Francis Schaeffer L’Abri Lectures

I recently discovered a great number of lectures by Francis Schaeffer.  Evidently these are the “L’Abri tapes” that I first saw mentioned in True Spirituality.

I haven’t listened to very many of these yet, but this includes lectures that appear to be the basis of several of his books. These include True Spirituality, No Little People, Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History, Genesis and Science, A Christian Manifesto, The Mark of the Christian and The Finished Work of Christ, among others. I must confess that I am less familiar with his well known apologetical works than I am with some of his others but I’m sure much of that material is there in embryonic form as well.

Overall, a wide variety of topics are covered, from cultural analysis, theology in general (including a series on the Westminster Confession of Faith), apologetics, the arts, etc.  There are also a good many lectures on eschatology, including an exposition of the book of Revelation.  It is well known that Schaeffer was premillennial, which was not uncommon among Presbyterians of his day, particularly among those of his background.  The titles of some of them seem to indicate that he was pretribulational as well.  But those lectures appear to be from the early 1960’s so I don’t know if he ever changed his views as did some others like James Montgomery Boice, for example.  I haven’t read that much of Schaeffer’s work, but I hope to remedy that soon.  However, I have noticed allusions to a future for Israel in some of his writings that were published in the 1970’s.  I do think it’s interesting that a leader who was known for teachings on cultural and other issues would have taught so much on prophetical themes. But most if not all of those lectures were from the early 1960’s, prior to him becoming a popular evangelical leader in the United States and beyond.

There is also a large amount of video material available online as well, perhaps most notably the film version of How Should We Then Live?

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R.K. McGregor Wright 1940-2012

I had written this back in November  but for some reason neglected to publish it at that time.  I post it now in case any  for whom it may be of interest had perhaps missed this news.

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I was saddened to see today that R.K. McGregor Wright has gone to be with the Lord.  I only knew him from the internet, but some of his unpublished essays were a great help to me a few years ago, as they have been to many others. He was an ardent premillennialist, Calvinist, and presuppositionalist. (He was also an egalitarian on gender issues.) He may be best known as the author of No Place for Sovereignty, a response to Open Theism.  I know that he was working on some writings with a view toward publication, one of which is mentioned below.

Here is the obituary that appeared in the Johnson City Press:

Dr. Robert Keith McGregor Wright, a 15-year resident of Johnson City, died Tuesday [Nov. 27 2012] at Johnson City Medical Center.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1940, Bob, as he was known to friends and family, was a high school English teacher before leaving Australia to study at the University of London in the United Kingdom. Bob earned a Bachelor of Divinity from London University, a Master’s of Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield Illinois, and a Ph.D. from the Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver in Denver Colorado.

Dr. Wright was a Bible teacher, theologian, writer and scholar. He is the author of “No Place for Sovereignty” (InterVarsity Press) and “The Perfections of Scripture” (forthcoming in 2013). Bob’s ministry stretched from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Romania, but his influence went far beyond that via those whom he influenced through his ministry.

Bob was founding and co-director of Friendship International, an outreach ministry to international students and visiting scholars. He was also founder and co-director of the Aquila and Priscilla Study Center, whose ministry continues to reach out to others through the Internet.

Dr. Wright’s ministry of friendship, hospitality, teaching and scholarship touched everyone he met. A friend and former student recently said of Bob, “he lived his faith so vividly that people were inspired to live deeper, richer lives of Christian faith.” He lived well what he taught so well, and so helped shape the lives and faith of many people whose paths intersected with his.

Bob is survived by his wife, Julia Castle; brother, Barry James McGregor Wright; 25 nieces and nephews, including Lisa Duffy and Scott Castle; as well as countless brothers and sisters in Christ whose lives he touched so richly.
The family will receive friends on Friday, November 30th, from 4-7:00 p.m. at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport.

Funeral services will follow at 7:00 p.m. with Rev. Charlie Scalf and Dr. Alan Myatt officiating.
Graveside services will be conducted on Saturday, December 1st, at 11:00 am at Herman Cemetery in Gate City, VA.
Please visit http://www.hamlettdobson.com to leave an online condolence for the family.
Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Homes, Kingsport, is serving the family of Robert Keith McGregor Wright. (423) 378-3134

 

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S. Lewis Johnson on Jezebel and the Church at Thyatira

From Dr. Johnson’s sermon Rev. 2:18-29 on the pressure to compromise the faith because “we have to live”:

“I can imagine the way in which an individual would respond to this when he was at the table. One of his Christian friends would say to him the next day, “How could you do that? How could you accept an invitation like that? How is it possible for you to sit at the table of quote “My Lord Tyrimnos?” Unquote. And I can see myself, for example, responding. “If you’re going to have a job, you’ve got to do this. If you’re going to live, you have to do this. There’s no other way to make a living in this town. You’ve got to do it. You must do it.” The ancient church had a deal with that question just like people today because we tend to do the same thing. We put up with things that are not Christian, because we have to live.

Well, Tertullian, in the 3rd Century, wrote a little book, well, a little work. It was called “On Idolatry”, and in it he dealt with that question. He deals with Christians who earn their living by making idols. These individuals had to live. We have to live. We don’t believe in these idols that we’re making, but we have to make them because they need them. They made statuaries to the idols. They painted them. They did for the guilders all of the kinds of things that had to do with the idolatry and the like. And when the plea was made to them that as Christians you cannot do this they said, “We have to live. There’s no other way by which we can live.” But Tertullian indignantly retorted that they should have thought about that before they started doing what they were doing. And furthermore, he then went on to say in his Latin, Vivere ego or ergo habeas. Do you have to live?

No, you don’t have to live, and the ultimate service to our Lord is the ultimate claim upon a Christian’s life. We don’t have to live. “Must you live”, he asks? Elsewhere he says, “There are no musts where faith is concerned.” In other words, the ultimate loyalty we have is not to our physical life. Not to the kind of life that we must live here upon this earth. Our ultimate loyalty is to the Lord God, and if it means death that’s our ultimate loyalty. The idea you must do this because that’s the way it’s done here is not a Christian idea at all. And our Lord does not leave any room for anyone who says, “Well I’ve got to live, so I have to do these things that are contrary to the word of God. I have to set down at the table of my Lord Tyrimnos.”

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The Trojan Horse of Theistic Evolution

At the Reformation 21 Blog, PCA pastor Rick Phillips has posted an article responding to the controversy over which Dr. Bruce Waltke eventually had to tender his resignation as Professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando.  In my opinion, Pastor Phillips correctly diagnoses the problem.  The problems with harmonizing the creation account in Genesis with theistic evolution are well established, but I think Pastor Phillips here points out that acceptance of this view of our origins ultimately has a far more insidious effect on the whole of the Bible’s teaching, both OT and NT:

Lastly, I am astonished by the naivete of these scholars.  Do they think they can restrict the hegemony of science over Scripture to the realm of creation issues?  What will science make of the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus, and the resurrection?  The 20th Century gives us the answer.  Moreover, do they think they can avoid worldly scorn merely by jettisoning biblical creation, while still holding to even more obnoxious doctrines like substitutionary atonement?  The hermeneutics behind theistic evolution are a Trojan horse that, once inside our gates, must cause the entire fortress of Christian belief to fall under the humanistic sword.

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