It is the late fifteenth century. The medieval Roman Church, collapsing under the weight of its own corruption, has, thus far, resisted calls from within for serious reformation, and resisted with barbaric cruelty. John Wycliffe has been dead for a hundred years, his bones having been burned in 1427, and Lollardy has been crushed (yet not exterminated - 'heresy' simmers just beneath the surface). But Rome has more to contend with than internal pressures for reform. Christendom is besieged by an enemy from the east and south. The consequences of the papal schism have so weakened the papacy...

'Who would have thought it? I, for one, didn't. It never crossed my mind that it might happen. It really didn't. But I was wrong. It has. What has? Baptist sacramentalism It never occurred to me that Baptists would become sacramentalists. I thought the two were mutually exclusive, self-contradictory. But I was wrong. A growing number of Baptists are becoming sacramentalists. Baptist writers are publishing book after book promoting sacramentalism. Baptist teachers are teaching it. Baptist preachers are preaching it. And more and more Baptists are adopting it. I'll say it again. Baptists are...

Down the centuries, the laying on of hands has made a huge contribution to the fostering of the great evil of sacramentalism. While most of today's evangelical and Reformed churches have a low view of ordination coupled with the laying on of hands, nevertheless, sacramentalism is never far removed from the procedure - even in those churches. And as always, it is what people in the pew think - not what the theologians tell them to think. And, never forget, when we find sacramentalism, sacerdotalism is never far behind. This book is no ivory-tower study. Sacramentalism and a return to the...

Conversion is essential. The Lord Jesus Christ declared: 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted... you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 18:3). No wonder, then, that Satan is always attacking conversion. He knows that if he can stop men preaching for it, he will be taking a big step towards keeping sinners on the high road to perdition. In this book, David Gay examines and exposes the way the New Perspective ruins the doctrine of conversion of sinners. He also issues an earnest plea to all believers to adopt the apostle's maxim: 'Woe is me if I do not preach the...

The Bible teaches: (i) Christ died only for the elect; (ii) God offers Christ to all. This looks like a first-class contradiction. Many think they have found a way to avoid it. Arminians deny the first statement; hyper-Calvinists, the second. But still the Bible teaches both. Most Calvinists take another route. They use the formula: 'Christ's death - sufficient for all, effective only for the elect'. In this, some follow Moise Amyraut and say that Christ died provisionally for all, but effectively only for the elect. Others follow John Owen and say that although Christ's death is sufficient...

Does God command all sinners to repent and believe? Does God desire the salvation of all sinners? Yes, says the Bible, yes to both questions. But many who love the doctrines of grace are confused. They think God's absolute sovereignty in election, Christ's particular redemption of the elect, and the Holy Spirit's specific application of that redemption to the elect, conflicts with the 'free offer'. It does no such thing If you doubt it, read this book The argument is no trifling matter, no splitting of hairs. The 'free offer' is the biblical way of preaching the gospel. Today, we see the...

'Septimus who? Septimus Sears? Never heard of him ' Such, perhaps, will be the response of many when first hearing of this book. But this good man is worth knowing, and David Gay wants to tell others about him. Some, of course, will know all about him already - or will they? Gay hopes to shine a little light on a particular aspect of Sears' life and work, a light which might help lift the fog of misunderstanding and misrepresentation which has shrouded his memory. More important, in so doing, Gay hopes to bring out some valuable lessons for us today. An English Victorian (1819-1877), Septimus...

News headline: 'Humpty Dumpty Strikes Again '. What's that? 'Humpty Dumpty Strikes Again - in the Church '. Let me re-phrase it: 'Believers Sustain Big Losses by Changing the Meaning of Bible Words'. Alice was confused. Humpty Dumpty explained: 'When I use a word', he said, 'it means just what I choose it to mean; neither more nor less'. Ah, that makes it clear Does it? When Humpty Dumpty gets to work on a Bible word, trouble always follows - and with a capital 'T'. Sad to say, Humpty Dumpty has been very busy these past two thousand years, and many Bible words have suffered at his hand....

This book will not appeal to every Christian. It is, after all, a polemical work, designed to explore infant baptism and expose it as destructive of the gospel. And it raises important questions: What is a Christian? How does one become a Christian? What is a church? How does one become a member? And, above all, what of the eternal consequences of baby-sprinkling in the name of Christ? Some believers don't like controversy, full stop. So they won't like this book. Some will deplore its appearance, thinking it divisive in an age of 'togetherness'. Others will consider it a sterile work,...

'The priesthood of all believers' is a biblical doctrine. Sadly, Satan has laid his meddling fingers on this glorious gospel principle and twisted it to the ruin of many. How? For a start, the overwhelming majority of believers, for all practical purposes, believe in the priesthood of NO believers. Oh, I know we frequently parrot the phrase 'the priesthood of all believers', and, of course, it features in most of our Confessions of Faith: 'We believe in the priesthood of all believers'. Oh, yes. But too often it has become a mere slogan, a mantra. A form of words without real content or...