Archive for February 2013
The Kingdom of Heaven
Thomas Overmiller The phrase “kingdom of heaven” occurs exclusively in Matthew’s gospel. He uses the phrase 33 times, while no other gospel writer employs it at all. How is this significant? Some teach that the kingdom of heaven is distinct from the phrase “kingdom of God.” Matthew actually uses this counterpart phrase five times, whereas…
Read MoreAt Liberty to ‘Trespass’
Don Johnson Lately I’ve taken up walking as a means of exercise. My doctor says I must. Ten thousand steps a day sounded so simple in his office the other day! Reality is a different matter. One place I love to walk is a trail down below my home. My property borders on this trail,…
Read More“A New Song for an Old World” (Excerpt 5)
More excerpts from Calvin R. Stapert’s book, A New Song for an Old World. Previous excerpts: One • Two • Three • Four “As I have observed above, the wedding festivities of Christians in Antioch were often more pagan than Christian. Christians were reluctant to abandon objectionable pagan customs at their weddings. These customs included…
Read MoreValues and Music: A Theological Perspective (Part 5)
Gerald Priest, Ph.D. This is the fifth part of five.. Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 Part 1 points out that the first and most important criteria in making musical choices is theological: does my music please God? Part 2 argues that music is moral since it originated in God…
Read MoreThe Eclectic Web–2013/2/11
The links are piling up in the inbox – time to offer once again some interesting and even intriguing links found in our mad scramble around the World Wide Web. I hope you browse through them, some of them are really worth your attention. (You’ll have to be the judge of which ones!)
Read MoreOlde World Baptists: Mihály Kornya, the Peasant Prophet (part 4)
David Potter This post is the fourth in a series concerning the life and ministry of Mihály Kornya, the Peasant Prophet, who preached the Gospel for more than 30 years in Hungary and Romania. (Part One; Part Two; Part Three) Few incidents show his raw courage like the time he was about to be attacked…
Read MoreShut Your Door (Part Two)
Disable the Distractions that Destroy Your Time with God Rand Hummel Part One is here. Summarizing Part One: 1 But you . . . God wants to hear from you! 2 . . .when you pray . . . God assumes that you want to talk to Him! 3 . . . enter into your…
Read MoreStay Awake for Preaching
Thomas Overmiller What do preaching, teaching, and sleeping have in common? All three occur in the story of Eutychus, the man who fell out of the third story window listening to Paul (Acts 20:7-12). This brief narrative stirs the curiosity of any attentive reader and raises the question, “What is the point of the story?” …
Read MoreValues and Music: A Theological Perspective (Part 4)
Gerald Priest, Ph.D. This is the fourth part of five. Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 Part 1 points out that the first and most important criteria in making musical choices is theological: does my music please God? Part 2 argues that music is moral since it originated in God and thus its…
Read More“A New Song for an Old World” (excerpt 4)
More excerpts from Calvin R. Stapert’s book, A New Song for an Old World. Previous excerpts: One • Two • Three “The church fathers recognized music’s power to calm the passions (negative sense). But Evagrius meant something more profound than what ‘easy-listening’ or dentist-office music calls to mind when he said, ‘Psalmody lays the passions…
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