy grace, no easy commodity which complacency can casually appropriate.  We can be sure of it, surer of it than of ourselves, than of our own righteousness or our sins or our life or our death.  But we cannot be complacent about it.  Our souls still wait for the Lord, more than watchmen that wait for the morning.  They know the morning will come; they are sure that it will come, and yet they wait for it, and they hail its first graying as a new and wondrous thing. So we wait for the Lord and know that He is Lord and will forgive.  But forgiveness remains the perpetual miracle still.  God as Forgiver is the object of our f

#shoutyourabortion Go ahead.  You can shout.  Scream until your lungs give out.  But it won't work, because it is not the silence that is your problem.  It is the whisper. The case against abortion is becoming more solid.   The videos are piling up.  It is clear that abortionists are not only killing babies, they are harvesting their organs and selling them, padding their bottom line.   And that means you have been dead wrong about abortion. If you have been privately scandalized by the fleecing of the unborn but have not spoken publicly, or even failed to share your views and convictions with your close friends, then these videos leave you without defense.  You should have been speaking out long ago.  You should have stood up for the defenseless.  You should have shown compassion for hurting and confused mothers.  And shouting now will not silence the whisper. If you have supported abortion rights, if you have been proudly pro-choice, then shame on you.  These videos