Yearly Archives: 2016

First Protestant missionary to translate the Bible into Chinese The great English poet and hymn writer William Cowper wrote the following well before Robert Morrison left for China: Great offices will have great talents, and God gives to every man the virtues, temper, understanding and taste that lifts him into life and lets him fall […]

The so-called great heresies are worthy of examination for a number of reasons, one of which is that they represent the main lines of attack against Biblical Christianity. With the exception of Gnosticism, which begins with the claim to secret knowledge apart from the Bible, they depend on a distortion of the Biblical witness. Modalism […]

‘Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.’ – Revelation 2:10 Zakaria Botros, an Egyptian Coptic priest, born in Egypt in 1934, who was declared by the Arabic newspaper al Insan al Jadeed to be Islamic public enemy number one, has a $60 million bounty on his head from Al Qaeda. […]

It is not so long ago that in almost every church service we would hear the opening words, ‘Let us worship  God’,  or ‘Let us unite in the public worship of God ‘. When it came to the public reading of Scripture, the preacher would say, “Let us hear the Word of God’ . A […]

Iola Thomas 1941-2016. A husband’s tribute, given by Geoff Thomas at the funeral of Iola Thomas, 27th October 2016. I believe in God-honouring tributes to be given in Christian funerals, and enjoy them, and feel something is missing if they are absent. If I had to give you a text on which I had to […]

In recent years there has been an increasing argument as to whether the Act of Remembrance, as practiced across the United Kingdom and further afield on Remembrance Sunday each year, should include references to God. It was General William Tecumseh Sherman who first coined the phrase, ‘War is hell.’ If that is the case, then […]

Calvin’s sermons on Paul’s epistle to Titus have been available in the form of a facsimile of the 1579 edition of Calvin’s sermons on the letters to Timothy and Titus. This new translation by Robert White, however, has the pleasing effect of making them more accessible to the modern reader, as well as more portable. […]

As we celebrate the 499th anniversary of the Reformation, the Banner is offering some great prices on Reformation themed books through Oct 31st. Note: Some customers have experienced difficulties in adding multiple products to their cart from this page. If you experience that issue, simply click through this page to the individual product pages for […]

The following constitutes an appendix in Sinclair B. Ferguson’s book Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification (296 pages, £8/$9). In almost any discussion of the role of the law in sanctification there is one commandment that causes considerable debate—the commandment on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). It is certainly the commandment that seems to give evangelical Christians the greatest difficulty. Many, […]

Next year, 2017, will be the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. At the end of October, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg. We expect lots of murmurings and questionings next year, that that whole event was a ‘fiction,’ and that […]

On September 3 2016, Rhodri Brady, the son of Gary and Eleri Brady, was ordained to follow his grandfather, Geoff Thomas, as the pastor of Alfred Place Baptist Church (Independent), Aberystwyth. Geoff Thomas gave this ordination prayer on that occasion, using some material from Valley of Vision1. O blessed Saviour, help us. Who are we […]

The question of bodily exercise is dominating life in our society today. It is a constant theme in the media in the light of  the growing problem of obesity and certain diseases. We are bombarded with prescriptions for healthy eating and for exercise.  As someone said recently, ‘Gyms are opening up as fast as churches […]

Take advantage of this one week special listed below! Books on Sale ‘Hodge gives an excellent, general statement of the Reformed Faith, yet Dabney adds something beyond the general treatment of most subjects. When his method of teaching is recalled, of sending his students to the standard texts on theology (including Hodge), and then adding his […]

The occasion of this book of David Randall’s on A Sad Departure is the recent departure from the Church of Scotland of forty or so ministers and an (unspecified) number of other office-bearers and members. The book provides a rationale for this departure. The author was one of the ministers who separated from the Kirk […]

‘For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.’ – 2 Samuel 19:6 All men are tempted by the big three-women, children, and power. We see the big three and the […]