Comments by the leader of the Scottish Christian Party on the secular, scientific, political and ecclesiastical scene and the application of Christianity to public life.
One may assume that the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh was the Church of England putting on its best display. The splendour and pageantry of the day, organised by the Duke while alive, easily eclipsed the offerings from the official ecclesiastics. Since I have often said that the national churches are failing the UK …
Continue reading Critique of the Church of England ‘at its best’
Today is the second anniversary of my brother Andrew's death. It is also the 49th anniversary of my reading the whole Bible for the first time on 22/8/1971. I have read the Bible daily ever since and now I spend several hours a day on my Bible commentary, making its teaching accessible to ordinary people, …
"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 floundered …
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 …
Continue reading Ambiguity and exegesis: confusing English words
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 …
Continue reading What do we do about confusion in congregational preaching?
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. …
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 …
"He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."The apostle Paul's epistle to the Corinthians 1Cor 11:29 There are various interpretations of this text and its neighbouring context. Polemical exegesis Polemical exegesis is what a passage has become so controversial that the polemics or dispute over its …
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 …
Continue reading Vain worship of God and a mark of effective Christianity
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 …
