Blah, Blah, Blahg: Silencing the Devil with Silence

Posted on October 7, 2025 by RC

My reputation is often savagely assaulted in the Devil’s great gossip tool, the world wide web. There’s plenty to talk about, since I not only have plenty of sin in my life, but some of my most spectacular sins are widely known. Entire websites have been created for the sole purpose of trumpeting my weaknesses, some real and some imagined. When my reputation is being mauled all over the internet, friends express their dismay and concern, wondering why, oh why I don’t answer my critics. The answer is simple enough- I believe the Bible says not to.

Proverbs tells us to answer a fool according to his folly, lest be become wise in his own eyes. It likewise enjoins us not to answer a fool according to his folly, lest we become like him. Wisdom is the ability to know when we are to do the one, and when the other.

Here is one piece of evidence that it is better to not answer a fool in this case. Internet critics like nothing more than to be answered. They love being thrown into the Bre’r patch to dicker over arguments, and they are tarbabies that will not let go. The best way to silence these fools is to give them nothing to talk about. Soon enough, they’ll start arguing with each other.

But what if they’re right? David, while fleeing his own son, is harassed by Shimei. Shimei scurries along the cliffs while David and his men travel through the valley. He is exposing their position. He is throwing rocks and dirt upon the King. His tongue is wagging, rejoicing in the hardship of the one who took Saul’s throne. Abishai, one of David’s men, offers to silence this fool with his sword. But David sees the hand of God in this. “He is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David.’… “Let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.”

Nothing that has been written about me, whether it is true or false, has been written outside the will of God. Even when it is all lies, but especially when it is not, perhaps God might humble me under this barrage. That’s a good thing, not something to fight against.

Last, I won’t fight back on the internet for this simple reason- I don’t want to get in God’s way. My response should be prayer and more prayer, each time affirming, “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.” If God wants to protect my reputation among my friends, He will do so. If He wants to restore my reputation among former friends, He will do so. If He wants to bring judgment against those who spread gossip and calumnies, He will do so. If He does none of these things, yet will I praise Him. Naked I came into this world, and naked I will return. Blessed be the name of God.

One wise man told me many times, “Never let your critics set your agenda.” So far, God has given me work to do. He has given me friends to teach, to exhort and to encourage. He has given me friends who are willing and able to work beside me. I intend to so serve Him as long as He will allow.

Posted in 10 Commandments, Biblical Doctrines, cyberspace, Devil's Arsenal, ethics, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, scandal | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dinner and a Bible Study, Tonight

Posted on October 6, 2025 by RC

I Am… Studies on the Attributes of the Living God

We continue our weekly Monday night Bible study. We begin at 7:00, but local guests are invited to come for dinner too, at 6:15.

We air the study on Facebook Live (RC-Lisa Sproul). Within a day or two we post the video of the study right here for those who would like to watch on their own schedule.

We’d love to have you with us, in person if possible. We’d love for you to invite your friends. Our study considers the attributes of God, unpacking just a hint of His ineffable glory. Tonight- God Judges

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What does it mean to preach from text to table?

Posted on October 6, 2025 by RC

I’m not sure if “Text to Table” is a thing, or has been a thing. I do know my own use of that language is not borrowed from someone else, though I would be quite surprised if no one thought of it before me. “Text to table” is just how I understand my own calling when preaching. I want the sermons I deliver to always move from the text (wherever we might be in a given book of the Bible) to the Lord’s Supper.

There is a great deal of chest thumping out there about expository preaching. As there should be. Who could oppose preaching that seeks to present, explain and apply a given Bible text? Surely not me. Too often, however, what is called expository preaching is more like sharing one’s sermon prep. Breaking down the text is good. Understanding context is necessary. Applying is always called for. These, however, are necessary building blocks of a sermon, not a sermon in itself.

When I speak of starting with the text, that is where I practice expository preaching. But we don’t stop there. I believe that to rightly preach any text in its context one must move from the text to the table. Because the context of any text will always come back to these three central truths- I am a great sinner. Jesus is my great Redeemer. My heavenly Father loves me. These three principles I covered a few weeks ago in this piece.

These three principles, however, are aways covered at the Lord’s Table. I cannot partake of His body broken and His blood shed without remembering that I am the one who broke His body and shed His blood. Whatever particular sins I may be guilty of, they all pale in comparison to this one- I crucified the Lord of Glory. To preach through this is to follow in Paul’s path, preaching Christ and Him crucified.

In like manner, I cannot “remember Him” at the table apart from remembering His death for all my sins. This great evil I did, crucifying Him, is that by which He did the unimaginably great good, redeeming us. In addition, we remember His resurrection, His, and our vindication. He died because in union with us, He took on our sin. We live because in union with Him, we took on His vindication.

The Lord’s Table, however, is a table. It is a place of feasting, a place of welcome. Just as in the Old Covenant the believer is assured of God’s gracious favor by participating in eating of the sacrifice, so too do we in remembering His once for all sacrifice for us. We sorrow that we crucified Him. But we rejoice that we are welcomed to the table as the forever family of the Master of the Feast.

A sermon is something more than a lesson in the Bible. It is that, but also a celebration of the gospel. We do not merely download information, but are lifted up to the heavenlies, where we meet with the living God, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, the souls of just men made perfect.

Posted in Ask RC, assurance, Biblical Doctrines, church, communion, grace, hermeneutics, preaching, RC Sproul JR, worship | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on What does it mean to preach from text to table?

Calvin at His Best: Living for Worshipping the Living God

Posted on October 3, 2025 by RC

Some don’t like the system bearing his name. Some don’t like that we use his name to describe our system of understanding. Most, on both sides, however, miss what animated the man John Calvin.

Calvin was a man focused on a single goal. Though his life shaped our theology, our understanding of liberty, our conception of the state, our grasp of vocation, of the arts, of every “slice” of our lives, his goal was simple, uncluttered, alone. Calvin did not set out to reform our conceptions of this meta-theme or that. No, Calvin’s single concern was that God’s people would learn aright to worship the living and true God. Worship was what shaped him. Worship was what drove him. Worship was what formed Geneva and all that followed after.

Please don’t misunderstand. Calvin didn’t believe that in order to remake the world, we must remake worship. Instead, Calvin understood that we must remake worship. Everything else is icing. To put it another way, Calvin understood that we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, not so that we might have all these things added to us, but so that we might have the one needful thing — the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

We, the heirs of Calvin, have forgotten this lesson. We, if we think about worship at all, see it as a means to the end. The end we have in mind is the power and the glory. We want to build political coalitions that we might change the world. We want to overcome the powers of the Hollywood elite that we might change the world. We want to remake the economic landscape that we might change the world. What God wants is that we would bow down in repentance and give glory to His name. What God wants is what Calvin did.

When Jesus told us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He wasn’t telling us: “Now when you go about your life, when you pursue your goals, don’t forget the big picture. Don’t lose sight of why you do what you do.” Instead Jesus was telling us: “Seek this. Seek this alone. Forget about everything else. Have a single-minded passion and leave the rest alone. It is in My hands anyway.”

We, on the other hand, have it all upside down and backwards. We will, when remembering him, look at the glory that once was Geneva because of his ministry there. We will look out at all the nations that felt the ripples of Calvin, moving from Geneva, to England, to these United States, then back out across the globe through the modern missionary movement. We will, remember the great economic power that was unleashed with the spread of liberty that likewise redounds to Calvin.

What we miss is the true glory, the real story. What we will miss is the unvarnished beauty of a single congregation in one neighborhood of Geneva, bowing in prayer to the living God, lifting up their voices, singing the Psalms of God, receiving the Word preached, and receiving the Word as bread and wine. There is where the glory is found.

Posted in Big Eva, church, communion, Doctrines of Grace, Heroes, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, preaching, RC Sproul JR, Reformation, theology, worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Calvin at His Best: Living for Worshipping the Living God

Timing and the Times: A Time to Consider

Posted on October 2, 2025 by RC

I don’t understand the algorithms that manage social media. Somehow I have it in my head that most of the people who see what I post on twitter see it because somewhere along the line they decided to follow me. Which then leads me to believe that most of them are going to be at least roughly on the same page as me. I’m guessing that’s not how it works.

Because earlier this week I posted a link to an article in which I explained that Mormonism isn’t just a different denomination within Christianity but is a different religion. Later that day I tweeted that saying such is no more unloving or unchristian than saying a man isn’t a woman. Not a word excusing the attacks. Not a word attacking anyone. And then came the deluge.

Many of the responses came from Latter Day Saints wanting to know exactly which part of hell I crawled out from. No surprise there. I didn’t expect them to like the truth, even though just fifty years ago they agreed with it, affirming Mormonism was a different religion. Even though their founder, Joseph Smith held my same view as me, that their religion was different from ours. I also had a number of comments from professing Christians who see that whole “doctrine of the self-existent, uncreated God the Son” as insignificant minutia. What’s the big deal? That too is sad, but no surprise.

It was the third group that surprised me. These were professing Christians who actually agreed with what I had said. But they felt it unkind, un-Christlike, unloving in light of the brutal, wicked attack in Michigan. Couldn’t, they wondered, this have waited for another time? I get the heart behind this. But my answer is, not surprisingly, no, it can’t wait for another time.

The reason is simple enough. Today is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2). As I write this, five Latter Day Saints Sunday lost their last opportunity to repent and believe the gospel. The problem, the evil of Mormonism isn’t merely that it’s false. No, the problem is it gives people false assurance of their salvation. Is this the week for scoring points in online theological debate with Mormons? No. Is it the time to warn them that they are not under His grace? Most assuredly. Which we will not do if we believe they are already under His grace.

It is the right time to answer the question because it is the time the question is being asked. Our Christian compassion on those suffering through the attack is a good thing. But it can tempt us to paper over differences that divide heaven from hell. Compassion is misdirected any time it keeps us from telling others about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is that Word, the uncreated God the Son, who commands of us to be always ready. It is that crafty creature, the Devil, who wants to silence the proclamation of the gospel. Christians are called to love those outside the kingdom enough to be hated by them for saying they are yet outside the kingdom. Let them, purveyors of that false religion of Mormonism, the theologically indifferent, and the too “gracious” for the kingdom condemn. We are to preach Christ.

Posted in 10 Commandments, apologetics, Biblical Doctrines, church, Devil's Arsenal, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, post-modernism, RC Sproul JR, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sacred Marriage, Seasons II; Shutdown Theater; That 70s Kid

Posted on October 1, 2025 by RC

The Jesus Changes Everything has been deemed to be essential services and has therefore survived the shutdown. But now you have to listen in. Lisa and I on the seasons of life, the blessings of government shutdowns, pining for cinnamon Mini-Wheats, and seeing Jesus in our brothers. Check it out.

Today’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in 10 Commandments, announcements, Jesus Changes Everything, Lisa Sproul, Nostalgia, politics, RC Sproul JR, Sacred Marriage, scandal, seasons, That 70s Kid | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Sacred Marriage, Seasons II; Shutdown Theater; That 70s Kid

The Fifth Empire: Glorious Triumph of the Rock

Posted on September 30, 2025 by RC

We, citizens of the American Empire, await yet another “shut down.” Is it but a mirage, or a harbinger? Would we not be wise if we, citizens of God’s kingdom, consider a right view of history itself? Let us look at Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzer’s dream of the great statue. There Daniel gave the king of Babylon roughly a thousand years of world history, before it happened. He foretold the fall of the Babylonian empire to the Medo-Persian empire. Next would come a nation that would conquer the known world, as Alexander the Great would do for Greece. He saw that Rome would follow on the heels of the Greek empire, and in turn that it would be divided.

We need to remember, as Daniel so powerfully made known, that our God controls all of history, that He reigns. That reign is certainly not restricted to “spiritual” matters. Nor is His rule restricted to Israel, or other “special” lands, as some see America or England. Instead, all that comes to pass, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the drop in the bitcoin today, to the tomatoes and peppers reaching toward the sun this afternoon in my back yard, all of this happens by God’s sovereign, efficacious decree. He brings it all to pass.

Daniel tells us why these four empires came and went when he gets to the fifth empire,

“As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze and the gold all together were broken in pieces, and became like chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not one trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (2:34-35).

Nations rise and fall for the same reason rivers rise and fall. For the same reason that death follows life. For the glory of the King of that last, and eternal kingdom.
We live in the midst of a fairy tale that has been rightly summarized, “Kill the dragon; get the girl.” History then is the study not merely of God’s providence, as if He were managing a machine. It is instead the story of the King. It begins “In the beginning” and it ends, “And they all lived happily ever after.” And in between, therein lies the tale. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.

Posted in 10 Commandments, Biblical Doctrines, eschatology, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, politics, RC Sproul JR, sovereignty, theology, wonder, worship | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Fifth Empire: Glorious Triumph of the Rock

I Am… Studies on the Attributes of the Living God

Posted on September 29, 2025 by RC

Just a note that we continue our weekly Monday night Bible study tonight. We begin at 7:00, but local guests are invited to come for dinner too, at 6:15.

We air the study on Facebook Live (RC-Lisa Sproul). Within a day or two we post the video of the study right here for those who would like to watch on their own schedule.

We’d love to have you with us, in person if possible. We’d love for you to invite your friends. Our new study considers the attributes of God, unpacks just a hint of His ineffable glory. Tonight- God Knows

Posted in 10 Commandments, Bible Study, Biblical Doctrines, In the Beginning, RC Sproul JR, sovereignty, theology | Tagged , , | Comments Off on I Am… Studies on the Attributes of the Living God

Are Latter-Day Saints Christians, Just Another Denomination?

Posted on September 29, 2025 by RC

No. Unequivocally no. If words have meanings, no. That doesn’t mean they are worse than any other unbelievers. It doesn’t mean they don’t think they are. It doesn’t mean others don’t think they are. But they are not. Why not?

Because they deny essentials of the faith. Christians certainly have areas of agreement with Latter-Day Saints. Both affirm good things about Jesus. Both affirm a transcendent standard of right and wrong. But Christians and Latter-Day Saints disagree on what Christians rightly consider to be essentials.

None looms larger than our respective views of who Jesus is. While it is a terrible thing and utterly unbiblical for Latter-Day Saints to suggest Jesus and Satan are brothers, the deeper problem is they affirm that Jesus is a creature. They deny that He is self-existent. They affirm He had a beginning in time. They affirm the same of the Father. In fact, they know nothing of any God who is self-existent and eternal. Just creatures creating creatures.

They may counter that such is not a denial of deity. In fact, they affirm that Jesus and the Father are both “God” but that they both became “gods.” Which means, in their own categories, they worship creatures. Created beings cannot become “God” for to be God is to be uncreated. Not even the living God can create another God.

Christians across the ages confess that Jesus is “very God of very God, begotten not made” in the Nicene Creed. Non-Christians, whether Arians, Latter-Day Saints or The Watchtower Society, deny this. Thus, they are not Christian.

Time was when the Latter Day Saints themselves recognized this. In my own lifetime Latter Day Saints once claimed to be the one true church, and those outside were deemed not churches at all. It’s only over the course of the last fifty years that they changed course and began to claim they were just one more denomination among many. That too is an odd distinguishing mark of Latter-Day Saints, their propensity for shifting their own dogma with the times.

The Latter Day Saints likewise have a bounty of “infallible” revelations beyond the Bible, the Book of Mormon which started the cult, being one. The history of the Book of Mormon demonstrates, however, that it is chock full of errors and misrepresentations. That we continue to get revelational “updates” demonstrates the same.

None of this is a denial of the humanity of Latter Day Saints, that they bear God’s image. It is no denial that there are any number of issues on which we can make common cause. And it is certainly true that they are due protection and compassion in light of yesterday’s vicious attack in Michigan.

None of these truths, however, should deceive us into believing that Mormonism is anything other than an evil cult, leading people straight into hell. They are not Christians plus the Book of Mormon. Not Christians who are confused on some secondary issues. Not another denomination with some weird ideas. It is a false religion, worshipping a false god, proclaiming a false Jesus. Our duty is to expose it as such.

Posted in "race", 10 Commandments, apologetics, Ask RC, Biblical Doctrines, church, RC Sproul JR, theology | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Love In His Kingdom: Bringing the Outside In

Posted on September 26, 2025 by RC

The kingdom of God is at war. The promise from the beginning was that the seed of the woman, our King, would come and crush the head of the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Jesus’ first step out of the tomb at Gethsemane crushed that ancient and wily serpent’s head. From that time forward we, His bride, a help suitable for our Husband, have been engaged in a “mopping up” operation. The enemy has been defeated; but he doesn’t yet have the sense to give up.

That our Lord has secured the victory ought to encourage and empower us. That the serpent hasn’t yet given up ought in turn to put us on our guard. That the battles yet rage ought to inspire us to discern the times. Consider, for instance, those culture warriors who aspire to do the work of “pre-evangelism.”

Evangelism, of course, is the proclaiming of the good news of Jesus Christ. It is sowing seed, casting forth the Word of God about the victory of the Son of God. Pre-evangelism is an attempt to make ears more ready to hear, eyes more ready to see. To borrow from the parable of the sower, pre-evangelism is an attempt to till the ground. To make rocky soil more fertile, that the seed might take root and flourish.

Often pre-evangelism takes the form of “worldview” studies. Here we spend less energy declaring the truth about Jesus, and more time defending the truthfulness of truth. In a modern age we proclaim that Jesus is the truth, against the truth claims of other religions or naturalism. In a postmodern age we cannot argue for Christianity’s truthfulness until we establish that truth is even real. That it can be known, transcending that which is merely “true for me” or “true for you.”

Sometimes “pre-evangelism” takes the form of artistic expressions in sundry forms. Here we may, instead of affirming the glory of Jesus, seek to depict the vanity of a life lived under the sun. We may tell stories of redemption that, while not exactly telling the story of Jesus, are signposts toward His story. We might simply affirm the dignity of man, as we bear the image of God. Here again we are tilling the ground, preparing it for when the seed is cast. We pray our labors might be used to bring in the elect from the four corners, that His reign might be manifest.

These sundry forms of “pre-evangelism” have advantages and disadvantages. They certainly can be effective for some. They can, however, sometimes create exactly the wrong kind of soil. That is, when we simply assault the foolishness of the world and leave out the heart of the matter, we might be making more “converts” who will wilt under the pressure of the sun. Worse still, sometimes we may miss out on the real issue. We may be so focused on the “pre” that we miss the “evangelism.” It is far easier to talk around the gospel than it is to say to our family, our friends, and the broader world: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

What we often find, however, is that when our strategies work, even just a little, it’s usually because we have stumbled onto something God has already commanded. There is a form of “pre-evangelism” that God calls us all to do that will work and has worked far more effectively than our worldview wonkery or our high-concept cultural artifacts.

It is, in the end, the kingdom itself that brings in the lost. That is to say, we live faithful lives in covenant community, for we, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Peter 2), are a light shining upon a hill. This light does indeed condemn the darkness (a victory we ought to celebrate, even as we likewise rejoice when the elect are brought in), but it is also a beacon.

If we were smart, we would know that the lost are rarely brought in by how smart we are. Instead, it is our love one for another that invites them in. This is what Jesus told the disciples (John 13:35) — that it is in and through our love for each other that all men will know that we are His disciples.

Our witness, then, in the end, isn’t about our clever arguments. Our witness shines through by our love for each other. This is both pre-evangelism and evangelism, for it softens the heart, even as it intrigues the mind as pre-evangelism. It is also the evidence of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ; it is the reality of the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Once again, in the upside down economy of our Lord, the more we love one another within the kingdom, the more we bring in those who were outside the kingdom. We seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things are added to us.

Posted in apologetics, beauty, Biblical Doctrines, church, evangelism, grace, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, post-modernism, RC Sproul JR | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Love In His Kingdom: Bringing the Outside In