The Power of a Dependent Father

“When you are little your father is very big; you are weak, but he is very strong; you know very little and he seems to know everything, you feel feeble compared to his powerful presence.

When your father is very powerful, you are able to do so much. You feel safe and secure in his great arms. You are comfortable, if not confident, to ask him for anything. He takes you to places, shows you things, entertains you, houses, feeds, clothes and educates you. And when you go to school you can boast about how great your father is – how much greater than other children’s fathers.

But when you grow up and become a father, you realise how difficult life is; how weak and inadequate you are; how complex the world has become; how vulnerable you actually are; how few resources you have to care and provide for your family. …”

– from Phillip Jensen’s weekly column.

Word-watch: lessons from a naïve blogger

“A few days ago I wrote a short article in which I used the word ‘submission.’ I’ve just now realized that by using this word, I was being a bit naïve. The realization of my own naivety came when I read Kara Martin’s helpful review of the book Fifty Shades of Grey on the Sydney Anglicans website…”

– Lionel Windsor’s post at The Briefing is a good reminder that words have a context, and that can affect how we are heard.

Atheists in the Pulpit

“It is hard to think of any other profession which it is so near to impossible to leave.” That is the judgment of Richard Dawkins, perhaps the world’s most famous living atheist, as he welcomes unbelieving pastors to join the Clergy Project, a group designed to help unbelieving pastors make their way out of the ministry. …

Dennett and LaScola made a very interesting and important observation in their research report. They acknowledged that defining an unbelieving pastor is actually quite difficult. Given the fact that so many liberal churches and denominations already believe so little, how is atheism really different? In the name of tolerance, the liberal denominations have embraced so much unbelief that atheism is a practical challenge.”

– Albert Mohler writes about “The Clergy Project’.

Best books on Preaching

Adrian Reynolds at The Proclamation Trust has been posting a series of brief thoughts on the books on preaching. He’s up to number 7 in his list –

“When The Trellis and the Vine came out, many of us thought ‘this is an excellent book, but where is preaching mentioned or championed?’ The answer was – if only we knew it – that we were waiting for volume 2. And it was worth the wait.”

His posts so far:

1. I Believe in Preaching by John Stott,
2. The Glory of Preaching by Darrell Johnson,
3. Expository Preaching by Haddon Robinson,
4. The Priority of Preaching by Christopher Ash,
5. Preaching and Biblical Theology by Ed Clowney,
6. Preaching and Preachers by Martyn Lloyd Jones,
7. The Archer and the Arrow by Phillip Jensen & Paul Grimmond.

Jim Elliot’s little-known brother

Justin Taylor draws attention to this powerful message from Randy Alcorn about Jim Elliot’s younger brother Bert, who went home to the Lord in February.

Free book — first draft of The Point of the Sword

Chris Green, Vice Principal of Oak Hill College in London, gave the Annual Moore College Lectures which concluded this morning. The theme of his lectures was – The Point of the Sword: Applying the Bible to applying the Bible.

He has kindly made available the text of his talks as a book-in-progress.

“I recently gave the Moore College lectures on applying the Bible. The aim is to finish writing them up and publish, but in the meantime here is the first draft, warts and all…”

You can download the 850kb Word file from Chris’ blog.

In addition, videos of his lectures as delivered are available here.

A Statement on Civility

“Political campaign ads are full of misrepresentations. Voting records are twisted, legislation is misstated, and generalizations are made. Then the other side just ups the ante and the vicious cycle continues…”

– Ed Stetzer makes some observations – and appeals – concerning political discourse in the USA.

1. We are too quick to label others who disagree with us.
2. We misrepresent others’ views to make them look stupid or evil.
3. We use fear as a weapon against the uninformed.

Beware of Anglicans bearing gifts

The American Anglican Council’s Phil Ashey reflects on statements by the Anglican Communion Office’s Secretary General on the relationship of TEC to the Anglican Communion.

Canon Ashey writes:

“This is like an arsonist’s victim saying ‘What is surprising and heartening is that we are in conversation with the arsonist, and that even though our house has burned down the conversation has been a great learning experience for all of us.’

Secretary Kearon’s statement is important because it gives insight into the mind of those who are shaping the agenda for the upcoming Anglican Consultative Council meeting (ACC-15) in Auckland, New Zealand in October.”

– Read it all here.

Are we together?

“R.C. Sproul has a long history of making a stand for truth. He has an equal history of standing firm against error, using his ministry platform to refute errors that are seeping into the Evangelical church. On several occasions he has reacted to those who have sought to minimize the differences between Protestant theology and Roman Catholic theology…”
– Tim Challies draws attention to a new book by R C Sproul.

Sproul: “In this book, I have a simple goal. I want to look at Roman Catholic teaching in several significant areas and compare it with Protestant teaching. I hope to show, often using her own words, that the Roman Catholic Church has not changed from what it believed and taught at the time of the Reformation. That means that the Reformation is not over and we must continue to stand firm in proclaiming the biblical gospel.”

See also the 80 second promo video here.

Ga ga for Gaga? PCUSA Backs American Capitalism

“It has been some months since I last had a rant about Lady Gaga, so I am grateful to the good old PCUSA for giving me the chance. Yes, the people whose General Assembly a few years back brought you the Carnival of Animals, presided over by some kind of Aztec divinity on steroids, and issued free masks of Mandragora to celebrate Calvin’s birth and evangelise Whovians at the same time, have now gone ga ga for Gaga. It seems her music, along with that of other titans of modern pop culture, featured somewhat significantly at the meeting of the highest court of the church, the General Assembly…”

– Insightful commentary from Carl Trueman at Reformation21.

Avoiding evangelical civil war

“John Stott famously lamented the pathological tendency of evangelicals to fragment. Others have remarked upon this as well, often as an argument for dismissing the veracity of any evangelical doctrine. How can the so-called evangelical position on this doctrine or that be accepted if there are other evangelicals who disagree with it? Evangelical theology is defeated by its own lack of consensus.

So how do we hold on to the truth, speak it with clarity, call upon others to hold it and stand firm against attempts to modify it, without starting World War 3 or its ecclesiastical equivalent?”

– Dr Mark Thompson writes at Theological Theology.

350th Anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer

Bishop Paul Barnett give thanks for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and points out three characteristics –

1. The BCP expresses a faith that is ‘catholic’.
2. The BCP expresses a faith that is ‘reformed’.
3. The BCP expresses a faith that is defended liturgically.

He goes on to comment on some recent trends –

“Post-modernism puts emphasis on the individual and evangelicals tend to be robust individuals. Many depart from the principle of commonality and uniformity and design their own services away from BCP. There is one Bible reading (or even none); there is no creed (or just occasionally); there is no calendar and no collects.

For them preaching the preacher is the all-important thing. The loss of liturgy means that the voice of the congregation is substantially silenced. Leaving only a single voice of the leader or preacher.

The preacher has replaced the liturgy as the defender of true doctrine…”

– But read it all here.

Even Barry Jones gets it wrong…

“To disagree with Barry Jones feels like taking on the Encyclopaedia Britannica. You know he knows more than you do before you start, and whatever you do know, he will be able to show you that you are wrong.

This, of course, is to do him a great disservice. As a previous Federal Minister for Science and a keen educationalist, Barry Jones has always promoted the idea of inquiry, challenging ideas and public debate.

So, with some residual reservation of a child listening to the quiz show where Barry’s prodigious knowledge first came to public attention, I would like to challenge the public intellectual’s understanding of the relation of church and state in Australia. …”

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

Why Johnny can’t sing hymns

The latest White Horse Inn broadcast –

“What is the impact of technology on the way we live and think as Christians? How has popular culture changed the way we worship on Sunday mornings? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton discusses these issues with T. David Gordon, author of Why Johnny Can’t Preach, and Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns.”

– Plenty of food for thought for ministers and congregations. Well worth listening. 36 minutes.

When to jump ship?

“Anyone in a mainline denomination infected by liberalism, or some other divergence from the evangelical faith, will have faced the question of when to stay or when to go? How bad does the denomination have to get before you decide to abandon ship? Recently, this question came closer to home as an evangelical Anglican pastor in Australia, when a bishop in another diocese knowingly appointed a clergyman in an open same-sex relationship to charge of a parish. …”

– Over at The Briefing, Sandy Grant mulls the question – with help from John Charles Ryle.

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