In the section we are considering here, we have an account of two meals. One is in Bethany and the other in Jerusalem. One is a picture of preparation for burial, and the other is a picture of His death itself. At each, one disciple is singled out — Mary for glory and Judas for …
Stumbling Against a Pulpit
“How may a young man know whether he is called or not? That is a weighty enquiry, and I desire to treat it most solemnly . . . That hundreds have missed their way, and stumbled against a pulpit is sorrowfully evident from the fruitless ministries and decaying churches which surround us . . . …
Moral Imagination
“If that is the imagination, what is the moral imagination? The eighteenth century British statesman Edmund Burke first coined the term in his great work Reflections on the Revolution in France . . . The moral imagination is the distinctively human power to conceive of men and women as moral beings . . . Modern …
Why Isn’t It Peaceful, Like Before?
“If the devil is put into a rage now more than before, it is a sign that he is more opposed than he was before. he possessed all in quiet before, but now his kingdom begins to shake” (Burroughs, Irenicum, pp. 328-329).
Thanks to God
Please rejoice together with us. Just back from the hospital, where my youngest daughter Rachel delivered my two youngest grandchildren, a girl and a boy, joining the tribe of their two older sisters. The new babies are Chloe Lynn Geddes Jankovic (7 pounds 2 ounces) and Titus James Jankovic (7 pounds 9 ounces). That’s a lot …
Things That Accompany Salvation
INTRODUCTION: One of the perennial pastoral problems in the Church is the question of assurance of salvation. On the one hand are some Christians who hold that to seek any kind of solid assurance is presumptuous. On the other hand are other Christians who appear to glory in just that kind of presumption—”just prayer this …
A Good Answer
Finally got a good answer to one of my questions here. In the past the SJC has interpreted the “strong presumption of guilt” as nothing more than “probable cause.” This is simply the threshold for indictment, before prosecution can begin. But as the SJC noted, once the trial starts, the burden of proof rests entirely …
The Great Tribulation
If we believe, by the time we are done, that God has given us an understanding of this chapter, our response should be one of humility and gratitude. The apocalyptic sections of the gospels have been the occasion of no end of confusion and dispute within the Church, and so we must watch our step. …
Preachers or Fops?
“As a general rule, I hate the fashions of society, and detest conventionalities, and if I conceived it best to put my foot through a law of etiquette, I should feel gratified in having it to do. No, we are men, not slaves; and are not to relinquish our manly freedom, to be lackeys of …
For Good or Ill, Imagination Rules the World
“The human heart’s desires may not be holy, and the imagination born of these unholy desires may even be demonic. After all, it was the tyrant Napoleon who hauntingly declared, ‘Imagination rules the world’ . . . Where there is no real moral imagination, itself a form of vision, the people will become captives of …