In St. Peter’s Basilica, this fourth-century bishop of Milan enjoys a place of honor alongside such other Doctors of the Church as Chrysostom, Athanasius, and Augustine. His scholarship was wide ranging, including Scripture commentaries, doctrinal treatises, and even hymns. His most influential writing on morality was On the Duties of the Clergy, from which the following passage is taken. In a culture depending upon philosophers for ethical guidance, Ambrose’s work stood out as distinctly Christian.

  With resurgent Islam extending its power throughout the world—whether through immigration, procreation, litigation, intimidation, or terrorism—the Church must respond for the sake of truth, righteousness, and, indeed, civilization. Of course, truth and righteousness are already in short supply in the West. Decadence is proceeding apace, and unless there is spiritual awakening in the land, Islam will reign by default. The only hope is a rebirth of holiness, a rediscovery of spiritual boldness, and a renewal of spiritual power. Of course, in all this, the Church must lead:

  Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34 (ESV)

Dr. Dan Sheard Scripture Reference: Mark 6:46-52

  In August 1532, a poor and tattered man returned to England from exile in Europe. None of King Henry’s agents recognized one of England’s greatest evangelical scholars as he crept back to his homeland to continue the work of Reformation. John Frith’s poverty was not a costume; he knew what it was to suffer and struggle to survive in a hostile situation.1 It had not always been this way. Frith had been recognized from an early age as a great Oxford scholar and a man with exciting prospects.

  A preeminent evangelical theologian, James I. Packer taught and preached in England for 27 years before joining the faculty at Regent College in Vancouver in 1979. He currently serves as a executive editor and visiting scholar for Christianity Today. In his book, God Has Spoken, Packer says that those who see Christian faith as a weak and desperate substitute for knowledge miss the biblical point. Faith is a “step in the light,” a step as sure as the promises of God.

  Traditional marriage is on the rocks in the West, and not just because of the influence of the homosexual activist community and the introduction of so-called gay marriage. Heterosexuals are also to blame for marriage’s bad press. Since the 1960s and 70s, heterosexual cohabitation outside of marriage has skyrocketed. In fact, the number of American couples cohabiting has risen 1,000 percent since 1960, with more than 4.7 million couples currently living together.1 And the situation is especially dire in Scandinavia, where, even a decade ago, 45% of Danish women and 39% of Swedish women, aged 20-24, were cohabiting.2 When […]

Pastor John Scripture Reference: Numbers 21:1-9

  28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?

  “In their presentation of prerevolutionary Russia,” wrote Solzhenitsyn 25 years ago, “many Western historians succumb to a persistent but fallacious tradition, thereby to some extent echoing the arguments of Soviet propaganda.”1 He was referring to the tendency to excuse the failures of Soviet Communism by contrasting them with the supposed legacy of economic backwardness and social stagnation inherited from Tsarist Russia. In reality, however, although it is true that, compared with much of Europe, Russia was late to develop economically or socially, the Communist Revolution of 1917 aborted the rapid economic and social progress which was taking place under […]