How to choose a religion

"Fightin' is no way to make converts; the true way is to win them. You may stop a man's mouth Sam," says he, "by a crammin' a book down his throat, but you won't convince him.  It's a fine thing to write a book all covered over with Latin, and Greek, and Hebrew, like a … Continue reading How to choose a religion

The faith once delivered to the saints

Jude 1:3 — Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jude felt that he needed to send this exhortation to the saints … Continue reading The faith once delivered to the saints

Appointed to be read in churches

The above notation appears on the title page of the Bible translation known in the USA as the King James Version and almost everywhere else as the Authorized Version.  The words are an introduction to one of the goals of the translators — they wanted this to be the best possible translation for reading aloud. … Continue reading Appointed to be read in churches

Cancer Centre

My wife had her first visit at the Cancer Centre yesterday. Now isn't that a scary way of starting a conversation?  The visit really wasn't so scary. Let me start at the beginning.  Four months ago Chris decided that the tiredness she felt after a day's work had to be due to something more than … Continue reading Cancer Centre

Power outage

We were moving from one farm house to another, with the help of friends.  I hurried to connect the kitchen stove so my wife could bake a pizza for our helpers.  This was in the day when kitchen stoves did not plug into the wall, but the wires from the stove had to be individually … Continue reading Power outage

Dementia

There are things that I wish that I would have understood better when my parents were suffering with dementia.  Above all, I wish I could have understood that even though their personalities had changed and their memories seemed to be gone, the father and mother that I had once known were still there, though unable … Continue reading Dementia

On second thought

I posted a couple of articles this week that would have benefited from some sober second thought before sending them out into the unsuspecting world.  It's not that I think I shouldn't have said what I said, but i think the articles needed to be turned inside out and upside down, with some things pruned … Continue reading On second thought

A Closer Walk

This will be my 303rd post since I began blogging 15 months ago.  I believe it’s time to reflect on why I am doing this and where I’m going with it. My original intentions were threefold: 1) to be a witness of the old Anabaptist faith in an era when the Christian faith no longer … Continue reading A Closer Walk

Uncompromising faith

"Anabaptism was essentially a movement which insisted upon an earnest and uncompromising endeavour to live a life of true discipleship of Christ, that is to give expression in fellowship and love to the deepest Christian faith, with full readiness to suffer in conflict with the evil world order.  So long as this willingness to suffer … Continue reading Uncompromising faith

A flower that could not be burned

[The following account is found in the Martyrs Mirror, pages 420-421.  The English translation is from 1886, I have done some slight editing.] When the believers greatly increased under persecution and the cross, there was in Bavaria a learned priest of the mass named Leonhard Keyser.  He examined the writings of Zwingli and Luther and … Continue reading A flower that could not be burned