How (not) to interpret the Book of Revelation

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I’ve suggested before that some of Hugh Ross’ attempts to harmonise science and Scripture are unconvincing.

In my view, he threatens to brings the Bible into disrepute by imposing interpretative schemes that are untenable.  He writes:

‘My interpretative approach is to identify a passage in Revelation…as symbolic only if its implied symbol is used and defined elsewhere in the Bible or if certain words within the context clearly indicate that the author intended something other than a literal meaning.’

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Demonisation in Scripture and in history

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My present interest in the fascinating and yet sombre subject of demonology is due to the fact that I’m preparing to preach on Luke 8:26-39 – the Gerasene demoniac.  That passage (together with the parallel accounts in Matthew and Mark) present the most dramatic case of demonisation in the whole of Scripture, and therefore requires that particular attention to the subject of demons and their activities.

One of the seminal works on demonology is that by John L.…

Calvin on spiritual warfare

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Calvin took the activities of Satan and his demons very seriously, without falling into the superstitions which sometimes appear in Luther’s writings.  Calvin’s teaching was, above all else, scriptural, as the following extract shows.

All that Scripture teaches concerning devils aims at arousing us to take precaution against their stratagems and contrivances, and also to make us equip ourselves with those weapons which are strong and powerful enough to vanquish these most powerful foes. For when Satan is called the god [2 Corinthians 4:4] and prince [John 12:31] of this world, when he is spoken of as a strong armed man [Luke 11:21; cf.
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Preachers and their preaching – the Puritans

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J.I. Packer, who has done so much to revive interest in the Puritans, identifies the following characteristics of Puritan preaching:-

1. It was expository in its method. The preacher’s task was to extract meaning from the text, rather than to impose meaning on it. The preacher seeks the mind of God as revealed in Scripture, and then seeks to express it faithfully. In ‘opening’ a text, the Puritan preacher would explain it in context, extract from it one or more doctrinal observations, and then amplify, illustrate and confirm from other scriptures the truths thus derived.…

Angels and demons

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In his preface to The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis famously wrote that there are two equal and opposite errors in relation to thinking about demons: disbelieving in their existence altogether, and taking an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.  Either way, Satan is delighted – scepticism and fanaticism both serve his purposes very nicely.

The sceptical approach is well represented by the New Testament scholar Rudolph Bultmann: ‘It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and scientific discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of daemons and spirits.’…

CMS rethinks Greenbelt seminars

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This year’s Greenbelt festival is causing concern in some quarters because of the plans to welcome as a speaker the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson. Greenbelt will also give a platform to other gay rights campaigners such as the Rev Giles Fraser and worship groups OuterSpace and Journey.

By way of response, the Church Mission Society is considering holding seminars in which the orthodox view of human sexuality will be promoted.

One thing that intrigued me about all of this was a comment by the Rev Sharon Ferguson, spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.…

Planet Narnia

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I’m sure that many of us will have read the famous ‘Narnia Chronicles’ of C.S. Lewis either when we were children, or, as I did, to our own children.

I can remember being intrigued by the fantastic world that Lewis dreamed up in those tales.  I found it difficult to understand that even a mind as fertile as Lewis’ could have created such a world without some kind of underlying framework.

The stories work, of course, simply as stories. …

Is the Emerging Church receding?

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A year or so ago, Trevin Wax suggested that the Emerging Church was in the early stages of decline, offering a number of reasons for this opinion.  I summarise:-

1. The Emerging Church does little evangelism.

It’s not the only segment of the Christian Church that fails in this regard.  But it has to be said: The Emerging Church isn’t making many converts.  It is reaching young, disillusions Christians, but not the unchurched.  And part of the problem is its lack of clarity about what the gospel actually is. …

No doctrine, please, we’re Greenbelt

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The Greenbelt Festival, to be held on 28th-31st August, has raised eyebrows because of its invitation to Bishop Gene Robinson to speak.

According to its mission statement, ‘Greenbelt is an independent Christian charity working to express love, creativity and justice in the arts and contemporary culture in the light of the Christian gospel.’

As a distant observer, I am scarcely qualified to comment on Greenbelt’s faithfulness to ‘the Christian gospel’.  After all, we are reminded: ‘you’ll never really ‘get it’ until you come along.’…

The friendship of Jesus

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The Puritan writer John Flavel says, ‘there are certain things in which one friend manifests his affection and friendship to another, but there is not one like Christ. For,

1. No friend is so open-hearted to his friend as Christ is to his people: he reveals the very counsels and secrets of his heart to them. Jn 15:15. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.…