Yearly Archives: 2009

During my seven years as a campus minister, there were two different women in our ministry who became pregnant out of wedlock. In these cases, since they were associated with a group of students, it was among those students that they had most of their relationships. Of course, a campus ministry group is not a […]

The annual National Prayer Breakfast meets ‘in the name and the Spirit of Jesus Christ.’ Pastors at the recent Promise Keepers National Clergy Conference affirmed their unity by shouting ‘Jesus’ in answer to the call to name ‘the Messiah in whom you have trusted your souls.’ These are but two movements that represent an attempt […]

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. (Genesis 9:23). Noah was a righteous man, called by God to bring the animals into the ark, along with his wife, three sons and their wives, in order to preserve the […]

Do honest atheists exist? By honest, I don’t mean atheists who pay their taxes and keep their promises and choose not to steal or lie. What I mean in asking the question is whether or not there exists an atheist who honestly believes there is no God. There are, undoubtedly, many who claim to be […]

Times of sadness are a normal part of the Christian life. To see the world rejecting the Saviour and accepting other gospels that are no gospels is grievous. The prophet Jeremiah lamented the state of the people of God and the destruction of Jerusalem. Our Lord wept over Jerusalem sinners. He wept also at the […]

Every Christian is called by God to be faithful. Whatever else we are called to be, we are called to be faithful, unyielding, kindly but uncompromising believers. I don’t suppose any right-thinking Christian would disagree. I wonder, however, if you have made faithfulness an excuse for the absence of spiritual usefulness and fruitfulness in your […]

‘A no-fuss, no-nonsense overview of biblical teaching on heaven and hell . . . dedicates equal time to both subjects, first allowing the heart and spirit to recoil at the thought of hell but then comforting it with the knowledge of heaven. Throughout the book Donnelly is pastoral, often challenging the reader and continually returning […]

‘A prayer for one who feels that he is approaching the borders of another world’, from Alexander’s Thoughts on Religious Experience),1 pp.259-262. Most merciful God, I rejoice that Thou dost reign over the universe with a sovereign sway, so that Thou dost according to Thy will, in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants […]

Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25) Any Christian husband knows that obeying this command is an awe-filled, humbling task. Our tendency is to err in one of two directions. Some of us abdicate while others dominate. You are abdicating your responsibilities to your wife […]

The New Testament uses the experiences of Israel in the New Testament to teach the Church important lessons about itself. It uses what Israel experienced, not just as illustrations, but as experiences God’s people have had before, which can occur again in different historical circumstances. See, for example, the use made of Israel’s idolatry in […]

It is 500 years since God brought John Calvin into this world. During 2009, many Reformed churches and Christians in particular are remembering with gratitude this gift of Christ to his church. Publishing houses are producing books at a rapid pace of knots, articles, papers, conferences, and website and blog postings proliferate. But who was […]

Wives, be subject to your own husbands. (Ephesians 5:22). There is perhaps no one biblical command more misunderstood, maligned, or mocked in our culture. This is true for at least two reasons. First, none of us like to be told what to do. It’s in our DNA. Don’t you silently become irritated when officials verbally […]

Eunice Grace Field, member of the church at Grove Road, Eastbourne, passed away peacefully in the Hove Bethesda Home on July 3rd, 2008, aged 98. Our friend worshipped in Salem Chapel, Carshalton, with her husband Ben. They were baptized together at Salem and joined the church there on December 5th, 1937. Here her soul was […]

It was my great privilege to be at the Carey Conference in Swanwick once again. We were packed out there. I travelled up by car with four African students from LTS – two from West Africa (Femi and Klebert), two from South Africa (Richard and Clinton). FIRST DAY The first session was chaired by Hugh […]

In the spring of 1856 an English lady by the name of Mrs Colville came to Ballymena from Gateshead because she had ‘time and money to spend for God’. She began a programme of house to house visitation with a view to winning souls for Christ. In November she returned to England in low spirits […]