Topic Archives: Theology

You will appreciate that much of my time is devoted to the endeavor of applying the Word of God to individuals, as well as to the gathered congregation. The public ministry of the Word is accomplished through preaching. The private application of the Word to individuals, or couples, or families is done through counseling. I […]

Henry Ford famously, and fatuously, stated ‘History is bunk.’ Far from being ‘bunk’ however history is the unfolding of God’s redemptive purposes, it bears the imprint of his grace and judgements, and is intended, at least in measure, to awaken us to eternal realities. This conviction confronts us every time we open God’s Word. Again […]

Christian Renewal (January 29, 2001), listed the position of some of the Reformed and Presbyterian seminaries in North America on the length of the days of Genesis 1. Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan, allows for a diversity of views, limited only by reports and decisions adopted by the 1991 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church, […]

In order for a Christian to live a life of God-glorifying worship, he or she must grow in the knowledge of God’s word. In other words, he or she must study doctrine. Let’s look at three reasons why sound doctrine is essential to true worship. Doctrine provides a right understanding of God’s person and character. […]

The Founders Journal is a quarterly Magazine committed to historic Southern Baptist principles and indispensable for ascertaining the reformation going on in that Convention. It is edited by Dr Tom Ascol of the Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida. In the current edition the Baptist Dr Roger Nicole, the Visiting Professor of Theology at […]

Last thing at night, when our children were small, I often secretly watched them as they slept: there they lay, breathing rhythmically, almost imperceptibly, relaxed, at ease, enjoying ‘the sleep of innocence.’ But man–perhaps especially a father–looks on the outward appearance. What of the heart on which God gazes? Wearing biblical lenses we come to […]

It’s what mothers’ worst nightmares are made of–the last thing Jason and Trina Baker expected as they headed out into a blizzard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on January 2, 1999. And because it was so unexpected, it was all the more horrifying when it happened. As they headed out into the gathering storm for a […]

It is one of the conceits of the carnal mind that it thinks itself capable of discerning and understanding the designs of God. The unbeliever thinks he fathoms God and finds the Almighty wanting. The deluded believer hesitates to embrace the teaching of Scripture unless he thinks he perceives the divine design in it. Those […]

Every three years the Urbana Mission Convention, sponsored by the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, takes place in Urbana-Champaign. As usual more than 20,000 students, missionaries and others attended this year. The Convention ended on January 1. In the past John Stott and Eric Alexander have been some of the men giving the morning Bible readings. This […]

When we talk about the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ we begin by pointing out that there was nothing supernatural in the emergence of Jesus from the womb of Mary–what we usually refer to as the ‘birth’ of a baby. The whole process of foetal and embryonic development was again normal. We are […]

Everybody talks about being ‘born again.’ But what does it mean? What happens if you are born again? How does this idea apply to you? Do you need to be born again? These important questions need answers. Do you need to be born again? If you are like the woman that once met Jesus at […]

Dr Jay E. Adams, recently writing of the advantages of a new confession of faith which could deal, for example, with some of the false teaching coming into the Reformed church, mentions, ‘Aberrations of the faith found in such movements as Sonship should be pointed out and rejected. These movements–both large and small–constantly plague the […]

The following is the current editorial (December 1 & 8, 2000) of the English Churchman (1843) and St. James Chronicle (1761), and used by permission:– A correspondent says it would be helpful to know in which direction the English Churchman considers ‘Reform’ should have decided to move at its October’s Conference (‘Readers Write’ 17 November). […]

I was reading recently some words of George Swinnock (a mid seventeenth century Puritan) that seemed (at least to me) to describe twenty-first century evangelical Christianity: ‘We take the size of sin too low, and short, and wrong, when we measure it by the wrong it doth to ourselves, or our families, or our neighbours, […]

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 […]