8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, . . . Colossians 2:8-9 (ESV)

Pastor Chris Scripture Reference: Ezekiel 1:1-28

  The faces of the hundred executioners were painted black and red. Dressed in animal skins and martial headdresses, they danced and sang, “Today the kinsfolk of these children will weep.” But the Christians, bound hand and foot and wrapped in bundles of reeds, calmly replied, “This is the place whence we shall go to see Jesus Christ. In one moment we shall see Him.”1 Wood was stacked upon them and lit; the flames rose in a circle as over a burning hut and quickly consumed them. Their offence: refusing to engage in sodomy with the king.

  Donald A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, shows how modern misconceptions of God are, in reality, practices of idolatry. To think of God only in “emotional” terms separated from other attributes of His being, prepares the way for God to be presented publicly as little more than a super human being—capable of feeling, but powerless over the world and its problems.

  1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well . . . 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14-15 (ESV)

Pastor John Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

  John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, and John Crandall will forever be remembered as the three men who, in 1651, defied Massachusetts law and baptized an adult in the town of Lynn. After being arrested for opposing state-enforced infant baptism, they had the option of paying a fine or being publicly whipped. Clarke and Randall were released when someone paid their fine, but Holmes, who faced the steepest penalty, accepted the whipping instead. Though John Clarke memorialized the event the next year in the little tract Ill Newes from New-England; Or, a Narrative of New Englands Persecution, the incident incited a […]

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Protestant pastor, was one of Germany’s leading scholars of the twentieth century. He courageously returned from Union Seminary in New York to oppose Adolf Hitler. His great desire was for Christians to follow Christ whatever the cost. It was a cost he knew only too well: he was arrested, imprisoned, and executed (just days before the end of the Second World War) for his opposition to the Nazi regime. In his most famous work, The Cost of Discipleship (1937), he urged Christians to throw off everything that hindered their wholehearted allegiance to Christ, including the accumulation […]

  29 About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. . .” 37 “However, as for you, […]

Pastor John Scripture Refs: Proverbs 6, 13, 22:7; 1 Timothy 6; Matthew 6; Acts 24:16