All Articles For McGeown, Martyn

‘Do you believe Jesus died for your sins?’ “With grace I replied, no, no, no, no…that’s ghastly theology…you don’t want to go there.” Those are the words of Rev. Scott McKenna, the minister of Mayfield Salisbury Church of Scotland (CofS) in Edinburgh, Scotland. The CofS is the national church in Scotland, a Presbyterian denomination dating back to the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. If John Knox (1513-1572) knew the state of the CofS today, he would turn in his grave! Rev. David Robertson, the Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland (FCofS) responded to McKenna’s gospel-denying heresy on his blog, prompting...

The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail, by Dale Ralph Davis, Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 2013. Paperback, 169 pp. [Reviewed by Rev. Martyn McGeown.] I enjoy the Old Testament commentaries of Dale Ralph Davis. He has written quite a number, mostly on Old Testament narrative texts (Joshua, Judges, I-II Samuel and I-II Kings). He has also written on the prophets Micah and Daniel, all of which commentaries I have read. This new commentary on Daniel does not disappoint. It is vintage Davis. Davis interacts—only when necessary—with the higher critics in order to defend the inspiration and authority of the...

The Four Blood Moons When the moon passes directly behind the earth, and the sun, earth and moon are in direct alignment, there is a lunar eclipse. Because in a total lunar eclipse the moon has a reddish glow, it is sometimes called a “blood moon.” In recent years and months, John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church, San Antonio, Texas, has been fueling speculation of something significant happening on the date of these blood moons. His theory is as follows. First, God has given the sun, moon, and stars as “signs” (Gen. 1:14). Hagee interprets these signs to be God’s...

I agree with Prof. Dykstra’s editorial on the importance and value of visiting mission fields and the smaller, isolated churches and groups. Everything he said, both about the joys and sorrows of mission work, rings true for us here in Ireland also. Let me add to it by extending a welcome to the saints of the PRCA to visit your sister churches. The CPRC and LRF love to have visitors, and Ireland is a beautiful place to visit. I include a special word for the young people: study abroad programmes are possible. You can study for part of your course,...

The Irish Vote for “Same Sex Marriage” I reside in Ireland. Therefore, it is natural that I should report on the recent “Marriage Equality Referendum” here. On May 22, 2015, Ireland became the first nation in the world to redefine (defile, profane) marriage by a popular vote in a referendum. Every other nation, including the USA (on which I will not comment), gave “marriage” rights to homosexuals and lesbians either by a majority vote of the legislature or by judicial fiat. In Ireland, the citizens chose to redefine (defile, profane) marriage in their own Constitution. Let that sink in— Ireland’s...

Canadian Reformed Creation Overture Do the Reformed Confessions, in particular the Three Forms of Unity, leave room for theistic evolution, that is, for the notion that God used a process of evolution to bring the world into being? And do the Reformed Confessions allow for the teaching that Adam had hominid ancestors, who lived and died before sin entered into the world? And is this a ‘gospel issue’? By God’s grace, the Protestant Reformed Churches and her sister churches have consistently rejected every form of theistic evolution. Every officebearer affirms the historicity of Genesis 1-11. We have not even had...

The Ashers Bakery Case I wonder who might have predicted decades ago that the homosexual lobby would be the chief persecutors of Christians in the Western world. Who would have imagined that it would be homosexual advocacy groups who would most endanger freedom of speech and religion? And who might have thought that marriage would be the battleground, with bakers, florists, and photographers under pressure to conform to this world? “Gay marriage” (I use inverted commas advisedly, because Christians do not recognize such a thing) is now legal in many nations, and the US Supreme Court will make a ruling...

As previous contributors to this rubric have documented, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) exonerated teaching elder and Federal Vision (FV) advocate, Dr. Peter J. Leithart.1 Leithart remains a member and a minister in the PCA. Let me remind you of the case: By his advocacy of the FV, Leithart was accused of teaching views that are not in accordance with the Westminster Standards, the confessions of the PCA. The presbytery of Pacific North West exonerated him. When the presbytery’s decision was challenged, the presbytery rejected the complaint and referred it to the Standing Judicial Committee (SJC) of the PCA,...

This letter is in response to Rev. Martyn McGeown’s article “Abortion: the Culture of Death” in the January 15, 2015 issue of the Standard Bearer. While reading the article, I had to lay it down and stop reading it several times because it was so disheartening. Although the content about women advocating for and endorsing abortion was heartrending and disturbing, this was not the reason for my being disheartened. For a denomination—the PRC—that proclaims and promotes grace (like no other denomination does) as the ultimate covering for the worst of broken sinners, there was little mercy given to women who...

Prepared by Grace, for Grace, Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2013. Paperback, pp. xiii + 287. [Reviewed by Rev. Martyn McGeown.] It is no secret that Joel Beeke loves the Puritans. In this book, Beeke and Smalley examine one of Puritanism’s most controversial doctrines, preparatory grace or “preparation.” The Puritans were faced with a situation in which almost everyone was a member of the state church. Clearly, a great number of churchgoers were unbelievers. How, then, could the preacher awaken the carnal, self-righteous hypocrites sitting in the pews to their need of...