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Topic Archives: Theology

In his address ‘Modern Theories of the Atonement,’ given in 1902, B. B. Warfield observed the revolt against penal substitution that gained momentum in the late nineteenth century. He noted that this revolt prompted an immediate and equally powerful defence. However, ‘this defense only stemmed the tide, it did not succeed in rolling it back.’ […]

Category Articles
Date April 22, 2008
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John Owen’s classic work ‘On Temptation’ has recently been published by Banner of Truth in an updated edition as Temptation Resisted and Repulsed.1 The church which I serve used this newer version as the basis for a series of adult Sunday School classes over a course of months. It became quickly apparent that the material […]

Category Articles
Date March 10, 2008
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Jeremy Walker provides an outline of John Owen’s Temptation: Resisted and Repulsed,1 from the Trust’s Puritan Paperbacks series. Author’s Preface – Aim stated. – Reasons given. – Warning and exhortation to the carnal, casual, or careless reader. – Warning and exhortation to the careful, Christian reader. Note that although the forms of temptation alter with […]

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Date March 3, 2008
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Samuel Rutherford lived and preached in the first half of the seventeenth century and yet his life and work are still held in high regard. First published in this form in 1909 this beautifully presented little book is one to treasure and keep close for referring to continuously. These short pieces taken from Samuel Rutherford’s […]

Category Book Reviews
Date December 6, 2007
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With some illustrations in colour, others in black and white, this book glorifies our Creator God. Big bold words written in rhyme accompany expressive illustrations beautifully drawn in ink and coloured pencil. Based on the Bible telling of the Creation of the World, Alison Brown has drawn a delightful and child friendly portrayal of Genesis […]

Category Book Reviews
Date December 6, 2007
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There are some things that we can do that our God cannot do. We can lie, he can speak nothing but truth; we can sin, he can only do righteousness; we can die, he has lived and will live forever. Our capacity to do such things does not make us greater but infinitely less than […]

Category Articles
Date December 4, 2007
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There’s a lot of talk in the Christian world concerning humility and the handling of God’s Word. Prominent in this discussion are some of the statements emanating from America’s branch of the Emerging Church. According to this school of thought, humility as applied to Scripture entails a sense of uncertainty about Scripture’s meaning, message, or […]

Category Articles
Date November 2, 2007
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Dr. Edward J. Young was one of the greatest Christian scholars, and the godliest of Christians whom I ever met. I came to Westminster Theological Seminary in 1964 for postgraduate work. I had just completed a master’s degree at Princeton and was tired of the liberalism that seemed to permeate all the lectures and grading. […]

Category Articles
Date October 16, 2007
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…and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. Ephesians 3:9 The 16th century Reformation, which brought so much good to Europe, which delivered people from ignorance, poverty, superstition, and the darkness of paganism and idolatry, had a catch phrase […]

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Date October 2, 2007
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to proclaim … the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 3:8 Recently four teenagers, three of whom were entering their last year at high school, were killed in a car accident. I cannot imagine the grief and heartache of the parents of these young people, knowing that their children’s lives were snuffed out at such a […]

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Date September 28, 2007
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Horace Bushnell, the 19th-century Congregational minister from Hartford, along with Universalist Hosea Ballou, and Unitarian William Ellery Channing altered the way many people thought about Christ’s atonement. Until that time, the conventional view in the church of Christ was God-centred and objective. That is, the sovereign Triune God who created man requires obedience from mankind. […]

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Category Articles
Date September 14, 2007
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This article is Chapter 2 of the author’s Pentecost – Today?: The Biblical Basis for Understanding Revival. ‘For a long time it was supposed by the Church that a revival was a miracle, an interposition of Divine power. It is only within a few years that ministers generally have supposed revivals were to be promoted […]

Category Articles
Date September 11, 2007
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Christ is our sufficiency. This statement is true on the highest and most vital level of our lives. Only Christ has regarded us in all of our unworthiness and unloveliness and has loved us to the uttermost, giving His life as a ransom for us. Only Christ can cleanse us of the guilt, heal us […]

Category Articles
Date July 20, 2007
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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 […]

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Date July 6, 2007
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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 […]

Category Articles
Date June 15, 2007
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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 […]

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Date May 22, 2007
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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 […]

Category Book Reviews
Date May 18, 2007
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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 […]

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Date May 18, 2007
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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 […]

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Date May 11, 2007
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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 […]

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Date May 11, 2007
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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. […]

Category Articles
Date May 8, 2007
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In the book of The Revelation we read of the Lord’s day (1:10), as this is the day that belongs to Christ Jesus – only it and the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:20) bear this title, so why this special significance and where does it come from? The risen Saviour appeared on the first day […]

Category Articles
Date May 4, 2007
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Memorizing Scripture seems like a daunting task for many of us. Why is that? For some, the memory is not as good as it used to be, or at least as we remember that it was! “I have a bad memory” is often used to justify not even attempting to memorize God’s Word. Still others […]

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Date April 27, 2007
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A pilgrimage to faith in the integrity of Scripture Enough things are lost in the average church to make some sort of lost-and-found department necessary, even if it is only a drawer in a desk somewhere. Church coatrooms often contain an interesting selection of old hats, overshoes, umbrellas, and gloves. Human memory being what it […]

Category Articles
Date April 20, 2007
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The covenanted consistency of God’s character is a wonderful encouragement to every Christian. His pledged love for us in Christ is an “everlasting love.” He can no more stop loving us than he can stop loving his Son, for he loves us “in him.” God’s consistency of character towards us, however, is double-edged. Let me […]

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Date March 27, 2007
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