Some people consider themselves to be birthright Mennonites because their ethnic origin is Plautdietsch or Pennsylfannisch Dietsch and their parents held to certain traditional values that they called Mennonite. Those values may have been cultural; language, clothing, lifestyle; or they may hae been intellectual: a somewhat counter cultural emphasis on peacefulness and helping one’s neighbour. … Continue reading What does “Mennonite” mean to you?
Word of God
Why I do not read the King James Bible
I read the Authorized Version instead, of which Cambridge University Press is the main publisher. The text is identical to that in Bibles that are called the King James Version, except that the AV maintains the alternate marginal readings that were placed there by the translators 400 years ago. I suppose that if we would … Continue reading Why I do not read the King James Bible
Meeting God in His Word
I grew up in a home where the Bible was read every day and we attended the Anglican Church every Sunday. I became a member of that church when I was 11; a few years later I became an altar boy and continued faithfully until I moved away from home to attend university. There was … Continue reading Meeting God in His Word
Stony ground
Matthew 13:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the … Continue reading Stony ground
The 1260 days in prophecy
A number of vivid prophecies were given to Daniel, containing references to the abomination that maketh desolate and a period of three and one half years. The prophecies give details about the beginning and ending of this time period and the symbolic language contains clear information about the persons and nations involved. The conquests of … Continue reading The 1260 days in prophecy
The following reasons are therefore the cause of our separation.
May it be known to everyone that the cause of our separation has been such; for the essential truth of faith, and the interior knowledge of a true God in three persons in a unity of essence, a knowledge that neither flesh nor blood gives; the proper worship due to God alone, the love which … Continue reading The following reasons are therefore the cause of our separation.
The true signs by which the Church of Christ may be known
1. By an unadulterated pure doctrine. Deuteronomy 4:6, 5:12; Isaiah 8:5; Matthew 28:20; Mark 16:15; John 8:52; Galatians 1 2. By a Scriptural use of the sacramental signs. Matthew 28:19; Mark 16; Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:22,23 3. By obedience to the Word. Matthew 7; Luke … Continue reading The true signs by which the Church of Christ may be known
No compulsion in matters of religion
Around 204 AD, Tertullian wrote: "As the religion of others does not concern us, and neither profits nor harms us; therefore it does not become any one religion to force itself upon another; since it must be accepted voluntarily, and not by coercion, for what is required is the offering of a willing mind." In … Continue reading No compulsion in matters of religion
No earthly ground
Of this water we find further, extensively, in the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 47, where he was brought to the house and saw waters issuing out from under the threshold of the house eastward. . . . This water is typical of the spiritual water of the word of God which flowed from the temple, that … Continue reading No earthly ground