Yearly Archives: 2006

What’s wrong with a little gambling? The 1968 Gambling Act saw gambling as something to be tolerated reluctantly and therefore to be carefully regularized and controlled, but now gambling is viewed as part of mainstream leisure. The 2005 Gambling Act allows 24-hour opening with unlimited jackpots for casinos and has among other matters approved a […]

Proverbs 8:4,5. Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. The ground on which sinners are thus called, and the warrant they have for instant compliance with that call. Two things are evidently required […]

It was to a people drifting further and further from God that Isaiah was sent with his prophecies. And, as they gave themselves more and more to sin – idolatry and Sabbath breaking and much more – the fulfilment of those prophecies which spoke of captivity loomed ever closer. Yet the captivity was by no […]

The last week-end of April in Aberystywth was the occasion of a visit there by Sam Rotman and his wife Deborah, the first time they had been to Wales. Though having sporadically written we have not seen each other for 35 years. Sam came with me to the University Christian Union on Friday night where […]

I was in business in the retail trade. One Saturday, in conversation with a fellow-trader, he told me of a pair of shops being built in a neighbouring village; that he was going to take one of them, and suggested that the other one would be very suitable for the trade in which I was […]

We have received and read The Banner of Truth Magazine since it began in 1955 and possessing an earlier edition of this collection of the first 16 issues, we are pleased to see this volume in print again in the handsome format typical of the Trust’s productions (Issues 1-16, published by the Banner of Truth […]

Proverbs 8:4,5. Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. These are the words of Christ. They are the words of Christ to men in general – “to the sons of man”. They are […]

Judas Iscariot, vilified as Christ’s betrayer, acted at Jesus’ request in turning him over to the authorities who crucified him, according to a 1,700-year-old copy of the “Gospel of Judas” unveiled on Thursday. It is not known who wrote the Judas gospel. The copy unveiled in early April is of a document probably mentioned in […]

The following are two appreciative and critical reviews of the stimulating book, The Old Evangelicalism, by Iain H. Murray. The first review was by Pastor Mark R. Brown of Pennsylvania and appeared in New Horizons, February 2006. He writes as following; This book may be regarded as the capstone of a trilogy on the theme […]

Genesis 2:4-7 “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens – and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not […]

The Saviour had spent 40 days and 40 nights with His disciples after the resurrection. The time had now come for Him to leave them and to ascend to heaven. They were to go out, He told them, and bear witness for Him “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto […]

Masters of the English Reformation, is a book written by Sir Marcus Loane, and published by the Banner of Truth Trust. This book was originally published in 1954 for the Church Society to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the martyrdoms of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley and others, who “laid down their lives in loyalty […]

Despite what the Westminster Confession’s Larger Catechism declares about the Scriptures principally teaching us what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man (LC #5), we can find ourselves greatly tempted to believe that godly duty for the Christian is at best not necessary, and at worst a dreadful concept […]

John Flavel (or Flavell) was born in 1628 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. He was the son of Richard Flavel, a minister who died of the plague in 1665 while in prison for Nonconformity. John Flavel was educated by his father in the ways of religion, then “plied his studies hard” as a commoner at University […]

[In New Horizons, the official magazine of the Orthodox Prebyterian Church in the USA D.G.Hart and John R. Muether have written a fascinating series of articles entitled, “Turning Points in American Presbyterian History.” Part 12 of the series in the February 2006 edition was entitled “1973: The Presbyterian Church in America” and would be of […]

We are told in Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on […]

During the London smog of 1952 my family had a remarkable experience the memory of which has remained with me ever since it happened. This happening shows the truth of that text in Romans 8:28 – ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are […]

It all began with the witness of an Arab Christian who brought his Druse friend in contact with members of the Peniel fellowship of Tiberias. A Druse man was converted, and began to witness to those closest to him. His wife was saved, other family members were saved, and pretty soon it became evident that […]

Preachers are meant to grow in the manner of their preaching-develop the use of certain oratorical skills, hone exegetical proficiency, better discern the human heart. But some things are difficult to learn. How is it possible to preach week after week, several times a week, and still not have learned how to do it properly? […]

A Lecture given at Hailsham for Sovereign Grace Union on 2nd September 2004by Paul G. Watts of Lower Ford Street Baptist Church, Coventry ‘Follow . . . holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.’ Hebrews 12:14. To be holy sounds, and is, an impossibility to human nature. Joseph Hart in a little-known hymn […]

Mrs. Parish was a church member at Rochdale Road, Manchester for nearly fifty years. She wrote the following as a small pamphlet three or four years before she died, aged ninety, on December 7th, 1952. I relate a little of my own experiences, in thankfulness to a kind and gracious God who has kept me […]

We are often wisely reminded not to regard Genesis as a textbook on science. Chapter one is not “The Idiot’s Book of Biology” or “Everything You Need to Know About Astronomy” or “Everyman’s Guide to Oceanography” or “A Beginners’ Introduction to Physics” or “Teach Yourself Zoology” or “How to Understand Botany.” Genesis chapter one is […]

Should you ever have an opportunity to visit the Reformation sites in Germany, the 96-page booklet Lutherstaedte-A Reformation Travel Guide (plus mini CD) would be a valuable companion (Lutherstaedte-A Reformation -Travel Guide, Stimme Der Hoffnung, copyright 2005. North American sales at www.adventsource.org, US $9.95. European sales at www.stimme-der-hoffnung.de/shop, Euro9.95.). The information provided, as well as […]

These are the opening words of the new autobiography of the philosopher, Roger Scruton, Gentle Regrets, (Continuum, 2005, pb., 248 pp). “Although my father was a teacher, books did not play a large part in our home. Those that could be found in the house were of a useful or improving kind: encyclopaedias, the Bible, […]

One of the duties of the Christian minister is to warn and prepare the people for new ideas about the Gospel, which are erroneous. Novel ideas are always pouring out of the mind of fallen man and in recent times there have been several new theories on which we need to keep a watchful eye […]