Showing posts with label chatty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chatty. Show all posts

Friday, 1 August 2014

More chat

Banner of Truth Trust
OK! Been busy the last few days and didn't get posting here at all, since last Saturday. Left my somewhat excited son Andrew down to the FPC youth camp in Newcastle on Monday morning. This gave me a chance to visit the Beulah Christian bookshop in the town. Usually any business done with our FP friends there is via a book table at some convention where only a limited stock of books are on display. I am seldom in Newcastle unless passing through on the Lord's Day to preach in that direction, and the bookshop is closed. So this was an opportunity I didn't want to miss. 

The stock is tremendous, mostly (although not exclusively) Reformed, but embracing all of serious conservative Christianity. The only Bible for sale is the AV. 

Between that shop and a charity shop in the town (run by the Elim Pentecostals) I picked up the some books second hand. I tend to buy mostly second hand these days. I picked up the following:

"The Princeton Theology 1812- 1921" (p/b) by Mark Knoll (P&R) which is a collection of various bits and pieces ("an anthology") written by the very thorough (and delightfully Reformed) theologians of Princeton College before it went all apostate on us. These are drawn from the works of Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge and B.B. Warfield. These are names to look out for because they are the names of theological giants. I have already some of the Hodge commentaries (1Corinthians/Romans/Ephesians) along with their doctrinal works. The only thing I have by Alexander is his history of the Log College, the pioneer American Presbyterian forerunner of Princeton. I have very little by Warfield, whom I generally find hard to read. He spent most of his days in the rarefied atmosphere of academia and it shows in his style of writing. 

For a few pence, I bought "Is Jesus God?" in h/b (#SoTL) by John R. Rice, which I found enjoyable reading. While I did not discover anything that I did not know before, yet Rice writes engagingly and it is refreshing to traverse over the old ground again. I quoted him during the week on Twitter.  He drew upon Calvin and Luther as reliable defenders of the doctrine of the Virgin Birth (p.80) while defining repentance (among other things) as "willing to turn from your sin" (p202) Somewhat ironic that this book should be published by the Sword of the Lord whose later literature, via Rice's successor (Curtis Hutson) effectively denied this truth. David Cloud (bless him) battles it out here for those interested.

Another interesting p/b book (again for a few pennies) from my Newcastle searches, was "Good News For the World" by Roger Steer (Monarch Books) which is the history of the British and Foreign Bible Society. I have started reading this one which is very well written and contains a wealth of information from its earlier days before it later capitulated to the unscriptural ecumenical movement. The BFBS was effectively started by Calvinistic Methodist Thomas Charles and other names that pop up include William Carey and Wilberforce among other Calvinistic heroes. No doubt a great work was done in those days. 

I spent the rest of the week evangelising in Dublin, the progress of which I cover in my wee_evangelist Twitter account.  

Dublin has two city centre Christian bookshops. One is very ecumenical and yielded very little to me (although it has quite a few 2nd hand stuff) while the other, in Lower Abbey Street, brought me a few more books for my collection. Again, prices were good.

I got the Banner/Truth (always a good name to look out for)  h/b edition of the "Lives of Philip and Matthew Henry". It has been around a bit, but still very serviceable. I got this one for a mere euro. Matthew Henry is the famous Calvinist commentator, while Philip was his preacher father.  

I also picked up a new, though reduced in price  p/b copy, of "Risking the Truth" subtitled, "Handling error in the church" (Christian Focus) which is basically the transcript of a number of candid interviews which Martin Downes conducted with no less than 20 well known Christian leaders from here, there and yonder, including Joel Beeke and Geoffrey Thomas. I read a few of these during the week and found them very balanced and helpful.

Lastly, I picked up (new) two of the laminated fold outs by Rose Publishing for 50c each. One was on 10 questions about Atheism and Agnosticism and the other on the Pop Spirituality (think of Orpah Winfrey) which are useful enough in the sparse space at their disposal. 

So, a good week's evangelism and book hunting. Nice to be home again. Picked up one tired Andrew this morning. He enjoyed his camp (9/10 on the scale) and I'm heading out in a couple of hours for a slightly belated Anniversary dinner tonight in a lovely restaurant about 16 miles away. Married 27 years on the 29th July. During the week, I also worked at two messages for the Lord's Day. 

That's all. See you around. 

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Chatty stuff

 Note: Talk about a gremlin in the works :o( I can't get rid of the mess below from my end of things. (Knowing me, it'll probably disappear on me. If so, ignore this note. The affected line reads: "A few locals came in. Some were professing Christians from local Charismatic churches - nothing like the chorus of Amazing Grace - as an excuse for them to get the arms up in the air :o)"

It has been a pretty busy time of late, with two separate 480 mile round trips to Tralee in Co. Kerry over a 3 day period. First, last Saturday, there were around 70-80 Free Presbyterians who headed on Friday to Limerick for an overnight stay before finishing the remaining 60 miles early the next morning. The mission was two fold:

Grand Hotel, Tralee
[i] Invite the townsfolk to the gospel meeting planned for a central hotel on Monday night.
[ii] Give a gospel tract and seek to engage them in spiritual conversation.

The weather wasn't that great, but the whole town was reached. After the day's evangelism, we always finish off with a meal together in a hotel and the fellowship was good. It was a long journey home.

The Lord's Day morning found me as a pew sitter in the morning in my home church in Enniskillen before heading on to County Donegal to preach at a monthy meeting in a wooden hut just outside Rossnowlagh. I preached on Isaiah 55:6 about seeking the Lord while He may be found:

 INTRODUCTION: The gospel is primarly about God seeking man: Adam - Noah - Abraham - Luke 19:10. Thrust of our text, however, is man seeking God which is every man's responsibility.

1) WHEN GOD IS TO BE FOUND:
While the heart beats (i.e. in this life)
While the gospel is sounded
While the Spirit strives

2) THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SEEK GOD WON'T LAST FOR EVER:
Your heart won't beat for ever (Eccles 3:2)
You might not always sit under a sound gospel ministry (Acts 20:28-30)
God's Spirit will not always strive with man (Gen 6:3)

3) IF YOU SEEK HIM WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND - YOU WILL SURELY FIND HIM:
 There are no empty commands in Scripture (Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Need of repentance and faith (Isaiah 55:7) etc.

It was evangelistic, rather than academic in it's content and tone. Just simple preaching.

Monday morning found me back in the minibus with 4 other brethren to head back the long road to Tralee again. Some folk had stayed on in the deep south over the weekend, so there would be 11 of us in the meeting before any locals came in. The trip down wasn't that bad bearing in mind that it rained heavy for much of the way. I had arranged for us to stay overnight afterwards in a certain establishment. I found it on the internet and everything looked fine. However, when we arrived, things did not quite appear to be as kosher as we thought. There was a certain nervousness about the caretaker and a few shady characters were hanging about, both outside and inside. (One followed us in and kept an eye on us.) So we beat a quick exit and arranged to stay in Limerick again, even though it would entail more late night travel after the meeting. I'm afraid my skills at arranging places to stay are becoming as notorious as the places I unknowingly happen to choose.  However, it gave us all something to smile about.

18 locals came in. Some were professing Christians from local Charismatic churches - nothing like the chorus of Amazing Grace - as an excuse for them to get the arms up in the air :o) Some others were Roman Catholics. One of the lads who stayed over in a B&B got the proprietor to come along. It fell to me to preach again. I decided to forgo the Introduction, proposition and 3 points (alliterated or otherwise) method and simply read John 8:1-11 about the woman taken in adultery and went then down the passage verse by verse for around 30 minutes. I had good liberty and the word was well received. We had tea/coffee and biscuits afterwards and some good conversations with much literature (free) taken from the book table. Quite a number left their names and addresses to be contacted if we have another meeting. 


We travelled home yesterday after a later night and early start. Debated AMill vs PreMill with a couple of the brethren in the minibus home. That always helps to shorten the "lang Scots miles" - OK, the Irish stuff but HT to Rabbie Burns

Took today off and after coffee out with my longsuffering wife, I did the round of charity bookshops again in Enniskillen. Picked up a few books at 50p each which will find their way to the Free Presbyterian missionaries in Kenya. They run a couple of bookshops and there is a denominational push on at the moment to get good second hand books out to them. I therefore bought some books that I wouldn't necessarily buy for myself. Some of these books I already have - others I have similar to - but it helps to see the wider picture. It is a nice thought that a book picked up for a few coppers in Ulster might help some soul thousands of miles away in East Africa. I'll take them with me on Friday night when I go to the Missionary Council meeting in Aughnacloy FPC. 

So that's it for another while. Keep in touch.


* CALVINIST INDEX
* PROTESTANT INDEX
* CH SPURGEON INDEX
* EVANGELISM INDEX
* HERE AND THERE INDEX
* YOUTUBE VIDEO INDEX
* 3 MINUTE AUDIOBOO INDEX

Saturday, 19 April 2014

Chatty Stuff

Town Hall in Coleraine, County Londonderry
 Just back last night from a 2 night break in the Lodge Hotel in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. Big Sis minded Wee Bro, enabling Mum and me to get away. It was great! We got a great deal for two nights. The BIG difference between booking direct with the hotel and going through the middle man was that the hotel threw us in a full 4 course meal on the first night, whereas the agent was just giving us B&B for the same price. A good price therefore was even better. Always do your homework in these things. 

I've put a picture of Colertaine town hall in because it is a place famous in revival history. The town hall was completed in 1859 which is the year of the great Presbyterian revival in Ulster. The plan initially was to have a Great Ball  on the opening night, but it was cancelled because of the great conviction of sin that visited the town and the Hall instead was used for an all night prayer meeting where souls were saved. There are still faithful Evangelical churches in this town.

I did the bookshops and picked up several second hand books at give away  prices. I got a hard back copy of "Everybody can know" by Francis and Edith Schaffer. I have been listening to Schaffer recently on mp3 and while I got a fair bit of repetition, it has been pretty good. Basically the contents of his books. I also picked up the paperback bio of Scottish Covenanter, Richard Cameron ("Lion of the Covenant") As someone always conscious of his Scottish Presbyterian roots, history books like this really "do it for me". Still on bios, I got William Guest's short account of the life of P.P. Bliss, the American Protestant hymnwriter. The opening lines affirms the Puritan stock of his mother's side and the fact that his paternal side fled Wales due to persecution. I also got two hardback daily reading books by Noel Grant with a wealth of illustrations. Grant is the Ulster man who wrote the challenging hymn: "Above thine own ambitions here..." which we often sing in our churches. Unfortunately, his somewhat Wesleyan view of complete sanctification can be a bit off putting, but still enough of the good stuff to enjoy. Last (but not least) I picked up "Cultivating Christian Character" by Kieran Beville on the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) by Day One publishers which looks a useful enough Reformed commentary. It's getting time to read them all is the problem.

On the tourist side: We went to the Giant's Causeway. It was pretty stormy in the morning and since we had seen the rock formation before, we contented ourselves with the visitor's centre. There was a typical Norn Iron battle fought when this centre was recently opened. Evangelical Christians fought to get tangible recognition that not everyone believed these rocks to be millions of years old. This helped tear the mask of the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-our-mouth liberals. We then headed the other side of Coleraine and visited the famous Messeden estate as well. The weather was brilliant at this point and so we had a good time.

We headed to Belfast yesterday down the Antrim Coast Road in glorious sunshine. This road is simply stunning, with clear views of the Scottish coastline only 25 miles away over the North Channel. We arrived in time at Big Sis's house to get a short doze, pick up Junior and head on to the Free Presbyterian Easter Convention for the Missionary Rally last night. The meetings on Monday will be broadcast live over Sermon Audio for those interested in #NoFluffStuff Bible preaching.

So that's it. Late in last night and taking it nice and easy today. Planning a BBQ later on, if the weather holds. Preaching tomorrow (DV) in the morning in Ballyclare FPC. Ballyclare is also another part of Ulster which is rich in Evangelical history. The first Presbyterian planters frae Scotland  in the early 1600's came to these parts. They came at the somewhat loaded suggestion of King James I - the man whose name is found on our Protestant and Calvinist translation of God's word.


* CALVINIST INDEX
* PROTESTANT INDEX
* CH SPURGEON INDEX
* EVANGELISM INDEX
* HERE AND THERE INDEX
* YOUTUBE VIDEO INDEX
* 3 MINUTE AUDIOBOO INDEX

Friday, 21 March 2014

Books

Another one of these chatty wee posts. The Presbyterians in Enniskillen have opened up a charity shop. It only opens on a Friday - a day when I am seldom in town. But today was different. So in I went. It is a pretty big shop with plenty of stuff. But especially books. 

All kinds of books, including modern illicit sex centred novels which is hardly in keeping with a church based shop. I saw too some packets of playing cards which reminded me of my childhood days. I did not grow up in a Christian home, yet even there the standard pack of cards were banned and known as "Devil's cards". But anyway, I am typing here as my thoughts come and I want to get the negative out of the way first.

I bought a few books which were all reasonably priced. I got a large print Gideon hardback copy of the NT and Psalms in the AV in mint condition. I also picked up the EP series "Bitesize Biographies" bio of Francis Schaeffer. TBH, Schaeffer is not a man I know that much about. A few weeks ago, I read his very short paperback "Escape from reason" which was a very broad sweep through some anti God philosophies. I said at the time, that I would need to read it again. I got a sense of its greatness, but it was like one of those super balls made of compressed rubber  that had so much energy compacted into such a small space. I also picked up his books "The New Super-Spirituality" (44pp) and "Death In The City" (127pp). They had  "Escape from reason" too, but no point doubling up. Book space is at a premium in our house. It's not that I don't read them, but I tend to buy more than I actually read, so the deficit is growing.  BTW: Schaeffer's son, Frankie, joined the Eastern Orthodox church a few years ago and claimed his father would have too. Bearing in mind that the Easterns have been a round more than the last 20 years, this claim is a bit rich.
 
I finished off my book buying with JI Packer's "Fundamentalism and the word of God" which I had at one time, but (I think) let it go unread. To be somewhat negative again, Packer basically annoys me with his ecumenism and pro Rome stance (He needs to learn to say "No!" when it is proper to say "No!") but his writings are generally Protestant and good. Alan Cairns produced a small book a few years ago on Neo Orthodoxy and took exception to some position Packer expressed in this book, but I can't remember what. When I get round to reading it, I'll do so with care. I suppose that needs ultimately to be said of all books. 

Packer once used an interesting phrase which I liked. He said that he was fond of "pregnant brevity" (and joked: "Packer by name and packer by nature") which reminded me of Twitter.

This is my day off. My wife is working this afternoon and this gives me time to pursue a little discussion with a Baptist Twitter friend on Baptists and Protestants. Having said that, I certainly don't want square eyes looking at a computer screen for the next few hours.

Time for afternoon coffee. Keep in touch...

INDEXES:
.
* CALVINIST INDEX
* PROTESTANT INDEX
* CH SPURGEON INDEX
* EVANGELISM INDEX
* HERE AND THERE INDEX

* YOUTUBE VIDEO INDEX
* 3 MINUTE AUDIOBOO INDEX

Friday, 20 December 2013

weechattypost

Been busy of late with various matters. Realistically, I was never going to keep a post a day (or thereabouts) going. Actually a lot of stuff was being brought across from my paid website which I am closing down mid January, although some fresh stuff is being prepared as well.

The weather today in Northern Ireland is wet and stormy - not the traditional Christmas card scene by any stretch of the imagination.  I am working at home on a message for the Lord's Day morning. I'm planning to preach on John 1:14 on John beholding the glory of the only begotten Son of God. A good doctrinal message. 

In this regard, I must relate a book I bought recently, second hand. It might well qualify for one of the most notorious books ever written. It's author was the Methodist apostate, Leslie Weatherhead ("Dunderhead" as Ian Paisley famously and accurately branded him). In his says-it-all book The Christian Agnostic, Dunderhead Weatherhead attacked the veracity of the Virgin Birth of Christ, along with other great Bible truths. He made use of William Barclay's  comments on how every natural birth in Israel at that time was seen as being "by the Holy Spirit." I was only attracted to it by its notority and the fact that the grand sum of £1.00 which I rendered for the distinction of having it on my bookshelf hopefully will help the charity bookshop help some needy person this Christmas. What a difference from this book by Ian Paisley on "Christian Foundations" which grew out of a series of sermons after his confrontation with yet another Methoidst apostate (Wesley could be spinning in his grave) Lord Soper. Amused to see Ian Paisley's book available here, along with his Calvinist commentary on Romans :o) 

That's it for another while (possibly tomorrow) 

THE END

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Belfast


In a neat little town they call 'Belfast'...
Yesterday was our day off. My good wife had a training day in Belfast, so we headed up to our capital city (and the place of my birth). The day didn't get off to a good start. I wasn't long on my own when I discovered that my mobile phone was lost.  However (to save me dragging this out)  it turned up later on. It had fallen out of my pocket in the grounds of Olive's work place and some honest and very helpful person handed it in. A lot of hassle avoided there, but it did take the shine of the early part of the morning.


We lunched in the city centre in LittleWing where our daughter works which was nice.

I did quite a few second hand bookshops - mostly the charity shop run - but restrained my buying to 3 paper back books which I got for a "few bob" each. I do a lot of reading, but I tend to buy more books than I read, so space is at a premium as the pile of 'must reads' continues to grow. I picked up the following books:

American Notes by Charles Dickens -  A secular book recording his visit to the USA in the mid 1850's. He was very honest about what he saw and managed to provoke some controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. I would put this in the 'light reading' section.

The Power of Prayer - The New York Revival of 1858 by Samuel Prime. It was the news of this revival that encouraged Jeremiah McNeely and his friends to pray through the winter months in the North of Ireland and led to the 1859 revival which (it is estimated) saw 100,000 converts. At the weekend past, I was in Coleraine in Co. Antrim. Tbe Town Hall in Coleraine was completed during the 1859 revival and the opening ball was cancelled and (if I tell it right) the hall used for the preaching of the gospel. For those who say that Calvinism deadens evangelism and revival, do note that Mr Jeremiah Calvin Lamphier who prayed earnestly for the 1858 New York Revival was a Dutch Reformed Calvinist. The Ulster Revival was largely a Presbyterian one with some 60% of the converts joining that denomination. 

Heirs of Salvation by Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones - A small book of 5 sermons on the doctrine of Biblical Assurance, drawn from some of the men of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. 

I got the Christian books in the Evangelical Bookshop in Belfast which was founded by this stalwart of the faith

On the way home, I received a call on my once was lost but now its found phone to ask me to prepare some radio messages for the Q101 which will be a new experience for me. I think my messages will have to be 12.5 minutes long and 4 are required to be broadcast in January (DV). 

Finished off the day in the pew at the prayer meeting in my home church (Bethel FPC) with about 40-50 others. So plenty to do indoors today. I'll need to make a start on these radio messages. I can see the first one taking an age - working out approx how many words you need to fill a 12.5 mins slot.  I have a Youth Bible Study on Jeremiah (PowerPoint) already prepared for Saturday night and then preaching in the main services in Bethel FPC on the Lord's Day. 

So that's it! Thanks for visiting this blog. Have a look round the indexes for (hopefully) some helpful articles.

THE END 



Saturday, 3 August 2013

gowanbooks

Read Calvinist books
JOHN GOWAN BOOKS

Had a good time of fellowship with two old mates, whose friendship goes back around 35 years to when we were all young Christians. We used to sit in my parent's home in East Belfast and debate theology into the wee hours of the morning. It's amazing how a simple paperback book can make one a mature theologian after one reading :o) They came down for the day from Newtownards and we went out to John Gowan Books in Co. Fermanagh. This is one of Joel Beeke's haunts. We did the usual things enroute like set the world alright and then spent about an hour and a half browsing over 40,000 second hand books. I had been out a few weeks ago, so I didn't buy much. Picked up Allis on the Church and Prophecy for the grand sum of £2.50 (looked for it the last time) and that was it. The other lads bought a bit more. Recommended Jabez Burn's outlines to the preacher onboard.

Tonight starts the Lough Erne Fundamentalist Convention which will run for this weekend and next, with all week inbetween. I call it our Protestant Novena ;o) The preaching is good, mainly Reformed in character for those who like the #RealMeat. I will probably miss most of it though as I hope to be in Dublin next week for street preaching etc.

I am preaching tomorrow in Sixmilecross FPC, so I'm looking forward to that as well. God is good!  

THE END 

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

chatty wee post

OK. Amidst the serious stuff, here is a "chatty wee post" to anyone who cares to read. I'm off this week and next week on summer holidays and just footerin' around. Footerin' around, to those who had the misfortune to be born outside of Ulster, is an Ulster Scots word that means doing nothing in particular, but staying above boredom. Someone usually footers around a garden shed, for example.

Went out today to John Gowan's bookshop in the backwoods of Co. Fermanagh. John is related to my wife and a real bibliophile. He has about 40,000 books, mostly secondhand and mostly (but not exclusively) Christian for sale. Although he is Reformed and A Mill like myself, he has a vast range of books right across the Evangelical spectrum. The last time I was out, around Christmas, I picked up a new copy of Beeke's Puritan Theology. I am nearly half way through this huge volume. Today I held the purse strings somewhat tighter, and picked up 4 books for £8.00. John had a bargain bucket going today. He picked up the library of a deceased Baptist pastor recently who liked to mark his books a lot as he read them. Unfortunately, not merely underlining or # putting something of a # on the side of any suitable passage, #  but drew a circle type scribble over the paragraph or sentence in question. Unfortunately, this tended to look something like a child's scribble and greatly reduces the value of a book. John was selling books normally priced at around £6.00 for about £2.00. Which is fine if you only want these books for reference. The previous owner held some weird and strange views on the Lord's return i.e. he was a Dispensationalist ;o) which gave us a fair share of Ironside and other similar writers. He also avidly read the Puritans (where the "real meat is" as I tell my adoring fans on Twitter) and had many of the SDG reprints, but these were not marked in any way. Some of the books were 3 for £5.00 or 6 for £5.00 depending on the size and covering of the book. I have been collecting books for 35 years now and I already owned many of the bargain books. Anyway, another problem I have is with space for books. Every shelf is full and some of them have double rows.

I picked up Lorraine Boettner on The Millennium which should be interesting. Boettner is a Post Mill. I must hand it to the Post Mills on this and say that they have the most optimistic view of life. Whether this optimism has Scriptural warrant is another matter and that's what counts. On the other side of the spectrum, I bought J. Sidlow Baxter's Strategic Grasp of the Scripture which has a whole chunk on the Dispensational approach. With no disrespect, but had this book not have been greatly reduced, I certainly would not have paid much more than what I did for it. However, I have great respect for Baxter (read his biography a few years ago) and will give him a fair reading. I also picked up Understanding the Times by David A. Noebel which deals with the various worldviews out there. I bought it partly because it had originally been sold by the Tabernacle Bookshop in London and they are usually discerning in the quality of their book list. 

Last and definitely least, I bought my own copy of .... {roll drums} ... Dave Hunt's What Love is This? which is his scholarly examination crude hatchet job on Calvinism. I read someone elses copy of this book a few years ago. I think it was the cheapest of all the books I bought, and the only one bearing the scribble marks mentioned above. Between his prophetic guessing games and then this production, needless to say, I never really put Hunt on my list of must haves. I think he had the auctioneer's gift of making rubbish look good. Anyway, it now sits on my shelf where it can't do any harm.

So that's my day so far. Tomorrow, I'm taking my 10 year son to the Mellon Folk Park for the American Independence Day celebrations in which the Scots Irish Presbyterians (the Ulster Scots) played such an important role. A few years ago, I read James Webb's great book: "Born Fighting. How the Scots-Irish Shaped America" I really must take it down and read it all again. It was thrilling stuff. That's the trouble, isn't it? So many books, so little time... 

Must run on as we are 3 minutes past 3 o'clock in the afternoon here. A wee drink o' coffee wud dae a world o' guid!  

Haste ye back! Fair fa' ye!