Articles

The Church Order of the Christian Reformed Church says that only those persons who “meet the biblical requirements” are eligible for office. Passages like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 teach that, among other things, an “overseer” must “be above reproach,” “manage his own family well,” “have a good reputation with outsiders,” and be “self-controlled, […]

During the first week of December, one of the major French weekly magazines, “Courrier International,” dedicated its cover article to the “phenomenon” of evangelicalism. The evangelical church in France represents only about 0.8 percent of the population according to the most optimistic statistics. Many (if not most) French people have never heard of “evangelicals” or […]

All who came into contact with the late Aaron Ndebele as fellow-travellers on the highway that leads to Zion and who spent some time in his company will remember him as a Christian and a gospel minister of no ordinary stature. So well endowed was he intellectually that he would undoubtedly have become eminent in […]

It was about October or November 1952 that a popular witch-doctor went to stay in the home of a local chief at Nkayi in the Shangani reserve. The woman claimed to have been sent by some great spirit in the Matopo hills to make rain, heal the sick and kill the witches and wizards in […]

Gareth Davies a notable Welsh Calvinistic Methodist preacher died on March 4 in Cardiff. On his best days, and he enjoyed many of these, he preached with theological discernment, earnest longing for the salvation of men and women, unavoidable application and a Welsh warmth of spirit. Two memories come back to me. The first is […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP), The book’s title looks both promising and inspiring. Brian D. McLaren’s new book, “A Generous Orthodoxy,” is sure to get attention, and its title grabs both heart and mind. Who wouldn’t want to embrace an orthodoxy of generosity? On the other hand, the title raises an unavoidable question: Just how “generous” can […]

There is so much in this book of Tom Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said. Was Paul of Tarsus the Real founder of Christianity? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), that is good and should elicit a loud “Amen!” A balanced review of this book would focus on both its strengths and weaknesses. Here, unfortunately, I shall […]

This article first appeared in The Free Church Witness in January 2005 but was subsequently posted on the Banner of Truth Trust website. The article seeks to identify me (and other Reformed commentators of repute) as ‘antinomian’. I have a number of objections to this article and am grateful to the Banner of Truth for […]

“But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.” Isaiah 63:10. Power Would you agree with me that the church of Jesus Christ in the west is in a sad and woeful state? We have our church programs, activities, seminars, master plans, publishing houses, […]

Dr. Edmund Clowney, a former Westminster Theological Seminary professor and prolific author, is at the University of Virginia Hospital after fracturing his back in a fall on Saturday, 5 March. By Thursday night, complications of flu and pneumonia made his situation bleak, but pulmonary specialists have been able to clear up the pneumonia and bring […]

It was not until I read the testimony of a Christian man battling against homosexual lust that I realised what the leadership of the American Episcopal Church is doing. This so-called ‘affirming church’ – and there are Baptists and Presbyterians who declare the same message – is saying that homosexuality is God’s plan for the […]

God gives good press to doctrine. But surveys of evangelicals usually do not-until recently. In God’s book, knowing his Son and believing true things about him is liberty. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). God’s self-revelation in the Bible is not a wax nose. Paul calls it […]

A Life Lived to the End for the Glory of God and the Spread of the Gospel John Rogers, of whom the world was not worthy, was burned at the stake in the year 1555 in Smithfield, England. He was 55 years old, only 4 years older than I am. What was he like? Why […]

[In the last month Roger Fellows has known a deliverance from serious illness by a remarkable providence. He has shared what happened to his circle of friends writing as follows:] I did not make any attempt to let people know generally that I have experienced heart problems recently (neither did I make any effort to […]

You may say to your children: – when an unwillingness to receive godly counsel, instruction, or rebuke, or when acting like a fool: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction, Proverbs 1:7. My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, or loathe His reproof, for […]