A maximum capacity crowd gathered for the Crieff Fellowship annual conference on January 7-9 for a packed programme.
In these difficult times for the church in Scotland there was huge relevance in the four addresses from the book of Ezekiel given by Professor Don Carson, of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield Illinois.
The same God
He gave a masterly overview of the character of God, emphasising that the God of the New Testament is not a softer God than that of the Old Covenant. He is the same God who exercises judgment against the idolatry of his people because of his absolute holiness. Judgment begins with the house of God (1 Peter 4.17).
There were four addresses from the prophecy. Ezekiel 1-3, ‘The Call of the Prophet in Declining Times,’ Ezekiel 4-5.17 ‘When the Lord shoots to kill’, Ezekiel 10-11.25 ‘When the Lord withdraws’ and Ezekiel 13,14, ‘When God deceives the prophets’.
These were solemn addresses, explaining the acted parables of judgement and underlining the reasons for and purposes of God’s judgment. These reasons do not change and apart from the intervention of the grace of God we have no hope. The exposure of idolatry both in Ezekiel’s time and ours, and the need for discerning today’s false prophets was emphasised. The storyline of both judgement and salvation was ‘ratcheted up’ in the unfolding story of the Bible, Professor Carson said, leading ultimately to the consummation of a new heaven and new earth.
World evangelicals
Professor Carson ministers in every continent in the world, and so is supremely equipped to give an overview of ‘World Evangelicals’ In this address he mentioned five negatives and five positives.
The negatives in the evangelical world were shallowness, the tragic growth of prosperity gospel, the persecution of Christians, the challenges of the digital world and the impact of Western culture.
In contrast the positives were the huge increase in missionary work from the 2/3 world, the growth of the church in the 2/3 world, the publishing of good theology, the resurgence of Calvinism in the West and the possibilities of evangelism in the digital age. All in all this is a great time to be alive!
The Rev. Dominic Smart gave a very helpful pastoral address from 2 Corinthians 4 on ‘Keep going’. The times of fellowship and prayer were particularly blessed.
