The Scriptorium Daily

Year: 2009

  • Fasting from Facebook

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    Matt Jenson
    in ,

    I’m not yet two weeks into my Lenten fast from Facebook (or, FB to those in the know). I suppose I should tell you that I really like FB. Most days, most of the day it sits on the alert, standing post next to Gmail and my Biola email account in case I should need…

  • Today Sam Jones Confronted Sam Jones (1899)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Christian History magazine reports an unusual event in American religious history on this date: Evangelist Sam Jones took his crusade to Toledo, Ohio, with the permission of the Mayor of Toledo: another Sam Jones. How odd. Sam (evangelist) Jones scolded Toledo by saying that if the Devil were mayor of the town, he wouldn’t change…

  • Today Bernard Gilpin Died (1583)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Bernard Gilpin (1517-1583) was a English priest and theologian all through those years when it was hard to keep from being burned at the stake no matter what your theological views were. A man of peace born into a time of war, he had to engage in controversy and put his life on the line,…

  • Rush Limbaugh, Conservative Leader?

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    John Mark Reynolds
    in

    Rush Limbaugh has taken center stage as America’s conservative thought leader and figurehead. Many conservatives are happy with Rush as their thought leader, but is Rush’s current role as the figurehead and thought leader of the conservative movement the one he is best at and the one he ought to play? Is Rush’s prominence as…

  • Tobacco and Heaven and Hell

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    R.A. Torrey
    in ,

    Q. Can a man be an out and out Christian and use tobacco? A. There are laymen and ministers who purpose to be out and out for God and to make their lives count to the uttermost for Him who do use tobacco, but their lives do not count for God as they would if…

  • Today is Lettie Cowman’s Birthday (1870)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    A lot of people who use the perennially popular devotional book Streams in the Desert think it is by somebody named Charles, because the title page is signed “Mrs. Charles Cowman.” As an author, she successfully concealed herself under her married name, her late husband’s name. Her full name was Lettie Burd Cowman (1870-1960). And…

  • Today John Wesley Died (1791)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    This is the day John Wesley died. Wesley’s influence was vast: Some historians have ventured the idea that he was instrumental in a revival movement that did so much good in England that it preserved the nation from suffering its own version of the French Revolution. That would be hard to demonstrate, but he really…

  • Today George Herbert Died (1633)

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    Fred Sanders
    in , ,

    March 1, 1633, George Herbert died of tuberculosis. He left as his major literary accomplishment a set of poems called The Temple, a nearly inexhaustible source of spiritual insight and guidance. Here is my favorite, The Bunch of Grapes. Joy, I did lock thee up: but some bad man Hath let thee out again: And…

  • Today is Lewis Sperry Chafer’s Birthday (1871)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Lewis Sperry Chafer (February 27, 1871 – August 22, 1952) is famous for his role in promoting and consolidating dispensational theology. That pigeonholes him well enough, and he was happy enough to bear that label. In fact, he was proud to have been the first theologian to take up the task of thinking through all…

  • Economic Asceticism?

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    Greg Peters
    in ,

    Today is Ash Wednesday. I’m sitting here with ashes on my forehead and the words ringing in my ears, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” That’s a fact that none of us can escape. Of course, Lent is that liturgical season when we certainly are to acknowledge our sins for…

  • Today “Rabbi” Duncan Died (1870)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    John Duncan (1796 – February 26, 1870) was no Rabbi; he was a Scottish pastor who did missions work among the Jews in Hungary. Luminaries like Adolph Saphir (author of The Hidden Life) and Alfred Edersheim (author of The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah) were converted under his ministry. He was so involved…

  • “Come, Christian Triune God Who Lives” (Francis Schaeffer)

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Listen to Francis Schaeffer’s words from his 1972 book True Spirituality. In the chapter entitled “The Supernatural Universe,” he says: Little by little, many Christians in this generation find the reality slipping away. The reality tends to get covered by the barnacles of naturalistic thought. Indeed, I suppose this is one of half a dozen…