A week ago we passed the 478th anniversary of the martyrdom of William Tyndale (Oct 6, 1536), strangled and burned for his work of translating the Bible into English and for teaching justification by faith. As we pass this significant anniversary, I commend to you a wonderful, moving lecture by Timothy George on the life …
Rudyard Kiping’s poem, “The Gods of the Copybook Headings,” is a powerful and poignant challenge for our cultural situation today. Kipling wrote the poem in 1919 in response to the cultural despair after World War I when so many began rejecting the moral and religious truths which had undergirded European civilization. We need to hear …
A main theme of this blog is the necessity of pastors knowing their people in order to be able really to pastor them. A colleague of mine, Justin Barnard, recently pointed me to Henri Nouwen’s In the Name of Jesus as a source making a similar point. The following excerpt is a powerful summary of ministry …
I encountered Horatius Bonar years ago while reading about Robert Murray McCheyne and, then, by reading his book, Words to Winners of Souls. His work has ministered to me in many ways. In his hymns he has a wonderful way of proclaiming the gospel in poetic form. My poem of the week this week is …
William Cowper knew what it was to be discouraged, and, thus, he wrote compellingly to this struggle. My poem of the week this week is one of Cowper’s which calls the discouraged saint to look to biblical examples of the Lord’s care and intervention in order to hold fast. The last two lines are my …
This summer I finally read James Fenimore Cooper’s novel, The Pathfinder. This is a part of Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales, of which Last of the Mohicans is the most famous. The stories recount the adventures of scout and hunter, Natty Bumppo, nicknamed “Pathfinder”, in 18th century America. The Pathfinder takes place in the 1750’s with Natty …
Continue reading ‘James Fenimore Cooper’s Christian Warrior’ »
The Osteen’s have been in the news lately, but the problem of prosperity teaching has been an issue for a long time. I confronted it in the first church I pastored, where I began referring to these teachers as the “name-it-claim-it, call-it-haul-it, blab-it-grab-it, profess-it-possess-it” crew. I continue to be surprised by the people who get …
My poem of the week this week is one of my favorites from Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), missionary to India. I kept this poem on the wall of my dorm room in college in order to keep this powerful prayer before me. Make Me Thy Fuel From prayer that asks that I may …
Each year I write a survey article for Preaching Magazine covering the study Bibles, commentaries and other biblical reference works that have come out in the last year. The 2014 installment is now available online, covering items published roughly between last summer and this summer. Most of the books covered are in the photo above. …
This week’s poem of the week has been a favorite of mine from Frances R. Havergal. It expresses so well the proper attitude of the disciple. TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless …