Article by Cameron Spink

There are many promises in the New Testament that Christians will face persecution. Paul tells his readers if they follow his example they will be risking much:

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

2 Timothy 3:12 - 13 (ESV)

In this message to Timothy we glimpse how much this apostle has had to face in his ministry and travels for the sake of the Gospel. Yet he shows a nonchalant attitude about his suffering because “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. Paul expected great hardship because of his affiliation with what was perceived as a sect of Judaism. Not only did he expect it but anyone who followed his example should anticipate persecution. But Paul saw the bigger picture and recognised that God is provident in every situation that he had been led into.

Article by Cameron Spink

I was on the train home from the city on the weekend and I was reading James White's new book What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an. From what I've read so far this is probably the go-to book I'd recommend for Christians to start understanding Islam and interacting with Muslims.

An older gentleman sitting in the seat across from me decided to take an interest in the book I was reading. After slowly observing the cover for a couple of minutes he started talking to me about how important it is for somebody of one particular religion to properly understand other religions. I totally agree with these sentiments, as does James White:

“Lecturing on [Islam] over the past few years, in Western countries I frequently have asked how many have read the Qur'an. Rarely do more than two or three hands go up and often none at all. If I were to pose the parallel question in an Islamic context – how many Muslims have read the Bible – the numbers would be virtually the same. Generally, our two communities are abysmally ignorant of the other's sacred texts, so we tend to talk right past each other, assuming nonexistent commonalities of language and definition, which makes for dangerous scenarios (as the headlines bear out).

This is a situation Christians must labor to change, so that we who are commanded to bring the message of the gospel to all can obey our Lord's mandate with reference to the Muslim people. It is my hope that with the material in this book, you will be encouraged to engage in open and frank dialogue with Muslims, who regularly are eager to do likewise.”

What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an, pg 14

A great article for the single Christian regarding sanctification.

Sanctification in the Season of Singleness
Carolyn McCulley, Boundless Webzine

"Sanctification refers to the process of becoming spiritually mature or being set apart for holy use. For single adults, sometimes it feels like we're just being set aside.

This is an unintentional byproduct of the typical marriage testimony. When couples speak of their first year of marriage, they often remark that they thought they were mature — until they got married. Then their selfishness was revealed. Yes, that's one way God works, and it can be fairly intense. But it is not the only way. When said to an unmarried adult, we can hear: "Not only are you unwanted for marriage, you are also consigned to a lifetime of immaturity!"

Neither of those thoughts is true, of course. Every believer can (and should!) pursue spiritual maturity. Fortunately, Hebrews 5:13-14 shows us one of the ways this process works: "For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (ESV).

Maturity here is described as a process of training for discernment, which is the ability to distinguish good from evil. This verse says the immature person is "unskilled in the word of righteousness," meaning that the Bible is not the standard for good and evil, but some other measure is — emotions, expectations or cultural standards, for example. The good news is that maturity is not dependent upon marital status. All believers are called to train their powers of discernment through the constant practice of saying, "Is this good or evil in God's eyes?"

For single adults, there are some common areas where it takes vigilance to distinguish good from evil. These hindrances to maturity can fall in three areas: identity, self-centeredness and secrecy......"

Click here to read this full article on Boundless.

So we've had a Facebook page for some time now.

And there are many articles that get posted up there that don't get posted on RT's website.

For instance I've posted an article on some concerns parents should have about Instagram (click here) and an article about the role of Scripture in our worship (click here).

There are several other items worth checking out beyond these two.

The point is that to better remain connected to all articles of interest I would encourage you to jump over to our Facebook page and like us so you can be regularly updated.

Also we'd love to have your opinion, which you can give over on our Facebook page.

Click here to go to RT's Facebook page.

Article by Cameron Spink

Upon my regular perusal through news websites I came across a standard article advising against seven different types of foods that “you need to avoid” for your health. You know the type that pop up with the standard diet tips. This got me thinking about the number of different pulpit crimes that are fed to us by so-called “Pastors” that are actually quite toxic for our spiritual health. So I thought I'd explore seven common kinds of toxic messages within our churches.

1. Preaching Tolerance

It is becoming somewhat of a regularity for the person behind the pulpit to tell us that the essence of the Gospel message is encapsulated in “love” and that means accepting people exactly as they are without a hint of repentance on their part. This is problematic in a number of ways. One, it displays a distortion of God's intentions for us, His people. The Church is filled with the broken, yes, but it also the beacon, the bride of Christ. Shall we then compromise on a path to purity? It is not merely an issue of the Church being available to sinners, it is an issue that we both individually and collectively are being molded by the hands of God into His instrument. Two, it undervalues the enslaving nature of sin. Sin is not something that is best weened off. We are asked to turn from our sin, cold turkey. It is a reasonable response to the life-saving power of God's work on the cross. Indeed it is by the very power of the Holy Spirit that prompts us to leave a life of sin, so no-one should boast. Too often we think incremental steps are the best way for someone to be led to Christ. Yet in the Gospels we have a God who yanks people out of their everyday lives and into His ministry.

A new podcast has been produced where I discuss Kim Jong-un.

I spend some attention talking about his theme song Owards Towards the Final Victory and then I look at what is promised against tyranny in Psalm 58.

Here is the link to the podcast:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqlhj7epccxjb67/Podcast%2010th%20April%202013%20-%20Kim%20Jong-un.mp3