Japan Earthquake — missionary update

Here’s the latest from CMS Australia.

Sydney prayers for Japan

“Churches across Sydney have been praying for Japan in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, but none more fervently than the North shore Japanese congregation.

The Cammeray congregation, led by returned missionaries Grahame and Cathy Smith, spent the weekend praying after the quake occured on Friday, just hours before its houseparty in the Blue Mountains …”

– Russell Powell has this update at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Proclamation Trust Preachers Weekend 2011

The Proclamation Trust has made available videos from its 2011 Preachers Weekend.

Vaughan Roberts and Adrian Reynolds taught and modelled preaching. See the talks at Vimeo.

A Prayer for Japan

John Piper has posted ‘A Prayer for Japan’ at the Desiring God blog.

(General prayer resources for Japan at Operation World.)

‘Love Wins’ – A review of Rob Bell’s new book

Tim Challies:

“Questions matter. They can help you to grow deeper in your knowledge of the truth and your love for God—especially when you’re dealing with the harder doctrines of the Christian faith. But questions can also be used to obscure the truth. They can be used to lead away just as easily as they can be used to lead toward. Ask Eve.

Enter Rob Bell, a man who has spent much of the last seven years asking questions in his sometimes thought-provoking and often frustrating fashion. And when he’s done asking, no matter what answers he puts forward, it seems we’re only left with more questions. This trend continues in his new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, where Bell poses what might be his most controversial question yet:

Does a loving God really send people to hell for all eternity?

The questions you probably want answers to as you read this review are these: Is it true that Rob Bell teaches that hell doesn’t exist? Is it true that Rob Bell believes no one goes to hell? You’ll just need to keep reading because, frankly, the answers aren’t that easy to come by…”

– Respected Canadian blogger Tim Challies has read Bell’s book. This review is essential reading.

Related: Denny Burk’s post, “Rob Bell Outs Himself” gives clear, biblical answers to the questions Rob Bell asks in his promotional video.

The Sound of Silence

Many Christians have downplayed the reality of hell in recent years. With Rob Bell about to publish what is likely to be a controversial book, this is a time for clear thinking and faithful speaking.

Liam Goligher reflects at Reformation21.
Related: Albert Mohler on Doing Away with Hell? (Part One).
and Mark Thompson on A hell of a ruckus.

Continue to pray for Christchurch

Please continue to pray for the people of Christchurch, recovering from last month’s earthquake.

Anglican Aid has an appeal, and the website of St. John’s Latimer Square has information on how people can pray and help in other ways. (The St. John’s building is not usable.)

An Exposition of the Theses — 3

“I turn now to the third of the twelve theses which I posted as a way of giving shape to a new reformation of the Anglican Communion.

If the Anglican Communion is to be reformed again it needs to hear and heed these crucial truths:

3. The most urgent and important need of every human being is to be reconciled to God. We are all naturally God’s enemies (Rms 5:10) with the result that we stand under the wrath of the God who loves us (Rms 1:18; Eph. 2:1–3). Our natural disposition is to insist on our own autonomy, to repeat the folly of the Garden of Eden where the goal was to determine right and wrong without reference to God and the word he had given (Gen. 3:4–6). If we are to be reconciled to God, then the cconsequences of our rebellion against him — our guilt, corruption, enslavement to sinful thinking and behaviour, and death — must all be dealt with in their entirety. A gospel which does not explain this most basic need is no gospel at all.…”

– Read Mark Thompson’s full post at Theological Theology. (Part 2, Part 1, ‘Theses for a new reformation in the Anglican Communion’.)

Do you treasure God’s Word?

This ten minute video is a wonderful challenge to the apathy of many western Christians towards reading the Bible.

(h/t Justin Taylor and many others.)

The Sydney Family Album — 2

“The Rev. Samuel Marsden, second Chaplain to the Colony of NSW, was born in Farsley, Yorkshire on 25 June 1765. He was brought up under a Methodist and Evangelical influence and came under the patronage of the evangelical Elland Society which provided for his education from Grammar School to Magdalene College, Cambridge University, the centre of Evangelical influence at the time.

He was appointed second Chaplain to the Colony of NSW, arriving in 1794 with the backing of the Rev. Charles Simeon, William Wilberforce and the Rev. John Newton…”

– in a guest post at Theological Theology, David Pettett reminds us about Samuel Marsden.

The Lesson of David Swing

“While the internet has rocked with information about a prominent minister who has denied the reality of hell, being more historically minded, I couldn’t help but think about David Swing.

Most people don’t know who David Swing was–but in the 1870s and 1880s, David Swing was the most popular minister in Chicago: bigger than D. L. Moody, more significant than anyone else. As Swing’s New York Times obit put it, at one point, he had the largest church and the largest salary of any minister in Chicago…”

– Sean Lucas writes at Reformation21 with a valuable history lesson.

Church and Parachurch: Friends or Foes?

‘Church and Parachurch: Friends or Foes?’ – that’s the title of the latest eJournal from 9Marks. Grab your free copy.

UK: Should Christians be allowed to keep children?

“Apparently, according to the High Court, Christians who are not willing to commend homosexual acts ought not to be given other people’s children to foster.

If this is what was said, and if it is a valid judgement, is it therefore right that Christians should nevertheless be allowed to keep their own natural children, if they similarly will not commend homosexual acts to them?”

– John Richardson wonders about the logical outcome of a controversial court case in the UK. Story from the BBC – and many more linked at Anglican Mainstream, including this one from The Spectator.

R C Sproul — free audiobook March 2011

This month’s free audiobook from ChristianAudio is R C Sproul’s The Holiness of God. (180MB for the mp3 version, 95MB for the M4B version.)

Last year Tim Challies promoted the book in his ‘Reading Classics Together’ series.

‘Brilliant expositions of Colossians and Philemon’

“What do you get when one of the finest Bible teachers in the world slightly modifies a brilliant series of sermons on Colossians and Philemon for publication as a commentary? You get John Woodhouse’s latest book, a commentary in the Focus on the Bible series. I can’t wait to work my way through these two New Testament letters again, aided by John’s expositions…”

– Mark Thompson commends John Woodhouse’s commentary on Colossians and Philemon in the Focus On the Bible series. (Available from Moore Books.)

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