“Remember now Thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” These well known words come from the Bible. That simple statement of fact should itself arrest the attention of the young who are specially addressed. The Bible is the Word of God, it has Divine authority, and its commands and cautions are to be treated [Read more…]
The Conversion of Zaccheus
The word Zaccheus means pure, just, clean. If this man ever deserved so good a name, it was not till grace changed his heart. Before that he was anything but pure. Many a man has a name to which he is a disgrace. Zaccheus was a head man among the publicans, or tax-gatherers. The lowest [Read more…]
Scottish Independence – Synod says Vote “No”
The Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland met at Glasgow on Wednesday, 21 May 2014 resolves to place on record its most serious and determined opposition to the principle and the proposals of the Scottish Government respecting Scottish Independence. The Synod is mindful of the unprecedented constitutional revolution, crisis and disruption which the [Read more…]
Good News – a Saviour for Sinners!
We are all sinners, everyone of us. We have broken the laws of the true and living God. We have not loved Him with all our hearts. Most of us have lived as if He did not exist. None of us have loved other people as we ought. Instead we have loved ourselves and our [Read more…]
Same-Sex “Marriage” – A Faithful Warning Unheeded
By an overwhelming majority of 105 to only 18, the Scottish Parliament has voted for the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, to allow so-called same-sex marriage in Scotland. In jovial mood, many MSPs seemed well pleased with themselves. Meanwhile Scripture’s explanation and condemnation of the deplorable process could not be clearer: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. . . . Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:26, 27, 32).
In Wrath Remember Mercy
[100 years ago, back in 1914, the Editor of the Free Presbyterian Magazine wrote an article for the new year that could have been written today for its timely appropriateness. Within months of its original publication divine wrath broke forth in the devastations of the First World War. It was based on Habakkuk’s prayer for [Read more…]
No Love, No Life
“They know nothing of the life and power of the gospel, nothing of the reality of the grace of God, nor do they believe aright one article of the Christian faith, whose hearts are not sensible [keenly aware] of the love of Christ herein; nor is he sensible of the love of Christ, whose affections are not [Read more…]
The Living Speeches of Dying Christians
Let us now hear and consider what pious men and women had to say about Christ at the hour of death. Stephen, the first martyr, with his dying breath said “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Polycarp, when the wicked Roman pro-consul was urging him to deny Christ, said “I have served him eighty-six years, and [Read more…]
Another Comforter
The disciples were sad; Jesus recognised that sorrow had filled their hearts. “Nevertheless”, He told them, “I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away” (Jn 16:7). There was a necessity about His departure; it would be profitable for them. He was going to die for them, to suffer the [Read more…]
The Relevance of Scripture
This may seem obvious to many readers, but fallen human beings have always sought to avoid the authority of the Word of God. One of their preferred strategies today is to claim that religion, and scriptural Christianity in particular, is not relevant. If people care to go further, they may say that it does not [Read more…]