Articles

On a rare Saturday visit to Swansea, which is the second largest city in Wales with a population of 150,000, I had another opportunity to visit Des Roberts at his workplace. Forty years ago he began his lifetime vocation of distributing tracts once a week in the main street. At first he stood outside a […]

When I reflect on my spiritual pilgrimage, Reformed thinkers come to mind who became my mentors. The Dutch theologian Dr Herman Bavinck heads the list. I was introduced to his theology through his magisterial work, the four-volume Gereformeerde Dogmatiek (1906-1911) [Reformed Dogmatics], a gift from a generous host at whose place I stayed for a weekend […]

It’s what mothers’ worst nightmares are made of–the last thing Jason and Trina Baker expected as they headed out into a blizzard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on January 2, 1999. And because it was so unexpected, it was all the more horrifying when it happened. As they headed out into the gathering storm for a […]

Last thing at night, when our children were small, I often secretly watched them as they slept: there they lay, breathing rhythmically, almost imperceptibly, relaxed, at ease, enjoying ‘the sleep of innocence.’ But man–perhaps especially a father–looks on the outward appearance. What of the heart on which God gazes? Wearing biblical lenses we come to […]

‘I need not tell you of this who knew him, that it was his great Design to promote Holiness in the Life and Exercise of it among you: But it was his great Complaint, that its Power declined among Professors. It was his Care and Endeavor to prevent or cure spiritual Decays in his own […]

Friday evening, December 1, Dr Duane Gish debated Dr Massimo Pigliucci for the fifth time. The debate was at the Church of Christ of Winchester, Virginia, before an audience estimated at 1200. Dr Pigliucci, a native of Italy, has a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Connecticut and is an Associate Professor of Botany, […]

It is one of the conceits of the carnal mind that it thinks itself capable of discerning and understanding the designs of God. The unbeliever thinks he fathoms God and finds the Almighty wanting. The deluded believer hesitates to embrace the teaching of Scripture unless he thinks he perceives the divine design in it. Those […]

Blue Peter is the most famous and popular children’s TV programme in Great Britain. This Christmas it chose the best children’s book for 2000. Most of us expected it to be the latest Harry Potter yarn which has swept the globe, but to our delight the book it chose was a new edition of Pilgrim’s Progress. […]

I’m writing about the ‘worship’ service we attended Sunday, Christmas Eve morning. I suppose I’m typing these words as much as a catharsis as to inform you. Early on I decided that if I had to endure such an experience, I might as well take notes and use the event as a reservoir of illustrations. […]

The Summary of an Address given by Iain Murray at the Carey Conference 2001 at Swanwick. During the Second World War a Scot who was in the services and visiting London went to Westminster Chapel but the Chapel was closed, damaged by bombing, but on a piece of paper visitors were directed to a nearby […]

The phrase ‘Third Way’ is so seductive. It suggests that the tension between the locked in polarities of evangelical and liberal, or Protestant and Roman Catholic can be overcome by a third option. ‘If only there were more discussion, prayer, trust, give and take, leading of the Spirit, our antagonisms could come to an end.’ […]

Every three years the Urbana Mission Convention, sponsored by the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, takes place in Urbana-Champaign. As usual more than 20,000 students, missionaries and others attended this year. The Convention ended on January 1. In the past John Stott and Eric Alexander have been some of the men giving the morning Bible readings. This […]

This testimony of the new American President’s journey of faith been has widely circulated on the Internet. We long that his faith grow and he become a courageous and wise leader of the greatest nation in the world. * * * Actually, the seeds of my decision had been planted by the Reverend Billy Graham. […]

When we talk about the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ we begin by pointing out that there was nothing supernatural in the emergence of Jesus from the womb of Mary–what we usually refer to as the ‘birth’ of a baby. The whole process of foetal and embryonic development was again normal. We are […]

How few are the followers of the Lord Jesus with whom we are personally acquainted. Then one day a window is opened upon another life and we are permitted a view of transforming and sustaining grace. So it was when the Times published an obituary of Dr Leigh Ashton (Tuesday, December 19, 2000): ‘A Life […]