The Rites of Initiation: Circumcision and Baptism
God has left His new covenant people with two visible signs of His invisible grace: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Down through the ages, Christians have differed in their understanding […]
A Straw in the Wind
Moderator’s Comments – Posted 28 January 2020 Stuart Briscoe once noted: ‘Qualifications of a pastor: the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a […]
Isaiah and Prophecy
In meeting regularly with a Muslim friend, I am often surprised when perhaps I should not be. The topic under discussion is commonly prophecy, and recently he made the claim […]
Religious Freedoms and the Religious Discrimination Bill in Australia, 2019-2020
It is not uncommon in life to be dragged into unwelcome territory – I once took a kindergarten Scripture class which came to resemble drowning on land, as the children […]
Book Review: Meeting Jesus (R. C. Sproul)
Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2019 With the death of R. C. Sproul in 2017, the Reformed world lost one of its most articulate apologists and evangelists. His gifts come to […]
Living as Debtors
In 1546 Martin Luther was dying. He had been trying to resolve a dispute within a family at nearby Mansfield when he fell seriously ill. On his death bed, he […]
Droughts, Fires and Other Disasters
Moderator’s Comments – Posted 20 November 2019 Some readers may have struggled with the drought for years, and now, especially in NSW and Queensland, may be confronted with the more immediate […]
Book Review: Safe and Sound (David Powlison)
Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2019 David Powlison died of cancer soon after this, his last book, was published. It is a short but worthwhile treatment of spiritual warfare. Powlison […]
Remembering the Reformation
Moderator’s Comments – Posted 29 October 2019 As one who loves to read history, I have never quite shared the desire to keep anniversaries. It often seems that the louder the […]
In Whom Do I Trust?
There are people who like to think that they do not trust anything or anyone. It used to be common for people to say that they only believed what they […]
Book Review: Saved by Grace Alone (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2016 Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones remains the most pre-eminent preacher in the English language from the twentieth century. Having said that, it is not unfair to say […]
What Should a Church Look Like?
Moderator’s Comments – Posted 24 September 2019 The apostle Jude said that he was very eager to write on one subject – our common salvation – when he found it necessary […]
Book Review: Voices from the Past Volume 2 (Richard Rushing [ed.])
Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2016 This is the second volume of Puritan daily readings to have been compiled by Richard Rushing, and it is as welcome as the first. For […]
How Did Jesus View the Cross?
It is a commonplace in theologically liberal circles to downplay the cross, to say, as Adolf von Harnack did, that the gospel is all about the fatherhood of God, the […]
Book Review: Let’s Study James (Sinclair B. Ferguson)
Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth, 2018 The Let’s Study series published by the Banner of Truth has been a most helpful one for pastors, Bible study leaders, and Christians seeking […]
Book Review: Cremation, Embalmment, or Neither? (Alvin J. Schmidt)
Bloomington: WestBow Press, 2015 Even a century ago, the issue of the advisability and appropriateness of cremation was still being discussed in mainstream Protestant Churches. For centuries, the view had […]