Fred Phelps and the Anti-Gospel of Hate

“Fred Phelps became infamous due to one central fact — he was a world-class hater. He brought great discredit to the Gospel of Christ because his message was undiluted hatred packaged as the beliefs of a church.”

– Albert Mohler writes on the tragic legacy of the founder of ‘Westboro Baptist Church’.

How real is ‘Heaven Is for Real’?

John Piper was asked about the “Heaven is for real” genre of books written by people who claim to have been to heaven.

Here his reply – 6 minutes here. (h/t Tim Challies.)

Why Holidays are More Christian than Holy Days

“There are Holy Days and there are holidays and Christians support both, though they prefer holidays.

The word ‘holiday’ comes from Holy Day, but has been secularised. The Holy Day celebrates something of eternal, supernatural or religious significance. The holiday is just taking time off work. Holy Days are not always celebrated by taking time off – sometimes they are marked by fasting or feasting or wearing special clothing. However, some Holy Day celebrations do involve taking time off from work. …”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column.

The New Calvinism: A Triumph of the Old

“Theologically, the New Calvinism is mainly an extension of the broader rim of Old Calvinism that was expressed in Charles Spurgeon and populist Presbyterians like James Boice. In fact, Boice’s main target was the very evangelical audience that largely comprises the New Calvinism, and I often heard him predict and rejoice in the Reformed resurgence that blossomed shortly after his death. Instead of a theological shift, the New Calvinism represents a major sociological and ecclesiastical extension of Calvinism in general…”

– Rick Phillips at Reformation 21 begins a series of observations on the phenomenon known as ‘New Calvinism’.

The Dry behind the Fence

“For those with water on tap and a weekly pay cheque it is worth considering the food on our plates, the fresh produce of a morning breakfast and the meat and three vegetables to which we are accustomed. All of this while dressed in cotton, looking forward to the heat of summer giving way to winter’s woollen warmth.

While many of us enjoy the privilege of another evening meal, the food bowl of our nation and region is struggling. While we drink freely, the farmer is on the verge of buying drinking water. While we eat, people on the land are spending what they often don’t have to buy fodder for the stock they may be unable to keep…”

– It’s very tough on the land, and Rick Lewers, Bishop of Armidale, encourages us to pray for rain and to be mindful of the farmers.

Mohler on Spurgeon

Albert Mohler delivered the annual Spurgeon Lecture at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Florida last week. He looks at Spurgeon in his intellectual and cultural context.

See it here via the Gospel Coalition.

(From 23:20, there’s mention of Bishop Colenso, whose actions precipitated the first Lambeth Conference.)

One 2 One part 2

In part 2 of her 3-part video series from St Helen’s Bishopsgate, Amy Wicks talks about the where, when and how of One2One Bible reading.

Remembering Leon Morris on the Centenary of his birth

Australian theologian Leon Morris was born one hundred years ago this weekend – on March 15th 1914.

The current Principal of Ridley College Melbourne, Dr, Brian Rosner, has a tribute. (Photo: Ridley College.)

If you are not familiar with the writings of Leon Morris, you can read three articles on the Church Society website:

The Person of Christ (1960).

The Authority of the Bible Today (1961, PDF file).

Christian Worship (1962, PDF file).

And if you can obtain a copy (and especially if you have some Greek), take the time to read his The Apostolic Preaching of The Cross – The Tyndale Press, London, 1955) – an enormously important book still today.

That book “is an attempt to understand certain key words, words which are crucial to the New Testament picture of the atonement, by seeing them against the background of the Greek Old Testament, the papyri, and the Rabbinic writings. Armed with our discoveries, we then proceed to examine them in their New Testament setting…” – from the Preface to the First Edition.

Update: Sandy Grant has just published this at The Briefing.

Calvin on ‘testing all things’

“I have long known that 1 Thessalonians 5.21 was one of Luther’s favourite verses. At least it is one which he keeps quoting again and again – ‘Test everything; hold on to what is good’. It is an encouragement to avoid both credulity (accepting without testing) and censoriousness (in the sense of always criticising and never settling on and delighting in the truth).

Luther’s words have often stiffened my resolve to avoid the censorship of ideas just because they are different from my own or seem to clash with my present convictions. …”

– Dr. Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore Theological College, writes at Theological Theology.

An Evangelistic Leaflet from Phillip Jensen — for St. Patrick’s Day

How can you use St. Patrick’s Day to share the good news of the One whom St. Patrick proclaimed?

Phillip Jensen has written a leaflet for members of the Cathedral congregation to hand out, or to give to friends. You may wish to use it too.

Please pray that this leaflet may be a blessing in pointing many to the Lord Jesus. There’s a PDF download link as well as some material you may find useful at phillipjensen.com.

One2One Bible reading promo

This video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate is a simple encouragement to reading the Bible with someone else.

See One2One – part 1 – on Vimeo.

Proc Trust Spring Wives Conference 2014

The Proclamation Trust has been posting videos from their just-concluded Spring Wives Conference:

Lindsay & Wallace Benn – Ministry marriage.

John Samuel – Wisdom and its beginning, Wisdom and guidance, Wisdom and family.

Clare Heath-Whyte – What keeps us awake at night, What gets us up in the morning.

And the Proc Trust’s Adrian Reynolds reflects on the importance of the Conference.

Piper on Calvinism: Deeply Experiencing God’s Grace

Andy Naselli writes: “In some circles Calvinism unfortunately has a reputation for being sinfully contentious, especially when self-labeled Calvinists are arrogant and when non-Calvinists misunderstand what Calvinism really is. This 94-page book should help.”

John Piper speaks about his book “Five Points – Towards a Deeper Experience of God’s Grace”, here, where it’s also available as a free PDF download.