"I am the Vine. You are the branches," said the Lord Jesus Christ. John 15:5. So why are people trying to join different branches of Christ's church into one branch? Whoever thought that a vine or a tree should have only one branch? Yet this has been the unwieldy vision of the ecumenical movement, which …
Category: Worship
Ambiguity and exegesis: confusing English words
My last blogpost highlighted the mistake that early Christians made between 'soon' and 'suddenly'. It continues to the present hour, even among academia, with serious practical consequences both to the early Christian church 2Th 3:11 and to current Christianity. There are other examples of ambiguity in English words leading to confusion in exegesis. Such an …
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What do we do about confusion in congregational preaching?
Intelligent listeners will notice differences in teaching between preachers even in the same denomination, as well as between denominations. The right of private judgment is permitted to Christians, but the continuous and unchallenged preaching of different doctrines only leads to confusion in congregations - and God is not the author of confusion 1Cor 14:33. So …
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Hogmanay and a Happy New Year
We brought in the New Year with our growing family. Since the children have left home a few years ago, Elizabeth and I have become accustomed to watching their lives from a distance. However, there are happy reunions when they make their occasional and seasonal return to Ebenezer, and this Hogmanay was one of them. …
Mrs James Boyd
Yesterday, Debbie Fisher became Mrs James Boyd. It was a delightful occasion and Elizabeth and I are very pleased for James and Debbie. The first Mrs James Boyd, the first of many loves in my life, was married on 5/1/51 and passed away on 10/11/10. The last major function she attended was the marriage of …
Discerning the Lord’s body
1Cor 11:29 v29: "not discerning the Lord's body": the usual Protestant interpretation applies this to failing to discern the Lord’s body in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, which is a spiritual activity. It is contrasted with the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation so that the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 96 What is …
Vain worship of God and a mark of effective Christianity
Jesus teaches about worshipping God in vain: 'in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men' Mk 7:7. Vain worship is empty worship, devoid of proper content, but this is not the emphasis of the Greek word used here, which points to the 'fruitless activity' of such worship. It points to …
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Sing Psalms
A new website promoting four part harmony Psalm singing has been recently launched. A series of Psalmody CDs called Worthy to be Praised produced by the Psalmody Committee of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) are available. These have one disc of Psalm singing and one disc to teach the soprano, alto, tenor and bass …
