Yearly Archives: 2005

New Geneva Series Commentary by John Davenant The name of John Davenant (c. 1576-164 1) may not be one of the best known today, but is one that ought to be known better than it is. A graduate of Cambridge University, at the age of thirty-three he was awarded his Doctor of Divinity and made […]

While any thought of hell is anathema to most people, the doctrine of heaven is probably the most popular of all Christian teachings. A poll, taken in the United States in 1990, reported that seventy-eight per cent of those questioned claimed to believe in heaven. In a supposedly materialistic age, there is a widespread fascination […]

It is an unusual privilege to stand before you today (November 12, 2005), at the 40th anniversary of my commencing my ministry in this church. In some ways it is like being present at one’s own funeral service! Certainly it is a foretaste of that event, as family and friends have gathered here from far […]

In the current October 2005 New Horizons, the in house journal of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, there is a review by Pastor Brenton C. Ferry of a book written by Peter Enns, the professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, entitled Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament […]

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.” Psalm 116:15 Abstract: This is the story of Faustino Reis, beloved Christian brother and third leading national in his Mozambique congregation. Faustino was murdered in August while working at our bookshop, the Biblioteca Fiel. His personal testimony and the surprising events […]

When Carl Manthey Zorn died in Cleveland, Ohio, the renowned Lutheran theologian, August Pieper wrote a 73 page biography of him, saying, “When he died one of the great ones of Israel fell.” Zorn was not even a member of Pieper’s own denomination. Who was this local minister who was to remain a pastor throughout […]

On Saturday 15th October, to mark the 450th anniversary of the deaths of Oxford Martyrs, Bishops Latimer, Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer, an open-air witness was conducted in Oxford city centre. Jonathan Hewett and Colin Tyler of Wollaston Evangelical Church in Stourbridge, travelled to Oxford to preach the gospel and distribute tracts. Arriving around noon, we […]

The Evangelical Press have been organising annual conferences in Russia for the past six years, and this year John Currid the professor of Old Testament in Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, and myself were invited to be the two speakers in St Petersburg. I flew there from Birmingham via Frankfurt along with John Norris, an […]

A large group of people stands gathered at the door of a great stone castle. Their feet shuffle on the ground, raising dust just as they raise their voices to be heard over all the noise. Young and old are gathered there; women and children are seen among the men and grey-headed. They have come […]

Text: “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south” (Psa. 126. 4). This urgent prayer seems to be with so many of the Lord’s people at present, a desire that the Lord in love and mercy will “turn again our captivity.” Did you notice that this prayer was mentioned right at […]

The Worship of God (Christian Focus Publications) is a collection of lectures and sermons, most of them given at the 2003 Spring Theology Conference at Greenville Theological Seminary. Like most collections the quality of chapters is uneven, but overall all it is a helpful contribution in defense of historic Presbyterian worship which is centered on […]

How Important And Relevant Is Truth? Perhaps the most significant growth point in a Christian’s life is when it dawns on him or her that doctrine matters. Too often there is the fatal (and I mean fatal) tendency for Christians to assume that doctrine is an optional extra, something that is not really needful to […]

There is an ancient curse that lingers with us to this very day – the willingness of human society to be completely absorbed in a godless world. It is the supreme sin of unbelievers that even though Jesus Christ Himself has come into this world, man does not and will not feel His all-pervading presence; […]

The English define a gentleman as someone who uses a butter knife when eating alone. Student-body president Noah Riner, this Fall, in his speech to the Dartmouth freshmen defined character in a similar way: “character is what you do when no one is looking.” Character has always been the test of a meaningful life. In […]

NEW YORK – Internationally known speaker and senior fellow of the Trinity Forum Os Guinness made no attempt to sugarcoat his words on Sept. 8 when describing the postmodern character of mainline denominational leaders: “Soren Kierkegaard called them ‘kissing Judases’ – followers of Jesus who betray him with an interpretation.” Guinness was addressing a worldwide […]

Archibald Alexander was brought up in a religious home. He learned to read the Bible by the time he was five and within two more years had committed the Shorter Catechism to memory. Charles Hodge comments on “the inestimable advantage of a correct doctrinal education in his youth” (Alexander (1772-1851), born into a Scots-Irish family […]

2. The Reason for Believing It The fundamental reason is that it is taught in the Bible. This is not unwarranted circular reasoning. We are dependent on the Bible for all we know of God’s special revelation of Himself. If we cannot believe what the Bible says about itself, we cannot believe what it says […]

Why write about this? One of the heartbreaks in my life has been seeing churches, and church groups, torn-apart by disagreement. All disunity is tragic but doctrinal disagreement is doubly sad because, instead of Christians turning to the Bible and either coming to agreement or settling for principled disagreement, matters often deteriorate and become vicious […]

NEW YORK – “I greet you with a heavy heart,” declared the Rev. Dr. J. I. Packer to an international gathering at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. “Like many of you, I am an Anglican, and I am caught up in the agony of world Anglicanism.” Packer, a world renowned evangelical theologian and […]

‘Discussion about cannabis smoking, whether among the student population or older, and whether inhaled or not, is a relic of earlier puritanical generations. What really matters is its long-term effect on both physical and mental health. Recent research has confirmed that cannabis smoking may induce psychotic-type breakdowns, and relatively frequently unmasks latent hereditary psychiatric disease, […]

In the light of the recent attacks by Islamic extremists in London, many questions have arisen about the religion of Islam. One area of confusion surrounds Allah. The question is, “Are Allah and the God of the Bible the same?” Islam teaches that the true god is a being called Allah, and that all other […]

Jim Elliff, president of Christian Communicators Worldwide, has issued a bold warning that should be heeded by Southern Baptists as well as Independent Baptists and others. In an article entitled “Southern Baptists; an Unregenerate Denomination”, (http://www.ccwonline.org/sbc.html) Elliff analyzes the frightful statistics pertaining to church membership and attendance. Out of 16 million members on Southern Baptist […]

Christians should never attempt to witness to Muslims by saying the God of Christianity and Allah are one and the same, Emir Caner said in chapel at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, September 20. Dr. Caner is the dean of The College at Southwestern. “I have heard over the years now that […]

At the age of 11 I worked hard to do well in my final year and this qualified for a place in the Girls’ Grammar School in Dover, Kent. My parents were very proud of me and I remember shopping for my new school uniform and collecting my train season ticket from the station. The […]

In the first of his articles (October 18, Banner of Truth web site), the author introduced the subject of the paganization of the church and stated that this paganization largely has to do with the way our culture views human sexuality, Cornelius Pronk quoted extensively from a recent published book entitled True Sexual Morality by […]