Yearly Archives: 2007

The Bala conference of ministers takes place each June in a delightful little market town in North Wales, now enhanced in my eyes through having its gospel church under a new pastor, Gareth Williams. He changed his career last year from being one of the lecturers in Systematic Theology at the Welsh Evangelical School of […]

The Bible, God’s own Word, can be deeply disturbing to read. It has a ‘knack’ (being inspired by the Holy Spirit this should never surprise us) of unsettling us, and deeply humbling us. This has been the case with me these past few weeks in particular. Let me explain. I am trying (and trying is […]

Throughout my 63 years as an evangelical believer, the penal substitutionary understanding of the cross of Christ has been a flashpoint of controversy and division among Protestants. It was so before my time, in the bitter parting of ways between conservative and liberal evangelicals in the Church of England, and between the Inter-Varsity Fellowship (now […]

Letters of Samuel Rutherford1 is a compilation of 365 letters written by Samuel Rutherford in times of severe ecclesiastical trials in Scotland. They span a period from 1627 (possibly 1624) to 1661. This is the second reprint the Banner of Truth has produced of the 1891 edition, which was edited by Andrew Bonar. There are […]

We stood on the green grass sloping towards the deep-blue sea. Below us a burn meandered downwards until it became lost in the sand of the beach which skirts the ocean, while a huge bank of cloud dominated the horizon. It was a beautiful scene. But death cannot be kept out of even a beautiful […]

“Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.” So the Psalmist prayed, and we ourselves have much need of pleading for such help when the number of the Lord’s people in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland is so sadly diminished. How great is the blank […]

A review by Paul Helm, Professor Emeritus of the University of London, of John Calvin’s Sermons on the Beatitudes.1 Calvin’s sermons were delivered extempore, taken down by the remarkable Denis Raguenier, published by the diaconate of Geneva, and the proceeds used to support refugees. Initially, Calvin was not keen on them being published, but when […]

Scotland has voted. The results have been declared and now, hopefully, all the political parties’ placards hanging from lampposts all over the country will come down. Among them were placards, from one small party, which declared: “Scotland deserves better”. Obviously, very few voters believed that this party would rule better than the others; none of […]

Egypt: Keeping the Copts Subjugated On 11 May, Muslims in the village of Bimha (or Bamha) in Ayat district (around 70 kilometres south Cairo) left their mosques after Friday prayers, armed and zealous for jihad against the indigenous Coptic Christian community and their solitary, partially built church. The violent Muslim pogrom in Bimha bears the […]

From a Northern Irish minister I just want to thank you folk at the Banner for this year’s conference. From my point of view, it was one of the best I have been at. When I was listening to Sinclair’s magnificent address on Monday night, I kept saying to myself, ‘Of course, it is so […]

A recent number of a religious journal contained an article upon endless suffering by one who calls himself an ‘Orthodox Disbeliever’ which is deserving of some remark, because it probably expresses the sentiments of a certain class which though not large may be increasing. The writer describes himself as expecting to enter the orthodox ministry, […]

A review by Donald S. Whitney of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.1 I had never watched an entire episode of Oprah until her programme on The Secret. In the promo for the show, Oprah announced that the programme would present ‘the secret’ to making more money, losing weight, finding the love of your life, and […]

A review by Philip Eveson of The Gospel of Free Acceptance in Christ: An Assessment of the Reformation and New Perspectives on Paul by Cornelis P. Venema.1, 2 Yes, this is yet another book on justification! It is a fresh and helpful account of the Protestant understanding of this crucially important gospel truth in the […]

Jerusalem was buzzing with activity during one of the high Jewish feast days. And now at the pool of Bethesda the controversial young rabbbi from Galilee had astounded everyone by healing a man paralyzed for thirty-eight years! But instead of rejoicing, the Jewish leaders first confronted the healed man for carrying his bed on the […]

The following was posted on the blog of Mauro Meister, Professor of Old Testament in Mackenzie University, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Benedict Pope Benedict XVI recently (May 2007) arrived in Brazil. He brought lots of things in his baggage. I’m not talking about the Popemobile or his Swiss guards. Nor about his clothing, patterned after that […]

Elizabeth, the fifth child of Dr Edward Payson and his wife Louisa was born in Portland, Maine, USA in 1818. This is the story of her childhood development, her marriage in 1845 to George Prentiss and their subsequent life and work. I had no previous knowledge of this truly Christian lady, prior to reading this […]

Some thoughts from Iain H. Murray arising out of Alan Clifford’s Calvinus: Authentic Calvinism, A Clarification (Charenton Reformed Publishing, 8 Le Strange Close, Norwich, 1996), 94pp.1 This title from Alan Clifford is a monograph of twenty-six pages, plus end-notes, pages of quotations from Calvin, and refutation of some opposing views. It continues the discussion whether […]

‘The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments.’ (2 Timothy 4:13, ASV) As the Apostle Paul writes his second epistle to Timothy, he does so from the confines of a Roman prison awaiting trial. These are some of the last words he pens, or […]

Mark writes about the three women who were at the tomb of the Lord Jesus; ‘And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid,’ (Mark 16:8). The women who came to the tomb that first Easter morning showed […]

A few hundred yards beyond the house where Finlay Thomson lived most of his days, there stands prominently, on its own, a place of worship known as Teampaill Moluaidh, a building dating from the twelfth or thirteenth century and which, we are informed, was possibly built on the site of an earlier church. Moluag, as […]

Mary Stone was the daughter of Matthew Stone, a successful London Merchant. She met her husband Christopher Love, in 1639 and six years later they married. Christopher Love was a Puritan who became the lecturer at St. Ann’s Aldergate for three years before becoming the minister of St. Laurence Jewry, a church in London, in […]

I am constantly amazed how quickly and easily I forget that ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Eph. 6:12). This does not mean that indwelling sin is not […]

In times of revival sinners experience a deep conviction of their sinful condition. Sometimes this experience can be agonising. As souls first discover their appalling condition of lostness and guilt and then are led to search for and find salvation by faith in Christ, the glory of God’s grace shines resplendently. The hymns which stem […]

Just over half of A Scottish Christian Heritage1 by Iain Murray consists of biographical accounts of five Scottish ministers, a form of writing at which Mr Murray excels. Each chapter is slanted towards highlighting specific lessons which the author considers its subject exemplifies. The second part has two chapters dealing with missionary themes. One focuses […]

God made everything. His final act of creation was to bring mankind into existence. Like every other part of His work, Adam and Eve were perfect in every respect. “God saw every thing that He had made,” we are told, “and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Adam’s body was perfect; as was Eve’s. […]