We rejoice to hear that our brother Mark Hamilton's book, A Primer on Biblical Ethics, is now available for order on Amazon.com.

Mark has taught ethics courses at Ashland University for over 30 years, and has also published numerous articles dealing with philosophy and sports ethics.

Mark intends to use the book in conjunction with his ethics classes.  His aim in writing it was to expose the ever increasingly secularized flow of young people to the classic understanding of Christian morality.

As one review puts it, Mark's book is 

"a readable, accurate, biblically-based guide to ethics [which] … winsomely guides the uninitiated reader through the various debates about how to approach God’s Law as an ethical standard, helping the student to see the differences between legalism, theonomy and antinomianism. He draws on a variety of Christian apologists—Van Til, Schaeffer, Lewis, Bahnsen, Sire and Pink—but never overwhelms the reader. 
– Dr. John A. Sparks, Retired Dean of Arts & Letters and Professor of Law at Grove City College, Grove City, PA. 

Covenant is one of the primary themes in Scripture.  It is also one of the doctrines that sets Providence Church apart from virtually every other church in our area.

Because the idea of covenant is so central to who we are and the book to which we hold, we want every family in our church to understand it.  

To that end we have purchased numerous copies of B.N. Howard's, "The Book of the Covenant," and are giving them out to families and 'friends' of Providence Church.  You can pick up your free copy at the church's resource table.

This fall we will also have a corresponding study on Sunday mornings to discuss the book together.  Dates for discussion are as follows:  Aug. 31, Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 16, Nov. 30, Dec. 21.

We wanted to make everyone aware of the introduction to home education seminar that is going to be held at the Ashland Public Library.  Pastor Matt is organizing the event and will be one of the speakers.  Some other Providence members may also be involved.

The event is designed for anyone who is thinking about home schooling or recently started their venture into home discipleship.  The event, which is free, will be held Tuesday August 6, from 6:30-8:30 pm.


For more information be sure to visit the Ashland / Richland Christian Home Educator's website.

A couple people expressed interest in the two men I mentioned in the sermon this past week, Thomas Cranmer and Hugh Latimer.  Because of the interest, I wanted to post some resources that will further your understanding about them and their context.

First, I would recommend Foxe's Book of Martyrs (You can google it and/or probably get a free edition for your kindle/ereader).  The language will likely take some getting used to, but the stories contained in it will certainly open your eyes to the lives & sufferings of many of the great saints.

If you are looking for something more condensed and to the point... This webpage provides Foxe's account of Cranmer's life & death (he's the guy who put his hand to the fire).  This is good in that it gives you a solid digest of those events.  If you'd like something shorter (and something that reveals perhaps some of his more controversial acts) you might try this one.

Hugh Latimer is also found in Foxe's work.  However, Foxe's account of Latimer does not give you a real feel for his wit and character.  You might try these two articles:  This one is very short and is sure to give you a couple chuckles along with impressing you with Latimer's boldness.  This article is a bit more bland account of the main events of his life.  However, I'd recommend you read the last 15 or so lines of the article to see the intrigue that accompanied his martyrdom.

If the whole Reformation thing is something new and obscure to you, we do encourage you to become as familiar as you can.  Perhaps a good place to start would be with this book:  "The Reformation for Armchair Theologins"  Raylene found this book last week and forwarded it to me.  It is supposed to be a brief and witty introduction to this period & the major characters.  It comes in paperback and audio versions.

Lastly, I might suggest this little series by Steve Lawson.  These books are only 100 pages long and  provide a solid introduction to some of the major Reformers.  They might even serve well for children's reading.

Of course, we can suggest other good reads if you'd like to pursue greater study.  I hope this note serves to help you "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Heb. 13:4).