Some of the most significant thoughts about Christmas may well center around the breath-taking contrasts suggested by the Nativity. First, we are amazed at the contrasting attitudes of angels and men toward the child born in Bethlehem. The angels, who represented the heavenly world, made swift their journey to the fields of Ephrata eager to […]
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away […]
The incarnation. This is a term we so often use in our Christian lingo that it has become another phrase we simply let roll off our tongues all too easily. The incarnation, though, is no mere phrase; it was a climactic, redemptive event. It was a moment in which there was hushed silence in heaven […]
Did you know that there is only one apparent spelling error in the United States Constitution? It occurs in the 25th Amendment, which was proposed by Congress on July 6, 1965 and ratified on February 10, 1967. During the year and a half the amending process went on, one wonders whether someone somewhere noticed something […]
Mr. David Klumpenhower will never forget October 12, 2004. Early in the morning, he was at the hospital assisting in the delivery of his son. Later in the morning, he was at the Eastmanville URC sitting before twenty-four ministers and elders who would judge his calling to be a minister of the Word and Sacraments. […]
January 1990 “As a denomination slides into liberalism, the method often used by pastors is to garble the message so that the unsuspecting do not catch the drift.” Sharpened Expression Thomas Vanden Heuvel “As believers we must be prepared and unashamed to make our confession of faith before the world, however unpopular and unwelcome that […]
“But if any one suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.” I Peter 4:16 In Exodus 30, God gives very careful instruction on how to make the anointing oil. This was the oil that was used to anoint the priests and kings of Israel before […]
II Timothy 2:15 reads as follows: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Our Arminian Brothers and Sisters have historically taken this passage and literally “divided up” God’s Word into several “dispensations”. Dispensations were largely popularized in the 1909 edition of […]
“Like apples of gold in settings of silver,” so is a word fitly spoken, according to the book of Proverbs (25:19). Revelation 3:7–13 stands before us like apples of gold in settings of silver, for it provides us with a word of encouragement, a word we desperately need to hear. We have understood the letters […]
This is a story about faith or believing in the unbelievable. It is also a story of putting aside our feelings of mortality and entrusting our lives to the Lord God, Ruler of the Universe. A nurse friend of mine was anticipating some elective surgery. She was a staff member of an emergency room services […]