Category Archives: Church

Psalm 105:15 – ‘Touch not my anointed’

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Psalm 105:14-15 – ‘He let no one oppress them; he disciplined kings for their sake, saying, “Don’t touch my chosen ones! Don’t harm my prophets!”’

This phrase is often thrown around in ‘prosperity gospel’ circles to warn against the dangers involved in criticising God’s ‘anointed’ leaders.  (See, for example, Costi Hinn’s God, Greed, and the (Prosperity) Gospel, chapter 3).

Saying negative things about a recognised leader or celebrated preacher can (it is claimed) lead to nasty things happening to you.…

The Lord’s Supper

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A summary of ch. 21 of John Flavel’s The Fountain of Life.

“The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do you, as oft as you drink [it], in remembrance of me.”…

Wine and strong drink in the Bible

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In the interest of complete disclosure, I ought to say that I was raised within Methodism, a Christian tradition that tends to support total abstinence.

I am acutely aware of the devastating effects of alcoholism: a relative came close to destroying both himself and his family because of his addiction to drink.  (He was enabled to give up alcohol completely – apart from a couple of temporary lapses – after he exercised saving faith in Jesus Christ.)…

Matthew 18:20 – ‘Where two or three are gathered…’

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Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

Christians regularly appeal to this saying in order to reassure themselves that, no matter how few their numbers when they gather for public worship or for prayer, Jesus himself will be present.

Matthew Henry:

‘Every believer has the presence of Christ with him; but the promise here refers to the meetings where two or three are gathered in his name, not only for discipline, but for religious worship, or any act of Christian communion.’

…

What is the Orthodox Faith?

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If, like me, you’ve heard of the ‘Eastern Orthodox Church’ but wanted to know a bit more about it, then I offer the following as a public service.

1. Eastern Orthodoxy is nearly one thousand years old

Until 1054 there was just one church and no denominations.  In that year of the Great Schism, various tensions reached breaking point and the church split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

2. There were various reasons for the split

These are complex, and have to do with language (Eastern churches used Greek and Roman churches used Latin), doctrine (the filioque clause of the Nicene Creed was affirmed by the Catholic church but rejected by the Eastern church), liturgy (the Western churches used unleavened bread in the Eucharist, while the Eastern churches did not), and ecclesiastical authority.…

Penal substitution an Anglican doctrine

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As a Licensed Reader within the Church of England, it is of some interest and importance to me to know whether the doctrine of penal substitution is an Anglican doctrine.

Well, the doctrine is not clearly espoused in the Prayer Book of 1662, to which all clergy must assent.  The nearest it comes to it is this:

‘…who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.’…

Ex 14 – Baptised in the sea (sermon notes)

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Exodus 14

The crossing of the Red Sea is used throughout Scripture as a picture of what it means to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 10:2 – ‘They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.’

1. Behind them was a place of slavery

v5 – ‘We have lost their services’(!)

Jn 8:34, “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”

“Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom.…

‘A better story’ – 17

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And so to the final chapter of this excellent book outlining a Christian response to the sexual revolution.

Too often, the Christian response to the sexual revolution has been harsh and uncaring.  We need, writes Glynn Harrison, better storytellers to tell our great story.

Listen to those who differ from you.  It is folly to answer before we have listened (Proverbs 18:13).  Criticising from a distance feels safe.  spending time in the company of those we may disagree with can feel uncomfortable. …

‘If the church were Christian’ – 10

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And so to the tenth and last chapter of Phillip Gulley’s book.  If the church were more Christian, he says, ‘this life would be more important than the afterlife.’

To many people, the church offers an alternative reality, an escape from the real world.  A big part of this is its obsession with our ultimate destiny in heaven or hell, contemplated without due regard to living well in the here and now.  And this obsession stems from a need to control – to control who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’. …

‘If the church were Christian’ – 9

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If the church were Christian, writes Phillip Gulley, ‘It would care more about love and less about sex.’

The church, apparently, is obsessed with sex.  It frowns on sex outside marriage, divorce, dancing and (especially) homosexuality.  Indeed, it finds the whole subject distasteful.

This anxiety about sex probably has two causes: Victorian mores and ‘the apostle Paul’s obvious aversion to marriage’.  Contrast Paul’s ‘sour assessment of intimacy’ with the delight and joy of the Song of Solomon.…