Dan Greenfield

Category: Church History

  • Great Sinners Need a Great Savior

    While doing some preparatory work for this coming Sunday’s message from John 1:3-5, I was reminded of some of John Newton’s last words before his death: My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things — that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.…

  • Prayer for Ministers

    I’ve just started studying the life and ministry of John Newton (1725-1807), and came across this great hymn he wrote called a “Prayer for Ministers.” It is excellent; I’ve been meditating over it for about a week now. Chief Shepherd of thy chosen sheep, From death and sin set free!…

  • Instructions to the Jury

    For this month’s series on The Bible and Evolution, I’ve been reading the complete stenographic report of the famous trial held July 10 to 21 1925, the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. It’s been a fascinating read—well, to me anyway! On the first day’s proceedings, Judge John T.…

  • God’s Gracious Salvation

    The following account gives a great illustration of how a few Christians surrounded by great wickedness used what they had–regular assembly of the saints, prayer, and ministry of the Word–and saw God act in a might way. It is a great encouragement. I have additional comments and items for prayer…

  • An Example to Follow, An Experience to Pray for

    The following is an excerpt from Bradley’s Accounts of Religious Revivals (pp. 194-202). I read a different portion of this Sunday afternoon. I recognize that it probably seems long, but it is excellent. Note especially the circumstances of the churches, how sinful people in the area were, and what these…

  • God’s Chosen Instrument

    On pp. 17-18 of Lectures on Revivals of Religion Sprague notes the first of three indications of a genuine revival of religion, viz., that genuine revival is brought about by Scriptural means. As God’s Word is the only rule of both faith and practice, those who seek to do God’s…

  • Revivals of Religion

    In William Sprague’s book, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, he begins the subject’s treatment by giving a general definition of “revival”– special occasions on which the agency of the Spirit would be signally manifest (p. 2) With respect to revivals of religion, Sprague then gives an excellent paragraph on the…

  • He Got Saved!

    (Continuing from yesterday…) The diligent and faithful use of the word of God, as the rule of judgment, would have an influence peculiarly important in regard to those who have just begun to attend to the subject of religion. Take the case of a sudden conversion. One who has long…

  • The Word of God

    “It is a fact well known, and often recognized, that those Christians who have paid the most scrupulous attention to the word of God as the standard of character, have attained to the highest degree of moral excellence. They have been the most humble, and penitent; because they have seen…

  • McClain and New Evangelicalism

    Previously, I wondered what response McClain had toward new evangelicalism during its rise in the 1940s and 1950s. Recently, while filing a pile of papers, I came across some notes from a chapel at DBTS by Dr. McCune. He and Dr. Priest were doing a series on “Fundamentalist Personalities,” and…

  • Rohrer on McClain

    I finished Norman Rohrer’s book on Dr. Alva J. McClain last night, and I remembered my assessment of this biography: disappointing. I found it disappointing because Rohrer spent large portions of the book on items that weren’t as salient to McClain’s life as other aspects that could have been included.…

  • Alva J. McClain

    I was scheduled to begin teaching a class on the book of Revelation at Great Lakes Bible Institute last night. Alas, freezing rain canceled it. With some time on my hands, I picked up Norman Rohrer’s biography of Alva J. McClain, A Saint in Glory Stands. I bought and read…

  • Do Your Duty

    Asahel Nettleton relates the following anecdote regarding the proper response when receiving commendation or condemnation: A man once said to an aged clergyman, ‘My neighbors are slandering me, and what shall I do?’ ‘Do your duty,’ said the clergyman, ‘and think nothing about it. If they are disposed to throw…

  • Am I Elect?

    Good counsel from George Whitefield concerning ascertaining whether one is of the elect– That great man, Dr. Isaac Watts, who was called the sweet singer of Israel, says, ‘We should go first to the grammar school of faith and repentance, before we go to the university of predestination.’ Whereas the…

  • Whitefield the…Arminian? Say It Isn’t So!

    Preeminent evangelist of the first Great Awakening, George Whitefield (1714-1770), has grown to be a “hero” of sorts for me over the last decade. His life has challenged me to be more active in the Lord’s harvest field, especially since my family gave me Dallimore’s two volume biography of the…

  • Invitations

    Today I spent some time studying church covenants. In the process I came across a totally unrelated but interesting little tidbit from Leon McBeth’s The Baptist Heritage. While relating the beliefs and practices of the Sandy Creek Church, McBeth notes some differences between General and Separate Baptists. The distinctions between…

  • The Best Way to Preach Sinners to Christ

    I read the following this morning from Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students, book 2, chapter 10, “On Conversion as Our Aim” — If we are intensely anxious to have souls saved we must not only preach the truths which are likely to lead up to this end, but we must…