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Topic Archives: Marriage & Family

Maggie Paton’s letters ought to be read alongside Paton’s autobiography. James Paton wrote that he was eager to publish these letters because ‘they present another picture of mission life and experiences in the New Hebrides’ from that portrayed in the now famous Autobiography of her husband.  The story of John Gibson Paton (1824-1907), Scottish Presbyterian […]

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Category Book Reviews
Date September 15, 2023
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A review by Ryan M. McGraw of Catechizing Our Children: The Whys and Hows of Teaching the Shorter Catechism Today by Terry L. Johnson.1 Catechizing is often a missing ingredient in the discipleship of covenant children today. Many parents reject catechizing by pitting it against Bible memorization. Yet those making this objection fail to realize […]

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Category Book Reviews
Date September 13, 2023
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In the opinion of many, next to the Bible itself, the very best tool for family worship is The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine F. Vos. It is now back in print. Banner of Truth has republished it in cloth binding, beautiful paper and print with a marker to use as the pages are turned […]

Category Book Reviews
Date June 10, 2021
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These extracts are taken from the diary1 of Elizabeth Jollie, 2 the wife of Rev Timothy Jollie, who was the minister of the Non-conformist con­gregation in Sheffield from 1681 to 1714. Mrs Jollie was herself the daughter of Rev James Fisher, the ejected vicar of Sheffield who died in 1666 when Elizabeth was 19 years […]

Category Articles
Date December 13, 2019
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The responsibilities of Christian parents are great. They are commanded to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4). This has never been an easy task — least of all today, when so much of the atmosphere in which our offspring must live is diametrically opposed to God and his […]

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Date November 26, 2019
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The following is taken from the excellent Memoir of John H. Rice, W. H. Maxwell (Philadelphia; 1835), pp. 334-337 * * * Union Theological Seminary, Feb. 13th, 1828 My Dear Jane, I have a thousand times purposed to write to you, since your marriage; but have never yet seen the time when I could fulfil my intentions. […]

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Category Articles
Date November 12, 2019
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Charles Spurgeon was the unlikeliest of candidates to win the heart of Susie Thompson. He was rural England and she was London and Paris. After seeing and hearing Charles in the pulpit for the first time, the furthest thought from her mind was marrying him. How then did Charles Spurgeon win and keep the heart […]

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Category Articles
Date June 8, 2018
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I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. — Romans 9:1-3 (ESV) […]

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Date April 16, 2018
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An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. , Proverbs 31:10 I well remember the time I was allowed to take a series of eleventh grade American Literature class in a local high school and give the ‘other side’ of the story about the Puritans of the seventeenth century. They […]

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Category Articles
Date September 25, 2017
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What daily anxieties of spirit are there in some because of the lack of children. They have many other comforts, but the not having of this embitters all. Abraham himself was much troubled about it: Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer […]

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Date February 23, 2015
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A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way (Isaiah 35:8). Jehovah spoke the word through Jeremiah the prophet (Jer. 7:12), giving Judah a history lesson, that they might remember what […]

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Category Articles
Date September 12, 2014
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When your child learns to write, he is ready to begin taking sermon notes. Say, what? Let’s say that little George is 4 or 5 or 6 years old and he knows how to write his name and how to write all of his letters. Now he can get started! All you need is a […]

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Date July 25, 2014
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The Banner had the opportunity to sit down with Mark Johnston and ask him to tell us a little bit about his past. A Banner author of three titles , Let’s Study Colossians and Philemon, Let’s Study 2 Peter and Jude, and Let’s Study John , Mark shared with us his upbringing as a child […]

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Date June 27, 2014
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In this small book the author makes the argument for teaching children the catechism regularly from a young age, quoting many well-known theologians as he goes along. The author discusses the history and strengths of the catechism (specifically the Westminster Shorter Catechism), but it is when he writes about its structure and the way it […]

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Category Book Reviews
Date May 26, 2014
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The message of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah in the temple was that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, that this son was to be called John, and that he would be ‘great in the sight of the Lord’ (Luke 1:13-15). There is a right use and a wrong use to which these […]

Category Articles
Date April 11, 2014
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Marriage was God’s gift to a perfect world. He had said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone’, even when that man was without sin and living in holy communion with God. God in kindness saw fit to make a companion for Adam – another human being, not identical to him, but […]

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Date August 20, 2013
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On 26 June 2013 the U.S.A. Supreme Court issued rulings that boosted the cause of same sex marriage by a 5-4 decision, and ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. This is a major decision that will have long term impact. The court accelerated the advance of gay marriage in the US, […]

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Category Articles
Date July 16, 2013
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Introduction Someone once said that, if you want to be eternally relevant, you need to stop trying to say things that are relevant and focus on saying things that are eternal. Some ministers write their sermons according to what has featured in the news that week. When I was training for the ministry, a former […]

Category Articles
Date October 23, 2012
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My dear mother, Johanna Beeke, aged 92, passed on into the presence of her Saviour at 3:45 a.m. on July 23, 2012. Though words seem hollow right now, I have tried to write a little of the tremendous legacy she left us five children and our spouses. Some of this material I used for leading […]

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Category Articles
Date October 2, 2012
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‘For I hate divorce,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘and him who covers his garment with wrong,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.’ (Malachi 2:16) Any pastor or Christian marriage counsellor will tell you that eventually the Christian seeking a divorce will […]

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Category Articles
Date June 29, 2012
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The book is made up of eleven sermons from volume six of Dr Lloyd-Jones Ephesians series first published in 1973. I found this a challenge to read, not just because of the subject matter but because of the dense arguments that Dr Lloyd-Jones is propounding. No doubt the original listeners, who heard one sermon at […]

Category Book Reviews
Date June 28, 2012
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You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God. (James 4:4) For good or ill, without question our children imitate us. What they see in us – our values, actions, and speech – significantly influence them. After giving four reasons for the quarrels and conflicts we face in our […]

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Category Articles
Date April 28, 2011
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Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! (Job 38:3) After Elihu, the fourth of troubled Job’s friends, exhorts him to consider the glory and wonder of God and his providence, the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind. God did the same with Elijah (1 […]

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Category Articles
Date March 11, 2011
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For the promise is for you and your children. (Acts 2:39) My wife was recently walking in a West Hartford park and met a young mother with her two children. As Wini struck up a conversation with the mom it was clear that she was exhausted from the demands of motherhood. Wini then used one […]

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Category Articles
Date October 15, 2010
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Many years ago I was taking a class with Dr. R.C. Sproul. He said that most people find their identity either in ‘being’ or ‘doing.’ He pointed to his wife Vesta, who was sitting in the class, and said, ‘If you ask her what she does, she’ll answer, “I don’t do anything, I be.”‘ My […]

Category Articles
Date April 1, 2010
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