Sam Storms on the Believer’s Eternal Union with God

What is true of every born-again, Christ-trusting child of God?

If you have truly been born of the Spirit, have repented of your sins, and look to Christ alone for your salvation, the following is true of you:

• You are now and forever will be in spiritual, loving, unbreakable union with God; you are in him and he is in you (Col. 1:2, 27).

• All your sins have been forgiven. That is to say, the guilt that is incurred from your sins, past, present, and future has been forever and finally wiped clean. This is why Paul says there is “no condemnation” for those who are in Christ Jesus by faith (Rom. 8:1).

• You are now and forever will be an adopted child of God (Gal. 4:4–7). This is your identity that defines both who you are and what awaits you on the other side of the grave.

• You are now and forever will be redeemed or ransomed from the condemning power of sin and guilt (Eph. 1:7).

• You are now and forever will be justified in God’s sight, which is to say that through faith in Christ, God has imputed or reckoned to you the righteousness of Jesus and declared you to be perfectly acceptable in his sight, not because of what you have done but because of what Christ has done in living a sinless life and dying a substitutionary death for you (Rom. 3:28; 5:1).

 •You are now and forever will be in spiritual union with Jesus Christ. Or, to use the words of the apostle Paul, you are by faith “in Christ” (Eph. 1:1).

• You are now and forever will be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18–19).

• You are now and forever will be delivered or saved from the wrath of God. You will never face the threat of divine wrath, as Jesus has faced it, endured it, and exhausted it in himself on the cross (Rom. 5:9).

• You are now and forever will be seated together with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:4–7).

From A Dozen Things God Did with Your Sin (and Three Things He’ll Never Do) by Sam Storms, Crossway: 2022

Episode 18: Contending or Contentious?

Recovering the Christian Mind | March 14, 2023

For more than 30 years Alistair Begg has been my “adopted” pastor. I listen to his preaching each Sunday. Currently he is in a series in the short letter of Jude, and in his opening message to this series on Jude he made a point that has been both convicting and encouraging.

On today’s episode of Recovering the Christian Mind we take Alistair’s admonition to heart.

Episode 17: Covid Vaccines and the Blood of Christ

Recovering the Christian Mind | March 13, 2023

If a Christian takes the Covid vaccine, has he or she tainted the blood of Christ?

On today’s episode of Recovering the Christian Mind, Pastor Paul responds to a recent guest on Fox News’ Fox & Friends who made such an assertion.


Fox News Video: California police officer ‘separated’ from department for refusing vaccine

The Oakland Press Gaslights its readers over Drag Queen Story Hour

Pastor Paul Edwards just sent the following email to Mike McConnell, the Oakland Press reporter who wrote a story gaslighting readers who oppose Drag Queen story hours. The publisher, Greg Mazanec, and the editors of the Oakland Press, Don Wyatt and Jeff Hoard, were copied:

Your story published on March 9, 2023 about the planned protest of a Royal Oak bookstore’s drag queen story hour is not journalism. It’s advocacy.

You gaslight and mispresent the views of those of us who reasonably conclude that the LGBTQ+ community uses these kinds of events to groom our children.

The quotes you cite from Tom Regan, chairman of the Royal Oak Area Democratic Club, are pure gaslighting intended to preempt any reasonable person from concluding that drag queen story hours indeed DO have an agenda: the grooming and sexualization of our children. To say that out loud is not extreme. It’s not hate speech. It is a conclusion any reasonable person would reach based on what is actually happening.

Further, you wrongly characterize those of us who are opposed to the sexualization of our children as violent and extreme (“Protests over costumed drag queens reading stories to young children have increasingly drawn protests and sometimes threats nationwide;” “Royal Oak police have been notified of the…protest and are expected to be there to keep order.”). Yet in your article you say that other such protests have not seen any violence at all (“Police were on hand and there were no reports of violence.”)

Your story contains numerous quotes from sources in support of drag queen story hours. Not one quote from a source opposed.

This isn’t journalism. It’s advocacy. It belongs on the Opinion Page.