Walking in opposite directions
From St. George’s Tron in Glasgow:
“Download Walking Away from Jesus by Willie Philip and Walking with Jesus by Dr J.I. Packer.
Over a year ago, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland took the decisive step of walking away from the historic, orthodox Gospel. These reflections on that decision were written by Dr Philip for the Tron Times of May 2011.
By re-publishing them now, alongside the article by Dr Packer, we see clearly that the situation faced by our church family in recent days is shared by many in the world-wide confessing church today. There is great encouragement to know we don’t stand alone.”
– Download here. (PDF)
One flock and one Shepherd
Steve Etherington gives an excellent reminder of the need for Bible translation for the Top End (and elsewhere) – on Vimeo.
It’s a good reminder to support the CMS Annual Appeal.
Reading Biblical devotional books — An antidote to burnout
“A Pastor left the ministry burned out and totally discouraged. He left his whole library behind in his last church.
When the new pastor looked through his library, he found that the older books in the library were biblical and theological books. The newer books were mostly how-to books, dealing with the practical challenges of ministry. It seems that he had been working on improving his skills without feeding his soul…”
– Ajith Fernando, Teaching Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, shares some wise advice in a guest post at Koinonia blog.
An important contribution to a vital debate
An important book, which meets a desperate need, is due to be launched next week.
“Sometimes we all just wish this debate would go away. Christians aren’t preoccupied with this subject, they’re preoccupied with Jesus. However, this is the form in which the gospel of Jesus is under most direct challenge just at the moment and we need the courage and the resources to take our stand on the teaching of Scripture.” – Mark Thompson
ACL President Dr. Mark Thompson explains why the book is important:
“The debate about homosexual behaviour and the concerted attempt by the gay lobby and others to gain legitimacy by rebadging homosexual liaisons as ‘same-sex marriage’ is quite intense at the moment. A culture bankrupt of any moral compass increasingly accepts the gay lobby’s caricature of Christians who take the Bible’s teaching on the subject seriously as bigots and homophobes. Read more
The heavens still declare
The heavens still declare God’s glory. (Psalm 19)
This spectacular image of the planet Venus sihouetted against the Sun yesterday was taken by the Hinode/Solar B orbiting observatory.
(update: see the video produced from Solar Dynamics Observatory images.)
Two Ways to Live app even better
The ‘Two Ways to Live’ app for iOS has been updated with new features.
Details from The Briefing.
Things which ought to be better known about the Resurrection of Jesus
At Easter 2012, Dr Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, gave a public lecture at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston.
Presented by the Lanier Theological Library, his topic was “Things which ought to be better known about the Resurrection of Jesus”.
Fascinating and very helpful. The lecture is 60 minutes in length, followed by 40 minutes of responses and questions. Watch it on Vimeo.
(Related: New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts.)
Speech
At Moore College, Dr. Andrew Cameron plugs a Centre for Christian Living Open Night coming up on Monday June 4th. The theme is ‘How to speak good!’.
The seduction of pornography and the integrity of Christian marriage, Pt 1
“Not only have we severed sex from marriage, but as a society, we now look at marriage as an imposition, chastity as an embarrassment, and sexual restraint as a psychological hang-up. The doctrine of sin explains why we have exchanged the glory of God for Sigmund Freud’s concept of polymorphous perversity…”
– Albert Mohler begins a two-part series on the pornographic crisis gripping the western world.
Related:
Online safety resources (Communicate Jesus),
Avoiding pornography’s perils (SydneyAnglicans.net),
and Just1ClickAway (from John McDowell Ministry).
Josiah and the essentials underpinning reform
“And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” (II Chronicles 34 : 2).
These words refer, of course, to King Josiah. They are noteworthy not least because in the Second Book of Chronicles, they form a summary, quite remarkably, of his thirty-one year reign in Jerusalem, beginning when he was a mere eight years old. Of how many kings and rulers can the same be said after the close of so lengthy a reign? …
– James Crabtree, Chairman of Church Society Council, looks to Josiah as an example of godliness. From the Spring 2012 edition of Cross†Way. (PDF file.)
Moore Matters — Winter 2012
The latest issue of Moore Matters (Winter 2012) is available from the Moore College website.
It’s a 4MB PDF file. Well worth downloading – and passing on to your friends. Grab your copy here.
Credo Magazine — May 2012
The latest issue of Credo Magazine is available online. Executive Editor Matthew Barrett writes:
“the title of this May’s issue of Credo Magazine is ‘Chosen by Grace’.
Timothy George starts us off by taking us into the mind of the colossal reformer Martin Luther, exploring how he understood the doctrine of predestination, particularly in light of his famous debate on the bondage of the will with Erasmus.
Then, Paul Helm navigates new territory, investigating the contours of Calvin’s first controversy on predestination with Bolsec.
Next, I look at three Pauline passages that support the unconditional nature of election, demonstrating that God’s choice is not made on the basis of anything within the sinner, including faith.
Bruce Ware follows with a piercing article on the relationship between election and suffering, showing that suffering is a means ordained by God to spread the gospel for the salvation of his elect.
And finally, Fred Zaspel concludes by introducing us to B. B. Warfield’s understanding of predestination and providence, and the relationship between the two.”
The 75 page issue is 20MB PDF download from this page.
Papers from the FCA leaders conference available
More papers from the FCA leaders conference in London have been uploaded to the GAFCON website.
See this page for the complete listing of resources from the GAFCON website.
The newly available papers are –
What is the Gospel? – from a seminar led by Drs Ngozi Okeke & Mark Thompson
A Summary of Anglican Ecclesiology – Ashley Null
16th Century Anglican Ecclesiology – Ashley Null
The Anglican Mind in Caroline and Tractarian Thought – Arthur MiddletonFaithful and Effective – Evangelism and Church Planting.
Queen’s Birthday Convention 2012
Coming up at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Monday June 11. Early bird before June 01.
Details here.
J I Packer interviewed by Carl Trueman
Carl Trueman recently interviewed Dr J I Packer. He writes, “the testimony to God’s grace in his own life, his reflections on the Puritans and on Lloyd-Jones and his advice to young ministers is invaluable”.
Wonderful interview – watch it here (16 minutes).
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…