To be profane is to treat sacred and biblical things with irreverence or disregard, so as to violate and pollute them. Is the modern entertainment scene profane? Most definitely, because it is the most powerful and determined anti-God, anti-moral, anti-authority culture for centuries.

What are the Old Testament sacrifices about? Are they similar to the cultic practices of the pagans? No, they are not. They speak volumes, being performed in the light of a coming Saviour. That, at least, is how it should have been for sincere and thoughtful Israelites.

These are momentous days when we find ourselves in the midst of a worldwide ‘discipline’ or warning from God, calling us to acknowledge and seek Him. And although we shrink from the thought, this is the reason for all unexpected catastrophes, whether epidemics, floods or vast fires.

When I was a youngster and newly saved, it seemed as if the chief goal of all zealous Christians, whether Calvinistic or Arminian, was consecration. Sermons, books and conferences stressed this in the spirit of Romans 12.1-2, where the beseeching apostle calls

‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3.28).

This article presents the traditional view that we are to seek real guidance from the Lord in all the major decisions of life, and he will certainly clarify our thinking, or overrule our circumstances. What are ‘major’ decisions? They are, as we have asserted, the ‘road and route’ decisions which concern the direction and journey of life.

'Be clothed with humility' - what an amazing exhortation this is in these days of assertive self-confidence! As Christian believers we are to be ‘subject one to another’, not assertive, not resistant to mutual admonition.

Only thirty years ago the question that heads this article would never have been asked by Bible-believing Christians, because the need to seek God's guidance in all the major decisions of life was firmly fixed in the minds of those who followed Christ. But the great decline of the quality of Bible teaching

Adapted from one of a seven-part Bible study series preached at the Tabernacle in April-June 2017: ‘The Dissolving of Doubts’, a phrase taken from Daniel 5.12 meaning the untangling of knots. Other studies in the series addressed Doubts about the Faith, Doubts about God, Doubts about the Bible, and Doubts about the Doctrines of Grace.

It is now that doubts begin to rise, and various voices in the Christian world begin to question the almost universal compliance with government rules on the part of churches.

We constantly need the help of God in different situations, and we continually pray for individuals, but why does the Lord cause us to have to pray for some things repeatedly, often over a long period of time?

THE PERSONAL indwelling of the infinite, eternal Holy Spirit in the believer is such an amazing blessing and privilege that the mind never wholly grasps it. A daily succession of joys, sorrows, temptations and trials produces various reactions in us, often without stirring our awareness that God is in residence, and will be pleased or grieved by what we think, say or do, or that he is ready to ...