My friend Paul Cox has been working hard on illustrating Volume 2 of the comic book adaptation of Calvin's Institutes. Did a great job translating theology into a fun, simple, easy to understand format. Pre-order now, and in the mean time get a copy of volume 1 if you haven't already.

Overwhelmingly, people view children as accessories to add to their lives when they desire rather than as gifts from God and indeed, the very purpose of the sexual union. Even among conservative Christians, this mindset is rampant. We talk about kids like they're home improvement projects? "Are you guys ready for that, or are you going to keep waiting awhile?" We talk about them as though they're Pokemon cards that you quit collecting one you have a complete set. "So now that you have a boy and a girl, are you done?" We often look at large families with the same kind of disdain we have for hoarders. "That's so weird. Why do you need so many of those?" Likewise, push away all the lamentations about wanting to save your unborn child from a lifetime of suffering and hardship through abortion, and you'll find the true mindset, where we respond to our children having disabilities the way we'd respond to a restaurant giving us the wrong food, something we simply refuse to eat. "Waiter, I ordered a healthy baby. But you gave me this gross little deformed thing. Throw that away and give me what I actually ordered." Not everyone will follow this mindset concerning children to such an evil degree. But if we wish to protect ourselves from it, we need to fundamentally change the way we think about children. Which is to say, we need to view parenthood vocationally rather than through a consumeristic lens. Children are not trinkets. They are human beings, as human as you, and just as worthy of love and honor as you. Likewise, parenthood is not a lifestyle, a hobby, or an era. It's a vocation. If a child is growing in your womb, God has already given you the vocation of mother. And a mother's vocation is always to protect and love her child, never to kill her child. If your child is growing in a woman's womb, God has already given you the vocation of father. And a father's vocation is always to protect his child, never to kill his child. If God gives you that vocation when you're poor, fulfill it faithfully and trust that He will give you your daily bread. If God gives you that vocation when you don't feel ready for it, get over yourself and fulfill it faithfully. If God gives you that vocation by giving you a child who seems too difficult to care for, trust that He will also give you the strength to endure the task, and fulfill it faithfully. May God save our souls and purify our hearts by changing our minds.

It boggles my mind that after decades of being told to not walk alone at night, lock your doors, don't get into an elevator alone with a strange man, be careful of stairways, watch your drink, carry your keys in your hand, don't go into the park at night...

Kids need both a mom and a dad.

Everyone should be required to watch this clip:

In an interview with Chuck Swindoll in 2015, Joni Eareckson Tada explained an unexpected desire involving her wheelchair, which she has been confined to as a quadriplegic since 1967: "...I do hope that I can take my wheelchair to Heaven with me. I know that's not theologically correct, but if I could, I would put it right there. And I'd be standing in my new glorified body right here, and I'd be holding the hand of Jesus, and I would feel those nail prints in His palm. And I will say, 'Thank you,' and I know He'll know I mean it, because He will have recognized me as the woman who came to Him every single morning, hemorrhaging human strength: 'I need you, Jesus, desperately.' And I will say to Him, 'Jesus, you were so right when You said that in this world we would have trouble. That thing was a lot of trouble, but the weaker I was on that thing, the harder I leaned on You. And the harder I leaned on You, the stronger I just discovered You to be. And I'm just so grateful that You gave me the privilege of knowing You as not only my Man of Sorrows, but the Lord of Joy, Rock of Gibraltar, real Joy. Thank you, Jesus. And now, if you want, you can send that thing to Hell. Woohoo! Get it outta here!'"

RT @Adam_FaithfulM: In 1986, the American Medical Association published an article titled "The Physical Death of Jesus Christ". It details…

Animator Jezreel Carlos took one of my most popular webcomics and brought it to life. Seemed appropriate to share it again for Good Friday.

Warning: Rant ahead. Yesterday in Washington false teacher Paula White compared Trump to Jesus. She said that just as Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and falsely accused, so was Trump. She said just as Jesus rose again, Trump also “rose up”. She prayed “Just as Jesus was favored with both God and man, so may it be with President Trump.” I’m sorry but that’s blasphemy. She also said God “told” her to tell Trump that because of Jesus’s resurrection, Trump will be victorious in everything he does. Um, no. That’s not how the resurrection works. Jesus rose 2,000 years ago to defeat death, not Democrats. What a cheapening of Easter! (Also, the Bible warns that any “prophet” who says God said something He didn’t really say is to be stoned. See Deuteronomy 18:20-22.) She then twisted several Bible verses out of context to “declare victory and blessing” over Trump and our nation. She (mis)quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says God will forgive and heal His people if they repent and turn to Him, but she left out the “repent” part! Obviously it is important that our leaders seek God humbly and pray. Yes our nation desperately needs to turn back to God. But this is NOT how it’s done! To put the President—any President—on the same level as the Son of God, to preach blessing without repentance, to turn Good Friday and Easter into a political stunt, all of it is ugly blasphemy that brings shame to American Christianity (and we have precious little dignity left as it is). Yes pastors should have influence on our nation’s leaders—the first amendment leaves room for that—but they should not be sycophants or yes men. Part of the job of any prophet or pastor is to confront, rebuke, and discipline those they shepherd, as needed. This is the opposite of that. Lord, please have mercy on us. Raise up true godly leaders who will guide us away from sin and back to You, not for power and riches but for love, holiness, humility and truth.

This is the best 3 minutes of preaching on HELL that you will ever see. R.C. Sproul 👇

From the archives: One of my earliest Christian webcomics. (Based on a true story.)

Public correction and apology: Last week we published a video about an Episcopal pastor exegeting John 4, where he insisted that the 'living waters' Jesus and the Samaritan woman were talking about were actually another word for 'semen' and that the two were flirting with each other. In the accompanying explainer article, while trying to track down the source, the writer made an error and mixed up the churches. He ERRONEOUSLY named The Rev. Bryan O'Carroll of Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in FL as the culprits, when in reality it was a church by the same name in a different state. We quickly corrected this, updated the article, issued a retraction, posted it permanently on our Corrections/Retractions page, and reached out to O'Carroll personally to apologize. While he graciously accepted our apology and request for forgiveness, the damage was done. He and his church received significant backlash as a result of our error, and "continues to receive extremely unpleasant feedback by office phone, email, and our social media platforms," to the point that some of his staff members fear for their safety or that someone may act out in a dangerous way. For this reason, we're pinning this post to the top of all our social media pages for the next week or so, as prominently as possible, to broadcast our correction of the error and mitigate some of the harm we caused.

Annual reminder that St. Patrick was not even Irish, but was one of the great missionaries in church history. Take a minute and watch the Veggie Tales story. youtu.be/O5bkx_1lY14?feature…

Why must today’s pastors call out sins like: -Immodesty -Pagan Immigration -Feminism -Homosexuality -Cowardice -Pornography -Pagan Religions -Mosque and Temple Building -Sinful Tolerance Because the previous generation of pastors did not. Their silence has forced our noise.