Area: 15,940 square miles. Switzerland is landlocked. Neighbouring countries: France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy. Environment: Switzerland is very mountainous. More than 70% is covered by the majestic Alps and their valleys. The Jura mountains are lower and popular with skiers. Between these two mountain systems there is a central plateau of hills, plains…
Read more
How did the Watchtower cult emerge and develop? The story begins with Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916). His parents were Calvinists in theology and members of a Congregational church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the Bible was taught faithfully. Russell accepted the God-centred theology of the church and of his parents until, at the age of…
Read more
Jesus' parable of 'the talents' (Matthew 25: 14-30) demonstrates that the way we choose to live now, relates to where we will spend eternity. The servants that are ‘good and faithful’ are handsomely rewarded, while the ‘unprofitable servant’, who sits on his hands, loses everything he had. It is a picture of faith and…
Read more
Physically, hiking is a healthy group recreation. When Christians walk with the Lord they need to remember that they belong to a company of walkers. The church is not a loose association of individuals. Christians are compared to stones built into a house, parts of one body and branches of one Vine. We are…
Read more
Last month we introduced Rolfe Barnard (1904-1969) and reviewed his early life and ministry. We now move on to consider his wider ministry and its extensive fruits. Barnard preached extensively in southern USA and in Canada. Thousands were converted and many decisively influenced towards the Reformed faith. Whole churches were sometimes claimed for the…
Read more
Just five minutes’ drive from my apartment lies the village of Zollikon, well known for its early Anabaptist history. Further along Lake Zurich is the city of Zurich — today one of the economic lungs of the nation, but once a major centre for the Reformation. The Zurich canton, like those of Basel, Bern…
Read more
An extract from Dan Lucarini's new book, Why I left the Contemporary Christian Music movement. We thought the Lord had finally led us to the right church. It seemed to be so balanced in all aspects of the ministry (including music) and church life, so solid in doctrine and practice. The pastor was once…
Read more
Switzerland has had some bad headlines of late. Its ambivalent attitude towards Europe and, until recently, the United Nations, and its secretive banking system (not always funded by reputable sources), have attracted negative comment. Then there was Swissair’s bankruptcy. Maybe it is not all chocolate, yodelling and Alpine mountain scenes! Spiritually, Switzerland’s past is…
Read more
'But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat that bread, and drink of that cup'(1 Corinthians 11:28) Partaking at the Lord’s Table is a privilege reserved for honoured guests. Who are they? Those honoured because the Lord has chosen, redeemed and called them to himself (Revelation 4:11). They are honoured to…
Read more
The friends of this movement see it as a means of liberating Evangelical Christianity from stifling error. The enemies of the movement see it as the destruction of Evangelicalism and biblical Christianity. Clearly, there is little space for diplomatic compromise. The movement is ‘Open Theism’, or ‘the openness of God’ as it is sometimes…
Read more
Switzerland needs a new Reformation. Only 12% of its Protestant state church members attend even one church service a month. At the same time, there is great emptiness in the lives of most people. Switzerland has the highest suicide rate in the world. Bible-believing Christians are viewed as cultic and dangerous. Videos from the…
Read more
By comparison with the first two ‘words’ uttered by Jesus on the cross, the third saying seems very commonplace. It is recorded for us in John’s Gospel. He says to his mother: ‘Woman, behold your son!’ He then says to John himself: ‘Behold, your mother!’ (John 19:26-27). This was a touching expression of the…
Read more
A new and deadly form of fundamentalism is spreading across our land and it could take away our freedom of speech. In the wake of recent atrocities perpetrated by religious fundamentalist groups, many governments have reacted by promoting their own form of fundamentalism — pluralistic fundamentalism. Politically correct The term ‘fundamentalism’ is confusing because…
Read more
We live in a world that honours freedom of speech, religion and expression. This is the high ideal of modern democratic societies worldwide. Yet, in one vital sense, man lies in chains even while he claims to be free. We live in bondage of fear, in enslavement to sin, and in the corruption of…
Read more
Three years after John Sutcliff’s sermon at Clipston, Northamptonshire, which we looked at in last month’s article, the London Baptist minister John Rippon (1751-1836) printed a list of Calvinistic Baptist congregations and ministers in his Baptist Annual Register. Rippon calculated that there were at that time 326 churches in England and 56 in Wales,…
Read more
The story of the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) is a cautionary tale — well told and documented by Oliver Barclay and Bob Horn to mark its 125th anniversary. This is an important book, and one which all ministers and church officers would do well to read. Our churches need to realise that young…
Read more
He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them’ (Hebrews 7:25). Christ’s everlasting intercession is not to be seen as an endless repetition of his offering on Calvary — for ‘this man, after he had offered one sacrifice…
Read more
