Two hundred and fifty years ago, in November 1748, Isaac Watts was called to his eternal rest. He left behind some 600 hymns, many of them paraphrases of the Psalms and other portions of Scripture, but all written in the language of the new covenant and explicitly bringing the person and work of Christ…
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Although Irenaeus of Lyons is the most important Greek-speaking theologian of second-century Christianity, materials for his life story are meagre at best. But what we do know of him makes us eager to find out more about this winsome author and pastor. Irenaeus was born in the Roman province of Asia, now on the…
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Some Christians are obsessed with knowing whether they are ‘in the will of God’. What do they mean? Usually they have in mind a plan for their lives that God drew up in eternity, and which they are now duty-bound to discover and follow, rather like a road map to a specific destination. In…
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Last month we drove in imagination down the M1 passing junction 21. Noting the sign ‘River Swift’ on the motorway embankment, we reminisced as we looked back to the fourteenth century, to see a great man of God whose pioneering work was so influential that he was called the ‘Morning Star of the Reformation’.…
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Among the various churches recommended by the Daily Telegraph for Christmas worship last December was a parish church in West London called Holy Trinity, Brompton. The vicar of this ‘thriving Anglican evangelical church’, wrote the concerned reporter, is ‘the Rev. Sandy Millar, a pioneer of the Alpha courses ... and a persuasive preacher who…
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When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church he deplored the fact that ‘The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom’, and he immediately distances himself from both Jews and Greeks by declaring, ‘but we preach Christ crucified’ (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). The situation has not changed today. People continue to…
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I would like to offer a personal comment and some additional pertinent information concerning Promise Keepers (PK). The interest of my men and the support of my Session for PK has dropped radically in the last three years for some of the very reasons that your article mentioned. We no longer support PK as…
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‘Europresse-Afrique’ is an independent, indigenous organization based in Gagnoa, Ivory Coast. It is closely associated with ‘Europresse-France’, which is located in Chalon-sur-Saône, France. Both organizations were set up under EP Missionary, the missionary wing of Evangelical Press. Two men are employed full time in France, Jean-Claude Souillot and Marc Demory, and two in Ivory…
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'Do this in remembrance of me' (1 Corinthians 11:24) In one of his famous ‘Princeton sermons’, Charles Hodge observed that we ‘cannot commemorate Christ as our Saviour without thereby acknowledging ourselves to be his, the purchase of his blood and devoted to his service’ (Charles Hodge, Princeton Sermons, p. 373). What we must grasp…
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Gospel radio in the French-speaking world The growth in understanding of the gospel of grace, which is happening today in many parts of French-speaking Africa, is undoubtedly due to the influence of Bill Clark’s radio programme Echos de la Vérité. For a number of years this was broadcast over Radio ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia,…
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'Of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption ...' (1 Corinthians 1:30) Growing in grace In Reformed circles it is usual to view sanctification as something progressive; that is, sanctification is seen as a process in which, as time passes, the believer…
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·Our passage is Matthew 26:6-13, where an un-named woman anoints Jesus by breaking an alabaster flask of precious oil and pouring the contents over his head. In John’s Gospel, the woman is identified as Mary of Bethany and anoints his feet rather than his head. Unless there were two separate but similar events, which…
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