The Vatican Files

Posted on January 10, 2023 
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Dr. Leonardo De Chirico of The Reformanda Initiative in Rome is currently speaking at CMS Summer Conferences across Australia.

Many have found his insights extremely valuable in understanding the Roman Catholic Church so they might humbly and lovingly share the saving news of Jesus with their Roman Catholic friends.

From The Reformanda Initiative:

“The Reformanda Initiative exists to identify, unite, equip, and resource evangelical leaders to understand Roman Catholic theology and practice, to educate the evangelical Church and to communicate the Gospel.

Evangelicalism currently has an incoherent relationship with Roman Catholicism. Many evangelicals are uncertain about what Roman Catholics actually believe. Do they believe in the same Gospel, or something entirely different?

This question is important for leaders of evangelical churches and organizations and for hundreds of millions of evangelical believers around the world. …”

A key linked website is The Vatican Files where Dr De Chirico shares what is happening in the Roman Catholic Church. A recent article is entitled, “God has many ways to save.” Cardinal Cantalamessa and Roman Catholic Universalism:

“Like every Christmas season, the tradition of the ‘advent sermons,’ whereby the preacher of the Papal household addresses the Pope and the community working in the Vatican, was repeated this past December when Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, a capuchin, preached three sermons.

This preaching role is important because it is officially appointed by the reigning Pope and assigned to a priest whose task is to preach to the community working and living in the Vatican (Pope included) on special liturgical festivities. More generally, the Vatican preacher contributes to setting the standard of Roman Catholic homiletics even beyond the little community of the recipients and is looked upon as a ‘model’ for good Roman Catholic preaching.

For these reasons, it is always useful to have an eye on what he says and how he says it. …”

See also The Reformanda Initiative Podcast.

How a man reading the Bible revolutionised my Bible reading

Posted on January 9, 2023 
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“For most of the time I have been a Christian, talking about personal Bible reading has made me uneasy.

I usually regarded people who talked about their deep quiet times (often early in the morning) as spiritual skites. That was simply jealousy, because most of my attempts at quiet times could be likened to the Wright brothers’ experiments with flight. A lot of effort, airborne for a short time, then a crash.

Weirdly enough, it was a combination of the pandemic and technology that came to my rescue. …”

– Anglican Media Sydney’s Russell Powell shares some great encouragement for you.

How the Bible makes sense of modern life and culture – with Christopher Watkin

Posted on January 9, 2023 
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From Dominic Steele at The Pastor’s Heart:

“How does the Bible’s unfolding story makes sense of modern life and culture?

Christopher Watkin, who lectures in Philosophy at Monash University, has a new book out that paints a picture of a Biblical Theological worldview and interacts well along the way with all the major thinkers of the age.

Chris has done us pastors a significant service here.

One of my friends has called it the most helpful book for those of us in pastoral ministry since Don Carson’s late 1990s contribution, The Gagging of God. …”

– Watch or listen here.

‘Amazing Grace…’

Posted on January 8, 2023 
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“A close source pointed me to an article by Marylynn Rouse in Christian Heritage London, about the 250th anniversary of Amazing Grace. She comments, ‘It’s not often that a pop song in the charts can claim to have been around for 250 years. John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace featured in hit parades all over the world in the 1960s and 70s, but was written for New Year’s Day 1773. …”

– John Mason writes at The Anglican Connection.

Before you watch Harry & Meghan

Posted on January 8, 2023 
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“The age of the internet accelerates the pace of rumour spreading from the old school gossip magazines and water coolers. Twitter and Netflix are the latest machines for globalising gossip. My secret today can be the topic of public scrutiny tomorrow.

The thing is, by watching and reading and gossiping, we’re leaping into a carefully managed trap. We’re suckers for a good juicy story about a family imploding. And what’s bigger than that family being our King and Princes? …”

– Murray Campbell has some thoughts on the story almost everyone is discussing.

Evangelism in Tough Times?

Posted on January 6, 2023 
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Here’s the talk Phillip Jensen gave to mark the 10th anniversary of John Chapman’s departure to be with Christ.

His topic: “Evangelism in Tough Times”.

Looking at our context in Australia, he argues –

  1. These are not tough times.
  2. The has been no substantial change, and
  3. The difficulty evangelism faces is seduction and persecution.

It’s a challenging talk and is very much worth your time. Good to share too.

Recorded at Moore College, 22 November 2022.

Bishop of Tasmania’s Training Event 2022

Posted on January 4, 2023 
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From the Diocese of Tasmania:

“On 17 and 24 September, over 500 Anglicans from across Tasmania gathered in Hobart and Launceston to attend the annual Bishop’s Training Event.

In its 6th year, it was our biggest year yet, and we enjoyed encouragements from Bishop Richard and Wei-Han Kuan (the State Director of CMS Victoria). We are making the videos of the keynotes available and you can watch them below.”

– Most encouraging.

Pope Benedict XVI — His Life and Legacy

Posted on January 2, 2023 
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“According to Benedict, the evangelical understanding of the church is a ‘new concept’ whereby the church is only a community summoned by the Word. Benedict looked at evangelicals with a mixture of spiritual curiosity and Roman perplexity.

Benedict did have a high view of Scripture, and his last books were focused on the life of Jesus according to the historical accounts of the Gospels. Yet we must understand his true position. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition, Leonardo De Chirico reflects on the life of Pope Benedict.

See also:

Remembering Benedict XVI – Carl Trueman at WORLD.

“A deeply learned theologian rather than a philosopher, Benedict made signal contributions to thinking about the nature of the secular world. Indeed, though many of his most significant intellectual contributions predate his papacy (2005-2013), the accuracy of so many of his observations and analyses has given his work a mantic quality.”

Why Religion will Return to the West

Posted on January 1, 2023 
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David Robertson writes:

This is an important article by Greg Sheridan – which we republish with permission. Please do read the whole article – but this quote stuck out for me –

“Christianity was just as weird to the sophisticated first-century Graeco-Roman civilisation of the Mediterranean as it is to the most disillusioned sophisticate of today.Happily for contemporary Christians, they have a readily accessible account of how the first Christians spread the gospel in a hostile, alien and comprehensively pagan culture. It’s a primary source, uniquely immediate and reliable, and still in print.It is found in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s worth reading these two short books – only 50 pages between them – straight through, as they offer a gripping, vivid picture of the first Christians. …”

– Read it all at ASK.

Photo: Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor, The Australian.

Amazing Grace shown to sinners like us

Posted on January 1, 2023 
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Two hundred and fifty years ago today, the hymn Amazing Grace was first sung. The Rev. John Newton wrote it to accompany his sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17 on New Year’s morning 1773.

At the time, Newton can have had no idea of what a blessing that hymn would be to millions.

There’s no better way to begin a new year than by remembering God’s grace shown to us in Christ, to bless God, and to tell others of him.

JohnNewton.org has resources linked from their front page.

Update: Marylynn Rouse, Director of the John Newton Project, has contributed this piece just published in The Times.

(What is the good news Newton knew? Glad you asked.)

Twenty-three years closer to Eternity

Posted on December 31, 2022 
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Sydney celebrated the beginning of 2000 by displaying on the Harbour Bridge the word Eternity in the iconic copperplate handwriting of Arthur Stace.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and in many ways the world has changed. But the basic and urgent need of men and women is the same – to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved.

In 2023, be encouraged to continue to trust Christ, and to live in the light of eternity. Romans 13:11.

Don’t Check the Boxes

Posted on December 31, 2022 
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“Over the years, as far as I can tell, perhaps the single most significant ‘breakthrough’ for me in daily Bible intake was learning to ignore those little boxes next to each of the daily readings.

If you’re a box-checker, I cast no stones. I simply share my own weaknesses and flaws by testifying to the breakthrough. Silly as it may sound, when I stopped checking the boxes, something started to change in my attitude toward God’s word. …”

– Here’s some encouragement from David Mathis at Desiring God.

Canadian assisted suicide activity book for kids

Posted on December 30, 2022 
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“Canada’s new official religion of death now does kids outreach!

The country’s government has discovered it can save A LOT of money by encouraging citizens to kill themselves in its MAID program (Medical Assistance in Dying).…”

– Not the Bee highlights a Canadian activity book for children.

From the activity book (PDF file):

“The word ‘medical’ means the science of medicine, and ‘assistance’ means help. So MAiD means that medicine is used to help someone with their death. A doctor or nurse practitioner (a nurse with special training) uses medicines to stop the person’s body from working. When their body stops working, the person dies.

This is done in a way that does not hurt the person. …”

Successful religious discrimination claim in foster-carer case

Posted on December 28, 2022 
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“Just before Christmas, a significant religious discrimination decision was handed down in the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster gives background to a decision handed last week.

(Image: Assoc Prof. Foster at a Sydney Diocese training day.)

King Charles’ Christmas Message Reflects a Post-Christian United Kingdom

Posted on December 28, 2022 
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“The New Testament commands us to pray for kings and all those in authority, so that we will be free to live quiet lives of godliness and to share the good news of the Savior who is the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:1–3). We can be thankful that in this regard our prayers are being answered.

British Christians should continue to pray for King Charles and his government that our long-established constitutional rights to freedom of worship will be upheld.

At the same time, the lack of gospel clarity and comprehension in his message will cause us to pray even more fervently, in the words of our national anthem, ‘God save the King!’…”

– John Stevens, National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches in the UK, reacts to King Charles’ Christmas message. At The Gospel Coalition.

If you haven’t seen it, watch the message here.

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