defending our faith
A letter from Lewis
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
Sorting through the dusty boxes of old book stock in our Bible College library we came across a real gem.
Tatty and heavily inscribed, with the spine sadly coming adrift, was a first-edition copy of Broadcast Talks by C. S. Lewis. Published in 1942 it is essentially a transcript of a series of BBC radio addresses delivered by Lewis during the war.
Letter from America
‘Peace on Earth’
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Jun 2017
‘Peace on earth’ (Luke 2.14)
is a well-known Christmas
text that is often read with
a feeling of slight disbelief.
In what sense did Jesus bring peace on
earth? If he did what he claimed he would
do, why is it that we still have ‘wars and
rumours of wars’ (another biblical text that
hints that the first text is not to be understood woodenly)?
Billy Graham 1918 - 2018
JEB
Date posted: 1 Mar 2018
Billy Graham was arguably the most successful evangelist of the twentieth century. He died at his home in North Carolina on 21 February at the age of 99 having long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments.
Many millions of people have heard the gospel message from him through his city-wide crusades and his weekly ‘Hour of Decision’ radio programme broadcast around the world. Later millions more were reached through TV, video, film and webcasts.
Letter from America
The forgotten art of listening
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Mar 2017
As I write, the signs look ominous for much of our world.
I’ve just come from a search of a recent news story seeing college students holding up placards saying ‘This is WAR’. As many will know, America has been embroiled in a low-simmering ‘culture war’ for many decades now, one that could boil over – the tensions seem to be escalating and the troubles mounting.
Future of the church?
Geoff Chapman
Date posted: 1 Feb 2018
Dear Editor,
Eric Barger’s article ‘Churches in Jeopardy’
(en December 2017) was timely and important. We certainly need to be aware of some
of the unscriptural
ideas seeping
into the
church, and be warned about their potential
detrimental impact. However, I don’t share
Eric’s pessimistic view of the future of the
church, where ‘error will be the norm … and
orthodoxy will be the oddity.’ I don’t buy
into the scenario of inevitable decline, which
can easily discourage faithful people.
Letter from America
Violence, justice & church
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Feb 2017
I live in a city that had more
murders last year than New
York City and Los Angeles
combined.
In 2016 alone, Chicago had 3,550 shooting
incidents, 762 homicides. That’s two
murders and ten shootings per day. Per day.
What is more, that number (762) has surged
considerably from the previous year: in 2015
there were – I cannot say ‘only’ – 496 murders.
Now, given the huge population of Chicago,
the actual murder rate per capita is not even
close to the highest
in America. But the
combination of
sheer numbers of
those
killed and the dramatic increase over the last
year has many understandably concerned.
There is a ‘we must do something about this’
moment approaching.
Letter from America
Changing your life
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Jan 2017
Life is on the wrong track.
Many people today feel that way for one
reason or another. Whether it be politics,
cultural issues, moral matters or more prosaically economic
realities, much of
the
Western world senses that times are not so
much a’changing as a’worsening.
Letter from America
Under-appreciated virtue
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Nov 2016
Suicide is second only to
accidents as the leading
cause of death among
adolescents.
This according to the journal Pediatrics, and
Internet use exceeding five hours a day has
been linked to suicide and depressive thoughts.
Letter from America
Exciting times
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Oct 2016
It’s common place.
Rarely a day goes by without someone commentating on the declining religious interest of the upcoming millennial generation. Much is debated: Are the statistics reliable? Do they reveal a decline in vital faith, or do they expose a dying religious nominalism being replaced by vital evangelical Christianity? Most perti-nently, what (if anything) do we need to do about it? Well, at God Centered Life Ministries, we are excited to call a new generation to centre their lives upon God.
Anglican futures
Alan Bartley
Date posted: 1 Aug 2017
Sir,
In considering the four options that are
before Evangelical Anglicans seeking to resist
and rebuild in the face of the global meltdown of Anglicanism, David Baker again
repeats the glaring oversight of those recommending
‘Remain and resist’
in claiming
that ‘previous breakaways… are miniscule’
(Anglican Update, July en ).
Samuel Rutherford’s
monument needs repair
Iain Murray
Date posted: 1 Sep 2017
Dear Sir,
The A75 road between Castle Douglas and
Stranraer, in South West Scotland, has been
regarded by some as the most scenic in the
country. Certainly it passes through countryside with a history not to be forgotten.
Aftershock
David Baker
Date posted: 1 Sep 2017
General Synod met in July and was generally
reckoned
shocking by
evangelicals.
Motions were passed both in relation to
liturgy for transgender people and counselling for gay people which were considered
theologically
vacuous
by many.
Evangelical amendments on both were
rejected. Most bishops said little.
I wrote an analysis for Christian Today
(google ‘Church of England Synod was so
shocking’).
Latin America
Alan Tower
Date posted: 1 May 2017
Dear en,
Thank you for your concern for historical perspective and a coverage of global mission issues. We refer to the article on Latin America in the April issue (p.10).
Letter from America
Righteousness exalts a nation
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 May 2016
Are you familiar with the story related to American self-awareness historically?
It’s about the Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers, manifest destiny, etc. If so you will know that there has long been a sense of ‘exceptionalism’ in America regarding its disproportionate blessings, as well as responsibilities to the rest of the world. The Puritans thought of it as a ‘city on a hill’, taking of course cue from Jesus’ language to that regard, Matthew 5.14.
Letter from America
Maturity and gospel centre
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Apr 2016
I’m a big fan of the gospel.
No secret there – it’s all over everything
I’ve done. I’ve said time and time again that
the gospel is not just the ABC, it is the A–Z
of the Christian faith. What, however, does
that mean with relation to Christian spiritual growth or ‘maturity’? How do we encourage growing up and growing deep and
becoming more like Christ?
Letter from America
Cultural engagement
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Mar 2016
It used to be simple.
Or at least it looks like that in hindsight. America was founded on, broadly speaking, Judeo-Christian lines. The framers of the Constitution may well not have all been ‘evangelicals’ but they were all influenced by the King James Bible, as well as by the thinking on ‘freedom’ that grew out of John Locke and other Enlightenment tolerance proponents that, while in some cases certainly radical (the French Revolution), were themselves also operating within or reacting to the same basic set of principles and assumptions.
Letter from America
The gospel and race
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Feb 2016
It would take an ostrich to not be aware that the issue of race has been prominent in recent months in America.
The matter of race has been one that has troubled humanity itself down through the eons. Obviously, the ante-bellum slavery has left its own nefarious trail of dehumanisation, bitterness, and defensiveness, and at the same time other racial/racist attitudes pervade other cultures too.
Letter from America
Reading the Bible – radical!
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Jan 2016
In my prized possession is
a letter from John Stott.
He was replying to say that he supported
me, as the new President of the Cambridge
Inter-Collegiate Christian Union,
in my
desire to revitalise the daily Bible reading
and prayer life of the Union. Hardly radical
stuff. Or is it?
Churchill on Europe
Alan Bartley
Date posted: 1 Dec 2016
Dear Sir,
It always surprises me that our historians and politicians see Churchill’s 1946 speech on a European Federation out of its historic context (Robert Coulson’s letter headed ‘Churchill on Europe,’ en November 2016) and therefore are unaware of the implied limitations. John W. Wheeler-Bennett had access to the Royal Archives when he wrote King George VI - His life and reign (MacMillan 1958) and discloses three relevant facts.
Letter from America
How much has changed?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
Yet another survey of American religious beliefs has come out recently.
This was a telephone survey of 1,000 adults that purports to show that most Americans (no surprise here), including those who do not affiliate with a denomination of one kind or another, believe in a ‘Creator’*.
Letter from America
How should Christians vote?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Jun 2016
Many Christians at election season scratch their head and wonder exactly what sort of principles are to guide them as they face the ballot box.
This is particularly true at this election season, not only in the UK with 'Brexit' but also in America as citizens here begin to face up to the likely options that they will have on the table. What does it mean for a Christian to vote his or her conscience? What sort of guidelines can be given regarding voting that do not stray over the line of partisanship?
Crossing the Culture
Many Beautiful Things
Angeline Liles
Date posted: 1 Sep 2016
‘Many things begin with seeing, in this world of ours.’
Lilias Trotter, little known artist-turned-missionary of the 19th century, has her long-forgotten story told in director Laura Waters Hinson’s latest film. Through interviews with Trotter experts from North America and the UK and character narrative supplied by Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) and John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings), Many Beautiful Things unfolds the events and relationships of Trotter’s life, which took her from painting protégé to North African missionary.
Letter from America
Caesar, Planned Parenthood & God
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Oct 2015
Jesus famously said: ‘Render
unto Caesar that which is
Caesar’s, and to God that
which is God’s.’
Scholars have long debated the exact significance of this phrase. Certainly it was a brilliant, Houdini-like, escape from the trap that
was set for him. He took a coin, showed them
the face on the coin, and pointed out that it
might not be so immoral after all to give
Caesar taxes, given that the money they were
using was distributed by Caesar anyway. But
at the same time he made it clear that allegiance through all and above all was to God.
