Yearly Archives: 2012

Introduction Even before the Scofield Reference Bible became so popular, the notion that God chose different ways of saving sinners at different times in man’s history was rife. Under this notion – known as Dispensationalism – the world is seen as a household administered by God at several stages of revelation, each stage placing on […]

We look at one verse, Matthew 2:15, in three tenses. ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’. With due deference to Mr Charles Dickens, and especial apologies to Mr Ebenezer Scrooge, we will vary a certain well-known Christmas story by entitling our three points ‘The Quote of Scripture Past’, ‘The Quote of Scripture Present’, and […]

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:12. We possess a veritable gold mine of spiritual riches which many of us seem utterly to neglect. I am speaking of the […]

One of the things that arose in Lee Gatiss’s paper at the Westminster Conference this year1 on the Great Ejection of 1662 was the question of the number of those ejected.2 In Gary Brady’s book The Great Ejection 1662 (E.P.) he says the following: Estimates vary but it seems that, including those ejected before 1662 […]

Pastor-Teachers of Old Princeton1 has been published to mark the 200th anniversary of Princeton Theological Seminary. It spans the years from the appointment of Archibald Alexander as the Seminary’s first Professor in 1812 to the death of B. B. Warfield in 1921. The book comprises a series of memorial addresses and articles in honour of […]

Pakistan is an Islamic country with 97% of the population considered to be Muslims. Christians are a very small minority and Protestants a small proportion of this. To be a Protestant Christian in Pakistan is costly. Employment becomes difficult and reproach and persecution are the expected result for those who profess faith in the Lord […]

In 1 Timothy 5:24 Paul says that the sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgement ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.Jimmy Savile is a case in point. Some did have their doubts about him and some few knew there was a problem, but until only a few months […]

Dr. Haddon W. Robinson is the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is considered the doyen of teachers on the subject of preaching in the USA, and his text books are used in many American seminaries. In a recent interview in the magazine Ministry he was asked the […]

It is said that the best sermons make good listening but poor reading. Why then should we read a volume of sermons1 that were preached in the early 1660’s and in very different times to our own? Read on! The Lord Jesus warned that persecution would come from the unbelieving world (eg. John 15:18) and […]

‘a cracking set of volumes . . . beautiful to behold, excellent in their quality, and outstanding in their substance . . . pastorally sound, eminently practical, thoroughly Christ-centred, happily straightforward expository thoughts, ideal for private or family worship, stimulating for preachers, instructive for pastors, models of earnest simplicity.’ [Jeremy Walker enthuses about the new […]

Romans 9:11-13 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad – in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls – she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ […]

This is a difficult book to categorize. It is not a commentary and yet it deals with the Joseph saga in its Biblical order (for the most part) and there is much detailed commentary on the text. It is not a fictional account of ‘Joseph and his brothers’, or even a fact/fictional re-telling. There is […]

It is only too easy for Christians to become daunted and deeply pessimistic. The world we live in is a dark and presently an ever-darkening, place. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is increasingly and publicly mocked and marginalized throughout society, particularly in the media. Our Government passes legislation that defies the living God. […]

A new book by John Calvin? Well, not exactly, but this1 is the first translation into English of Calvin’s 48 sermons on these ten chapters of Genesis. The sermons break off after Genesis 20:7 because a whole series of sermons on Genesis have been lost. Calvin expounds the biblical text for the benefit of ordinary […]

The Holidays are special opportunities afforded by God to us believers in our nation to enjoy and evangelize. At Thanksgiving we can remember primarily the common grace afforded to us, including food, shelter, and clothing. At Christmas we can remember primarily the supernatural grace afforded to us including salvation that came to us in both the […]

For years Huibert Den Boer Kept a family heirloom in a cupboard collecting dust. Its broken and bent locks and three missing corners made the 300-year-old book look shoddy and unworthy of shelf space in his California home. It took a television show relating the story of Dutch immigrants to the Michigan area of the […]

A rare book of Abraham Kuyper entitled Wisdom and Wonder: Common Grace in Science and Art (Christian’s Library Press) has been translated by Dr. Nelson D. Kloosterman, the ethics consultant and executive director of Worldview Resources International, ‘a service organization whose mission is to produce and provide resources designed to assist in understanding and applying a Christian […]

Pavel Setchov, youth leader in Tobols I was born in 1978 in the south of Russia in an area known as the Caucasus, in the town of Zhelyeznovodsk. When I was only five years old my father left my mother to bring up three children on her own. He sometimes returned home aggressively abusive and […]

I am the Lord—I will not give My praise to graven images—Sing to the Lord a new song—you islands, and all those who dwell on them. Isaiah 42:8-10 After King Kamehameha consolidated his power in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in the early 1800’s, he ruled with unbridled power. The Kapu religious system demanded human sacrifice […]

Pastor-Teachers of Old Princeton 1 In 1994 and 1996 respectively, the Banner of Truth Trust published two magnificent volumes on the faith, learning, and majestic testimony of Princeton Seminary.2 Professor Calhoun’s work was highly commended by a number of outstanding scholars, including Bruce M. Metzger, Collard Professor of New Testament Emeritus. Metzger wrote at the […]

The short answer to this question is ‘Yes’, says J. C. Ryle, the well known Church of England minister. In this small paperback, first published in 1877, he gives reason after reason why the Bible is truly the word of God. Written in a popular rather than academic style he outlines the internal evidence and […]

In the second half of the nineteenth century, C. H. Spurgeon so towered above English Calvinistic Baptists that other giants seemed to be much smaller, with one outcome being that they were quickly forgotten by subsequent generations. This was the case despite the great achievements connected to some of those men. One was Archibald G. […]

. . . 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 […]

Wednesday night I was on my own in London. Such a void in the schedule gives me the chance to taxi in from Chelsea Harbour to Central London to Foyles, my favorite bookstore in all the world. The distinctive, boxy, black London taxi is a masterpiece of western civilization. In no other city can one […]

Here is a clarion call to Christians to hold fast to the true Gospel – that is that we are saved by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. The 8 chapters in the book have been taken from two works of the Victorian minister: Knots Untied and Home Truths. They cover subjects such as […]