Around the world, the number of professing Christians is on the rise. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity now estimates that the number of evangelicals and Protestants will grow by 50 percent from nearly one billion to more than 1.5 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, the United Nations anticipates the growth of the…
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In his book The Most Misused Verses in the Bible, Eric Bargerhuff surveys an array of popularly botched verses – misunderstood by believers and unbelievers alike. What tops the whole list? Jesus’s statement in Matthew 7:1: ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged.’ One could argue, Bargerhuff says, that this is ‘by far…
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Western Europe was where the Reformation began. Schoolchildren in France are taught this, but it remains absent from the English National Curriculum. Moreover, finding a church where the Reformed doctrines of grace are taught is increasingly difficult for many believers. Lausanne Free Church (LFC) in Switzerland (which is English-speaking and Reformed) welcomes anglophones who…
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Ephesus was a dreadful place. It was a city full of evil spirits where people used books of magic. In particular, it was in Ephesus that the great goddess Diana was worshipped in the temple built for her. It was also a city in which many listened to the apostle Paul preach. The sick…
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The year 2020 has been lived in ‘darkness and the shadow of death’. The whole world has been plunged into gloom by the coronavirus pandemic. Many lives have been lost. Many more people live in fear: fear of Covid-19, or fear of its effects on their families and their finances. A second spike always…
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A good friend of mine spent part of his career as an elite infantryman. Despite attaining a place among the ranks of his regiment, he is self-effacing and devoid of arrogance. His military background gave him a wealth of attitudes and axioms which cross over into everyday life. My favourite of his aphorisms is,…
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For many years now my go-to author in times of difficulty has been Samuel Rutherford. My thoughts have been turning to him again recently because almost 400 years ago he experienced exile under house arrest – confined indoors and allowed no contact with his loved ones. This was all long before the days of…
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