As I’ve traveled the world this year, I’ve been reading voraciously. Before I visit a country I try to read about its history—its key events, its key victories and failures, its key personalities. I’ve read complete histories of a number of the world’s great nations, as well a number of its lesser ones. As I’ve done this, I’ve noticed a major difference in the way history is told by Christians and in the way it’s told by non-Christians. As our …
I admit it: I use an electronic Bible. Better said, I use an electronic device that has a Bible app installed on it. Several years ago I put away my printed Bible in favor of Logos on my iPad. There is a lot I love about this: I love the convenience of being able to have my Bible with me at just about any time; I love the ease of needing just a single tap to take me from my …
Today I want us to travel together into the past, to England in the late 1700’s. King George III is on the throne, though this is before the madness that would mark his final days. The Industrial Revolution is well underway and life is changing as people begin a great migration to the cities to pursue those new factory jobs. On the other side of the Atlantic the American colonies have recently declared their independence. Let’s zoom in on the …
Today is the 224th anniversary of the death of Charles Wesley, one of history’s most well-known and best-loved hymn writers. His contributions to the English-speaking church are remarkable, which becomes apparent when you read the introduction to his brief biography at ChristianHistory.net: He was said to have averaged 10 poetic lines a day for 50 years. He wrote 8,989 hymns, 10 times the volume composed by the only other candidate (Isaac Watts) who could conceivably claim to be the world’s greatest …
Over the past few days I have been preparing to preach on Genesis 3, one of those amazing biblical texts that just opens wide as you begin to study it. One clear application from the first seven verses is that we need to know, believe and stand upon the Word of God. Adam and Eve did not do this–they doubted God’s Word. That doubt, that lack of trust, led to sin, led to the Fall, led to this world. One …
Continued from yesterday… Yesterday I began a two-parter on the life of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. I got as far as the part about slavery and ended there. I can only cover this briefly today as this is an article primarily about his life and his faith, not about his view of slavery. So forgive my brevity. Virginia was a slave state and through his life Jackson either owned or leased at least 8 slaves. He disliked slavery and thought that …
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers. Every week (in theory) I select a blog, link to it from my site, and add that site’s most recent headlines to my left sidebar. While this is really not much, I do feel that it allows me to encourage and support other bloggers while making my readers aware of other good …
