Today is my good lady's birthday and I wondered what blogpost to write. The solution came this evening at the family worship with the family and our grandchildren. As usual, we read the Bible and sang a Psalm in course – reaching Ps 131, which appropriately spoke about well-behaved children. The Bible always has something …
Category: Church reform
What the Holy Spirit teaches – according to Jesus
Many people have their own ideas about God's Holy Spirit. Some don't believe in Him, others think that they can tell Him what to do, and others have no idea what to think. Jesus does not leave us in the dark. He is the Light of the world and He tells us what we need …
Continue reading What the Holy Spirit teaches – according to Jesus
Superficial Christianity
Superficial Christianity can be measured in various ways. One measure is at the personal level and another is at the collective level. Personal Bible reading and prayer How many Christians read their Bible regularly, far less study it? Do they pray for the Holy Spirit in order to understand it? Can they manage to get …
The failure of Gentile Christianity
The failure of Gentile Christianity is predicted in Scripture at Rom 11:15. Its revival will come with the conversion of national Israel. Meanwhile, why has Gentile Christianity failed to convert the world? It has been successful in what the Lord called it to. It has evangelized the world Mat 28:18-20, making disciples of all ethnic …
The abuse of good words
There are many good words that are put to a bad use. To such an extent, that over the years I have had to find better terms for the point being made. Liberalism I have no blogposts on liberalism because the use of 'liberal' and 'liberalism' is too often the abuse of a good word. …
Hypercalvinism
It is not uncommon for Arminians to misrepresent Calvinism, not only with respect to doctrine but also by confusing Calvinism with hypercalvinism. American Arminians tend to confuse Calvinism with their misunderstanding of free will and divine election, from which they think that Calvinists do not preach the free offer of the Gospel. These topics were …
Reviving the Christian Church
How do we revive the Christian church? Many people can see the decline in the Christian church, although there are not so many that are able to diagnose the problem. There are two things that are urgently needed for the revival of the Christian church. The first need is exegetical preaching, with emphasis on both …
Evangelical errors
Evangelical Christians pride themselves in believing the Bible and in preaching the Gospel. However, this self-assessment does not completely stand up to scrutiny. I have heard many an evangelical preacher who is rather niggardly with the Gospel and sometimes I wonder if they know how to preach it. As for their biblical teaching, I have …
Are you religious or are you spiritual?
Some people say that they are not religious, but that they are spiritual. What is the difference? Are these the only options? Whatever they mean by this, it is true that human beings are spiritual. We are more than body; a human being is a spirit with a body. When we die, our body ceases …
Jesus’ views on ecclesiastical leadership
Having considered Jesus' view of those Christians who do not pay attention to His Word I now turn to notice Jesus' opinion about ecclesiastical leadership. Leadership During His time on Earth, Jesus criticized Jewish officialdom. It was not "the Jews" but the leadership who persecuted Jesus and finally secured His crucifixion. The ordinary Jewish public "heard …