Author: faithrootsdw

Assurance and Security

One of the blessings that we become heirs of in Christ is assurance.  Assurance is the certain confidence that you have been forgiven of your sin and have eternal life.  Combine that with security and we have the idea that a believer can know both that their sins are forgiven and that they will never… Continue reading Assurance and Security

Unconditional Election

The other day I started to write about the 5 points of Calvinism, often referred to under the mnemonic “TULIP”, Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Perseverance of the Saints.  It’s worth remembering that whilst this has become a shorthand summary of reformed theology, it was intended as a specific response to specific challenges at… Continue reading Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement?

People often talk about the Five Points of Calvinism, under the anacronym TULIP The Five points actually were put together some time after Calvin at the Synod of Dort, a council called by the Dutch Reformed Church to respond to Arminianism. There is a risk then with seeing a five point attempt to rebut and… Continue reading Limited Atonement?

Getting our thinking about answered and unanswered prayer right

Last week, I mentioned my concerns about the “Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer” which is planned for a site at Coleshill, just outside Birmingham.  There was another concern that I had with the project and this was to do with how the organisers would decide about what counted and what to include in their wall/database.… Continue reading Getting our thinking about answered and unanswered prayer right

Intentional Interruptions

We live in an age of constant, persistent, intrusive interruptions. Smart phones with their apps and notifications rather than being controlled by and used by us seem to master and enslave us instead as we become addicted to them and the affirmation and attention we receive through likes and responses. Jonathan Thomas’ book Intentional Interruptions… Continue reading Intentional Interruptions

Seeing what we want to see

Well, what a few days it was for weekend soldiers and armchair generals.  I suggested when Yevgeny Prigozhin started his mutiny that he may find himself like the revolutionaries in Les Miserables, isolated with no one else rallying to his banner and so things turned out.  I warned that he might end up like the… Continue reading Seeing what we want to see

Returners of the lost ark

1 Chronicles 15 The Ark returns (1 Chronicles 15) The Ark still matters …. Correction (v1-15) Worship (v 16-28) “And even today, we must wonder whether that kind of expression of devotion which gives little attention to worship -also the formal aspects of worship- has not gone far astray from the mark.”[3] Despised (v29) “The… Continue reading Returners of the lost ark

Abraham’s heirs

Galatians 3 finishes by describing the church, Jews and Gentiles alike as “Abraham’s heirs”. This is an important principle that we find in Romans 9-11 as well.  The Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people because they could trace their ethnic lineage back to Abraham, the recipient of the Covenant.  They saw themselves as heirs… Continue reading Abraham’s heirs

Russia Today

Last night Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner (a Russian, private military organisation) announced that he had 25,000 combatants ready to march on Moscow. He claimed that this was not a coup but “a march for justice”, that his target was the heads of the Russian military. He denounced both strategy and tactics in terms… Continue reading Russia Today