Posts from 2022 (Page 3)

In 1884 a young man died. After the funeral his grieving parents determined to establish a memorial to him. With that in mind they met with Charles Eliot, president of Harvard University. Eliot received the unpretentious couple into his office and asked what he could do. After they expressed a desire to fund a memorial, Eliot, noting the appearance of the couple impatiently said, “Perhaps you have in mind a scholarship.” “We were thinking of something more substantial than that—perhaps…

In addition to serving as the 25th President of the United States, William F. McKinley achieved the rank of major in the Union Army during the Civil War and served two terms in the United States House of Representatives. During one of his congressional campaigns he was followed from place to place by a reporter for a paper of the opposite political party. The reporter was shrewd and persistent; always at work, quick to see an opportunity and skilled in…

Theagenes of Thasos, an ancient Greek Olympian from the 5th century B.C., was renowned for his extraordinary strength. He became distinguished in every kind of athletic contest, and gained numerous victories at the Olympian, Pythian (Delphi), and Isthmian (Corinth) games. He was said to have won 1300 crowns in the games and came to be known as The Prince of Wrestlers. The Greek traveller and geographer Pausanias, in his work The Description of Greece, recounted a rather curious incident in…

During World War I a Protestant chaplain with the American troops in Italy became a friend of a local Roman Catholic priest. In time, the chaplain moved on with his unit and was killed. The priest heard of his death and asked military authorities if the chaplain could be buried in the cemetery behind his church. Permission was granted. But the priest ran into a problem with his own Catholic Church authorities. They were sympathetic, but they said they could…

The fact that the church is a kingdom clearly indicates that a democratic form of government (a government which people in this nation are familiar with and by which many denominations are patterned) in the church is against the Bible. As King over His kingdom (1 Tim. 6:13-15), Christ has absolute rule and authority (Matt. 28:18). In a kingdom there is an absolute monarchy. A monarchy is “a system of government according to which the supreme power is vested in…

A sign in the local textile mill read, “When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman.” A young woman was new on the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought, “I will just straighten this out myself, after all how difficult can it be.” She tried but in vain; the situation worsened. Finally she called the foreman. “I did the best I could,” she told her boss. “No you didn’t” he quickly remarked. “To do the best, you should…

James Butler Bonham (1807–1836) was a 19th-century American soldier. Born near Red Bank (now Saluda), South Carolina, Bonham moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in October 1834; the following year he travelled to Mobile where he helped to organize a company of militia cavalry called the Mobile Greys to serve in Texas. The company reached San Felipe, Texas in November 1835, and Bonham was commissioned a lieutenant in the Texian Cavalry one month later. On December 1, 1835, Bonham wrote to Sam…

In the late 17th century, the Windsor town council commissioned Christopher Wren to complete the construction of the Windsor Guildhall near London. Wren was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul’s Cathedral. The ground floor of the building was designed to be completely open; the main part of the building being supported by…

For the last few years, it has become vogue to refer to the current state of incivility as “the age of rage.” The British newspaper, The Guardian, featured an article in 2019 by Oliver Burkeman, entitled, “The age of rage: are we really living in angrier times?” Janie Watkins wrote the book, “The Age of Rage”: This is a mad, mad world, in 2005. While it’s written in the context of America, it points back to examples like Nebuchadnezzar, Ahab,…

Recently a Florida high school caused quite a stir when the yearbook coordinator digitally edited 80 yearbook photos. The edited photos were only of females and were altered to add more clothing to chests and shoulders. The School District’s chief of Community Relations reported “The yearbook coordinator made the decision to edit the photos based on her assessment that the females were not in dress code.”1 Many students and parents were appalled that the changes were made without their knowledge…

One of my favorite songs is “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less.” I love this song because it provokes and challenges the hearts, souls, and minds of the saints gathered to affirm that their foundation and hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. What a lovely song and a grand message! However, are we accurately affirming that message in our minds and hearts? There is a constant challenge in our perseverance of faith as temptation swarms us from all around.…

Stewardship is one of the more challenging principles of New Testament Christianity, not because it is difficult to understand but because of the all-encompassing nature of its application to daily living. Everything we have is entrusted to our care and must be utilized responsibly. Our time, our abilities, our opportunities, our money, our children, and our lives are all gifts given graciously by God to be used for His glory. Such a reality should humble us and compel us to…