Yearly Archives: 2010

The current Pope (Joseph Ratzinger) entered office with a formidable reputation as the Vatican’s arch-conservative ‘enforcer’ of doctrine. In Protestant circles, it was conservative Evangelicals rather than mainline liberals that welcomed his appointment.1 Among those who praised his writings was Michael Horton (of Westminster Theological Seminary, California). While recognising that areas of disagreement exist, he […]

What is the Doctrine of Invincible Grace? God converts and calls men . . . according to his own purpose and grace, which is given us in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:9). David Dickson The Lord never applies his grace of purpose to gain a soul but he prevails. James Durham The grace of God […]

I have been listening to some cassettes of a certain style of preaching which seems to have swept the evangelical church. Its emphasis is the Bible as a history of redemption (which it is), but it claims to be the one Christian group which is expounding and exegeting Scripture. It takes large sweeps across the […]

In so many churches today the centrality of preaching has lost its prominence. This sadly reflects a lack of trust not only in the authority of Scripture but also in the prominence that Jesus gave to the centrality of preaching. At the outset of his own ministry Jesus said to his disciples in Mark 1:38: […]

Later this month (September 2010) it is expected that John Henry Newman (1801-90) who was made a cardinal of the Roman Catholic church in 1879, will be ‘beatified’ by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to England. That is, Newman will be officially ‘the Blessed…’ and on his way to sainthood, Roman style. This must […]

I would normally preach through a Bible book. I am currently preaching through Colossians. Hence, this is what I have done: 1. Read the entire epistle to the Colossians a number of times, using the NKJV (the version the church uses) and other versions like NASB, NIV, ESV including the Bible in Chinese. We are […]

In Biblical terms, conversion (from the Latin convertere = ‘to turn’) means to turn from sin to God; conversion is the act of turning. Both the Hebrew words sub and niham and the Greek words epistrepho and metanoeo bear this meaning. When translated into English, they indicate returning or turning back to God through a […]

‘Church Planting is not a very popular option for men aspiring to enter the ministry but it is a biblical one.’ The final year students in the year I began my theological studies were tense. There seemed to them to be too few pastoral vacancies for them to have any hope of a call to […]

John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan once said of F. W. Robertson of Brighton: ‘Robertson believed that Christ did something or other, which, somehow or other, had some connection or other with salvation.’ This vague ‘mystification’ covers all the heretical and erroneous views of the atonement being mooted today. Indeed, F. W. Dillistone tells us enthusiastically: ‘there has […]

Renew our days as of old. (Lamentations 5:21) John Girardeau, the Old School Presbyterian1 minister from Charleston, SC, in 1851 turned down the opportunity to pastor a large Presbyterian church in order to begin a church with African slaves, out of Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston. Girardeau’s methodology was to hold a weekly prayer meeting, to […]

My work before me is less with man and more with God. Isaac Ambrose Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything. John Eliot For thy name’s sake, lead me and guide me. (Psalm 31:3) O man of God, go on, go on; be valiant for that Plant of Renown, for that […]

The history of the Christian church, if rightly regarded and used, can be a great source of strength, wisdom and stability to the serious Christian. On the other hand, Church history wrongly regarded and misused can be a stumbling block, an occasion of weakness and stagnation. There are three attitudes toward the past history of […]

How lonely sits the city. (Lamentations 1:1) The Apostle John’s vision of the glorified Christ reveals the Son of Man’s zeal for his glory and the work of his church. He is clothed with a robe, reaching to his feet, girded across his breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hair are white, […]

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:16) Henry Ward Beecher, born in Litchfield, CT in 1813, was the most famous man of the nineteenth century. His father was the prominent, last of the Puritan preachers, Lyman Beecher1, and Henry’s siblings accomplished remarkable things. One brother was a prominent theologian. A sister began a […]

Protestantism can be an embarrassing concept at times . . . For the first twenty years of my life the term was identified with the Troubles which raged around my generation, and the ugly notion of taking aggravated and hostile sides against ‘the other sort’. As school life at a Protestant boys’ school gave way […]