The Free Offer: Biblical and Reformed By David Silversides Marpet Press, 2005 Yet another former sturdy defender of the faith now endorses a deceitful gospel which outclasses the errors of older Liberalism. David Silversides has joined such modern apostles as John and Iain Murray, Malcolm H. Watts, Phillip R. Johnson, Errol Hulse, David Gay and Ken Stebbins in their campaign to alter radically the Christian’s view of God and His Word. Pastor Silversides traces the roots of opposition to his new divinity in the formation of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the nineteen-twenties under the leadership of Herman Hoeksema (1886-1965), arguing that the PRC presented a caricature of the free-offer position thus fostering… Full Article
Posts Tagged BOT
Where Olyott Got It Wrong
Mar 10
Stuart Olyott caused such a stir with his slangy persiflage of Luther in his Where Luther Got It Wrong – and Why We Need to Know About It that the BOT magazine had to spend part of the following two issues striving to repair the damage. Olyott claims, without giving either source or context, that Luther’s position on the Word of God was the following: ‘I opposed indulgences and all papists, but never by force. I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word: otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip of Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing: the Word did it all. Had I wanted to start… Full Article
Iain Murray’s Controversy
Dec 15
Letter to the Banner of Truth Dear Christian Friends, Though The Banner of Truth Magazine is entitled to consider any matter as ‘an important controversy’ (Issue 378, p. 22), as in all controversies it is important to keep a cool head and avoid unwarranted statements. I must therefore point out that the argument that I denigrate 18th century evangelical contemporaries of William Huntington in all denominations is entirely unwarranted. Anyone who has read my recent articles and books on 18th century evangelicals of all denominations such as Cotton Mather, John Gill, James Hervey, William Romaine, William Cowper, Risdon Darracot and Philip Doddridge will know how utterly untrue your statement is. I would like to see this error… Full Article
Imputation of Sin
Nov 14
A Letter to a Christian Newspaper: Sir: Regarding imputed sin. I believe the idea is thoroughly Scriptural, though acknowledging that there is much controversy concerning what is meant by the term. I understand it to mean that all those who die do so because of sin, even He who did not sin as the first Adam, i.e. the Second Adam. I base this on Romans 5.12 ff.. All men are thus imputed with sin, and all men thus die, though one man knew no sin personally. In taking upon Himself the form of a man, Christ voluntarily imputed Himself with sin for our sakes. Though He kept Himself free from actually sinning, He was born to die just like other men, and die He did. He also showed human frailty and the curse of growing older…. Full Article
Banner on Hypers
Nov 13
Letter to the Banner of Truth (not printed) Dear Christian Friends, I was surprised to find myself labeled a Hyper-Calvinist in your February issue with your corollary that I am not amongst those who “confront their hearers with the immediate responsibility of trusting Christ, directly encouraging them to trust him, and appealing to them to do so now!” Naturally, when one starts with a false premise one draws a faulty conclusion. Actually, I abhor Hyper-Calvinism and have aired my views against it in many publications and lectures. I am particularly suspicious of the Supralapsarian kind as found in Calvin’s Institutes, Book III, Chap. XXIII:7 and his Articles Concerning Predestination. I reject Calvin’s studies… Full Article
Come and Welcome Letter
Nov 11
The Banner of Truth Trust perverts Bunyan’s gospel A letter to the English Churchman Sir: Bunyan’s Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ based on John 6:37 is beset with the finest jewels of Christian preaching, infusing hope and joy into the hearts of sorrowing sinners. The BOT’s 1991 reprint of Bunyan’s original version was a most welcome evangelistic venture as Bunyan’s elegant, pithy language speaks as clearly today as it did in the 17th century. So why has the BOT now published a new, badly edited and altered version with an introduction and blurb containing irrelevant and misleading New Divinity propaganda? Paul Austen (Nr. 7652) rightly challenges the suitability of a publisher’s preface which presents… Full Article
A number of modern writers who preach common-grace and duty-faith as redemptive means in evangelisation, view John Collet Ryland as a Hyper-Calvinist. Such a person, a recent BOT article tells us, does not appeal to sinners, “directly encouraging them to trust him (Christ), and appealing to them to do so now.” Obviously, given such criteria, Ryland’s critics know nothing of his extensive gospel ministry or are deliberately introducing a new conception of what ‘directly encouraging sinners’ means. Most of their ‘encouragement’ is found in their slogan ‘God’s provisions and man’s agency’ which stresses the need for man to use all his supposed natural abilities and duties to grasp out and take God’s provisions… Full Article
