This article briefly looks at some of the reasons why certain musics are inappropriate for the dignified worship of Almighty God. The focus here is on the music itself rather than the lyrics or the statements and antics of secular…

It is enough to know and believe what the Word of God has revealed, that the holy angels of God have a charge over us, and take special care of each of us, not one only but many. The ministry…

He who would be angry without sin must not be angry at anything except sin. Our Saviour was angry with Peter, and angry with the Pharisees for the hardness of their hearts. And God’s blessing is upon every such good…

Some people like to see the Protestant Reformation as a celestial ‘bolt from the blue’, a miraculous restoration of apostolic Christianity which God (so to speak) dropped into history straight down from Heaven. That view once held sway in the…

The 'magisterial' Reformation was given a voice by Reformers like Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, who embraced an organic alliance between church and state for the purpose of Christianising society. In this outlook, church and state were practically two sides of…

Rowland Hill once visited Bristol to preach the Gospel on the eve of Bristol Fair. His text was Isaiah 55.1 – ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy,…

‘Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?' In these words our Lord established at the very beginning the distinctness and separateness of the church. If the sharp…

‘James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ…’ (James 1.1). Who is this James? He describes himself as a ‘servant (doulos, slave) of God’ and a servant/slave ‘of the Lord Jesus Christ’. Dr Jeff Riddle is a…

Do believers need a dressing-down on their dressing? 'Surely not!' the hopeful would say, 'we are after all a people who have been taught the Word, and are careful to apply it.' But the realist is compelled to be cautious.…

The Gospel message was graciously presented, and after several months of such teaching, I surrendered to the claims and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. As far as I could tell there were no other Christians in the student…

There are over twenty ­volumes of beautifully handwritten testimonies of those converted during Spurgeon’s pastorate. These are the elders’ reports of each applicant for baptism and church membership throughout his ministry, including the revival year of 1861. Many glorious themes…

The passing of Dr Karl Barth at the age of 82 is an event that calls for comment. As a man, there is only one adjective to apply to him and that is ‘great’. Everything about him was big. He…

For many years independent evangelicals kept apart from churches in denominations affiliated to the apostate World Council of Churches, such as Anglican, Baptist Union and Methodist churches. The British Evangelical Council (whose members included the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches…