Topic Archives: General Theology

Earlier this year the late Dr James Montgomery Boice delivered a series of three messages–the Den Dulk Lectures–at Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, California. The following are his opening words which appeared in ‘Update’, the Westminster Seminary in California magazine and used by permission:– * * * These are not good days for the evangelical church […]

On September 2 Dr Joel Beeke, Minister of the Netherlands Heritage Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, gave three addresses to the Salisbury Conference at Emmanuel Church, Salisbury, England, on the theme, ‘Calvinism: Doctrinal, Practical, Experimental.’ The Conference as chaired by the pastor of the Emmanuel Church, Malcolm Watts. The following report was published in the English […]

John Piper has written The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23 which is published by Baker Book House, (1993, 245 pp. paperback). In a sermon entitled ‘I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious,’ John Piper confessed that when a junior in seminary, ‘Romans 9 came on me […]

The God who knows and controls is under assault. Self-described evangelical theologians such as Clark Pinnock, John Sanders, and Greg Boyd espouse a form of inclusivism known as the ‘openness of God,’ the major tenets of which hold that God’s knowledge of future events is not exhaustive, that God is often surprised by the actions […]

The annual Aberystwyth Conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales takes place during the second full week of August. The preceding week is the National Eisteddfod of Wales and the succeeding week is the annual EMW Welsh language Conference which a few hundred people attend. The significance of these weeks, carefully laid out in August, […]

For part of Monday, I missed two of the sessions of the SBC pastors’ conference, attending instead one sponsored by the Center for Church Reform, a ministry developed by Mark Dever’s church in Washington, DC. Dr. Roger Nicole was the main speaker, dealing with the extent of the atonement. There were also two Q&A sessions […]

I just returned from a Reformed pastors conference here in Spain. It was refreshing to take four days out of the usual routine to meet with other workers, pastors,  and missionaries of like convictions. I preached the opening message at the conference, on Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:10-22. The two main speakers were a Reformed […]

Session 1 The Conference commenced with the 300 men singing the metrical version of Psalm 65, and with prayer. Iain Murray then explained to the Conference that the sickness of Dr Robert Godfrey of Westminster Seminary, California, had prevented his attendance, and that Dr Sinclair Ferguson would speak instead of him. John Marshall opened a […]

Near the end of his life, Augustine of Hippo meticulously reviewed everything he had ever published. He wrote an entire catalogue of his own works, a painstakingly annotated bibliography with hundreds of revisions and amendments to correct flaws he saw in his own earlier material. The book, titled Retractationes, is powerful evidence of Augustine’s humility […]

To some it might seem unnecessary and even wickedly controversial to thrust upon readers any discussion of Arminianism. This might appear to be the case for two reasons. First of all, why should we revive ancient controversies and thereby provoke animosities that have long since died the death of old age? Arminianism takes its name […]

Perhaps the most famous sermon ever preached in America was the one Jonathan Edwards delivered entitled Sinners in the hands of an Angry God. Not only has the sermon been reproduced in countless catalogues of preaching but it is included in most anthologies of early American literature. So scandalous is this vivid portrayal of unconverted […]

How are we to pray for the world-wide success of the gospel of Christ? How are we to plead the promises of Scripture? The Larger Westminster Catechism Question 191 sums up the Puritan view. Question: What do we pray for in the second petition of the Lord’s prayer? Answer: We pray that the kingdom of […]

The old gospel of Owen, first of all, contains no less full and free an offer of salvation than its modern counterpart. It presents ample grounds of faith (the sufficiency of Christ, and the promise of God), and cogent motives to faith (the sinner’s need, and the Creator’s command, which is also the Redeemer’s invitation). […]

The following report is published in the current edition of the American ‘Presbyterian & Reformed News’ [Vol. 5, No. 4, December 1999]. In October, controversial Anglican minister John R. W. Stott preached in chapel at Covenant Theological Seminary, the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) located in St Louis, and filled the […]

‘For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night’ — Psalm 90:4 1. Recognise that there is more than one perspective on life. Perhaps the most basic thing here is that there is more than one way of seeing things. It […]