A review of Joseph C. Harrod, 40 Questions About Prayer. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2022, 292 pages, pbk.

Over the many years that I have been a Christian I have read many books about prayer. I have also written about it on several occasions. Prayer is at one and the same time one of the easiest and one of the most difficult subjects in Christian Theology. Most of the books on prayer that I have read are either too simplistic, or else they veer too far from the Scriptures and the view of reality that they present.

“all Christians have a creed whether they realize it or not. All you have to do to prove this is to ask any Christian (including yourself), ‘What do you believe the Bible teaches about (pick a topic)?’ Whatever the response is, it is a creed.” - Ligonier

“Gen Z and Millennials are looking for a community that is welcoming and where they don’t feel like they need to leave any part of themselves out to be present.” - C.Leaders

“For mothers whose youngest child was age 5 to 12, average time spent on secondary care increased by about 2.5 hours from 2019 to 2020, from an average of 5.8 to 8.2 hours a day, before dipping to an average of 7.1 hours a day in 2021.” - Pew

“Jon Lee has some words for evangelical leaders who argue that Christian ethics like kindness, honesty and loving your neighbor don’t apply to culture-war politics.” - RNS

“2022 marks the first time since 2016 that more than half of pastors feel the economy is having a negative impact on their churches and the first time since 2012 that fewer than 10% of pastors see the economy as having a positive effect.” - Lifeway

It seems (to me) inevitable that eventually all states will legalize marijuana. Despite the consequences of legalizing weed, it is the American way (it seems) to legalize that which we cannot control, and marijuana is in that category. Too many Americans are for it.

But should Christians therefore support its legalization, or merely surrender to the idea that the battle cannot be won?

“Henry’s unpublished notes, recently discovered in the archives of Capitol Hill Baptist Church….If America was going to survive and resist the spread of Marxist ideology, it would not happen through liberal Christianity, but through a recovery of the doctrinal core of historic Christianity.” - Providence

“It stands contrary to 400 years of Baptist history and everything I believe about religious liberty. I’m opposed to the idea of Christian dominion, churchly dominion over the operations of government” - Barber

“We need to be especially on guard against any claim that chemical-induced spiritual experiences draw us closer to Jesus … . more akin to witchcraft than it is to any form of historically and biblically orthodox Christianity.” - Relevant

“God’s righteousness is what makes human rights right. What we call human rights are right only if God says they are right.” - Andy Naselli

“Leaders in nine nations explain how they think theologically and biblically about personal safety as mass shootings plague the world.” - CToday

From Faith Pulpit. Read Part 1: Seek God Earnestly, and Part 2: Reflect on God Continually.

“we do have to guard against just trying to please the “let ‘em have it” crowd. I am not saying MacArthur is doing this—I commend his letter” - Kevin Schaal

“Most teenagers around the world have a positive perception of him. About half of all teens, across faith groups, describe Jesus as ‘loving’ (49%) and believe he offers hope to (46%) and cares about people (43%).” - Barna

“NHS England lawyers agreed that Scott is free to offer to pray for and with patients if he does so within agreed General Medical Council guidance” - C.Post

“While Sabbath law didn’t permit me to ask someone to do something for me that I couldn’t do for myself, I hadn’t asked; he had offered. … They made Dovie and me feel as if we were doing them a favor by allowing them to be our chauffeurs.” - RNS

“The 13-minute segment dealt with issues of sexual abuse in the SBC, political division in the United States surrounding former President Donald Trump, the separation of church and state, abortion, immigration and same-sex marriage.” - BPNews

Read Part 1.

Naturally enough, we would like to know specifically what it was that Jessey and the 17th century English Baptists found objectionable in the KJV, and our curiosity is soon satisfied by his biographer, who gives a sampling of the kinds of things Jessey sought to remedy with a revised translation. Speaking of Bible translating in the 16th and 17th centuries, and Jessey’s view of it, Edward Whiston wrote:

“At least 66 clinics in 15 states have stopped providing abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute” - C.Index

“Jack Phillips, who won a partial Supreme Court victory after refusing to make a gay couple’s wedding cake a decade ago for faith reasons is challenging a separate ruling that he violated Colorado law by refusing to make a cake celebrating a gender transition.” - RNS

“The procedure under section 8 of the Euthanasia Act did not prevent the doctor who performed the euthanasia from sitting on the Board and voting on whether his or her own acts were compatible with the substantive and procedural requirements of domestic law” - C.Post

“His approach to the Filioque is like that of the many other Trinitarian topics he tackles—ecumenical, fair, and nuanced. He distinguishes between hills to die on and hills to build bridges to, demonstrating why all of these subjects are ripe for critical conversation and reflection.” - C.Today

“unbelievers can, by virtue of common grace, come to philosophical conclusions that are helpful and true and can be utilized by the Christian. … Though in recent days, when it comes to Aristotle (and Aquinas’s use of Aristotle), there are some who are quick to sound an alarm” - Ref21

If you work in a retail environment, you’ve already seen them—maybe as early as July, but certainly in August. Yes, you’ve seen the signs!

I am referring, of course, to the signs of Christmas.¹ They’re all around you by now.

It started with the arrival of lots of new merchandise—more than you knew what to do with. And soon that gave way to … even more! By now, it feels like there’s nowhere left in the warehouse to put even one more box. Maybe you’ve even started building Santa’s house. The ol’ gent is sure to be arriving soon. How else could we expect him to have time to travel to every store in the United States?

“The bill stipulates that no funding should be budgeted or expended for the benefit of any facility owned by OU that performs gender-transition treatment on children under the age of 18.” - National Review

Peter “goes on in verse 15 to say, ‘But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.’ He wants to be clear that not all suffering is persecution.” - Challies

“I go to Fish not just because he helps me make public points that ‘fly,’ as he would say; I go to him to help me analyze arguments from worldview opponents that don’t fly.” - Mark Ward

“The following resources, curated by the Ligonier editorial team, seek to answer these eternally significant questions and build confidence that the Bible is the final and authoritative Word of God.” - Ligonier

“Below are the specific questions we asked, grouped into categories. We typically sent these questions out ahead of time for elder nominees to answer, then followed up with an interview by a few elders, and then before the whole elder team.” - 9 Marks