Peter Masters
Peter Masters has been the Minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spurgeon's) in central London since 1970.[1][2] He commenced the Evangelical Times, the monthly evangelical conservative newspaper. He directs the School of Theology, an annual Christian conference for pastors and Christian workers.
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Sword and Trowel
He edits the international magazine 'Sword & Trowel' (started by Spurgeon in 1865).
London Reformed Baptist Seminary
He initiated the London Reformed Seminary in 1976 and directs the further studies of both pastors and aspiring pastors in the Tabernacle's adjunct seminary. The seminary went online from 2011.[3]
Authorship
He has authored 28 books, which have been translated into at least 28 other languages. These include Arabic, Amharic, Belarusian, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Lithuanian, Maltese, Nepali, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Shona, Slovak, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
Broadcasts
His sermons have been broadcast in the UK since 2003 on the Sky channel UCB with up to seven airings a week. In 2013 it transferred to the Sky channel Revelation TV, it is aired every Saturday evening at 8pm. These broadcasts include a sermon from Dr Masters and an accompanying apologetic or biographical feature. Current UK channels are Sky Channel 581, Freeview HD Channel 241 and Freesat Channel 692. Programmes are also carried by a number of overseas radio stations including in the US and New Zealand.
Distinctive ministerial emphases
The necessity of regular Gospel preaching
He has repeatedly lobbied for the necessity of distinctive and frequent evangelistic addresses, and lamented the loss of this basic duty amongst evangelical ministers.[4] His own church has a specific evangelistic service at 6.30pm on Sundays.
Separatism
By calling other ministers to remember and consider the Downgrade Controversy, Peter Masters has advocated a duty of ministerial separation from churches that have defected from basic precepts of historical evangelical doctrine, such as the necessity of regeneration, justification by faith without works, or the infallibility and sufficiency of the Bible for church rule.[1][5] In this he has repeated the call of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his controversy with John Stott, to separate from non-evangelical churches, and followed in the tradition of E. J. Poole-Connor, the original founder of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.[2]
Charismatic movement
He has opposed and challenged the teaching of the Charismatic Movement that New Testament sign gifts are still extant, arguing that the Bible contains the promise that it is both sufficient and complete, rendering new revelation both redundant and dangerous.[6] This position has been described as cessationist. He has, upon the same grounds, critiqued claims of the gift of miraculous healing as spurious, lacking credibility and sometimes occultic.[7][8]
Young Earth Creationist
He opposes Darwin's theory of evolution, which some evangelicals have seen historically as a form of humanist propaganda,[1][2] and as a doctrine viewed as wholly at variance with the first books of the Bible. He helped found the Newton Scientific Association, and has supported lectures and talks examining the supposed weaknesses of the theory of evolution.[9]
Selected works currently in print
- Healing Epidemic, 1988 (ISBN 978-1-870855-00-6)
- Necessity of Sunday Schools: In This Post-Christian Era, 1992 (ISBN 978-1-870855-13-6)
- Should Christians Drink?: The Case for Total Abstinence, 1992 (ISBN 978-1-870855-12-9)
- Biblical Strategies for Witness, 1994 (ISBN 978-1-870855-18-1)
- Only One Baptism of the Holy Spirit, 1995 (ISBN 978-1-870855-17-4)
- The Baptist Confession of Faith 1689: Or, the Second London Confession with Scripture Proofs, Revised edition,1998 (ISBN 978-1-870855-24-2)
- Do We Have a Policy?: Paul's Ten Point Policy for Church Health and Growth, 2002 (ISBN 978-1-870855-30-3)
- Worship in the Melting Pot, 2002 (ISBN 978-1-870855-33-4)
- Physicians of Souls: The Gospel Ministry, 2002 (ISBN 978-1-870855-34-1)
- The Lord's Pattern for Prayer, 2003 (ISBN 978-1-870855-36-5)
- God's Rules for Holiness: Unlocking the Ten Commandments, 2003 (ISBN 978-1-870855-37-2)
- Men of Purpose, Latest edition, 2003 (ISBN 978-1-870855-41-9)
- Heritage of Evidence: In the British Museum, 2004 (ISBN 978-1-870855-39-6)
- The Mutual Love of Christ and His People, 2004 (ISBN 978-1-870855-40-2)
- Not Like Any Other Book: Interpreting the Bible, 2004 (ISBN 978-1-870855-43-3)
- Joshua's Conquest: Was It Moral? And What Does It Say to Us Today? 2005 (ISBN 978-1-870855-46-4)
- Missionary Triumph Over Slavery: William Knibb and Jamaican Emancipation, 2006 (ISBN 978-1-870855-53-2)
- The Faith, Great Christian Truths, 2006 (ISBN 978-1-870855-54-9)
- Men of Destiny, 6th edition, 2008 (ISBN 978-1-870855-55-6)
- Steps for Guidance in the Journey of Life, 2008 (ISBN 978-1-870855-66-2)
- Church Membership in the Bible, 2008 (ISBN 9781870855648)
- Faith, Doubts, Trials and Assurance, 2006, (ISBN 9781870855501)
- World Dominion: The High Ambition of Reconstructionism [a critique], 1990, (ISBN 978-1-870855-167)
- Psalms & Hymns of Reformed Worship (editor), 1991
- The Personal Spiritual Life, 2013 (ISBN 9781908919205)
- The Charismatic Illusion, 2016 (ISBN 9781908919700)
- Charismatic Phenomenon, Jun 1988 (ISBN 978-1-870855-01-3)
- The Preacher’s Library, 1979 (ISBN 0-906356016)
- Remember the Prisoners, 1986 (ISBN 0-8024-7388-1)
References
- Dallimore, Arnold (September 1985), Spurgeon: A New Biography, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, ISBN 978-0-85151-451-2
- Sheehan, Robert (June 1985), Spurgeon and the Modern Church, Phillipsburg NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Pub Co, ISBN 978-0-946462-05-6
- London Reformed Baptist Seminary official website, London Reformed Baptist Seminary
- Masters, Peter (2002). Physicians of Souls: The Gospel Ministry. London: Wakeman Trust. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-870855-34-1.
- Masters, Peter (2004). Stand for the Truth. London: Sword & Trowel. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-899046-11-9.
- Masters, Peter; Whitcomb, John (June 1988). Charismatic Phenomenon. London: Wakeman. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-870855-01-3.
- Masters, Peter; Wright, Professor Verna (1988). Healing Epidemic. London: Wakeman Trust. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-870855-00-6.
- MacArthur, John (2013). Strange Fire. Nashville Tennessee: HarperCollins. pp. 12, 77. ISBN 978-0-7180-3830-4.
- Locke, Simon (1998). Constructing the Beginning: Discourses of Creation Science. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 48. ISBN 9780805823462.
External links
- The Metropolitan Tabernacle's website
- The Tabernacle Bookshop
- London Reformed Baptist Seminary
- 'Dr. Peter Masters on Secondary Separation', Johnson D., Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International , Proclaim and Defend, 6 August 2013
- 'A Call to Separation and Unity: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and “Evangelical Unity”', Sidwell M, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, Fall 1998, pp. 35–62