Thursday, December 17, 2009


Olyott v. Luther, part 3.

Hmm -what a buzz my comments on the Banner of Truth article by Stuart Olyott have caused - though not half so big a buzz, I gather, as the article itself.

Look - here's where the rubber hits the road. The other Sunday one of the elders here prayed for me just before I went out to preach, like this: 'Lord, he's prepared the sermon. The altar is built, the sacrifice is made. But we need your fire to descend.' (The imagery, for any Biblically illiterate who read this blog, is taken from 1 Kings 18.) Now - was said elder right? Or was the altar and the sacrifice (the time spent in preparing the sermon and crafting it) enough?

2 comments:

Young Mr. Brown said...

I have a gut feeling that Luther and Olyott would be in complete agreement on the answer.

I've no doubt that there must be some professing Christian, somewhere, that would disagree with your elder, but you might have difficulty finding him.

Gary Benfold said...

Well that's the point, Mr Brown. I'd have no difficulty finding him - though he might not be happy at the way some of us describe his position. I have myself preached at a well-known, influential, Reformed Baptist Church where they had abandoned the practice of praying with the minister before he preached, apparently because no special blessing was needed as he preached.