Calvinistiske, reformerte kirker og presbyterianske kirker

This book contains accounts of over 60 men and women whose lives span from 1808 to 2015: ministers, crofters, shepherds, teachers, fishermen, housewives. Some were leaders in their communities in days of spiritual declension and helped form the Free Presbyterian Church in 1893. What gives a fragrance to these lives is the people's lowliness of mind, grief over sin and self, and love to Christ and His cause. Their histories and religious experiences illustrate the power of godliness seen in the parishes of Bonar, Lairg, Dornoch, Rogart, Tain and Fearn during this period.

Le troisième volume de ce commentaire de l'Apocalypse de Jésus-Christ, Les deux témoins, le dragon et ses deux bêtes. Les coupes de la colère de Dieu, nous fait entrer au c¿ur du combat gigantesque qui oppose Jésus-Christ et son Église, aux puissances du mal si actives dans l'histoire des hommes : le Dragon (ou le diable) et ses deux acolytes funestes, la première bête, un pouvoir totalitaire et la seconde une culture universelle animée par le mensonge sous toutes ses formes. Les deux premiers volumes donnent toute leur ampleur au cadre de ce commentaire. D'abord La Royauté du Christ sur son Église où nous avons d'abord la vision du Christ en gloire, puis les Sept lettres qu'il adresse aux Églises dont la sanctification et la victoire sont au c¿ur de ce livre.Le second volume, L'ouverture du ciel, les sceaux et les trompettes, par des visions grandioses, dresse le cadre de cette bataille, la relation du ciel et de la terre, combat prodigieux des puissances célestes aux forces de la terre. Ce troisième volume cherche à faire comprendre ce combat. Face aux deux témoins de l'Évangile de Jésus-Christ - l'esprit de la prophétie - se trouve le Dragon et ses deux alliés, la bête qui monte de la mer et qui domine les nations, et celle qui ayant l'aspect d'un agneau parle comme le Dragon. Il s'agit ici de l'esprit de mensonge répandu sur notre monde. Ce livre se termine avec les sept coupes de la colère de Dieu qui ouvre la voie à la destruction du mal, des méchants et la rédemption du peuple de Dieu. Cette multiplication de tableaux, aussi majestueux que terribles, aboutit avec les chapitres 15 et 16 au troisième et dernier septénaire. Sceaux, Trompettes sont suivis des sept derniers jugements, les coupes de la colère de Dieu contre le mal. La prophétie aboutit au jugement dernier, illustré par la chute de Babylone (ch. 17 et 18). Puis vient la victoire du Christ sur les deux bêtes et sur le Dragon lui-même (ch. 19 et 20). Le chapitre 20, (le millénium), donne l'ultime synthèse récapitulatrice de l'histoire de l'Église. L'Apocalypse de Jésus-Christ se termine par la disparition d'un cosmos irrécupérablement corrompu et la manifestation de la nouvelle Jérusalem, l'Église dans toute sa splendeur ainsi qu'une nouvelle terre et de nouveaux cieux où, enfin, la justice habitera. Cela sera l'objet, Dieu voulant, d'un quatrième volume.

There is no better introduction to the Puritans than the writings of Richard Sibbes, who is, in many ways, a typical Puritan. `Sibbes never wastes the student's time,' wrote C. H. Spurgeon, `he scatters pearls and diamonds with both hands.'Since its first publication in 1630, The Bruised Reed has been remarkably fruitful as a source of spiritual help and comfort. Richard Baxter records: `A poor peddler came to the door . . . and my father bought of him Sibbe's Bruised Reed . . . It suited my state . . . and gave me a livelier apprehension of the mystery of redemption and how much I was beholden to Jesus Christ . . . Without any means but books was God pleased to resolve me to himself.' Such testimonies could be multiplied. Speaking of the preacher's need to suit his reading to the varying conditions he finds within, Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones says in his Preaching and Preachers:You will find, I think, in general that the Puritans are almost invariably helpful . . . I shall never cease to be grateful to one of them called Richard Sibbes who was balm to my soul at a period in my life when I was overworked and badly overtired, and therefore subject in an unusual manner to the onslaughts of the devil. In that state and condition . . . what you need is some gentle, tender treatment for your soul. I found at that time that Richard Sibbes, who was known in London in the early seventeenth century as `the heavenly Doctor Sibbes', was an unfailing remedy. His books The Bruised Reed and The Soul's Conflict quietened, soothed, comforted, encouraged and healed me."The prophet Isaiah, being lifted up and carried with the wing of a prophetical spirit, passes over all the time between him and the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Seeing with the eye of prophecy, and with the eye of faith, Christ as present, he presents him, in the name of God, to the spiritual eye of others, in these words: `Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth' (Isa. 42:1 3). These words are alleged by Matthew as fulfilled now in Christ (Matt. 12:18 20). In them are propounded, first, the calling of Christ to his office; secondly, the manner in which he carries it out.

Al Dayhoff, also known as Pastor Al, is a secret lover of dance. He started dancing in his high school years, but then... being a pastor in the church world... he lost it. At some point, Al escaped Orthodox real estate and got into the wild. Now he has one foot solidly on Orthodox real estate, and one foot solidly on non-Orthodox real estate. One of the ways that you'll read this book is to go into it asking, how does a minister, who loves his calling and work of sharing faith, walk in both of these worlds? Come meet his special parish . . .

This lecture from the eminent B. B. Warfield is as poignant as it is brief. Quickly he strikes to heart of the matter of how the theological student should approach their studies, that their studies of God should inflame their hearts toward him, not to be considered separate and merely academic. This is a necessary read for any formal student of theology in Bible college or in seminary.