Heaven

Bite-Size Bunyan (3): A Few Sighs from Hell

Bob McKelvey
Sep 14, 2017
The purpose of this series ( #1 , #2 ), “Bite-Size Bunyan,” is to share John Bunyan’s writings in summary form. Most Christians know such works as The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678, 1684), The Holy War (1682), and Grace Abounding (1666), but what about the foundational Doctrine of the Law and Grace...

Angels, Seekers of Truth

Liam Goligher
Aug 31, 2017
Throughout history, people have been fascinated by angels, those mysterious beings who pop up in Scripture at important times. Around the Christmas story, there are lots of angels. They worship God the Trinity. They serve at God’s bidding. They never sit in God’s presence. They never share God’s...

Luther and Calvin's Quiet Discussions in Heaven

Nick Batzig
May 4, 2017
Those who cherish the Reformation have often sought out what, if any, influence Martin Luther may have had on John Calvin. Did the two Reformers ever meet in person? Was Calvin influenced by the writings or ministry of "the Initiator" of the Reformation? Did he ever rely on the writing of Luther in...

Christopher Love on the Terrors of Hell (3)

Bob McKelvey
Feb 21, 2017
In our previous posts ( #1 , #2 ), we considered questions from Christopher Love’s (1618-1651) Heaven’s Glory, Hell’s Terror (1653). In this post, we will consider some more key questions that he asks on hell before considering his position on the controversial doctrine of Christ’s descent into...

Christopher Love on the Terrors of Hell (2)

Bob McKelvey
Feb 9, 2017
I n our previous post , we considered the Puritan Christopher Love’s defense of hell-fire preaching from his sermons in Heaven’s Glory, Hell’s Terror (1653). In the next two posts we will consider key questions that he asks on hell before considering his position on the controversial doctrine of...

No Little Women: Know What We’ve Got Before She’s Gone

Grant Van Leuven
Feb 3, 2017
Jennifer Marie, my dear wife, died on the fourteenth of September last year. [1] She was thirty-eight. We had barely made it to our eighteenth wedding celebration the month before. Our four young covenant children prepared and served us a special meal that she could eat. We dined together beneath...

Christopher Love on the Terrors of Hell (1)

Bob McKelvey
Jan 13, 2017
I n the next three posts on the heavenly man, Christopher Love , I want to open up (the first of three parts) his meditations on hell from Heaven’s Glory, Hell’s Terror (1653). In light of his ten sermons concerning saints in heaven (see this post ), Love treats “the tormented condition of the...

Christopher Love (1618-1651): The Glories of Heaven

Bob McKelvey
Dec 22, 2016
I n this second post (see #1 here ) on the heavenly man, I want to open up Christopher Love’s meditations on heaven from Heaven’s Glory, Hell’s Terror (1653). The Puritans focused much on the glories of heaven, and that in a Christ-centered manner, which encouraged them greatly during the...

Christopher Love (1618-1651): A Heavenly Man

Bob McKelvey
Dec 8, 2016
T hose familiar with the Puritans may have heard the posthumous praise given of Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) by Izaak Walton (1594-1683) who claimed, “Of this blest man, let this just praise be given, Heaven was in him, before he was in heaven.” This encomium could be restated to say that the “...

A God Thing

David Garner
Nov 15, 2016
Exuberant over an experience, an oh-so-sweet manifestation of divine providence, you delightedly seek to give God praise in telling your story. “It was such a ‘God thing’,” you proclaim. As you see it, God wove together an otherwise inexplicable combination of events to deliver a wonderful—even...