We have all been troubled by stories from those who have been abused or betrayed by the church. Sometimes these anecdotes stymie us as we try to share the gospel.

I distinctly remember an incident that happened in my Worship class over 30 years ago.   I was teaching in an evangelical and Reformed seminary.   The seminary stressed the importance of the Bible as the Word of God, and an appreciation of the Westminster Standards and the Reformed tradition.  If my memory serves me correctly, I was, on that cold, winter day (unheated classrooms) in the late 1980s, teaching the Genevan order of worship used by Calvin.  

In modern day Christianity the integral relationship between sharing the good news of the gospel and pursuing biblical justice has been eclipsed. There are many people today, including many Christian pastors, who are calling for justice. But rather than allowing God to define what justice is, what it entails, and how we are supposed to pursue it, they redefine it to suit their own purposes.

EDITOR´S NOTE:  This is a reposting of an August 19, 2014 article by the then Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Reformed Fellowship, Dr. Rick Perrin.  Ric has already been called to be with our Lord, but we are posting his article again because of the relevance in light of the currently developing situation in Ukraine.

In this video, Dr. Davi Charles Gomes (International Director of the World Reformed Fellowship) interviews mathematician and writer Dr. John Lennox, about his book Can Science Explain Everything? In their conversation, Dr. Gomes and Dr. Lennox discuss science, faith, apologetics and  evangelism.

On September 7^th many friends around the globe saw in the news some of the images of the sea of people protesting peacefully in many major Brazilian cities over aspects of the political turmoil that has been brewing in that nation. Some were particularly impressed with the crowd that took over certain vast open spaces near the federal buildings in the heart of Brasília, the capital.  Having spent my early teens in that city, I had a sense that the masses were even larger than what the images might suggest. 

I once had a family visiting for lunch, and their little girl came into the kitchen and asked what we were having for dessert. I said, “Caramel ice cream.” And she said, “Caramel ice cream? That’s my favorite!” I was impressed that she knew what it was. I gave her a serving, she tasted it, and said, “Wow! I’ve never had my favorite before!”

I once started a list with just the title, “What I accomplish on the Sabbath” —and those words lay on a big blank page.

Actually, that captures most of my point.  At least in the world’s eyes, Sabbaths don’t accomplish very much, and I think that’s fine.

Over the last few weeks, I have had several conversations with wives who were feeling guilt-ridden. Each feared that failing to meet their husband’s expectations for sex would push their husbands to satisfy their desires in sinful ways. This fear might seem extreme, but the belief that wives are responsible for keeping their husbands from sexual sin is more common than you might think, so I want to draw attention to it.

As a child, I heard a church member tell my father: “Pastor, I do not wish to learn any more than I already know about the Bible.” Looking with a straight face at that gentle-giant of a man, Rev. Wadislau Gomes asked the reason for that statement and received a candid explanation: “Well, you taught me that the more I know, the greater my responsibility, and it is already hard as heck to carry the ones I have today—imagine if I learn even more…”

The teenager listens while his teacher [re]affirms Nietzsche’s position regarding religious convictions: “every conviction is a prison…” The young man then asks if statements of convictions such as this one, or the one about God being dead would also be considered prisons.  “See, according to the philosopher, you must doubt every opinion, even this one,” the teacher replies at once.

Recently we prayed for several of our hospitalized friends suffering from Covid.  After days of struggling with the disease they succumbed one by one.  We actually thought that some of them would pull through since we were getting frequent encouraging updates, but our hopes were dashed when we heard of the passing away of our dear friends.