David Nussbaum in Anabaptism Today gives British examples of how “Christendom” (the medieval concept of a political or geographical Christianity) still has governmental and cultural support. Many American Christians believe that it should. They teach that removing prayer from public schools and removing religious words from public buildings is a denial of a special covenant that God made with America.
Continue reading “Should Christians have special privileges?”
Beware of prayerless tears.
“Beware of prayerless tears and beware of tearless prayers.”
– Anonymous
Oh, what a joyful feast will be prepared for us!
“Oh, what a joyful feast will be prepared for us before the clock strikes twelve!”
– John Claess, Martyrs Mirror, p. 468-471
Automating life in the city
Man’s trust in himself has drawn him to the cities, where you can have food by paying for it without having to pray for rain, where you can ignore God’s judgment on you because you spend all your time with others who are ignoring the same thing. In the Third World, millions are moving from the country to the city, creating the world’s largest slums. Not that there’s more food in the city; after all, you can’t raise much wheat on concrete. Though in the Western world, many people are now moving from the city to the nearby country, it is not necessarily in repentance or dependence on God. They keep the city in their hearts even while God’s creation is before their eyes.
I will tell to the world an incredible thing.
“I will tell to the world an incredible thing: in a dark [prison] hole I have found pleasure; in a place of bitterness and death, rest and hope of salvation.”
– Algerius,Martyrs Mirror, p. 570-573
We must wake ourselves up!
“We must wake ourselves up! Or somebody else will take our place, and bear our cross, and thereby rob us of our crown.”
– William Booth
Join the cast-off little flock.
“But where you hear of a poor, simple, cast-off little flock, which is despised and rejected by the world, join them.”
– Anna of Rotterdam , Martyrs Mirror p. 453-454
Dentistry is more frightening than death.
More people are afraid of dentists than they are of death. Maybe that’s because they believe dentists are more real than death. As much as possible, we want death to be handled by institutions such as hospitals and mortuaries. Otherwise we might have to face our own mortality.
You can take from me no more than my life.
“You can take from me no more than my life.”
– Offrus Greizinger, Martys Mirror p. 448
Sickness is caused by spirits.
Ironically, after years of sending medical workers to developing regions to teach that sicknesses are not caused by spirits, the western world has to admit that its own medical problems are overwhelmingly caused by spirits. It is because of their spiritual needs that Westerners engage in destructive behavior such as the use of mood-altering drinks and drugs, or overeating or oversmoking, or sexual promiscuity or perversion, or acts of violence. Call the problem low spirits, high spirits, or evil spirits. It isn’t treatable medically.