First Baptist Church of Perryville Archives: featured
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22 March 2012
A Word to Citizens of the State—Richard Baxter (1615 - 1691)
In the relative peace of Charles II’s restored monarchy, Richard Baxter wrote extensively on the political ramifications of obedience to Scripture. One of his concerns was the class jealously stirred up by radicals during the recent Civil War (1642 - 1648). Baxter understood that political rhetoric often incites envy by pitting the “haves” against the “have-nots.” Reflecting on James 3:15-17, he concluded that the Christian pastor and politician should never stoke the fires of greed and class envy.
Politicians and others continue to try to manipulate people to protest and vote in a certain way by appealing to greed and encouraging class envy.
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20 March 2012
Teenagers Losing the Gospel
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently instituted a new minor for its students: “Christianity and Culture.” Sociologist Christian Smith,1 the faculty member who spearheaded the change, indicated that the “program is neither ‘devotional nor antagonistic’ toward Christianity.” It operates under the assumption that students who fail to understand Christianity in general and evangelicalism in particular will fail to fully understand the West. Smith, an Anglican, admits there are dangers to learning about evangelicalism in an academic environment. However he explained that the genesis of his campaign for the new courses was rooted in his discovery that incoming evangelical students often know little about Christianity. Hypocrisy is more than the pretense of righteousness—it can be the pretense of knowledge as well. Though Christian teenagers identify themselves as believers, in too many instances they actually believe very little about God and His work in history.2 (more…)
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18 March 2012
A Culture without Christianity? Imagine.
In 1971, John Lennon wrote a hymn for the secularist faith. The song, “Imagine,” fantasized about the state of world affairs if everyone were stripped of all beliefs and prejudices—with the notable exception, of course, of the former Beatle’s favorites. “Imagine there’s no heaven,” sang Lennon,
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today . . .
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace . . . (more…)
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16 March 2012
Religion’s Relationship to Civilization—Theodore Dalrymple (1949 - )
A self-proclaimed atheist, Anthony Daniels is a former physician who now writes using the pseudonym “Theodore Dalrymple.” As a contributing editor of City Journal and the Dietrich Weismann Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, his writings are known for their pointed cultural commentary. In an essay titled, “What the New Atheists Don’t See,”1 “Dalrymple” critiques the popular rejection of religion by contemporary atheists. He argues that religious faith was essential for the establishment of Western civilization and is essential for its survival. (more…)
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14 March 2012
How Christianity Conquered Rome
Famine and war had recently afflicted Caesarea, so when the plague hit in the early fourth century, the populace was already weakened and unable to withstand this additional blow. The populace began fleeing the city, one of the larger ones of the Roman Empire, for safety in the countryside.1 However, in the midst of the fleeing inhabitants, at least one group was staying behind, the Christians. Bishop of the city and historian of the early church, Eusebius, recorded that during the plague, “All day long some of them [the Christians] tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them. Others gathered together from all parts of the city a multitude of those withered from famine and distributed bread to them all.”2 (more…)
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12 March 2012
Soul-Saving Diagnostics
9 [T]he law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
1 Timothy 1:9b-11 (ESV) (more…)
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4 March 2012
Her God or the God?
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place . . . 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Acts 17:25-26, 29 (ESV) (more…)
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2 March 2012
The Great Depression of the 1930s—A Lesson in What Not to Do
The Great Depression of the 1930s was a nightmare:
Some 13 million Americans were unemployed, “not wanted” in the production process. One worker out of every four was walking the streets in want and despair. Thousands of banks, . . . thousands of businesses, and millions of farmers fell into bankruptcy or ceased operations entirely. Nearly everyone suffered painful losses of wealth and income.1 (more…)
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29 February 2012
“The Government Becomes God”—G. K. Chesterton (1874 – 1936)
Englishman Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an accomplished “novelist, poet, essayist, dramatist, biographer, journalist, and apologist” and has been called “the ultimate Edwardian man of letters.”1 As such, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. (more…)
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27 February 2012
The Popularity of Polygamy
On March 23, 2007, about forty women protested in Kyrgyzstan’s capital against a plan to legalize polygamy. Under then-current statutes, polygamy was punishable with up to two years in prison. Proponents of legalization in this largely Muslim country believed such restrictions were unnecessary, the unfortunate remnants of an age when Kyrgyzstan was controlled by the Soviet Union.1 It may be strange to think of polygamy’s popularity rising, but as the influence of Islam increases, so does its ability to mold society into the image of the Qur’an. (more…)
