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Thoughts and Meditations
Personal comments made by David F. Reagan unless otherwise stated
DECEMBER, 2004
December 31, 2004
Prophecy and the Bible Lands – I am reviewing some notes I received about 25 years ago (around 1980) from my father in the ministry, Pastor Luther Adkins. He was rejecting the then common teaching that Ezekiel 38:2-3 referred to Russia as being sensational and as being opposed to the clear teaching of scripture. I think the notes show special insight. Here are some of them:
Distressed Strangers Needing Money - In March 2001, a writer for the South Bend Tribune reported on his encounter with not one, but two "Please help my baby!" con artists in the space of a few minutes.
PRAYER – A definition using alliteration: P – R – A – Y – E – R
December 30, 2004
Five Things Cults Cannot Accept –
Beulah Land – Edgar Page Stites has been called one of New Jersey's most famous religious writers. Did it do him any good? One of his works, "Simply Trusting," was used for a hymn that has been translated into hundreds of languages, but he realized only $1 from it. His most famous hymn, "Beulah Land," brought him $10. Dispensation – The following definition of dispensation is taken from a copy of A Christian Dictionary by Mr. John Bagwell (published in 1611) found in Spurgeon’s library in William Jewell College in Missouri. I have changed the typestyle f to the modern s. Otherwise, the old spelling and form is retained: “Dispensation] Ministery or calling of Apostleship. I Cor.9.17. Eph.3.2. A Dispenser is a Steward, and Dispensation is Steward-ship. Now there be 4 things required as necessary to a Steward. 1. that something be committed to his trust to be disposed of. 2. Authority to dispose it. 3. Declaration of the persons to whom it may be disposed. 4. The manner how, and the means whereby. See Eph.3.3, 5, 7, 8.”
December 29, 2004
It Is Your Life – The law was given to Israel as a source of life—but not of eternal life. Concerning the ability of the law to give eternal life, Paul says, “if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law” (Galatians 3:21). That is, the righteousness required for us to have eternal life cannot be obtained through the law (no man being able to keep it). It must be obtained by faith.
What kind of life then did the law provide? In Deuteronomy 32:46-47, Moses told the Israelites, “Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” Consider the following points from this passage:
December 29, 1876 - On this day in the year 1876 the great hymn writer P.P. Bliss was killed in a train crash. The night before his death he was singing a song entitled "I'm Going Home Tomorrow".
December 28, 2004
Word Order – In the English language, the order of the words indicates which ideas in the statement are given the greatest emphasis. This principle can help in Bible study. Consider these two principles:
Word Order Principle One: The last word or phrase carries the greatest emphasis.
Word Order Principle Two: The first word or phrase carries the second greatest emphasis.
Missing Verses - Here is a powerpoint presentation on some of the verses that have been removed from hymn books.
December 27, 2004
Defining Words – Careful defining of words is the cornerstone of all biblical interpretation. Unless the meaning of the word is known, the passage cannot be correctly understood. All new truth is understood by using a twofold approach. What we do not learn by repetition, we add to our body of knowledge either by comparison or by contrast. For instance, we tell a toddler that a cow is like a dog (comparison); only it is much bigger and says “moo” (contrast). All learning, all knowledge, and all defining is built on comparison and contrast. First, use comparison by determining the word’s class or category. Find out what other words is it like. Second, use contrast by determining how this word is different from the other words in its class. For example, intercession is a kind of prayer (comparison), but it refers specifically to prayer in which we take the part of another person; we pray, not just for them, but on their behalf (contrast). –David Reagan
Intelligent Octopi - A recent study has proven that Octopi are extremely intelligent which poses a problem for the evolutionary theory, which says that intelligence evolves in social species to help them deal with social relationships.
Our Glorious Assurance – It is clear from the study of the Bible that it is not the work of man, for man could not have written it if he would, and would not have written it if he could. –copied
December 24, 2004
Leviathan - Leviathan is mentioned by name in four scriptures: Job 41:1; Psalm 74:14; 104:26; Isaiah 27:1. These passages demonstrate the dual nature of this beast. In Psalm 104:26, leviathan plays in the sea where the ships go. This points to the existence of a physical being called leviathan. Evidently, at least in the past, there was a creature in the oceans called leviathan. However, as you study the description in Job 41, you will see that it does not match any known creature today.
However, there is another aspect of leviathan that must be considered. Isaiah 27:1 states, “In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” Here, leviathan is the crooked serpent and the dragon. This directly connects leviathan with the devil. In Revelation 20:2, an angel “laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan.” Therefore, the dragon and the serpent are identified as the Devil and Satan. We would expect then that the attributes of leviathan in Job 41 are also attributes of the devil. The passage clearly extends beyond the merely physical creature to an important description of Satan himself. –David Reagan
Catholic Interpretation – The medieval Roman Catholic scholar, Hugo of St. Victor, gave this advice to his students: “Learn first what you should believe, and then go to the Bible to find it there.” Unfortunately, many today of all doctrinal stripes could claim this as their foundational rule of Bible interpretation. –David Reagan
December 23, 2004
Teller – God told Abraham, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them” (Genesis 15:5). In Psalm 147:4, God “telleth the number of the stars.” To tell is to count. We still use this meaning of the word every time we refer to a bank teller. A bank teller tells or counts the money. –David Reagan
Anti-Depressants - More and more people are being placed on anti-depressants, but studies have shown that they may cause greater depression including an increased suicidal emotion.
Biblical Basis for Post Office – Consider these verses:
December 21, 2004
What is in Your Heart? – “We never can know what is in our hearts until circumstances arise to draw it out. Peter did not imagine that he could deny his Lord, but when he got into circumstances which were calculated to act upon his peculiar weakness, he showed that the weakness was there. It required the protracted period of forty years in the wilderness to teach the children of Israel ‘what was in their hearts’ (Deuteronomy 8:2); and it is one of the grand results of the course of discipline through which each child of God passes, to lead him into a more profound knowledge of his own weakness and nothingness.” –from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.148).
Lesbian Bible - Yet another version of the Bible is on the press to be released in 2005. They claim the only difference in their Bible is that there are no men in it. Aren't you glad they are just making minor changes.
December 19, 2004
Just the Facts – “We are invited, brethren, most earnestly to go away from the old-fashioned belief of our forefathers because of the supposed discoveries of science. What is science? The method by which man tries to conceal his ignorance. It should not be so, but so it is. You are not to be dogmatical in theology, my brethren, it is wicked; but for scientific men, it is the correct thing. You are never to assert anything very strongly; but scientists may boldly assert what they cannot prove, and may demand a faith far more credulous than any we possess.
Forsooth, you and I are to take our Bibles, and shape and mould our belief according to the ever-shifting teachings of so-called scientific men. What folly is this! Why, the march of science, falsely so-called, through the world, may be traced by exploded fallacies and abandoned theories. Former explorers, once adored, are now ridiculed; the continual exposure of false hypotheses is a matter of universal notoriety. You may tell where the learned have encamped by the debris left behind of suppositions and theories as plentiful as broken bottles. As the quacks, who ruled the world of medicine in one age, are the scorn of the next, so has it been, and so will it be, with your atheistical savants and pretenders to science. But they remind us of facts. Are they not yet ashamed to use the word? Wonderful facts, made to order, and twisted to their will to overthrow the actual facts which the pen of God Himself has recorded!” –from An All-Round Ministry by C. H. Spurgeon (p.97-98).
Ladies Devotionals - Here is a source for loads of devotionals for ladies that are free. I believe that you can even receive them by email.
December 17, 2004
Scripture Songs - If you like folk music at all, you might be interested in these scripture songs. There are several that you can listen to and download for free. All songs are set to the King James Bible.
Creation Managed Quite Well – As a French infidel was walking through a grove of trees one afternoon, he admired their noble beauty. But, as he considered the majestic oaks, he thought it strange that such a large tree should bear such a small fruit as the acorn. Shortly, he noticed a gourd vine with a long, tender stem but with a fruit weighing one hundred pounds. How strange, he thought, that such a tender vine should bear such a large gourd. He said to himself, “If I had been God, I would have managed creation much better than this. I would have put the small fruit on the small vine and the large fruit on the grand oak.” Wearied by the heat of the day, he lay down beneath the shade of the oak and fell asleep. Soon, he was startled by an acorn that fell on his cheek. Suddenly, the thought flashed through his mind, “What if that acorn had been the gourd of one hundred pounds. I certainly would have been killed at that instant.” He realized the foolishness of his pride and fell on his knees to ask God’s forgiveness. With time and further dealings, this thoughtless blasphemer became a servant of the Most High God. –adapted from New Encyclopedia of Prose Illustrations (p.12).
Seeking Home-Schoolers: Some Universities are finding out that home-schooled children are doing just as well if not better than those from the conventional schools.
December 16, 2004
Morning Worship – “Reader, let me tell thee, if religion be thine occupation, thy business, God will hear from thee in the morning; one of the first things after thou art up will be to fall down and worship him. Thy mind will be most free in the morning, and thine affections most lively, (as those strong waters are fullest of spirits which are first drawn;) and surely thou canst not think but that God, who is the best and chiefest good, hath most right to them, and is most worthy of them.” –from The Works of George Swinnock: Volume 1 (p.38).
Beginning to look a lot like Sodom - Street Preachers were arrested for preaching at a Gay Pride march and could face up to 47 years in prison. May America learn from history that this sin WILL bring the judgment of God. May I also remind Christians that the only hope Sodom had was that God would find a remnant of righteous people. Driving Like Jehu – Preachers today are sometimes known for disregarding the speed limits. They may be accused of driving like Jehu: “the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously” (2Kings 9:20). Luther Rice (born 1783) was an American Baptist preacher known for most for the raising of missionary funds. He was criticized for his indiscriminate tea-drinking (on one occasion it was counted that he downed sixteen cups of tea) and for wind-ing his horse. “It is a fact that he did not spare his horse and sometimes drove one beyond endurance.” This fault has had a long history. –from Luther Rice: Believer in Tomorrow (p.2).
December 15, 2004
When I Am Weak – Diary Entry for July 29, 1780: “Am I not a fool and slow of heart to believe? Notwithstanding all the Scripture says of my impotency, all the experience I have had of it, and all my settled and avowed principles, how hard is it for me to believe that I am nothing! Ah! Can I live near to God, set or keep the springs of godliness a-going in my soul, or investigate the things of God to any purpose? No, I cannot: ‘When I am weak, then (and then only) am I strong!’” –from The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Volume 1 (p.23).
Satanic Calendars - A school police officer in Texas distributed Satanic calendars to the students to supposedly promote an anti-gang message. Purpose of Doctrine – “[E]very truth, doctrine, and proposition in the gospel aims at subduing sin in the heart, and, bringing the heart to God, seeks to make us better rather than wiser. The design of the Scripture is not to amuse and puzzle us, but to reform and sanctify us; not to confound our heads, but to conform our hearts and reform our lives to the holiness of its principles; not to make us lose our wits, but to save our souls.” –from Practical Godliness: The Ornament of All Religion by Vincent Alsop (p.9).
December 13, 2004
Character in Discipline – “Disciplined character belongs to the person who achieves balance by bringing all his faculties and powers under control. There are order, consistency, and purpose in his life. As a result he has poise and grace. He does not panic, nor does he indulge in maudlin self-pity when tossed by crosscurrents. He rises courageously, even heroically, to meet life and conquer it. He resolutely faces his duty. He is governed by a sense of responsibility. He has inward resources and personal reserves which are the wonder of weaker souls. He brings adversity under tribute, and compels it to serve him. When adversity becomes too overwhelming and blows fall which he cannot parry, he bows to them, but is not broken by them. His spirit still soars.” –from The Disciplined Life by Richard S. Taylor (p.22). How Do You Take It? – “No life is so hard that you can’t make it easier by the way you take it.” –by Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945).
Santa Claus - One of the first things that you learn about the Devil is that he is always trying to counterfeit the Lord. In what ways has Santa Claus become a counterfeit of the Lord Jesus?
December 12, 2004
As God Hath Dealt to Every Man – When Abram refused to receive a reward from the king of Sodom after rescuing Lot, he did “not force others to walk according to his elevated standard. Although he might be able to reject, in the most unreserved manner, the offers of the king of Sodom, yet others might not be able to do so, and therefore he says, with regard to ‘Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion.’ Our walk should ever be ‘according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith’ (Romans 12:3). We have seen, in our own day, many persons led, at the outset, to give up a variety of worldly things, and afterwards plunge still deeper into those things; and why? Because they acted through mere excitement or human influence, and were not able to say with Abram, ‘I have lift up my hand unto the Lord.” –from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.138).
Was Einstein Wrong? - Supposedly the speed of light is about 186,000 miles per
second. This is the absolute speed limit of the universe, according to
Einstein's theory of relativity. Should anything travel faster than that, Einstein's theory falls.
New information may pose a problem. In Times Like These – Charles Spurgeon gave this advice to those who spend all their energy worrying about the evil times in which they live: “The benefit of railing at the times it would be hard to discover, for railing does not mend them. What have you to do with the times? Do your own work. Charles the Twelfth of Sweden had his secretary sitting by his side writing from dictation, when a bombshell fell through the roof into the next room. The secretary, in alarm, dropped his pen, upon which the king exclaimed, ‘What are you doing?’ The poor man faltered, ‘Ah, sire, the bomb!’ The king’s answer was, ‘What has the bomb to do with what I am telling you?’ You will say that the secretary’s life was in danger. Yes, but you are safe in any case, for you are side by side with Jesus in holy service, and no evil can befall you. Watch on, and work on, even to the crack of doom. Leave the times and the seasons with God, and go on with your work.” –from An All-Round Ministry by C. H. Spurgeon (p.72).
December 11, 2004
Historical Dates Not Certain – Centuries of Darkness by Peter James (Preface) and published by Rutgers University Press challenges the so-called established dating of pre-Christian civilizations. Concerning the dating of the Minoan colony on the island of Thera, David Pyle wrote: “Direct radiocarbon dating has so far yielded a large scatter of dates that can, at present, be interpreted according to one’s prejudice.” And, according to the book, “before about the 7th century BC…the chronologies of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, are not as certain as they are usually thought to be. The…dates conventionally attributed to ancient Egyptian history are inflated by as much as two and a half centuries.” Mounting evidence against the established dates is ignored because “academic inertia and the convenience of following long established teachings has discouraged any serious challenge to the accepted chronology. Further, modern archaeologists are not immune to the fascination with the sheer antiquity of their finds in their search for the origins of any given development.” In other words, the dating often used against strict Bible chronology of history is not nearly as established as the academics would like us to believe.
Young Gamblers - More and more young people are reporting that they gamble. Poker is glamorized on the television and it is affecting our young people. Maybe this is the result of a lack of old-time preaching against cards and gambling.
Uncleanness Defined – “In Colossians 3:5 the Apostle says, ‘Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,’ and so on. You think, it may be, that these two are one. No, fornication is sin in action; uncleanness is sinning in affection and thought. The Apostle bids them mortify fornication, that is, uncleanness in action; but he does not stop there. He tells them they must subdue their sinful affections and vicious inclinations to those sins. You must mortify the very first motions and secret propensities to any sin in your hearts.” –from The Mortified Christian by Christopher Love (1618-1651).
December 10, 2004
Revival Requires Animal Retraining – “The Welsh revival of 1902-1904 so radically altered the entire Rhondda Valley of Wales that the animals employed to bring up coal from the mines had to be taken out of the collieries and retrained. Before the awakening, they responded only to the commands of their drivers punctuated with cursing. However, so many miners were converted, and with their language cleaned up, the colliery animals did not know how to work; hence, the necessity of re-training. The whole Church of Wales came alive as never before. For months many churches stayed open twenty-four hours a day. Tens of thousands were converted.” –from Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis Drummond (p.264). Work of the Ministry – “Dr. Adam Clarke said that ‘the old proverb about having too many irons in the fire was an abominable old lie. Have all in it—shovel, tongs, and poker.’ Wesley said, ‘I am always in haste, but never in a hurry: leisure and I have long taken leave of each other.’ He traveled about five thousand miles in a year; preached about three times a day, commencing at five o’clock in the morning; and his published works amounted to about two hundred volumes. Asbury traveled six thousand miles a year, and preached incessantly. Coke crossed the Atlantic eighteen times, preached, wrote, traveled, established missions, begged from door to door for them, and labored in all respects as if, like the apostles, he would ‘turn the world upside down.’ At nearly seventy years of age he started to Christianize India.” –from New Encyclopedia of Prose Illustrations (p.11-12).
December 9, 2004
John Bunyan and John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs – “Bunyan bought John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs when he was in prison, and was reading it when he wrote Grace Abounding. From Foxe Bunyan got his assurance that the Pope was Antichrist (confirmed by Bayly), and that God’s Englishmen had been in the forefront of the struggle against him throughout the ages. He would learn the especially congenial fact that it was humble Englishmen—artisans like himself—who had been most steadfast in adherence to their faith under the Marian persecutions, when gentlemen and clergymen either conformed or fled into the safety of exile. Faithful’s torments in Vanity Fair derive from Foxe.” –from A Tinker and a Poor Man: John Bunyan and His Church, 1628-1688 by Christopher Hill (p.157-158).
Is Christmas Illegal - The Country that was founded upon the Bible and Biblical principles, will no longer celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus. At least that is what many Americans are finding out.
Three Principles of Churches on Mission Fields – William Carey, the early Baptist missionary to India, along with his colleagues stated three principles which should govern the churches established on the mission field.
December 8, 2004
Peaches – “The Egyptians, of all fruits, would make choice of the peach to consecrate to their goddess, and they gave this reason for it, because the fruit thereof resembleth a heart, and the leaf a tongue. As they gave heart and tongue to the false god, we must to the true God…A great French pear is called le bon Chretien, the good Christian, because of the way it is never rotten at the core.” –from The Works of George Swinnock: Volume 1 (p.33-34).
Euthanasia For All Ages - A Dutch hospital has put infants to death before it received government permission to euthanize terminally ill children. France is also on the move for "passive" euthanasia. Also see Pastor Reagan's article on euthanasia. Discipline – Discipline is what moderns need the most and want the least. Too often young people who leave home, students who quit school, husbands and wives who seek divorce, church members who neglect services, employees who walk out on their jobs are simply trying to escape discipline. The true motive may often be camouflaged by a hundred excuses, but behind the flimsy front is the hard core of aversion to restraint and control. Much of our restlessness and instability can be traced to this basic fault in modern character. –from The Disciplined Life by Richard S. Taylor (p.11).
December 6, 2004
Builder of Virtue – “Genuine morality is preserved only in the school of adversity; a state of continuous prosperity may easily prove a quicksand to virtue.” –by Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805).
Open Doors Among the Kurds – In Iraqi Kurdistan, wedding parties pose with U.S. soldiers, American flags are posted proudly on dashboards, and officials beg visiting Americans to tell Washington to establish a permanent military base here. Evangelical Protestant missionaries who are quietly planting churches in the major Kurdish cities report flickers of interest. Copies of the New Testament, or at least portions of it, are available in both Kurdish dialects.
Chinese Government Writes Religious Doctrine - According to some Protestant observers in China, sermons delivered at Protestant churches permitted by the state are not allowed to include references to the second coming of Christ and the accompanying day of judgment, which Bishop Ding describes as "a deception of the masses [and] contains no love of socialist society." No Time to Argue – Jesus Christ considered it “no part of His business to explain or apologize…This is a weighty point for us all. Some of us lose a quantity of time in argument, apology, and explanation, in cases where such things are not the least understood. We really do mischief. Better far pursue, in holy calmness of spirit, singleness of eye, and decision of purpose, the path of duty. That is what we have got to do, not to explain or defend ourselves, which is sorry work at best for any one.” –from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.125).
December 5, 2004
Evangelicals at the Mormon Tabernacle - Two leading conservative Protestants, author-evangelist Ravi Zacharias and Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw, preached at the Tabernacle on Temple Square, the first time non-Mormons had spoken there in 105 years.
Never Insignificant – “We must never think, because the particular work we have in hand seems to be insignificant, that therefore we cannot do it, or should not do it, thoroughly well. We need Divine help to preach aright to a congregation of one. If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well. If you had to sweep a crossing, it were well to sweep it better than anybody else. If you only preach in Little Peddlington, let Little Peddlington know that you are doing your best, and seeking its good. Many a minister has achieved fame, and, what is far better, has brought glory to God, in a congregation which could be counted by units, while another has presided over a large church, and though at first there was a great blast of trumpets, it has ended in the silence and sadness of utter failure. Know your work, and bend over it, throwing your heart and soul into it; for, be it great or small, you will have to praise God to all eternity if you are found faithful in it.” --from An All-Round Ministry by C. H. Spurgeon (p.70-71).
Christianity in a Chinese Village - On a recent Sunday in the nearly inaccessible village of Munan, Yunnan province, the hymn ``What a Friend We Have in Jesus'' wafted out of the Anibu church that stands at the foot of a 2,000-meter mountain. Three hundred villagers sang, in the traditional Lisu language used by the minority ethnic group, with Pastor Chu Yongping, 43, conducting the choir. Some 70 years have passed since foreign Christian missionaries penetrated deep into China and delivered their divine messages to Munan.
Be Plainer – Mordecai Ham was a great Baptist evangelist in America during the first half of the 20th century. The first Christian death he witnessed was (on February 28, 1899) that of his grandfather Mordecai Ham who was also a Baptist preacher. The younger Mordecai tells this deathbed story of his grandfather: “When I arrived at grandfather’s home near Bowling Green [Kentucky], I found him giving instructions to the undertaker as to his burial. I saw him pick out his casket and write out a check for the full cost of the funeral…I heard one of the men, who was in the room while these transactions were taking place, ask him, ‘Mordecai, if you had your life to live over again, what would you change?’ “Grandfather answered, ‘I would be plainer,’ I knew what he meant. Grandfather had never, in all his life, offended anyone, and his preaching had the sweetness of his life. I suppose it was that statement which so powerfully influenced me to be a ‘hog-jowl and turnip-green’ preacher. At four o’clock on the morning following he was dying to this earth. As he breathed his last, he pointed upward, as though beholding his Lord beckoning him to come Home…Seeing him die did more than anything else to convince me of the reality of Christian experience.”
December 4, 2004
Fear of God – Teens who practice sexual abstinence seldom do so because of fear of pregnancy or disease. The most common reasons boil down to one thing—fear of God.
Excesses in the Great Revival – David Benedict, in his Baptist history, tells how the Baptists fared during the Great Revival of 1800 (also known as the Second Great Awakening). Although they were greatly blessed in conversions and increases in membership, they did not experience as much of the emotional excesses as was common among the Methodists and Presbyterians. “Garner McConnico, a noted pioneer Baptist minister in Middle Tennessee, was once preaching and a man began jerking. McConnico paused, and then in ‘a loud and solemn tone,’ said: ‘I command all unclean spirits to leave this place!’ At once the jerker became still, and the report went abroad that Mr. McConnico ‘cast out devils.’ It is a fact worth observing and remembering that the excesses under consideration either did not prevail at all or were manifested in only a very small degree except where they were favored and encouraged.” –from Early Tennessee Baptists by O. W. Taylor (p.171).
Islamophobia - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will open a seminar on “Islamophobia” at UN headquarters on December 7.
God Delights in the Adverbs – “The Hebrews have a saying, that God is more delighted in adverbs than in nouns; ‘tis not so much the matter that’s done, but the matter how ‘tis done, that God minds. Not how much, but how well! ‘Tis the well-doing that meets with a well-done. Let us, therefore, serve God not nominally or verbally, but adverbially.” –by Venning from New Encyclopedia of Prose Illustrations (p.11).
December 3, 2004
Aid for Missionary Converts – In the early 1800’s, William Carey saw his missionary endeavors in India begin to reap more and more converts. “Many converts found it exceedingly difficult, after baptism, to secure employment since they were no longer members of their caste. So enthusiastic had Carey and his fellow missionaries been about their first converts that at baptism they presented to each a new cloth or a dress, and a sum of money. As converts increased, the missionaries realized they had established a precedent which was proving financially embarrassing, so the practice of giving gifts at baptism was discontinued. In addition, Carey urged that financial help should not be given converts unless absolutely necessary, for it was his experience that when converts were thrown upon their own resources they managed in one way or another to earn a livelihood.” –from William Carey: Father of Modern Missions by Walter Bruce Davis (p.68-69).
Increased Chinese Persecution - At first glance, Cai Zhuohua's kidnapping and arrest by Chinese security officials were not surprising in a country that routinely harasses Christians. Officials found 200,000 copies of Bibles and Christian literature in a storage room managed by the pastor, who shepherds six Beijing underground churches. But more unusual was how authorities described Mr. Cai's activities: "the most serious case on overseas religious infiltration since the founding of the People's Republic of China."
Classical Nonsense – In 17th century England, a chorus of radical voices “had joined in denouncing the universities’ presumption that classical learning was a necessary part of the training of the preacher. Antichrist, said William Dell, ‘chose his ministers only out of the universities.’ John Bunyan, in “a Few Sighs from Hell (1658) attacked ‘carnal priests…who muzzle up your people in ignorance with Aristotle, Plato and the rest of the heathenish philosophers.’ In another early work Bunyan told his readers that he wrote without ‘fantastic expressions,…light, vain, whimsical scholar-like terms’ because ‘I never went to school, to Aristotle or Plato, but was brought up at my father’s house, in a very mean condition, among a company of poor countrymen.’ If those who knew Greek were alone capable of understanding the Scriptures, he exploded, ‘then but a very few of the poorest sort should be saved.’” –from A Tinker and a Poor Man by Christopher Hill (p.140).
Ministers of God – Police Officers find biblical basis for law enforcement. "We are ministers of God; that means you've been called into the ministry of law enforcement."
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