"Sound Doctrine," "Pattern," "Timothy:" Reflections on Restoration Hermeneutics

From time to time I write a blog post in response to a request, that is the origin of this post. Sometime back a friend, a brother in Christ, and fellow preacher asked me to write about "sound doctrine" and "the pattern." I have thought long and hard about this and have written various other pieces and I encourage the curious to check them out: Quest for THE Pattern Wal-Mart, Dresses and PatternsSo knowing full well that many will totally disagree...

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Prayer of Manasseh: The Heartbeat of Jewish Spirituality

Light of Grace Bursts ForthThe Prayer of Manasseh is one of the most beautiful prayers ever written - even if it is in the Apocrypha. (See also my: Apocrypha: Reading Between the Testaments; Praying with Romans & Manasseh; Apocryphal Myths: Great is the Truth and Mighty above All Things. Prayer. The word itself ushers us into the realms of something deeper and richer than ourselves. Prayer. Prayer is the witness to dynamic faith in a personal...

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Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah: Don't Fear, They are not Gods

BaruchIntroductionBaruch along with the Letter of Jeremiah are probably among the earliest (i.e. oldest) of the writings contained in the Old Testament Apocrypha. Because of the abundance of “Hebraisms” the original language of these works is believed to be Hebrew. The now lost Hebrew originals were written sometime between 300 and 160 B.C. for Baruch and 317 and 306 B.C. for the Letter of Jeremiah (the issues are complicated but for the curious...

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Judith: Radical Woman of God

Introductory ThoughtsAs we continue our series on the "Ancestry of the King James Version" by looking at books it contains that the modern Evangelical NIV does not we come to Judith. Judith is a wonderful example of moral story telling by an early Jew. The author tells of the story of a contest between a dominant pagan culture with its attendant claims and the God of Israel. Yahweh gains victory through a very unlikely source. Judith, a pious...

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The "Enjoyment" of Scripture

Writing on the Ancestry of the King James Version has stimulated my mind in some fresh and new directions ... I grew up in a Bible believing, church attending, God fearing home. From a very young age I have memories of my dad sitting on the floor with his back leaning on his back on the bed (sometimes on the couch) with Nave's Topical Bible, Strong's Concordance and Unger's Bible Handbook, and sometimes Adam Clarke's commentary around him as he studied....

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James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass

One of the most power speeches in history (in my opinion). Frederick Douglass' "What is the Fourth of July to the American Slave?" ... excerpts here read by James Earl Jones ......

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