Category: history

  • Review of Father Josiah Trenham’s “Rock and Sand” book

    This is a great review of “Rock and Sand”. I’m only three chapters through the book (due to some vision problems). I took Reformation History at Fuller as well as a class on John Calvin at a secular university. I also did quite a bit of reading of Reformation History along the way so I…

  • Theophan the Recluse

    I asked a friend for help finding a Saint name for when I get received into the Orthodox Church. My birth name, Douglas, isn’t a Saint’s name. I was stuck. He suggested I look at the meaning of Douglas but it came back as something like “dark waters”. I couldn’t find anything redemptive in that…

  • Another Old Testament Prophecy of Christ and the Church

    Here is another prophecy of Christ and the Church Isaiah 60:1-3 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.…

  • Old Testament Prophecy of the Church

    There’s a prophesy of the church found in the Old Testament Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be…

  • Orthodoxy and Freemasonry

    In 1933, the Orthodox Church of Greece officially declared that being a Freemason constitutes an act of apostasy and thus, until he repents, the person involved with Freemasonry cannot partake of the Eucharist. This has been generally affirmed throughout the whole Eastern Orthodox Church. The Orthodox critique of Freemasonry agrees with both the Catholic and…

  • Orthodox vs Protestantism

    Background My faith background was as an Evangelical Protestant. I attended two Evangelical seminaries and got a Master of Theology degree and a Master of Divinity degree. I was an Evangelical church pastor for a few years. It didn’t end well. Good Things about being an Evangelical One thing I am thankful about being an…

  • Anabaptists Go Crazy – The Dark History of Münster…

    Wikipedia article 

  • Apostolic Succession: Common Objections Refuted w/ Perry Robinson

     

  • The Confession of Dositheus (1672)

    The Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 soundly rejected any further attempts at reformulation of Orthodox teachings and strengthened Orthodox beliefs against both the Protestant Reformation and Catholicism. The Synod produced its own confession, The Confession of Dositheus (Patriarch of Jerusalem), in which point by point it refuted Cyril’s’ eighteen points.Orthodoxy’s Official Response to Calvinism —…

  • Perpetual Virginity of Mary

    I’ve had a change in my view of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary. I now believe it is more than an optional doctrine, but a necessary one to guard the virginal conception of Jesus. 

  • The Church in the Wilderness

    If the writers of the New Testament were to use a Greek word to describe a gathering together of the people of God in the Old Testament they would naturally use the Greek word ekklesia which means assembly.  Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which…

  • American Flag in the Sanctuary

    I was watching a History Channel show on the battle flags of the North and South used during the Civil war. Feeling frustrated by the discussion recently on the subject of the flag in the church sanctuary. Quote “the flag represented their comrades … who had fallen trying to carry those flags”. It is hard…

  • Warning Signs of Power Corruption in Organizations

    Warning Signs of Power Corruption in Organizations

  • What is a Bishop?

    Key to Apostolic Succession (AS) is the bishop. The bishop has Biblical origins. The role is bishop in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and Eastern Orthodox Church (EOC) seems to be different than the bishop as described in the New Testament (NT) in several ways. In the EOC and RCC, bishops cannot be married. In…

  • Lutherans, Homosexuals, Minnesota and a Calvinist Prophet

    John Piper has stated in his BLOG that the tornados that struck the Twin Cities were God’s judgment on the Lutheran body meeting to decide the place of homosexuals in the ordained ministry in the ELCA church. The secular press has picked up the story.

  • The Ancient Faith

    A couple of things have caught my attention recently. Ancient Faith Radio I’ve spent the last couple of days listening to podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio. Some great material on there ranging from Liturgies to seminars to preaching and teaching. Energetic Procession A buddy of mine, Perry Robinson, has a great BLOG on Orthodox subjects,…

  • Christian Socialism

    There is a species of socialism which has survived the fall of the Soviet Union. This form of socialism is to be found primarily in the ivory towers of academia. The mantra of the Christian socialist is that of Carl Marx, “From each according to his ability to each according to his need”. In order…

  • Test cases and proof texts

    Test cases are almost the reverse of proof texts. A test case is a passage that is run through a paradigm to see if the paradigm can work with the test cases. A set of proof tests is used to construct a paradigm. Theological systems are paradigms. My last BLOG entry consisted of one such…

  • Old Earth/Young Earth?

    I do think that there is a knock down falsification argument against the most common young earth argument. Let me give it a shot on you and see what you think. Young earthers often say that Adam was created to look a particular age, say 21 for the sake of argument. This makes sense. Further,…

  • Christian Source Documents

    If you have an interest in Christian historical documents, the Internet has some wonderful web sites. If you have not been to these sites, they are impressive in the amount of source materials that they contain. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is a vast depository of Medieval source materials. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has a…

  • C. S. Lewis: God, Gender and Priestesses

    This is an interesting article by C. S. Lewis on God, Gender and Priestesses. Lewis wrote the article in 1948. In particular, Lewis talks about feminine language to describe God as mother, etc. This article by Lewis predates by 40-50 years the current controversies in the Episcopal church and other denominations. Here is an article…

  • Dr. Paul Carlson, Missionary Martyr

    Evangelical Covenant Church missionary Dr. Paul Carlson was arrested and killed in the Congo in 1964. Read about it here.

  • Abuses

    Study details school sexual misconduct.

  • New Testament Uses of the Old Testament

    Some Preliminary Thoughts on How the New Testament Writers Quote the Old Testament 1 – The NT writers frequently quote OT passages. 2 – The audiences of the NT writers have varying familiarity with the OT texts. 3 – The audiences may have people that know the OT text quite well since there are probable…