Articles

The United States is in big trouble. Our foreign policy is in shambles. There is geo-political instability all over the globe – China, Russia, the Middle East, Isis, Al Queda. Things on the home front continue to go from bad to worse – racial unrest, the embrace of same sex marriage and the disenfranchisement of […]

John Murray, the great 20th-century theologian, once spoke to the children in his Sunday School on the surpassing value of The Shorter Catechsim,1, 2, 3 saying, Now everyone of you children should know The Shorter Catechism from the beginning to the end without a mistake by this age. Now that’s without joking at all. At […]

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Elvis Presley was already a huge rock and roll star when he sauntered into the Sun Records studio in Memphis in December, 1956. Jerry Lee Lewis was gaining fast on Elvis’ […]

. . . there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and freeman, but Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11). The so-called Charles Spurgeon of America, John Lafayette Girardeau, was born in 1825 on James Island, South Carolina into a French Huguenot family. He was reared in […]

Many people have asked me about the effect of the recent events in France1 upon our ministry amongst the ethnic minorities. The answer is that our Muslim friends are more open than ever to the gospel. Most Muslim are embarrassed by what had happened, not only in France, but also the horrible beheading of Christians. […]

Have you ever read Ezekiel 16? If not, stop now and do so. There are surely few more disturbing chapters in the Bible. Ezekiel has been commissioned by God to bring his word of judgment to his faithless covenant people, a judgment that would culminate in the overwhelming devastation that Babylon would bring to Jerusalem […]

Be faithful until death (Revelation 2:10). We know next to nothing of persecution in the western church. This may be changing. Might we learn steadfastness from the church at Smyrna? Smyrna was one of the great cities of Asia Minor. It enjoyed westward winds which brought gentle breezes from the Mediterranean Sea and it was […]

Robert Murray McCheyne died a young man, yet his achievements were broad, and his significance is consequently substantial and diverse. The focus for this paper is the ‘Life and Sermons’, and therefore I will focus particularly on McCheyne the preacher. His importance in this area is more than sufficient to justify serious and sustained attention, […]

One thing I love about Alaska is the pioneering spirit of independence evident in so many people here. ‘Do it yourself’ is just a way of life for many Alaskans. But this mind-set doesn’t carry over very well to a Christian’s relationship to the church. Many Christians have left traditional churches in favour of forming […]

Satan would have none of it. The Lord had said to him, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ But Satan thought he knew better. He had Job all figured out: ‘Does Job fear God […]

An edited edition of the closing sermon at the Banner of Truth Ministers’ Conference, Leicester, 2015. The citizens of the United Kingdom are being bombarded with messages from its political parties in the light of the coming General Election. Seven of the party leaders recently debated on television for two hours. ‘We want to save […]

Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). George McClellan was born in Philadelphia to a prominent family of high society. His father was a prosperous surgeon and well respected leader of the city. George was an educational prodigy. By the time he was […]

The following is closely based on an article published in the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Volume 18, number 2 (Summer 2014), with selected references. The Trust’s publications on Whitefield include The Life and Times of George Whitefield by Robert Philip,1 George Whitefield by Arnold Dallimore, Volumes 12 and 2,3 and Select Sermons of George […]

An extract from Chapter 7 of From the Mouth of God: Trusting, Reading, and Applying the Bible, by Sinclair B. Ferguson.1 About one third of the New Testament is made up of Letters, thirteen of them written by Paul, three by John, two by Peter, one each by James and Jude, and one other anonymously […]

The news came to us late last year. A beloved brother and friend in our Hudson Taylor Ministries family in China had passed away. His name was Ma Zhi Jia. We knew him affectionately as ‘Brother Ma’. The news of his death came as a very big surprise to all of us. There were many […]

In the 1600’s a special relationship developed between John Owen (1616-1683), and John Bunyan (1628-1688). Although they were both English Puritans, there were some striking differences between the two men. And yet they were good friends. You might call them the Puritan odd couple. Bunyan had little education. He spent time in the army, and […]

. . . that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience (1 Timothy 1:18, 19). Asahel Nettleton was born on April 21, 1783, in North Killingworth, Connecticut, the second born of six children and the eldest son. Nettleton’s parents were professors of true religion and attended the local Congregational […]

The closing words of the gospel of Matthew consist of the last words spoken by the resurrected Son of God. The farewell was not tearful. What Christ said was breathtaking. Our Lord gave them an extraordinary challenge mapping out what was to be the future of all these disciples. His commission was couched in terms […]

In 1524, Desiderius Erasmus, probably the foremost classical scholar in Europe, published a little book with the title Diatribe sue collatio de libero arbitrio (‘Discussion concerning free will’). Erasmus wrote the book to distance himself from the teachings of Martin Luther that were setting Europe ablaze and challenging the foundations of the papacy. Erasmus was […]

God used the Apostle Paul on his third missionary journey, around A.D. 58, to plant the church in Ephesus, in the Roman province of Asia Minor, modern day western Turkey. Ephesus was a fruitful church which God used to plant many other churches in the region. Mighty societal impact resulted from the Holy Spirit coming […]

We are living in days when there seems to be a flat calm on the church scene in the United Kingdom. How can we explain the current situation? We may find an answer to this by considering church history. Some people would regard times of peace and quiet as desirable and times of controversy as […]

Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Jeremiah Lanphier was born in upstate New York in 1809 and moved to the city of New York as a young man where he engaged in the mercantile industry. In 1845 he was converted as he heard the preaching of the gospel at the Broadway Tabernacle, a church built […]

It is not difficult to appreciate the great strengths of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the early nineteenth century. It comprised of many solid, faithful congregations where the truths of the Bible were honoured and clearly taught; and where, from time to time, sudden bursts of religious awakening added large numbers of people to the […]

Francis of Assisi has little to answer for. Although the quotation of ‘preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary’ has been attributed to him, the historical truth of the matter is that Francis was a prolific gospel preacher.1 However, in a contemporary world of increasing political (and seemingly ecclesiastical) correctness, the unspeaking […]

On Sunday November 23rd 2013, the bones of St Peter were presented to the world for the first time at a public Mass. According to the Catholic Herald it was ‘wonderful and almost unbelievable . . . a man from Argentina has reintroduced us to his predecessor, a Galilean fisherman born millennia ago’. Eight bone […]