“A sound hermeneutic of anything can never be sustained without discipline. If a man wants a garden full of weeds, he does not need to do a thing. If a man wants his ability to play the piano to get rusty, he needs to do nothing. And if a church wants its lampstand removed, in …
Evangelical Devolution
“Whatever disagreements existed among believing Christians in the era after the Second World War, evangelicals at that time were clearly doctrinal vertebrates of some description. But in recent decades, we have added more than a little money to the movement, some academic respectability, a lust for influence, and the result is the widespread existence of …
Dishonesty Always Wants More Scope
“This high view of preaching has consequences. Christians are people of the Word, and as a result they are people of words. They are people of the enscripturated Word, and the preached word. We love the Truth, and this is why we must necessarily love truths. The flip side of this is that when a …
And We Are At Midmorning, At the Latest
“The gospel will be preached in true spiritual authority until the end of the world. The authority of true preaching did not diminish after the apostolic era. The ability to write Scripture diminished — indeed, it ceased when the last apostle died. But the death of the apostles and the closure of the canon of …
The Folly of Preaching
“The foolishness of preaching saved those who believed, and the preaching of the gospel continues to manifest itself as the power of God after conversion. But to those who perish, preaching is always held in contempt; it is foolishness. Those who believe the Scriptures should not be astounded that preaching today is held in such …
High Preaching
“Any reformation of the church depends upon a high view of preaching. But a high view of preaching by itself, apart from a scriptural basis for that high view, will lead only to puffed-up and conceited preachers. Personal bombast and dogmatism are not the need of the hour. But neither do we need preachers who …
Foundations and Structures
“So the issue is not whether we like this gift or that one, or whether we are to duplicate the phenomena of the first-century church. Rather, the issue is whether we understand the nature of blueprints. No real need for doing concrete work while building the attic” (Mother Kirk, p. 65).
True Prophetic Revelation Must Be Treated As Scripture
“Of course, the words of God can be disposed of by God. If He gave a word through one of Philip’s daughters which He did not want to be included in Scripture, then He may obviously do what He pleases with His own words. The point being made here is that we may not do …
Charismatics Don’t Believe that Prophecy is for Today Either
“More than a few pastors have wondered whether they are being theologically dishonest in saying that the ‘sign gifts’ are no longer operative in the church today. True, the charismatic movement gives us great reason to be suspicious, and it is a pleasure to be prejudiced and bigoted sometimes, especially when Benny Hinn is involved, …
Tradition and Testimony
“A modern church cannot base everything it does on ‘Scripture solitaire’ without any reference to the testimonies of the historic Church. For one of the central testimonies which the Church has given, and which the historic Protestants continue to give, is that the sixty-six books of the Bible are the only ultimate and infallible Word …