Articles

Rosaria’s Message to the Church Dr. Rosaria Butterfield said it was difficult to describe her unlikely conversion to Christianity, but settled on defining it as a mix of an alien abduction and a train wreck. ‘I lost everything but the dog,’ she said. Butterfield was speaking September 3, 2015 at Central Avenue CRC in Holland, […]

George Rose (1873-1965) was a Baptist pastor in Tamworth Road, Croydon, in the years leading up to the Second World War. His biography has just been reprinted entitled Remembered Mercies Recorded (Gospel Standard Trust Publications, 376 pages). From 1933 he issued a Monthly Circular in which he wrote a message to his congregation, and those […]

Of all the major Reformers, John Knox is the one about whose early life we know the least – a fact that may come as a surprise since he wrote a History of the Reformation in Scotland.1 We cannot even be certain of the year in which he was born; it was either 1514 or […]

When Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses for public debate to the church door at Wittenberg on the 31st of October 1517, the Protestant Reformation officially began its long journey.1 Luther was not the sole pioneer of Protestantism, as he had already been influenced in his theology by the life of Jan Hus (1369-1415) and […]

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they shall both be alike good (Ecclesiastes 11:5). My wife Margaret and I have been running Bible stalls in open-air markets since 1999, with a very small start […]

Approximately 150 years ago, Edith Cavell was born in Swardeston, Norfolk, England. The date was December 4, 1865. Throughout the fifty years of Edith Cavell’s life, she was content to be obscure, working hard and living humbly. But these virtues in and of themselves are not enough to make one unique. Surely there have been […]

… in order to present you before Him, holy, blameless, and beyond reproach (Colossians 1:22). Paul the apostle commands us to do all things without grumbling or disputing (Phil. 2:14). James instructs us not to complain against one another (James 5:9). Paul told us to have no anxiety about anything (Phil. 4:6). And Jesus told […]

Christians across the world are suffering. The media, both secular and Christian, report appalling cases of persecution on a daily basis – situations where Christians are tortured, raped, imprisoned, killed. Researchers list at least fifty countries where Christians are known to be suffering in such obvious ways. There are many others where it is officially […]

For their sakes I sanctify Myself (John 17:19). In a country where the evangelical church has been declining for years, where only seven to eight percent of the population are evangelicals (twenty-two to twenty-six million people); in a nation where evangelicals are alarmingly and increasingly called more dangerous and divisive than Muslims; it is high […]

It was something Caleb said about himself (Josh. 14:8). He had fully followed the Lord. Nor was it an idle boast. His words are merely an echo of the Lord’s: ‘my servant Caleb…has followed me fully’ (Num. 14:24). How may we do the same? We need faith. When Caleb and Joshua and the other ten […]

That was the question posed to me. I was asked to consider in the light of fifty years’ ministry in one small congregation in a bi-lingual town of 20,000 people in mid-Wales whether I had gained any understanding of the work of the ministry that might colour the choices I made all those years ago […]

‘How Scotland Lost Its Hold of the Bible’ is the title of an excellent address by the Rev Iain Murray, published in The Banner of Truth magazine (Issue 623-4, Aug/Sept 2015).1 It is not surprising that a nation and church that has lost the Bible should also lose the gospel. The two are intertwined. We […]

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied (Isaiah 53:11). We all know we ought to be lifting up Jesus every time the Holy Spirit opens up a door to speak to someone of his glorious person and work. If you are like me, however, perhaps you […]

When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’ (Acts 11:18). With a few exceptions Jews living a hundred years or so before the birth of Christ did not have any interest in ‘Gentile evangelism.’ They considered the […]

‘If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, […]

As I walked by a church a few days ago I noticed the slogan on its wall: ‘Try praying’. This church was not the first to use these words to encourage people in difficulty to begin to pray. To encourage people to pray is obviously a good thing, but the slogan does raise important questions. […]

Augustine of Hippo is without doubt one of the most significant figures of the early Church, and perhaps the most important of all those to write in Latin. It has been said that, ‘Apart from the Scriptural authors, no other figure had a greater impact on Christian life and thought up to the time of […]

At New Covenant Church, we enthusiastically encourage parents to keep their children in the worship service – the whole worship service. Being with the congregation in the worship service from childhood is one of the greatest privileges that God has given to children growing up in a Christian home. That begs the question, however, ‘If […]

One of the remarkable features of the early church was its preoccupation with the doctrine of God. Initially the concern of men like Athanasius (300-371) was to establish and defend the deity of Christ against men like Arius who taught that Jesus was a creature. Athanasius understood that if Jesus was not God in the […]

Thomas Charles of Bala (1755-1814) remains one of the great figures in the history of Christianity in England and Wales, remembered especially for his work for the Bible Society and Sunday schools in Wales.1 A clergyman of the Church of England, he was one of the leading figures in the emergence of the Calvinistic Methodists […]

Most of us in our allotted span live through two generations. We note that in some stages of history little changed in two generations. But not so in our situation, for there has been a great acceleration in some sixty years. We have seen major changes. We can think of it in terms of a […]

. . . and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth (Jeremiah 26:6). Early on Tuesday morning, August 19, 1561 Mary, Queen of Scots, arrived at Leith and made her way later that day to the Palace at Holyrood in Edinburgh. This occurred in the midst of the […]

The Reformation of the Church stands out in our minds as having started on 31 October, 1517. On that day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the chapel door at Wittenberg in Germany. That will be 500 years ago in two years’ time. However, the roots of the Reformation were already alive and well […]

Almost four days of ‘warm weather and even warmer fellowship, delicious food, and rich ministry.’ This is one man’s way of describing this year’s Leicester Banner of Truth Conference held at the University of Leicester, 13-16 April. Approximately three hundred and fifty men were in attendance. There were delegates from the USA, South Africa, Nigeria, […]

How Scotland Lost Its Hold of the Bible1 was first published in The Banner of Truth magazine, No. 623-624 (Aug-Sep 2015). The article can be downloaded as a 28-page print-ready pdf here, and may be freely printed and distributed. Man is now thinking out a Bible for himself; framing a religion in harmony with the […]