Musings of a Snickerdoodle

  When we turn from the restless entreaties and exhortations which fill the pages of our modern missionary magazines to the pages of the New Testament, we are astonished at the change in atmosphere. St Paul does not repeatedly exhort his churches to subscribe money for the propagation of the Faith, he is far more concerned to explain to them what the faith is, and how they ought to practice it and keep it.  The same is true of St Peter and St John, and all of the apostolic writers. They do not seem to feel any necessity to repeat the great Commission, and to urge that it is the duty of their converts to make disciples of all the nations. What we read in the New Testament is no anxious appeal to Christians to spread the Gospel, but a note here and there which suggests how the Gospel was being spread abroad: 'the churches were established in the faith and increased in number daily', 'in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad so that we need not to spea...

  Several years ago my family and I watched the movie Night Crossing by Disney, about two families, living in the 1970s, who escaped from Soviet West Germany in hot air balloon.  I was looking around for any books about the escape and came across this account written for kids Flight for Freedom by Kriston Fulton is written giving a child's perspective.  Little 6 year old Peter Wetzel knows about the plan to try to escape East Germany in a hot air balloon.  He understands the seriousness of the situation as he watches his parents and the other adults plan and orchestrate the escape.   It is written quite simply, conveying the story simply enough for children to follow along. "Each morning when Peter woke, he expected to find proof that his parents were building a balloon. But, the house was exactly as it had been the day before.  Everything hidden.  Everything quiet.  Peter wondered if it had been only a dream.  Would he ever escape East...

Hosanna in Excelsis by David and Barbara Leeman is a nicely bound book of Christmas carols with individual short histories of their composition and  contemplations of the message of the carols themselves.  There are many familiar carols, O Holy Night, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Away In A Manger…etc.  And some new ones.  The summarized biographies of the authors and composers were quite interesting too.  Sometimes the information was quite tantalizing, leaving you wanting to know more about the author, and for others it was more disappointing to hear the background, though in some cases discouraging.  "O Holy Night" has been a favorite carol of my family, but the background behind it was anything but inspiring ," Written by a man with little belief in the Christmas story, put to music by a nonbelieving Jewish musician, and translated by a liberal theologian….".   We of course, still really like the song, I suppose it just goes to show that you can h...

  Jesus, Divorce and Remarriage  by  Gordon Wenham  is a nice very summarized look at this controversial topic.  A concise, examination at what God's Word teaches us about how we Christians are to look on divorce, remarriage, and of course, marriage itself. It doesn't really deal with modern Christian views on divorce, as the goal of this little book is to focus on what Jesus taught about divorce and remarriage and what the popular views were at that time.   Now, though  informative background information regarding the contemporary views of the people Jesus is talking to is interesting, the most interesting parts to me were where the Biblical texts are focused on.  Jesus' teachings in particular (In Matthew 5, 19, and in the other Gospels).Wenham makes you really look at what Jesus is saying, getting past the clutter of our preconceived notions of what He must, in our view, be saying.  We see that Jesus goes after terms like "murder" and...

I n the kingdom of Christ, insubmission to the plain letter of Scripture, a wish to look into the secret purposes of God, and 'to be wise above what is written,' has, at all times in some measure, and at this time in particular, distracted the church, and tainted the simplicity of divine truth. So much of corrupted nature is there  in us, men will even here be thinking for themselves, and call their views deep, enlarged. These biblical freethinkers take the word of God for their rule, but then it is in a different sense - in any sense, they do not much care what, so it be but different from that in which any simple mind would understand it…..Such critics have made intellect seem the enemy of truth, which God could never mean it should be. He foresaw, indeed, that it would become so. He knew how powerful an instrument in Satan's hand would be the reasoning, questioning pride of man, when induced to array itself against the reception of the word.  When He determined to reveal...

FAITH , like a simple, unsuspecting child, Serenely resting on its mother's arm Reposing every care upon her arm, Sleeps on his bosom, and expects no harm: Receives with joy the promises he makes, Nor questions of his purpose or his power; She does not doubting ask, "Can this be so?" The Lord has said it, and there needs no more. However deep be the mysterious word, However dark, she disbelieves it not; Where Reason would examine, Faith obeys, And "It is written," answers every doubt. Faith, with a keen and realizing glance, Revels in things yet distant and unseen, A nd tastes a joy as exquisite, as true, As if no veil of darkness hung between. It is no cold, reversionary bliss,-- No distant hope the trusting bosom proves; F aith has already wing'd the soul to heaven, In search of Him whom seeing not she loves. If clouds and darkness rest upon the soul, Darkness is welcome, since it is His will; In nature's saddest moments Faith can say, "Though he ...

"If any man in the world needs the special presence of God with them and His blessing in order to succeed, certainly ministers do.  For what is the design and end of their ministry? Is it not to open the eyes of sinners to turn them from darkness to light?  And from the power of sin and Satan to God and Christ? And who is sufficient for these things? In a work of this nature, what can ministers, of themselves, do? Verily, they may preach even to paleness and faintness, until the bellows are burnt, until their lungs and vitals are consumed, and their hearers will never be the better; not one sinner will be converted until God is graciously pleased, by the efficacious working of His Spirit, to add His blessing to their labors and make his word, in the mouth of the preacher, sharper than any two-edged sword in the heart of the hearer.  All will be vain, to no saving purpose, until God is pleased to give the increase. And in order to do this, God looks for their prayers, to c...