Ma says the greatest mistake in the world is the notion some people get that outside of God’s laws there is freedom. She says that the only real freedom to be found on the earth is within the circle of His laws, and as soon as one steps outside of that circle, he finds himself … Continue reading God’s circle
Faith and life
The head or the heart?
The year is 1620, we are on board the Mayflower, anchored at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Several ladies are sitting on the deck beside their possessions, waiting to disembark. Suddenly there is an intrusion from the 20th century, several young girls dressed in the manner of young girls in 1990. The ladies gasp in shock, “Were you … Continue reading The head or the heart?
Lift up your eyes
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. John 4:35 We often quote this verse in evangelical circles when the topic comes to missions. Do we remember the circumstances in … Continue reading Lift up your eyes
Voices
Elijah was discouraged. He had tried for years to remind the people of Israel from whence they had fallen. At first, the people of this northern kingdom had maintained a form of worship of Jahweh, but now they were openly worshipping Baal. What was the use of his efforts? God called him to a meeting … Continue reading Voices
Be not conformed to the world (the present age)
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of … Continue reading Be not conformed to the world (the present age)
Anabaptism is not a warm fuzzy experience
Anabaptism is about having a relationship with Jesus: a relationship that has a beginning but no end. We cannot simply grow into this relationship, not knowing just how or when it began. We may have had warm, fuzzy feelings about Jesus when we were little children, but we lacked the maturity then to make a … Continue reading Anabaptism is not a warm fuzzy experience
Anabaptism is not a lifestyle
The bishop got up to preach one Sunday morning and proclaimed to us that when a person wore plain clothes, that was proof that he or she was born again. An unconverted person could not get himself to wear such clothes. By “plain clothes” he meant the form of clothes that was mandated in his … Continue reading Anabaptism is not a lifestyle
What has happened to tolerance?
George Orwell’s dystopian vision, expounded in his novel Nineteen Eighty-four, appears to be slowly and inexorably taking shape around us. The thought leaders of our society have constituted themselves into an unofficial Ministry of Truth, changing the meaning of words and inventing new words. The result — and make no mistake about it, this is … Continue reading What has happened to tolerance?
It is no secret
I confess that I avoid books that promise to reveal a “secret” about Christian life. I’m afraid of them — afraid of being deceived — because I don’t read anything in the Bible that speaks of a “secret” to Christian life that is only revealed to an inner circle with special enlightenment. In New Testament … Continue reading It is no secret
The saint of the neighbourhood
[This is an excerpt from When I Was Thirteen, copyright the estate of Christina Young Plumb. It is the diary of a thirteen year old girl in south-western Ontario at the end of the nineteenth century.] April 12, 1897 - This is Good Friday, so we had no school today, and Monday will be a … Continue reading The saint of the neighbourhood
Flatlander Faith 