Until the publication of In the footsteps of King David, the prevailing approach to biblical archaeology has often been denial of the factuality of biblical texts. From 2007 to 2013, a team of archaeologists (led by the authors of this fascinating volume) excavated Khirbet Qeiyafa. This is located in the Elah Valley on the…
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Anyone who regularly engages in outdoor evangelism will tell you that the question of this book’s title is the one most frequently raised by people on the street. It is good to know, therefore, the solid biblical answers with which Christians can respond and, hopefully, help people. This is especially true for helping those…
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In this book, Professor Andrews (see article on page 3 of this ET issue) distils a lifetime of meditation on the titular question into 14 rich and readable chapters. He unpacks the issues behind what scholars have called ‘hard problems’ and shows us how biblical revelation brings understanding to our minds and gives humans…
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Hitchin Grace Baptist Church welcomed its new pastor Tom Forryan at a service attended by 200 people, in the Priory School, Hitchin, on 13 October 2018. Ashkan Sarmadi, current pastor of Derby Road Baptist Church (DRBC), Watford, commended Tom’s previous ministry as former pastor at DRBC and as a worker with Grace Baptist Mission…
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The Bishop of London is backing the identifying and training of new pioneer leaders in order to birth ‘new churches, for new people in new places’, across London. In a joint venture between the Centre for Church Planting and Growth and Church Mission Society, the School of Pioneers will, for the first time, allow…
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Church Society’s Council met in October to discuss the ‘memorandum of agreement’ made between Church Society, Reform and the Fellowship of Word and Spirit, made prior to a recent merger between these groups. The items discussed by the council were: relationships with other Anglican bodies; Church Society’s commitment to contending for the true gospel;…
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The latest ‘Alpha and Omega Conference’ took place on Saturday 6 October, when Professor Edgar Andrews (see p.3) delivered two lectures based on his new book What is Man? Adam, alien or ape? These half-day conferences are held usually twice a year at the Campus Church, Welwyn Garden City, and feature issues of current…
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An anniversary gives us another opportunity to remember, and on 15-16 September 2018 the members and friends of West Park Church, Wolverhampton, recalled and celebrated God’s goodness since the founding of the church 50 years ago. In those days it was called Merridale Church and was in a different part of the city. Much…
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In a troubling legal ruling for free speech, a woman who insulted the Muslim faith has had her conviction upheld by the European Court of Human Rights. The woman, known only as Mrs S, had made disparaging remarks about the prophet Mohammed, calling him a paedophile, because one of his many wives was only…
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Adult stem cells could be used in the future to heal babies with cleft palates, a pioneering new treatment in Colombia has shown. The condition is an abnormality whereby the part of skull which connects the mouth to the nose has not developed. It affects around one in every 700 births. Cleft palates, although…
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The police should focus on actual crimes like burglaries and robberies, and not waste time recording incidents which are not crimes, a senior officer has said. National Police Chiefs’ Council chairwoman Sara Thornton warned forces are too stretched to take on issues such as logging ‘hate incidents’ where no crime has been committed, even…
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Highschool children in Salisbury have spoken out about being bombarded with gambling ads. St Joseph’s School has been helping its older pupils to understand the methods gambling companies use to get and keep customers. 15-year-old Bryn, from St Joseph’s, recalled seeing a gambling ad where a James Bond-style character was shown to be gambling…
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Christian Peer Baroness Cox has tabled questions in Parliament asking the government about victims who have been groomed by gangs, the Christian Legal Centre reported. The question reads, ‘To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are aware of the case of Sarah who was held captive by a grooming gang for 12 years as…
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Seventy per cent of Christians know who they want to invite to church, but never do — something Michael Harvey, founder of the National Weekend of Invitation and Back to Church Sunday, reckons can change if Christians think differently. Talking to a packed hall at the Christian Resources Exhibition 2018, at Sandown Park in…
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The Christian Heritage Centre continued to see a good number of visitors visit its exhibition during this summer. Situated in Providence Chapel in Rowley Regis, near Birmingham, it was set up to demonstrate the impact that Christianity has had on our country. The story of Christianity in Britain is told through a series of…
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Professor John L. Mackay, lecturer and author of numerous Bible commentaries, has died aged 70. Prof. Mackay was formerly Principal and Professor of Old Testament Studies at the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh (now Edinburgh Theological Seminary). He passed away peacefully at home on 25 October and is survived by his wife…
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Religious think tank Theos is calling for a number of improvements to Religious Education in schools, in a report which summarises a series of high-level conversations on the effectiveness and future of RE. Recommendations include ending parents’ right to withdraw their child from RE, ensuring Ofsted take action against schools not teaching RE well,…
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How can someone call on the one they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? For over a year, 10 global Christian mission organisations have been working together under the #HowWillTheyHear campaign, which seeks…
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How can someone call on the one they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? For over a year, 10 global Christian mission organisations have been working together under the #HowWillTheyHear campaign, which seeks…
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The European Mission Fellowship is in the process of relocating to Leicestershire. After a long history of being based in the home counties, the charity is moving its headquarters to Glenfield, a village in the Blaby district of Leicester.
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Twenty-seven young people mostly from one-parent families chose to follow the Lord Jesus at a Bible camp in Peru. Arriving with a back-pack full of expectations and enthusiasm, 66 youths in total between 12 and 16 years old attended the camp in Comas, a deprived area of Lima, the capital of the South American…
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A teenager is recovering after a bleed on the brain left her with ‘locked-in’ syndrome. Miranda Meldrum suffered a near-fatal stroke in April last year, aged 13, leaving her almost completely paralysed. ‘Locked-in’ syndrome leaves people with fully functioning minds but with little or no ability to communicate. The condition is frequently used by…
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Two-hundred and fifty years since his birth, one of the men who fought to end slavery has been honoured with a memorial plaque in St George’s Gardens in London. Zachary Macaulay was born in Inveraray in 1768, but after getting a job in a merchant’s office in Glasgow, he spent much of his youth…
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Campaigners have expressed relief that a radical abortion motion brought forward by Diana Johnson MP, Labour MP for Hull North, is unlikely to become law. The motion, which MPs passed by 208 to 123 votes in October, sought to impose abortion on Northern Ireland and remove many of the current legal safeguards around abortion provision in…
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Pastor Andrew Brunson believes that God was sovereignly involved in his two-year incarceration in Turkey because ‘millions of people prayed for Turkey during that time, and God is bringing blessing out of it’. In an interview with American TV programme CBS This Morning after his release, Pastor Brunson revealed that the book of 2…
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Christian missionary organisation Operation Mobilisation (OM) has thanked its supporters for backing its work in Indonesia with prayer following the devastating 7.4 earthquake which struck in the Central Sulawesi region on 28 September. Over 2 million people were affected by the impact of such a large-scale disaster. Homes, hospitals, water and communication lines were…
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There is increasing intolerance in India amongst Hindu youths towards other religious minorities, one Indian Christian leader has told a meeting in the House of Lords. Speaking at a reception organised by religious freedom group ADF International, Dr Michael Williams blamed India’s ‘fundamentalist’ government. He said it was comparable to Islamic radicalisation or fascism…
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A 13-year-old Pakistani Christian boy was sent out of his classroom for turning off a tap that had been left running. Fourth grader student Sharjeel was expelled from his class on 16 October 2018 because it was believed that by touching the tap he had tainted the water and therefore he should be punished.…
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Britain and other nations should offer asylum to Asia Bibi and her family, Christian campaigners said after the Catholic mother-of-five was acquitted of blasphemy charges in Pakistan on 31 October. A three-judge bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court saved the illiterate farm labourer from execution, with its decision to acquit and release her. In a…
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An evangelical church group in eastern Ukraine has been outlawed by authorities, and Christians face a fine or arrest if they meet together, even in their own homes. Now called the Luhansk People’s Republic and controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, the area’s officials imposed a re-registration process for churches in February 2018. But…
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Church attendance has declined in Rwanda this year and church leaders live in fear, as the government continues to close churches amid increasing aggressive secularisation by President Paul Kagame. More than 8,000 churches have now been closed in the Christian-majority country, and the number keeps growing, on the pretext of failing to meet requirements…
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Christianity is to affect the whole of life, and one of the great dangers Christians face is that of imbalance. They must always be on the lookout not to overemphasise some things and underemphasise others. Church history teaches us that imbalances not corrected can lead Christians away from the faith altogether. If Christianity is…
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I was born in Sticker, near St Austell in Cornwall, and my earliest memories are of attending the local Methodist chapel and Sunday school. When I was 15, I saw a film on the crucifixion at the cinema and was challenged by an evangelist afterwards. Then, when I was 17, I left school and…
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I was brought up in a Christian family where the Bible was taught, and from a very early age was surrounded by other Christians. However, this did not mean that I was a Christian myself, although at times I thought I was. But I had not personally accepted Jesus into my life. Deep down,…
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I was born in 1964 and brought up in South Yorkshire. I have been married now for 28 years. Before my marriage, my interests were football, going to the pub and just having a good time, and I still wanted this life to continue after marriage. Neither my wife nor I had any interest…
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I was born into a Christian home in Brunei. As a child my parents taught me about the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible. My father is a preacher in our home church and my mother translates the sermons into Mandarin. However, it was not until I was 13 that I realised that I…
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My mother very sadly died when I was only 11 years old. My uncle and aunt, who already had five children took me in. They were kind but poor. After the war I was introduced to a very lovely man, who became my husband. The marriage produced two children, a son and a daughter.…
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Many years ago, I found myself in a hopeless, helpless state; at a place in my mind where nothing made sense. I had become extremely cynical and could see no point in anything. The world seemed to be a place of suffering. Happiness had become an elusive state of mind that didn’t last and…
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The Bible says that to believers Jesus Christ is ‘precious’. They love to speak of him and what he means to them in their lives. Jesus Christ means more to me than anyone else. As the apostle Paul says: ‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Philippians 1:21). He is…
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I was not brought up in a Christian family, but my parents had a friend who helped with leading a Sunday school. Therefore, my sister and I went along. I don’t remember much about it and it didn’t seem to make any impression on me at the time. Despite this, I often used to…
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Having grown up in a Christian home and attended church since I was born, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t believe in God. I definitely had a good understanding of the fundamental core of Christianity: that I was a sinner, that I was loved by God, and that there was forgiveness and…
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I was born into a Christian home in Sheffield and lived in the city during World War II. I had two sisters and two brothers. My parents took us to church and Sunday school. I loved reading and, at the age of 11, read a Christian book written for children that explained Jesus as…
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Growing up in a Christian family has meant that I learnt about God from a very young age. For as long as I can remember I’ve believed in God, attended church services, prayed and read from the Bible. I used to assume that this made me a Christian. But when I was around 15…
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As a teenager, sadly, I had no time for God, but I believed that there was a Creator. In the early 1950s I left Sheffield, having been called up for national service and I was stationed at RAF Chivenor in North Devon. One day when off-duty and visiting Rock Park in Barnstaple I noticed…
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Born in Poland, I followed the traditions of the Roman Catholic religion for the first 18 years of my life: christened as a baby, having religious lessons, and attending Sunday ‘mass’ with my parents, as all the other children in my village did. I was taught to believe in God’s existence, the concept of…
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My uncle David is the family historian. He has spent many hours researching the family tree and has discovered relatives in Australia and Argentina. My uncle is not alone in his desire to trace his genealogical roots. The BBC series Who do you think you are? is very popular. In the programme, famous people…
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It’s exciting! It’s amazing! It’s fantastic! As incredible as it seems, yet by faith I believe it’s true. Permit me to give a testimony, a wonderful witness that I could only make by God’s sovereign grace. Here it is: ‘The God of the Bible is my God!’ Let me be specific. My God is…
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History is littered with dead kings. Destined to reign from the beginning of life, they have come at last to their throne. But only for a time. Always, sooner or later, they have come into conflict with death. And death has always carried the day. There is, however, one remarkable exception to this universal…
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Joseph — the legal guardian and earthly father of the Lord Jesus — is often overlooked in the Christmas story. Matthew’s Gospel however relates the account of the birth of Christ more from Joseph’s perspective than Mary’s. Matthew tells us: ‘Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother…
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Who wrote this song? The author is most surprising: a Jewish priest who’d been struck dumb for nine months! Zacharias was his name, and the cause of his lack of speech was unbelief. Zacharias just hadn’t reckoned that his elderly wife could possibly become a mother for the first time, even though God himself…
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In just these four words John the apostle, in the first chapter of his Gospel, gives us the reason for celebrating Christmas. It is amazing how much can be said in a few words. Four words to describe one of the most significant, amazing and pivotal events in the whole of human history. John…
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Mary’s hopes and dreams for her firstborn son were overshadowed by prophecy, but she never forgot who held the future for Jesus. Last year I wrote about the difficulties facing childless parents at Christmas, when everything seems to focus on ‘family’. This year we will be celebrating our own family ‘miracle’: a son finally…
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This month people all over the world will celebrate Christmas. For many, it will simply mean time off work to sit back, relax and indulge in chocolates, presents, and elaborate roast dinners. However, the true meaning of Christmas is much deeper. Christians celebrate Christmas to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of…
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Our eyes are wonderful things! Each one is a slightly asymmetrical globe, about an inch in diameter. The front part of the eye that you see in the mirror contains the iris (the pigmented part), the cornea (a clear dome over the iris), the pupil (the black circular opening in the iris that lets…
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When Pope Francis addressed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he argued that ideas like the ‘big bang’ and evolution are perfectly compatible with the Christian faith (Address on occasion of inauguration of bust in honour of Pope Benedict XV1, Plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 27 October 2014). Astonishingly, he declared: ‘When we read…
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Tea towel-turbaned children and cosy Christmas card scenes often spring to mind when we think about the shepherds. But what were these first eyewitnesses of the manger really like? Our research takes us to the account by Luke, the historian amongst Jesus’ four biblical biographers. But what would it have been like for Luke…
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Gavin Dickson continues sharing his life story (begun in November’s ET ): When the Scots Guards returned to Iraq in 2007 for Telic 7, an insurgency was raging throughout the country. So we had to exchange our berets for helmets and full body armour. In fact, you didn’t travel unless you were in an…
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Mark was a 27-year-old from Clwyd, working for a firm that fitted ten-pin bowling alleys. It was a job that many lads of his age would have been happy to have had, but Mark had bigger dreams. Like other young boys in North Wales he had grown up with the idea that London was…
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Gary Clayton reminds everyone, including Christians, what the Christmas season is all about. To millions around the world Christmas is the most eagerly anticipated time of the year. For some, it’s a time of joy, celebration, family and worship. For others, it can be a profoundly lonely, materialistic or depressing experience. Christmas, however one…
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Has there ever been a perfect human being? In spite of the praise and adoration we lavish on our heroes, saints and pop-idols, the answer has to be ‘no’. The Bible, however, claims a single exception to this rule. Jesus Christ, the Bible maintains, was the perfect man who shows us what humanity should…
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‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned’. This beautiful verse, from chapter 9 of Isaiah’s Old Testament prophecy, is set within a wonderful passage often read at Christmas. It describes the coming of the Messiah. The…
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