Yearly Archives: 2013

This year’s Proclamation Trust Evangelical Ministry Assembly is in the Barbican for the first time. There are some disadvantages to the venue besides its unfamiliarity but the idea of getting 1250 people in one room is attractive and as we get used to it I’m sure it will grow on us. The EMA tried to […]

If you love biblical theology, if preaching in light of redemptive history is your jet fuel, if the gospel is life to you and not just a trendy buzzword, then you really need to read John Carrick’s book The Imperative of Preaching1. Hang on and I’ll tell you why. But first things first. MOODY PREACHING Carrick […]

I was converted to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ fifty-six years ago in January 1957. I had good parents and a stable home but neither my parents, nor I, nor my younger sister Ann, had any true knowledge of God before that date. My religious life amounted to saying private prayers in bed […]

It is clear that the Bible commends the quality of meekness, but what is our understanding of this virtue? Why is it commended to us, and what are its qualities? Most people clearly apprehend that humility is characterized by lowliness. We understand this because it is often contrasted with pride whereby a person boasts and […]

‘The providence of God! What a glorious and precious doctrine this is when the good Lord opens our eyes to it! And how better to open our eyes to it than to lead us through the Scriptures and show us this merry little stream of biblical truth sometimes hidden beneath the surface but undergirding the […]

This is the second part of the 2012 Annual Lecture of the Evangelical Library in London. The first part can be found here. The lecture for 2013 is to be given on Monday June 3rd at 6.30 pm at the Evangelical Library and the subject is ‘The Doctrines of Grace in an Unexpected Place: 19th […]

The original vision for African Bible Colleges began in the hearts and minds of Dr and Mrs John W Chinchen. After spending seven years training pastors in the interior of Liberia, the Chinchens realised that in order to raise up servant leaders for Christ in Africa they should develop university-level training with a distinctively biblical […]

This is the first part of the 2012 Annual Lecture of the Evangelical Library in London. The second part can be found here. The lecture for 2013 is to be given on Monday June 3rd at 6.30 pm at the Evangelical Library and the subject is ‘The Doctrines of Grace in an Unexpected Place: 19th […]

Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith By Rosaria Champagne Butterfield Pittsburgh, PA: Crown and Covenant, 2012 154 pages ISBN: 978 1 88452 738 8 (paperback) Rosaria Champagne Butterfield lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina, where her husband pastors the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham. HerSecret […]

At the recent Grace Baptist Assembly (The Hayes, Swanwick: 30 April-2 May 2013) Jeremy Walker gave a paper on Andrew Fuller. He was evidently quite moved when he came to the death of Fuller, so observes Gary Brady. Among the quotations was Spurgeon’s letter to Fuller’s son following the publication of the biography he wrote […]

What hath God wrought? (Numbers 23:23). When Balak sought Balaam to curse God’s covenant people, Yahweh spoke to Balaam, informing him that what he had ordained would indeed happen. He is not a man that he should lie or repent. The nations would look on and see God’s blessing on his people and say, “What hath […]

Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic By Francis J. Beckwith Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2009 144 pages ISBN: 978 1 58743 247 7 (paperback) List price $15.00   The blurb on the front cover explains this book: ‘Why the President of the Evangelical Theological Society Left His Post and Returned to the […]

An address (possibly by Simeon Burns) to the church of Christ meeting in the Particular Baptist Chapel, Lower Gornal, near Dudley, many years ago. The whole address is in scriptural language, sometimes quoted exactly, sometimes just the substance — so quotations marks have been omitted as in the original. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, […]

Calvin, Theologian and Reformer Edited by Joel R. Beeke and Garry J.Williams Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010 170 pages ISBN: 978 1 60178 091 1 (paperback) List price $16.00 In 2009, the John Owen Centre in London held a conference to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, with the speeches being published […]

Adam in the New Testament: Mere Teaching Model or First Historical Man? By J. P. Versteeg Translated and with a Foreword by Richard B. Gaffin Jr. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2012 96 pages ISBN: 978 1 59638 522 1 (paperback) List price $12.99 A comparison of Romans 14–15 with Galatians reveals that we need to […]

How do you preach on a ‘God-less’ chapter of Scripture? To my shame I confess that I often don’t, I just skip on to the next chapter. But Ian Hamilton, minister of Cambridge Presbyterian Church, showed how to do it on Sunday 28 April in a sermon on 1 Samuel 27:1-28:2. In brief, you wrestle […]

Rev. John Macpherson, former Free Church minister in Dornoch and London, and missionary in Peru, reflects on the influence of Bonar’s Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne on his life and ministry. I had the inestimable privilege of being brought to faith in Christ while I was young, about 14-15 years of age. Although […]

In 1977 the publication of E P Sanders’ book Paul and Palestinian Judaism began a series of publications which radically re-interpreted the gospel, alleging that Paul had misinterpreted the Truth. A ‘New Perspective’ on the background and writings of Paul dominated the mind and writings of influential New Testament scholars. The result was a radical departure from […]

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite spirit, O Lord, Thou wilt not despise (Psalm 51:17). King David wrote, ‘. . . his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night’ (Psa. 1:2). But then David saw Bathsheba, desired her, took her, and […]

Recently I read the large two volume official biography of John Stott written by Timothy Dudley-Smith. The books are interesting because of the account they give of many events, organisations and people in the British evangelical scene during the second half of the twentieth century. There is no doubting the huge impact Stott made in […]

My father was Jackie Ross, a minister in Lochcarron, but best known for his work with Blythswood Care, a Christian charity he started with friends in 1966. He led Blythswood through major growth years in the nineties, and continued to be involved with the leadership team until his death in 2001. I don’t hold him […]

Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack By Rupert Shortt London: Rider Books, 2012 320 pages ISBN: 978 1 84604 275 1 (hardback) ISBN: 978 1 84604 276 8 (paperback) Christianophobia is such an ugly, awkward word. In an age when everything is treated as a brand, Islamophobia seems to roll off the tongue. This has perhaps […]

Introduction 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 […]

The Act of Uniformity of 1662 prescribed that any minister in England who refused to conform to the Book of Common Prayer by 14th August 1662 would be ejected from the Church of England. Over 2,000 evangelical ministers left their livings rather than conform to what they saw as extra-Biblical rules and regulations. It was a sad […]

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7). King David had it going on. He was riding high as king of the unified, prosperous, and militarily mighty nation of Israel. He was a courageous and bold military leader, as well as being a prolific […]