August 29
Bob Brown began life February 12, 1944 as a throw-away child in an orphanage in South St. Paul, Minnesota. Purchased by a young couple for $55.50, Bob was raised in a nominally Christian home, but religion did nothing to fill the void. He studied at the university and then married his high school sweetheart. During time in the Navy, they had three daughters. But ten years later, the marriage collapsed and Bob ended up living in the Bachelor Chiefs Barracks at a naval station in Pennsylvania. Then God brought an old shipmate back into his life. Charlie and his wife had been saved. One day...
Read MoreAugust 28
Did religions evolve from polytheism to monotheism? Renowned Assyriologist Stephen Langdon writes: “In my opinion the history of the oldest civilization of man is a rapid decline from monotheism to extreme polytheism and widespread belief in evil spirits. It is in a very true sense the history of the fall of man.” And anthropologist Dr. Arthur C. Custance observes that scholars of antiquity “found themselves dealing with a tremendous number of gods and goddesses and other spiritual powers of a lesser sort which seemed to be always at war with one another and, much of the time, highly...
Read MoreAugust 27
“God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Lk 18:13). Only a person’s sins rightly introduces himself to God. This was graphically illustrated at the funeral of Empress Zita, the last of the Hapsburgs. The procession stopped at the closed church doors. A member of the funeral party knocked, and was asked from within, “Who goes there?” The titles were read out: Queen of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, etc. From within came the response, ““I do not know her.” A second knock and the repeated question, “Who goes there?” The response: “Zita, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary.”...
Read MoreAugust 26
“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor 10:4). The believer has a fearsome enemy but remarkable weaponry. The word panoplia is used twice in the NT. In Luke 11:22, the Lord described His ability to defeat the strong man, taking away his panoply in which he trusted. Then in Ephesians 6:13-18, the same Lord gives us the panoply (“whole armor”) of God to prepare us for battle. What does it include? The belt: the strengthening influence of truth; the breastplate over our vitals: the protective influence of righteousness; the shoes: the...
Read MoreAugust 25
Joseph Tremblay of Quebec, ordained a priest in Rome, was serving in Chile, where, he writes, “One Sunday I chose as my theme: ‘Religious Hypocrisy,’ and used the text: ‘Not every one that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…I will profess to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity’ (Mt 7:21-23). As I delivered my message, I sensed Someone was preaching to me: ‘I never knew you: depart from Me.’ So I argued: ‘How is it possible? Am I not Your priest? Look at all the sacrifices I have made for You.’ But in spite of my arguments, the...
Read MoreAugust 24
Here are three prayers that, if prayed believingly, would revolutionize the work of the gospel in our areas. First, “Lord…send forth laborers!” (Lk 10:2). Of course, this means we must be prepared to be sent ourselves, and to support those whom the Lord sends in answer to our prayer. Then we need to ask, “Lord, teach us to pray!” (Lk 11:1) so that our efforts in the harvest fields are rewarded when God gives “the increase” (1 Cor 3:6). Finally, our prayer should be: “Lord, increase our faith!” (Lk 17:5). These three requests seem to be nested into each other. What would our acknowledgement...
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