Thoughts on visiting
Some time ago I read a letter from a pastor who had spent time in hospital. He was surprised at how ill-equipped the saints who came to visit him seemed to be in ministering to his soul as he lay…
Category Reformation21
FIFA World Cup
Thankfully God deals with our idols, because left to ourselves we certainly would not. Four years ago I had a paid flight to South Africa, tickets to many games, and passes into some of the various television studios (Al Jazeera,…
Baptism: What’s On My Bookshelves
When I first arrived at seminary, I was appalled that anyone claiming to be Protestant would baptize infants. In my limited understanding, only Roman Catholics conducted themselves in such an unbiblical manner. In my mind, infant baptism may have been…
Logos 5: the underlying platform
(Note: while there is an almost endless variety of material available from Logos Bible Software, this compound review is based around Logos Bible Software 5, the Bronze base package, and the Gold Reformed package.) From time to time, Logos gets…
Christ is Most Satisfied When We Most Glorify
As part of my series on practical Christology, I have asked: “How may I know Christ loves me?” and “Why is Heaven eternal?“ The answers to these questions do not belong only to theologians and pastors, but especially also to God’s people.…
The Difficulties Of Being Honest About Our Sin
We confess, along with Christians throughout the ages, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Even from our earliest age, we are sinners (Ps. 51:5; Eph. 2:1). As the Westminster Shorter Catechism 18…
I Worshipped “Allah” Last Sunday
Never have I so carefully typed quotation marks. Those tiny dashes keep intact both my ordination vows and my soul. They also refer to my enjoyable experience last Sunday attending an international service organized by the Gereformeerde Kerken in IJsselmuiden, Netherlands. Gathered…
Come, you children
Just around the corner from our church building is a junior school. We have a reasonable relationship with the school, extending to taking occasional school assemblies, depending on who is responsible for arranging them. Over the last fifteen years or…
Faith of Our Fathers
I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. On Father’s Day I will be in the same place doing the same thing that I have done for the past 35 years. No, not in my church preaching a Father’s Day sermon.…
Insider Movements Defined…Biblically
Insider Movement (IM) advocates arrive at their conviction by a variety of different ways. For example, the behavioral sciences are viewed as furnishing a hermeneutical key that unlocks both the Bible and the door into other religions. Other advocates of…