Christian ministry

Marianna Slocum – Bringing the Good Seed to Mexican Tribes. Marianna Slocum was excited about her upcoming wedding to Bill Bentley, a missionary she had met two years earlier. The big date was only six days away. They had just returned to her home after Bill’s speaking engagement in New Jersey and...

On March 7, 1557, a French ship landed into Guanabara Bay, near modern-day Rio de Janeiro, carrying fourteen French Protestant men ready to bring the gospel to this new continent. One of them, 23-year-old Jean de Léry, kept a detailed journal. These men, according to Léry, were sent in response to...

The visible church is an institution. Like any other organization the church has structure. Anyone who takes the Bible seriously realizes that the gathered community of God has leaders, doctrine, and rules for membership. As unpopular as it might be to say, Christianity is a religion and the...

Christiana Tsai and Her Persistence in Trials One day, Christiana Tsai woke up to find the room spinning around her. Her body grew stiff while the light stabbed her eyes as with daggers. This was the beginning of a long, intermittent illness that doctors could not explain. Her inability to move...

Paulus Orosius – A Forgotten Augustinian Historian “In the next little light smiles that pleader of Christian times, of whose Latin work Augustine availed himself.” [1] This is how Dante described his brief encounter, in Paradise, with an ancient historian whose name apparently needed no mention...

Jacques Lefèvre D’Etaples – An Early French Reformer The life of Jacques Lefèvre D’Etaples ran almost parallel to that of Martin Luther. Born around 1455 (28 years before Luther), Lefèvre died in 1536, when Luther was still teaching, preaching, and establishing churches. In 1512, when Luther...

The Book of Zephaniah unfolds during the days of Josiah. Who can forget those days? The pro-Assyrian party likely put this eight-year-old boy on the throne to placate the ruling nation at that time. However, the pro-Assyrian party in Judah did not factor God into the equation. Why would they? How...

Doctors tell us that one of the best things we can do for our health is to get moving. In other words, stop the sedentary lifestyle and start skipping rope, skiing, swimming, or the like. Similarly, James tells us that the best thing we can do for our spiritual health is to get going (Jas. 2:14-26...

Aelred of Rievaulx – A Theologian of Love In 1134, a reputable young man with a promising career at the court of David I, king of Scots, saddled his horse and started his journey to a remote abbey in a North Yorkshire valley. His name is Aelred. He never returned from his journey, and his decision...

This and the previous article show that images of Christ undermine various essential doctrines, not simply an essential doctrine. Let us continue setting forth the reasons why. First, it undermines the doctrine of the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ. Consider WLC question 53 which...