Opinion

Ezra 3:11-13   I OFTEN NOTICE two kinds of expressions in our churches. One is nostalgia for the past and the other is enthusiasm for the future. Nostalgia leads to weeping as we think of past glories. Enthusiasm always rejoices over the bright future.   We cannot brush aside either of these expressions. But we […]

FROM A DOLLOP OF CLAY, the Creator God with His bare hands configured a man Into His own image, breathing His spirit into lifeless matter, and miraculously transmogrified mud into flesh and bone and living tissue and as blood filled his body man became a living soul: fearfully and wonderfully made.   Bestowed the mantle […]

TOWARDS THE END OF LAST YEAR, I started reading the engaging book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene H. Peterson. I would like to share an interesting part from one of its chapters, “Christ Plays in Creation”.   In it, Peterson related that a few years ago he had a student who lived […]

PHILIP MELANCHTHON (1497-1560)   A ‘humanist and Reformer’ PHILIP MELANCHTHON was an influential theologian who worked closely with Martin Luther and whose books were more popular in Europe than even those of Luther and Calvin. Born on February 16, 1497, in Bretten in the Electoral Palatinate, Melanchthon is often described as a “humanist and Reformer” […]

“A NEW YEAR. New opportunities. Time to make new plans. Set goals. Press forward. Let’s do great things for God in 2013!”   I have a confession to make. Great plans and motivational speeches excite and inspire me… but not always. Sometimes I just feel weary after listening to a motivational speaker present great ideas […]

WHAT A STRANGE FLURRY of stars across the paddocks of the night sky that evening two millennia ago when the daystar fashioned in the astral foundries of the Creator swept across the community of stars to take its signal place over Bethlehem, to chart and mark for scholars of celestial lights who can transcribe nocturnal […]

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564) AMONG THE GREAT second-generation theologians of the 16th century Protestant Reformation, John Calvin is arguably the greatest. Like the other reformers, he had a traditional upbringing and was steeped in the humanist tradition of his time. Although many scholars described his “conversion” to Protestant faith as “sudden” (conversio subtia), it was no […]

AS A 17-YEAR-OLD, my family is of the utmost importance to me. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, my parents provide for my material needs. On hindsight, I realise this is also one of the many ways they show their love to me. With their help in this area, I am able to focus […]

DURHAM (North Carolina, US) – Health and wellness was an integral part of the ministry of the Rev John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said the Rev Randy Maddox, a noted Wesley scholar. Indeed, Wesley’s most popular publication in his lifetime was Primitive Physick, a book of medical advice first published in the 1740s. “Wesley […]

Martin Luther (1483-1546) ON OCT 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk nailed his protests against a practice of the Roman Catholic Church on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This act sparked one of the most significant and enduring movements in Western Christianity. The monk in question was Martin Luther. The document came […]

REGARDLESS OF AGE, everyone has somehow faced peer pressure. While peer pressure is most closely associated with teens, I believe that adults face peer pressure too – it’s just more often disguised as competition in the workplace! However, with greater life experience and hopefully wisdom, adults are probably better equipped to deal with peer pressure.

WITHOUT A DOUBT, the 14th century is one of the most tumultuous in the history of Europe. It was the century in which ancient and established institutions were crumbling even as new centres of learning, especially universities, were beginning to proliferate. This century also saw some of the greatest political upheavals, including the Hundred Years’ […]