Nine Books Read Recently

No Hopeless Future: Expositions on the Book of Ruth?Dale Ralph Davis

It is always good news when a new Dale Ralph Davis volume appears even if it is as brief as these five chapters. This one is a little different to the usual in that these are sermons that have been written down with no footnotes and only minor changes from the spoken versions. The ususal elements - striking illustrations, lightly worn schoarship and rigorous expsiton are there as in the other works. Thank you Christian Focus and Major Burnam (the original transcriber).

Thirty Second Theology: Questions and Answers to Build Your Fait/Sinclair Ferguson

This is a catechism for teeanagers with a modern twist. It covers the beatitudes, the commandments, the Lord's Prayer, etc. Baptists will bristle at some phrases.

The Great Post Office Scandal - the extraordinary story behind the recent ITV drama: The fight to expose a multimillion pound IT disaster which put innocent people in jail/Nick Wallis

This is a very full and thorough account of the terrible way a large number of Post Office Subpostmasters were treated up to around 2022. The problems were caused, it would seem, by errors in the Horizon computer system, errors that the makers Fujitsu and the Post Office who used it have been extremely slow to own up to. It is a lesson in how very wrong things can go when people are less concerned with honesty and kindness than they are with profit and reputation. The book is well written but inevitably a little tedious and drawn out at times. Glad to have got the full story (so far).

Entitled: the rise and fall of the House of York Andrew Lownie

I have also recently read a book called Entitled about Andrew and Fergie. It is rather a depressing book in many ways as it describes, I think fairly accurately, the lives of two once married individuals and the excesses that they have given themselves to down the years. I don't suppose they are very different to the average Jack and Jill but because they have been exposed to so many temptations and have so often given in, we end up with a pretty discouraging state of affairs, to the extent, in Andrew's case, that he appears to be guilty of punishable crimes. Not at any point in the book do they seem to have come under the sound of the gospel and they do not seem to realise the need to repent and find forgiveness in Christ, which is their only hope. We do not know how it will all turn out before they die but it would not be a surprise if more came out. Andrew Lownie has thoroughly researched the story. He presents quite a different version of how the infamous interview with Andrew came together and appears to be quite convinced that Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself. He is also quite convinced that Andrew is guilty of sex crimes.

The Noble Liar: How and why the BBC distorts the news to promote a liberal agenda Robin Aitken

I was alerted to this book back in 2019 but only got round to reading it more recenty. Aitken is Roman Catholic and very conservative and one would not want to accept everything he says but he makes some good and helpful points with regard to the bias clearly detectable within the BBC. What he has to say about Tommy Robinson is most interesting. Other topics covered include feminism, religion and Islam. Well worth a read.

(These last three I read on kindle)

Christians and slavery Ian F Shaw

This is a book that needed to be written in light of there being so much discussion about this subject at the moment. Dr Shaw has writen very helpfully giving an accurate history of the relevant material and outlining the stance that various Christians took on the subject, people like Dabney and Machen coming out badly and Warfield and the Particualr Baptists much better. The second part of the book deals with some of the questions the history raises such as reparations and so on. It is a very helpful and interesting book.

100 Children's Books: that inspire our world/Colin Salter

Lovely book with two pages per book, one with writing and one with cover art. The books are for all ages and set out chronologically. Of the hundred books, I had read around twenty of them. Also some of the fifty listed as the second tier (eg Tom Brown's Schooldays). Some few books I had never heard of. One or two I thought I might like to try soon.

Then there have been two beautiful books aimed at children, beautifully presented. Beautiful books, aimed at kids I guess but lovely for all. These are

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost with illustrations by P J Lynch

The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Lord's Day February 1 2026

Last Lord's Day I preached on Luke 19:1-10 in the morning and then did a further study on paradoxes (The Paradoxical Christ)  in th evening. We began with communion when we were very few. The morning congregation itself was not bad but there were many missing for various reasons. We were about 14 pm.

10 Monarchs who were not first borns

Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Luke Fildes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1. William Rufus II (108g-1100) third son of William I succeeded him. His oldest brother, Robert, reigned in Normandy and the next brother died in a hunting accident iin 1075.
2. Henry I (1100–1135) fourth and youngest son of William I succeeded his older brother William Rufus, who died in a hunting accident.
3. Richard I (1189-1199) second son of Henry II became heir upon the death of his older brother, Henry the Young King
4. John (1100-1216) fourth son of Henry II became king after the death of his older brother, Richard.
5. Henry VIII (1509–1547) second son of Henry VII became heir after the death of his elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, in 1502.
6. Charles I (1625–1649) second son of James I became heir after the death of his older brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.
7. James II (1685–1688) second surviving son of Charles I succeeded his brother, Charles II.
8. Anne second surviving daughter of James II
9. George V (1910–1936) second son of Edward VII became heir after the sudden death of his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, in 1892.
10. George VI (1936–1952) second son of George V ascended the throne following the abdication of his elder brother, Edward VIII.

Midweek Meeting January 28 2026

It was very encouraging on Wednesday to have six of us in the kitchen who all prayed plus three on zoom, two of whom prayed. Eddie helpfully led us into prayer with some verses from the end of Joshua 21. Lots to pray about as ever.

Hymn Number Boards

I am aware of Legh Richmond (1772-1827) the evangelical author of The Dairyman's  daughter but until today I had not realised that he has an interesting claim to fame in that at one of his first charges, St Mary's, Brading, on the Islof Wight, he is thought to have originated a now globally popular idea (where people still use hymnbooks that is). It is the idea of using boards with movable numbers to indicate hymn numbers during church services.

A light on the hill

On Monday we met at the Pastors Acadmy for our book group. This time the book was a local church history by a man called Caleb Morrell. Phil Heaps kindly provided with two sets of questions and a helpful outline.

1. “What Shall the Harvest Be?”: 1867–1878

2. “A Helper of the Downtrodden and Lowly”: 1878–1882  Joseph W. Parker – 1879-82 ~3yrs

3. “With Conscience Void of Offence toward God and Man”: 1882–1884 Wilbur M. Ingersoll – 1882-84 ~2yrs

4. “We Do Our Own Thinking in This Church”: 1885–1889 William H. Young – 1885-90 ~5yrs

5. “We Have a Leader of National Reputation”: 1890–1895 Green Clay Smith – 1890-95 ~5yrs

6. “The Future Is Bright with Promise”: 1896–1912 Granville S. Williams – 1895–1903 ~8yrs

7. “War, Fuel Famine, and Influenza Epidemics”: 1913–1918 John Compton Ball – 1903-44 ~41yrs

8. “No Modernism Will Be Tolerated at All in This Church”: 1919–1943 9. “Holding Forth the Word of Life”: 1944–1955 K. Owen White – 1944-49 ~5yrs Walter Carpenter – 1949-55 ~6yrs

10. “A Beachhead for Evangelical Christianity”: 1956–1960 Walter A. Pegg – 1956-61 ~5yrs

11. “Jesus Doesn’t Need a Parking Lot”: 1961–1980 R.B. Culbreth – 1961-66 ~5yrs John Stuckey – 1967-71 ~5yrs C. Wade Freeman Jr. – 1971-81 ~10yrs

12. “When a Christian Leader Falls”: 1981–1993 Walt Tomme Jr. – 1982-88 ~6yrs

Harry Kilbride – 1990-93 ~3yrs

13. “Preach, Pray, Love, and Stay”: 1994–2000 Mark Dever – 1994-present ~31yrs

14. “Doing Nothing and Church Planting”: 2001–Present

We all found the book helpful and interesting and there was a good discussion among the seven present on this occasion. Blaise Pascal next in May.

Example questions

1. What did you think of the book? Strengths / weaknesses?

2. Are there any incidents or characters that particularly lodged in your mind?

3. ch.1: What were Thomas Ustick Walter’s strengths & weaknesses, p10f? Do these things often go together? Have you ever had to change any strongly held and loudly trumpeted views, p16?

4. ch.3: What did Walter Ingersoll do wrong, and what can we learn from this episode, p59,62,65?

5. ch.4: How important are “youth, energy and enthusiasm”, p70 and “unyielding determination to succeed”, p73?

6. ch.5: Does it always feel like we are in a time of social decay and moral regress”, p82? (p90,95; p168)

7. In the early 1890s, 65% of MBC’s members were women, p98. How does that compare with our churches? etc.

Lord's Day January 25 2026

 

I was not preaching again last Lord's Day. My assistant, Eddie, preached from Luke 15. We were encouraged by visitors, one or two rand new, including someone we met giving out tracts, already a professing Christian and a visitor from another church.

Midweek Meeting January 21 2026

Photo on Getty Images Unsplash

We were in the kitchen again on Wenesday, looking at the final part of Romans 12 and spending time in prayer.

Article in the New ET

I've obviously been busy. There is an article of mine on 2 Chronicles 13 in the February Evangelical Times.

Article in the New Banner

The first part of a two part article that I have written on Experiential Calvinism is in the February Banner Magazine.

Day Off Week 4 2026

It was a typical reading day yesterday. I carried on reading Nick Wallis's book on the Post Office scandal on my kindle and, over coffee, completed Ian Shaw's excellent on book on Christians and slavery which is highly recommended (more on that later). (I did have a day off the Tuesday before too when I finished Caleb Morrell's A light on the hill - more about that anon). In the evening we went to the cinema to see Hamnet. The film is about Shakespeare's family life. The first part of the film, set almost exclusively in Stratford, is okay but nothing special. (It also includes an unhelpful and unnecessary scene be warned). It is in the latter part of the film when the focus switches to London and the famous play that things take off and we are presented with a very moving and interesting sidelight on things. While taking the bare facts Maggie O'Farrell has used a her imagination to well to present a compelling drama. Ended the day with a bit of TV including the News.

Evangelical Library Lecture on John Newton

On Monday, it was good to listen, with about twenty others, to the first of three zoom lectures we have organised for the next few months. This first one from Stan Evers was on John Newton, who was born in 1725. It was good to go through what is a familiar story for many of us. Stan has a very helpful way of telling a story. Newton is a towering figure in the history of evangelicalism in the eighteenth century.

We also had a committee meeting after the lecture. Do pray for the work of the Liubrary.

Stan's lecture will soon be with the other thirty already there here - Evangelical Library. Another version of this lecture given at the Reformation and Revival Fellowship Conference towards the end of 2025 can be found here. The next lecture will be from Ryan Burton King on February 23. Subject: Early English Baptists.

Lord's Day January 18 2026

We had a visiting preacher on Sunday, morning and evening. Chola Mukanga from Bexley Heath had not been with us before and it was good to get to know him a little and to hear him preach from the opening verses of Colossians 3. As is usual with us these days, there were a good nmber in the morning but less on the evening, only fifteen. I led the services and spoke to the children and led communion in the evening but it was mostly sitting and listening for me and that is always a blessing, especially if the preacher is competent.

10 people whose hearts were buried apart from their bodies

1. HENRY I

Henry I (d. 1135), body buried in Reading Abbey heart (along with his bowels, brains, eyes and tongue) Rouen Cathedral, Normandy.

2. RICHARD I

Richard I, “Richard the Lion-Heart,” (d 1199) Ddied after being struck by a crossbow while campaigning in Chalus, France. Most of his body buried at Fontevraud Abbey, heart in a lead box Rouen Cathedral, Normandy.

3. ROBERT THE BRUCE

Robert the Bruce (d 1329) asked for his heart to be buried in Jerusalem. The knight he entrusted it to, Sir James Douglas, was killed in battle with the Moors while wearing the heart in a silver case around his neck. Other knights recovered it and brought it back to Melrose Abbey, Scotland, for burial.

4. ANNE BOLEYN

According to legend, after Anne Boleyn’s beheading in 1536, her heart was removed from her body and taken to a rural church in Erwarton, Suffolk, where the queen is said to have spent some happy days during her youth.

5. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

Poet PShelley died sailing the Mediterranean in 1822. Local quarantine regulations dictated that his body had to be cremated on the beach. His heart allegedly refused to burn, and a friend, adventurer Edward Trelawny, supposedly plucked it out of the flames. After a custody battle among Shelley’s friends, the heart was given to Percy’s wife Mary, who kept it until she died. Her children found it in a silk bag inside her desk, and it is now said to be buried with her at the family vault in Bournemouth.

6. LORD BYRON

Byron's body was embalmed but the Greeks wanted some part of their hero to stay with them. According to some sources, his heart remained at Missolonghi and his other remains were sent to England for burial in Westminster Abbey. The Abbey refused for reason of "questionable morality". His body is buried at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

7. FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

Romantic composer Chopin died (1849) and most of him is buried in Pere Lachaise but he asked for his heart to be buried in his native Poland. His sister carried it back to Poland, where it is preserved in alcohol (some say cognac) within a crystal urn inside a pillar at the Church of the Holy Cross. Warsaw.

8. THOMAS HARDY

Poet and novelist Hardy wanted to be buried in his hometown, Stinsford, Dorset, but friends insisted that a burial in Westminster Abbey was the only appropriate choice. A compromise was reached - most of Hardy went to Westminster but his heart was buried in Stinsford churchyard.

9. DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Livingstone died May 1873 in Chief Chitambo's village at Chipundu, southeast of Lake Bangweulu, present day Zambia. Led by his loyal attendants Chuma and Susi, his expedition arranged funeral ceremonies. They removed his heart and buried it under a tree near the spot where he died, which has been identified variously as a mvula or a baobab tree but is more likely to be a mpundu tree. That site, now known as the Livingstone Memorial lists his date of death as 4 May, the date reported (and carved into the tree's trunk) by Chuma and Susi but most sources consider 1 May - the date of his final journal entry - correct. The expedition led by Chuma and Susi then carried the rest of his remains, together with his last journal and belongings, on a 63 day journey to the coastal town of Bagamoyo, a distance exceeding 1,000 miles. Seventy-nine followers completed the journey, the men were paid their due wages and Livingstone's remains were returned to Britain for interment  Westminster Abbey.

10. I JAN PADEREWSKI (d 1941), pianist, composer and third Prime Minister of Poland, his heart is encased in a bronze sculpture in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa near Doylestown, Pennsylvania. His body was also interred in America, near Wahington DC but in 1992, after the end of communist rule in Poland, his remains were transferred to Warsaw and placed in St. John's Archcathedral.

Midweek Meeting January 14 2026

Photo by David Köhler on Unsplash

Yesterday's meeting was a little unusual in that we were in the kitchen. The parlour heater is not working. SIx of us huddled together with two on line. Most of us took turns to pray after looking at Romans 12:9-16 and our relations with one another.