One encounter with Jesus Christ is enough to change you, instantly, forever.

One encounter with Jesus Christ is enough to change you, instantly, forever.

Feast of Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher, Martyr, c.200 It was my generation, and the generation that preceded read more

Feast of Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher, Martyr, c.200 It was my generation, and the generation that preceded me, that forgot. The younger generation is not primarily to be blamed. Those who are struggling today, those who are far away and doing that which is completely contrary to the Christian conscience, are not first to be blamed. It is my generation, and the generation that preceded me, who turned away. Today we are left, not only with a religion and a church without meaning, but... with a culture without meaning.

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 [Christ] tells us plainly, and read more

Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906 Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933 [Christ] tells us plainly, and without any qualifications, that we are involved in a war in which there is no room for neutrals. Yet people attempt to evade His statement. Generally speaking, these are the very people who are the quickest in laying the blame upon God for all the sorrow and sin in the world. They argue that He could prevent it. They excuse their own do-nothing attitude by making of evil's apparent predominance a ground for doubt of His loving kindness. It never seems to occur to them to look for the cause in mankind.

I have heard professing Christians of our own day speak as though the historicity of the Gospels does not matter read more

I have heard professing Christians of our own day speak as though the historicity of the Gospels does not matter -- all that matters is the contemporary Spirit of Christ. I contend that the historicity does matter, and I do not see why we, who live nearly two thousand years later, should call into question an Event for which there were many eye-witnesses still living at the time when most of the New Testament was written. It was no "cunningly devised fable" but an historic irruption of God into human history which gave birth to a young church so sturdy that the pagan world could not stifle or destroy it.

Feast of All Saints From every pulpit in the land it needs to be thundered forth that God still read more

Feast of All Saints From every pulpit in the land it needs to be thundered forth that God still lives, that God still observes, ... still reigns. Faith is now in the crucible, it is being tested by fire, and there is no fixed... resting place for the heart and mind but in the Throne of God. What is needed now, as never before, is a full, positive, constructive setting forth of the Godhood of God.

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397 Another criterion was loyalty to the community of Christ both read more

Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397 Another criterion was loyalty to the community of Christ both as gathered congregation and as organized church. The pride of spiritual gifts had led the Corinthians to jealousy and strife. They had divided into factions owning the leadership, one of Paul, one of Apollos, another of Cephas, and another of Christ -- but such factions, the apostle tells them, were not characteristics of the "spiritual", but of the carnal. To divide the Church was to destroy the temple of God, where the Holy Spirit dwelt among them (I Cor. 3:1, 3, 16). And the very gifts about which they quarreled should have been a power to unite them, for they all proceeded from one and the same Spirit, from one and the same Lord, from one and the same God, who worketh all in all. The Spirit was indeed the principle of unity in the Church, "for in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body" (I Cor. 12:13). Therefore, to divide the Church was to drive away the Spirit... The tests of spiritual phenomena in the life of the community, and the proofs that they were of the Holy Spirit, were unity, order, and edification. [Continued tomorrow].

That faith alone will never forsake Christ which springs out of or is built upon a conviction of the need read more

That faith alone will never forsake Christ which springs out of or is built upon a conviction of the need for Him.

The discussion of prayer is so great that it requires the Father to reveal it, His firstborn Word to teach read more

The discussion of prayer is so great that it requires the Father to reveal it, His firstborn Word to teach it, and the Spirit to enable us to think and speak rightly of so great a subject.

For God, ... declaring that he will be gentle and kind to all, gives to the utterly miserable hope that read more

For God, ... declaring that he will be gentle and kind to all, gives to the utterly miserable hope that they will get what they have sought. Accordingly we must note the general forms by which no one from first to last (as people say) is excluded, provided sincerity of heart, dissatisfaction with ourselves, humility, and faith are present in order that our hypocrisy may not profane God's name by calling upon him deceitfully. Our most gracious Father will not cast out those whom he not only urges, but stirs up with every possible means, to come to him.