Welcome to
Authentic Word
The website of
DAVID W. NORRIS
Picture: Mow Cop on the Staffordshire - Cheshire border
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
(Amos 8:11-12)
new The Sin against the Holy Ghost
by Abraham Kuyper
It may not be denied that in the hearts of the saints awful thoughts sometimes arise against the Holy One. The pool of iniquity underneath our hearts, with its poisonous gases, continues until death. While we are engaged in the reading of the Word, in prayer, or in holy meditation, suggestions sometimes flash through the mind which startle us as the poisoned sting of a wasp, which we would like to tear from head and heart, from which we shrink with the cry as though struck by lightning: O God, deliver me!
read more (includes a short biographical note)
When Caesar asks too much
Are we bound by Scripture to obey without question every every law our governments take it into their heads to put on the statute book? What the Bible says.
As godlessness increases in our western democracies, as our leaders seek to redefine morality, diminishing all real sense of right and wrong, so Christian believers are increasingly coming into conflict with the law. Our governments seem unable to bring themselves to punish wrongdoers adequately, and they are now frequently harassing the law abiding. This is a reversal of the godly order. The question now arises as to whether as Christian believers we are bound to obey every law our governments take it into their heads to put on the statute book. ....
William Secker
Little is known about William Secker. He is known to have ministered at Tewkesbury,Gloucestershire, then later at All Hallows Church, London Wall. His book The Nonsuch Professor is hardly known or read today. It is however a gem. It was first printed in 1660 during Secker's time in London and is dedicated to Sir Edward and Lady Frances Barkham who had befriended him. His last days were passed as rector of a Church in Essex.
Every page is packed full of truly godly aphorisms and pithy remarks. Consequently reading and re-reading them is well rewarded.
Rather than for me to continue to type out extracts from the book, I suggest you might like to purchase a copy for yourself. At just £2.50, it represents very good value for money.
For details about how to obtain YOUR copy click here
Mow Cop, the Primitive Methodists, and C. H. Spurgeon
It is the Lord Jesus who builds His Church (Matthew 16:18). It is also He alone who chooses whom He will to serve Him and bring His designs to fruition. Our responsibility is to be willing and obedient. In this work no flesh shall glory in His presence and so He chooses those things that the world counts foolish, weak things, things that are not - that the glory may be of God alone.
"In this new religious tide there is no demand at all for deliverance from sin; there is no longing whatsoever after redemption; nowhere the desire for a conscious personal reunion with the living God, our Father in heaven, declares itself. ...And if some of them are still appreciating some connection between the vocabulary of the old religion with their new sentiments, it is not the Father, and not the Saviour, whom they most fervently adore, but it is almost exclusively the Holy Spirit ...their constant endeavour is not to fear, to serve and to love the living God, their Creator and Disposer of their destinies, but to enjoy fully the mystical titillation of a delightful religious feeling."
Abraham Kuyper (1837 - 1920) from 'The Antithesis between Symbolism and Revelation'
The true nature of Gospel preaching: John Elias of Anglesey
Preaching in the open-air, John Elias would address crowds of up to ten thousand or more. His concern was for the terrible condition of those ready to die with no saving knowledge of Christ. This was a Gospel for the whosoever, "no matter what nation, no matter how wretched or unworthy he might be; whosoever believeth." Elias saw himself as God’s messenger with a solemn responsibility to speak of the seriousness of man’s dreadful condition in sin. We should not imagine that the soil in which the good seed of God’s Word was planted in those days was any more ready to receive it than today, or that men’s sins were less and their hearts less hardened. What then is lacking but those who will go in God’s name to call men to Christ?
“We did not commence our existence at the reformation, we were reformers before Luther or Calvin were born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the apostles themselves.” (C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, vol. VII)
DAYSPRING 14 still going out, if you are not sure whether you are on the mailing list to receive this publication free of charge, please email us. Otherwise you should receive your copy shortly , overseas readers in the next few weeks. For details of other publications planned see NEWS
Sleepwalking to disaster: an appraisal of modern progressive teaching methods and their effects on children
Read the Introduction here > read more
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Unabridged as it appeared in Dayspring 13
No Middle Ground
goals of a godly education contrasted with the proclaimed aims of secular ‘progressive’ educationalists
Secular humanism despite its continued appearance of virility has shown itself to be an ignominious failure in all that it undertakes. Nowhere is this more apparent than in state school systems. Surprisingly, few seem to have recognised this and so the tampering and reforms continue. Nothing can be done to breathe life into this decaying body; the stench of death is already upon it. Complete collapse must come at some point.
To read this article in full click here
If you do not receive a regular copy, make sure you receive one by emailing your snail mail address to us contact me.
DAYSPRING 14 now going out, reserve your copy! CONTACT ME
Also from DAYSPRING...
Do you have children or grandchildren? Then you should read this...
Whose children are they anyway?
A biblical consideration of the children of Christian families and the goals of humanistic state education
We ought not to be at all surprised, if after having sent our children to be given an education in godless surroundings, an education specifically designed to prejudice them against the Gospel, that they eventually turn their backs on all that we as parents have sought to instil in them of the truth of God. In this and other articles to follow, it is our intention to expose what is really going on in government schools and educational establishments – from the kindergarten to the university. >read more
Back copies of Dayspring still available, contact me
Some of John Wesley's impressions of George Whitfield (From John Wesley's Journal)
"I breakfasted with Mr Whitefield, who seemed to be an old, old man, being fairly worn out in his Master's service, though he has hardly seen fifty years..." Monday, 28th December, 1765
"Mr Whitefield called upon me. He breathes nothing but peace and love. Bigotry cannot stand before him, but hides its head wherever he comes." Friday 31st January, 1766
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)
God did not create man merely to see him destroy himself and for the rest of creation to go down with him
The answer of God to the human dilemma
The words of the poet William Cowper will find a sure echo in the hearts of all right-thinking people when reflecting on what is going on around us. The barrage of news coverage twenty-four hours a day can be more than overwhelming.
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more! My ear is pain’d,
My soul is sick with every day’s report
Of wrong and outrage with which earth is fill’d.
The Task, Book II
Let us begin at the beginning. It is always convenient to place the blame for everything that goes wrong a step or two away from us. We constantly depersonalise the world and all that goes on in it. We abstract ourselves from it as though what goes on out there has little to do with us. All the problems lie with the state, with youngsters out of control, with the abuse of drugs and alcohol, lack of moral teaching, schools, parents, immigration, you name it, the list goes on and on. But who makes up this nation of ours? People do, we do. Our nation is us and what goes on in our land today is a clear reflection of the kind of people we have become. If those who sit in government are in any sense sleazy or corrupt, this can only be an indication of what is going on in the rest of the nation. If there are more bad apples in the police, in parliament, in the judiciary, then this reflects on us all and we ought to be somewhat careful. If there is more divorce, then there are more of our marriages breaking down, and presumably more of us committing adultery. If there is more violence and murder, then there must be more of us taking to violence as an outlet for our frustration and hatred. If there is an increase in such misdeeds, this can only mean that a greater portion of our people is now engaging in these evils. Who is responsible for the current state of affairs? The answer to that question is easy. We are. These are the depths to which we as a nation, of which we each make up an individual part for better or worse, have sunk.
The world outside us is a macrocosm of what is present in the human heart. There is really little point is seeking change in the wider world, if we are not prepared to countenance change in our own lives. God calls upon all men everywhere to repent, turn from their former ways and seek Christ. "God … commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30).
“Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
(Psalm 2:10-12)
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Families under attack
Ever since Emile Zola uttered the words, “Families I hate you!” the attack on families has continued unabated. Arguments from those who support the family will often be simply pragmatic ones – it is the basic unit of society and has always worked well. However convincing this line of argument may be, ultimately the family can only be adequately defended as a creation ordinance, as something given of God and binding upon us all. Read the now completed article here >
"We must remember, that there is an inseparable relation between faith and the word, and that these can no more be disconnected from each other than rays of light from the sun (Isaiah 55:3; John 20:31) ...So long as your mind entertains any misgivings as to the certainty of the word, its authority will be weak and dubious, or rather it will have no authority at all. Nor is it sufficient to believe that God is true, and cannot lie or deceive, unless you feel firmly persuaded that every word which proceeds from him is sacred, inviolable truth." John Calvin (Institutes 3:2:5-6)
All modern bible translations, but especially those translated by ‘dynamic equivalence’, are largely designed for ‘dynamic’ reading. The reader is not recovering a communication given by God once-for-all-time in the past, but listening for the voice of God from a string of words that have no fixed meaning. They may say one thing to one person and something quite different to someone else, depending upon the circumstances. The same words may even say something different to the same person on different occasions. Truth is in the end what the reader makes it. There is no underlying fixed meaning. No single reading of this bible is right or wrong, just different. The reader is not a passive recipient but an active co-creator to whom the bible text provides reading ‘cues’. Any translation methodology, such as that used for the New International Version and most modern versions, that is based on this view of language cannot give us access to the unchangeable Word of God, ‘for ever settled in heaven’. > read more
When a preacher becomes heretical, it is always about Christ. If he is not clear about Christ crucified, and you hear one sermon from him - that is your misfortune. But if you go and hear him again, and hear another sermon like the first - it will be your fault. If you go a third time - it will be your crime.
Good advice from C. H. Spurgeon
Thank you for your visit. Don't forget to come back, there is plenty more in the pipeline! If you found your visit helpful or interesting, please get in touch. contact me
COPYRIGHT: We are happy for you to quote briefly from our pages, but please mention us when doing so. Should you wish to reproduce longer passages, please contact us first. Please do not use any of our materials for commercial purposes.
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." (2 Timothy 4:2-5)