The Year of the Un
“2020 has been the year of the Un. The unusual, the uncommon, the unparalleled, the unprecedented.
Hope springs eternal and we now enter a new year, 2021, which promises to be the year of the Re. The recovery, the restoration, the renewal, the revival.
According to one of my grandchildren, when asked which Bible book would be best to preach in the year of the Re, she suggested the book of Revelation – a good idea but not what I had in mind. …”
– At The Expository Preaching Trust, David Cook suggests preaching through Acts. He gives four reasons why this would help.
Related:
David spoke about preaching through Acts in this Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.
Abortion – The Central Sacrament of the Political Left
“This past Friday, January 22, 2021 marked the forty-eighth anniversary of one of the darkest days in the history of the United States. Forty-eight years ago, the Supreme Court handed down the decision known as Roe v. Wade, and abortion on demand was effectively legalized throughout the nation.
Since that time, it is estimated that more than 62,000,000 unborn babies have died from abortions. When Roe turns fifty in 2023, those numbers will be even higher. It is hard to think of numbers on this scale, especially when we are talking about the loss of human life …
the last forty-eight years have also revealed that abortion has become the central sacrament of the political left in the United States. This is evident in a tweet issued by President Joseph Biden on the forty-eighth anniversary of Roe. He stated: ‘As we mark the forty-eighth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, now is the time to rededicate ourselves to the work ahead…’ ”
– Albert Mohler comments. Read it all.
‘In some instances … feticide is undertaken’
“I wrote in November about the Liberal Bill before the parliament here in Adelaide which seeks to make lawful the killing of a foetus right up to the time, and immediately after, his or her birth. The upper house has already passed it. The lower house will vote on the February 3.
Since I first wrote of the bill, an anonymous someone in the Attorney-General’s Department or Health Department has distributed to MPs a document explaining how the Bill the department has drafted will operate.
This is question and answer #5 in that government publication:
Q: What happens in later term abortions?…”
– Retired Federal Circuit Court Judge Stuart Lindsay writes in Quadrant Online about a vile abortion bill. Important, though distressing, reading.
Also read the earlier article with its challenge to the churches.
(Photo: Stand for Life rally, Sydney, September 2019.)
Related:
‘Catholic’ Biden marks Roe v. Wade anniversary with pledge to make abortion available for ‘everyone’ – LifeSiteNews.
Remember our Chains
“Across a wide swath of the world — from North Africa to North Korea, from Central Asia to Central Africa — ‘the persecuted church’ is simply ‘the church.’
These believers — like first-century Christians in a twenty-first-century world — live, serve, and witness in the face of hostility, and remind us of our roots.
And if the opening decades are any indication of things to come, this century promises to exceed the persecution of Christians of the last bloody century.…”
– Tim Keesee, founder of Frontline Missions International, describes the state of the persecuted church today. At Desiring God.
See also:
Anglican Connection Online Conference – February 2-3, 2021
The 2021 Anglican Connection Conference in the USA, not surprisingly, will be an online conference.
One advantage of that is that Australians (and others outside the US) will be able to benefit!
“Our culture is like sand, shifting and changing. It says there is no right or wrong; you make your own truth. Fame and popularity have become more important than kindness and virtue. And just like the tide and the waves, our culture will bend us to its will as long as we sit on the shore.
Jesus said: “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24).
This year’s conference seeks to challenge and equip God’s people to understand our shifting culture and to point them to God’s Word at this time of complex cultural change.
The Anglican Connection is not only for Anglicans.
It is for all who are keen to harness the riches of the 16th Century Reformation in the Gospel cause today.”
Speakers include John Lennox and Rico Tice.
Update: John Mason writes, Registration at US$25.00 gives you access to the conference in ‘real time’ and at any other time until May 31. But you need to register by January 28.
See the Anglican Connection website for all the details.
While you’re there, check out John Mason’s weekly posts, “Word on Wednesday” weekly Bible reflections.
Many ACL members know John well. He’s ministered in Sydney, Canberra and New York. He’s currently President of the Anglican Connection and Commissary to the Archbishop of Sydney in the USA.
Child Safety and Religious Freedom
“The NSW Government is currently inviting comment on draft legislation entitled the Children’s Guardian Amendment (Child Safe Scheme) Bill 2020.
The legislation has been drawn up in response to the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and as well as governing “secular” agencies caring for children, it will mandate a new scheme for child protection covering “religious bodies” (see cl 8AA definition of “child safe organisation”, para (c)).
The Bill is generally a good idea, but I want to suggest one amendment which will be needed for it to properly protect religious freedom. …”
– Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia.
Albert Mohler’s The Briefing — 21 January 2021
In his The Briefing for 21 January 2021, SBTS President Albert Mohler takes a close look at the image and the reality of the incoming US Administration.
It’s a preview of the huge cultural and moral shifts coming to the US – and certain to influence Australia.
What’s wrong with the world? Is there hope?
“Guilt, weakness, spiritual slavery, prejudice, arrogance, tribalism, conflict, war, victimhood, persecution, pain, suffering, futility, ignorance, lying, deceit, anger, theft, greed, pornography, sexual sin, darkness, fear, drunkenness, substance abuse, domestic abuse, workplace abuse, spiritual powers…
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says many things about the problems we face in this world. He also gives us wonderful reasons to find life, hope and healing in Jesus Christ. Along the way, he provides practical teachings about how to respond and live together.
Here are some key reflections relating to the topic of what’s wrong with the world according to Ephesians in my series Lift Your Eyes: Reflections on Ephesians.”
– from Lionel Windsor at Moore College.
On How Pastors Should Prepare their People for Eternity
In the latest Pastors Talk podcast, Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever chat about something more important than politics.
Challenging and encouraging. 25 minutes well spent. Do listen.
Mark also mentions the talk he gave at Together for the Gospel 2020 – The Accounting We Shall Give.
We can have Confidence
“Sennacherib ruled Assyria from the capital city of Nineveh, which was the largest city in the world at the time. He was formidable, ruthless, a military ruler bent on collecting nations.
Nebuchadnezzar II, the ruler of the Babylonian Empire, surpassed him. He made Babylon even larger and greater than Nineveh. Nothing like it had ever been seen.
Cyrus surpassed them both, creating the world’s largest empire through merciless force. When Cyrus’ vast army marched, the ground shook for miles. …”
– Ligonier Ministries’ Stephen Nichols writes with godly encouragement to Christians in a world of turmoil.
Image: Dr. Stephen Nichols from a Ligonier Ministries video.
Worldview and Christian mission
“I have a friend who was once a committed Buddhist. Wonderfully, he has come to know the Lord Jesus as his saviour. But he had a lot of questions.
The trouble was that his Christian friends kept answering questions he wasn’t asking. One of his big questions was, ‘How can you say God suffers?’ He was given lots of great answers explaining why people suffer – but he wasn’t confused about that. He knows people suffer. My friend couldn’t get his head around the idea that God might suffer on the cross. The reason this was such a big issue for him was because of his worldview. …”
– Dr David Williams, Director of development and training for CMS Australia at St Andrew’s Hall, spoke about worldviews at CMS Summer School.
SydneyAnglicans.net has published an edited version of his talk. Very helpful.
We Believe — The Story of the Apostles’ Creed
“The Augsburg Confession. The Helvetic Confession. The Gallican Confession. The Belgic Confession. The Westminster Confession and Catechism. The Second London Baptist Confession. The Canons of Dort.
What do these historic evangelical confessions have in common? Each of them has its roots in the Apostles’ Creed.
The Creed, also known as the Twelve Articles of Faith, expresses essential biblical doctrines that have been articulated, defended, and embraced for nearly two thousand years of church history. …”
– At Desiring God, Brian Hanson gives a helpful backgrounder to The Apostles’ Creed.
See also:
Andrew Moody’s series on The Apostles’ Creed at The Gospel Coalition Australia.
Light at the End of the Tunnel — Mothers Union Sydney Seminar
Here’s information about this year’s Annual Mothers Union Sydney Seminar, coming up on Friday 26th February.
Victoria’s Conversion Practices Bill is as bad as they say it is
“The Bill creates a powerful set of bureaucratic mechanisms by which religious groups presenting the classic teachings of their faith may be subject to investigation and ‘re-education’ by human rights officers. It arguably makes the presentation of some aspects of Biblical teaching unlawful if the aim of that teaching is to encourage someone to follow that teaching in their own life.
Despite the appearance of addressing horrific and oppressive quasi-psychological procedures inflicted on young people, the Bill goes well beyond this laudable goal, and will make it unlawful to provide assistance in obeying the Bible to those who explicitly and with full understanding request such help. Enactment of this legislation would be a serious mistake. …”
– In an important post, Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia, takes a careful look at the Victorian legislation.
You are Not Your Own
“This set of resources has been produced by Church Society to help Christians learn about the Bible’s teaching on sex and marriage, particularly as the Church of England engages with the Living in Love and Faith material on identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.
The seven topics in the series are designed to help Christians understand the Bible’s teaching on sex and marriage within a broader biblical context. …”
Somewhat related: Colin Buchanan sings “You are not your own”.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…