First Partaker: The Secret of Power (1)

Mark Minnick Lying here beside me is a small volume entitled The Crisis of Missions by A. T. Pierson. My copy was personally autographed by Pierson and presented to Dr. Alexander Maclaren during the World Missionary Conference held in London in May of 1888. I enjoy having it in my hands and thinking of these…

Read More

The Eclectic Web–2012/12/30

More on school shootings: Game Theory: A Year When Real-World Violence Crept Into Play The author denies a connection between real world violence and video games (certainly a debatable proposition), but the article reveals some interesting insight into human nature as the author, a young dad, considers what to do about his video games and…

Read More

Holidays and Old Testament Feasts

John Mincy Israel had nine appointed festival seasons, of which only three are technically called “feasts.” The Passover (Unleavened Bread), the Feast of Weeks (Harvest, Firstfruits, Pentecost), and Tabernacles (Ingathering) are the only three designated by the Hebrew word for feast. All the males of Israel were required to go up to Jerusalem for these…

Read More

Who was praising God in Luke 2:14?

Grammatical notes on Luke 2:13 David Potter “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,…” A Christmas meditation: it starts out pretty technically, but stay with me to the end. It will be worth it. Our verse could be translated literally, ‘multitude of the host of…

Read More

The Desire of All Nations

Haggai 2:6-9 Introduction During this Christmas season, many Christians will listen to the music of Handel’s Messiah. We will join in singing Wesley’s beloved carol Hark! the Herald Angels Sing or his less well known Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus. In either case we will hear musical settings of God’s prophet when he said, “and the…

Read More

This is How We Know

Webster defines hermeneutics as “the science of interpretation; esp[ecially] the study of the principles of Biblical exegesis.” Nevertheless, a well-educated person may have no understanding of hermeneutics. In a conversation with a college professor from a well-known conservative (non-Christian) college, he challenged a clear interpretation of Scripture with the charge, “That’s your opinion.” When I…

Read More

The Eclectic Web: Dec 21, 2012

Two miscellaneous items of interest: How the internet is changing language “There are now thought to be some 4.5 billion web pages worldwide. And with half the population of China now on line, most of them are written in Chinese. “Still, some linguists predict that within 10 years English will dominate the internet – but…

Read More

A Chronology of Jesus’ Birth

Doug Wright Most believers are aware that the typical Christmas pageant contains several inaccuracies – Mary was probably much younger than we picture, the manger was more likely a stone feeding trough, the three (we have no idea how many) “wise men” appearing at the “manger” (Scripture says they came to the “house”), etc. In…

Read More