Topic Archives: Worldview/Culture/Religions
William Booth (1829-1912) is best known as the founder of the Salvation Army, an organization devoted to feeding and clothing the destitute. Beginning as a Christian mission in London’s East End, it was renamed in 1878, and waged war on two fronts – against the biting pinch of poverty, and the degrading power of sin, […]
ReadAnd we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32). At Pentecost when the promised Holy Spirit came, Peter preached with great convicting and converting power, resulting in three thousand people calling on the name of the Lord to be saved […]
ReadI made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees (Ecclesiastes 2:5-6). The Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem writes of the futility of living life ‘under the sun’,1 that […]
ReadAt the Reformation in Scotland, John Knox (probably born 500 years ago, in 1514) noted how potently God hath performed . . . the promises made to the Servants of God by the Prophet Esaias, ‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall lift up the wings as the eagles: they […]
ReadThe year 2013 marked the 450th anniversary of the closing of the Council of Trent, one of the most significant series of meetings in Christian history. Here are nine things evangelicals should know about the Council and the decrees1 that it issued. 1. The Council of Trent was the most important movement of the Roman […]
ReadWhy would anyone in their right mind believe the Bible, believe Jesus Christ, and believe that belonging to a Christian church was a sane and sensible thing to do? Reason 1 why you shouldn’t believe. The Bible! It is simply unbelievable. Who today in this modern, scientific, rational world believes in creation out of nothing […]
ReadWhy did John Calvin preach eight times a week in Geneva? Eight times a week! How did he make the time? Was he not writing commentaries on almost every book of the Bible? Was he not writing treatises on numerous theological and pastoral subjects? Was he not the Reformation’s premier letter writer, writing to hundreds […]
ReadIt is recorded of John Newton that he said: ‘I read the newspaper that I may see how my heavenly Father governs the world.’ Spurgeon said that he read the newspaper to find illustrations for his sermons. In our 21st century it is very revealing to read God’s Word side by side with the newspaper. […]
ReadThomas Oden, long time professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University, for years wrote volume after volume elaborating and espousing the latest theories and practices — successful, up-to-date, modern, in the best liberal tradition — yet somehow he remained dissatisfied. So, quite a while ago now, he shifted gears sharply and produced a volume […]
ReadIntroduction In a highly technical article entitled ‘Philosophic Calvinism’ (Living for God’s Glory, ed. J. R. Beeke, Reformation Trust, 2008, pages 150-159) James Grier argues (using Abraham Kuyper’s Stone Lectures as his starting point) that John Calvin had a unified world view. This view was in principle comprehensive: it embraced theology, philosophy, culture, science and art. ‘The […]
Read. . . Jesus Christ . . . the ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5). Tim Tebow’s recent capitulation at First Baptist Church, Dallas, begging off from his April 28 speaking engagement there, is the latest example of what happens when Christians ‘get off the reservation.’ As you no doubt know, the pro-homosexual […]
ReadThe material below is dated in that it was published once before 13½ years ago, but also in that the always-trendy-but-always- behind kind of evangelism it describes continues in its evolution of outreach methods. A pleasant consequence of the publication of this article was that the author received a letter of appreciation from Dr John […]
Read. . . but to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2 When the Puritans came to the Massachusetts Bay in 1630 under the leadership of John Winthrop, they came humbly, expectantly, seeking earnestly to fear and honour God, to […]
ReadThe finances of the Roman Catholic Church tend to be well concealed. But a spate of bankruptcy cases in the US (8 out of 196 dioceses, with Honolulu teetering on the brink) has enabled The Economist to examine the situation in that country in more detail than is usually possible. There are 74 million people […]
ReadIntroduction Someone once said that, if you want to be eternally relevant, you need to stop trying to say things that are relevant and focus on saying things that are eternal. Some ministers write their sermons according to what has featured in the news that week. When I was training for the ministry, a former […]
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