Blandina – God’s Strength in Weakness
Blandina was a Christian slave who refused to give up her faith and to give any information. Because of this, she was cruelly tortured. Her martyrdom is described in a letter which might have been written by Irenaeus and has been preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea.
Blandina continued to live on in Christian memory as one of the brave women martyrs of the early church, such as Perpetua and Felicita. During the early church, she gave hope to many Christians, with the knowledge that God would sustain them in persecution, regardless the weakness of their bodies and the violence of their... Continue Reading
New Resolve After 55 Years in My Wheelchair
We envision a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ.
Aging with quadriplegia may be filled with extra challenges, but it doesn’t demoralize me. With God’s help, I hold everything lightly. I try not to grasp at my fragile life, nor coddle it or minimize my activities at Joni and Friends just because I’m getting older, growing weaker, and dealing with more pain. Rather, I... Continue Reading
As a White Christian, I’m Guilty of White Privilege: It’s Just Not What You Think
For Christians privilege isn’t necessarily a status in life; it’s a blessing related to some of God’s precious gifts to us, and such gifts are given universally regardless of race.
For me, class, family, opportunity, or wealth did not bestow upon me “White Privilege.” No, my “White privilege” came as a gift and blessing from God, my heavenly Father, whose guidance I followed throughout life. I wear my “White Privilege” as a badge of honor! “White Privilege,” a negative accusation against White Americans, is among... Continue Reading
We are Merely Jars of Clay
We all have a long way to go in our Christian journey.
We are always works in progress. And lest some believers take umbrage at those two things that I just said (that we are still sinners, and we must resist a theology of perfectionism), let me simply point out how the Apostle Paul looked at this matter. The longer he lived as a Christian, the more he saw himself... Continue Reading
Susanna and Cornelia Teelinck – Inspiring Courage and Faith During the Dutch Reformation
Susanna described Cornelia as one whose “greatest, or rather only joy and desire was to speak of Godly affairs, to exalt God’s omnipotence, his goodness, his wisdom, his prudence, and above all his heartfelt love for humanity..."
Susanna combined Cornelia’s twelve-page confession with nine of Cornelia’s poems in a collection entitled A Short Confession of Faith. She prefaced the book with her own seven-page biography of her sister and a short poem by Susanna’s son, statesman and author Adrian Hoffer, who heartily recommended the book – the first book in Dutch authored... Continue Reading
One Hundred Years Ago, “Following the Science” Meant Supporting Eugenics
Chesterton was one of the first to see it coming: when the machinery of the state would invoke the authority of science to deprive individuals — both the “unfit” and the unborn — of their fundamental human rights.
The eugenics movement, as Chesterton predicted, became a wretched story of the negation of democratic ideals to serve a utopian vision. “Hence the tyranny has taken but a single stride to reach the secret and sacred places of personal freedom,” he wrote, “where no sane man ever dreamed of seeing it.” Wittingly or not, the... Continue Reading
Footnotes to Lucifer: The 7 Most Destructive Philosophers in Western History
The list suffices to remind us that Lucifer’s antithetical word holds sway in many of the ideologies and movements that continue to degrade the Western mind.
French philosopher Michel Foucault drew upon Nietzsche and Marx to build an atheistic and anti-realist view of the world. From Nietzsche, he adopted the view that power is at the center of all political discourse, and further argued that knowledge is merely a means to manipulate and exercise power. Thus, words such as “insane,” “prisoner,”... Continue Reading
Marie Durand — Part 3: The Indelible Legacy of the 1572 Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
The Fourth Religious War erupted from the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which commenced on August 24, 1572. This tragedy needs special mention because of the deep mark it left on both the Huguenot psyche and Catholic-Protestant relations for many generations.
In August 1572, thousands of Protestants assembled in Paris for the marriage of Marguerite de Valois to the Protestant Henri III of Navarre. On August 22, Gaspard de Coligny (1519–1572), prominent Huguenot nobleman and Admiral of the French navy, was shot and wounded by a pro-Guise assassin. Coligny refused to leave Paris, putting Catherine and... Continue Reading
A Message to Church Leaders and Intercessors
Our exposure to the truth makes us far more vulnerable in God’s eyes. We need to pray for mercy often, and for the right reasons.
A key principle in looking at our situation is the way God holds cities (or countries) accountable based on the degree of knowledge they have about him and his will. In Matthew 11:20-24, Jesus condemned his own home-base town, Capernaum, saying that if the miracles done there had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they... Continue Reading
Johannes Theodorus van der Kemp – An Unconventional Missionary
He was honored in his funeral and continues to be appreciated for spearheading a concept of cultural and racial appreciation at a time when it was still alien.
Van der Kemp moved to South Africa in 1799, settling in Kaffraria, a British colony in the south-eastern portion of the country. By appointment, he was to minister to the Dutch who had been the original colonists. But he couldn’t ignore the local population – the Xhosa who had become, in practical terms, servants of... Continue Reading
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