Jesus enters the city of Jericho. The stunning miracle of sight to the blind recorded in the closing verses of Luke 18 has ensured that Jesus’ already considerable entourage has become a large boisterous crowd. It is only six days to the crucifixion. And that is no mere passing observation, but ut…
“This day is salvation come to this house” Read More »
When we think of Syria, we tend to remember incidents such as Saul travelling on the road to Damascus, and hence a land locked country to the north-east of Israel. It can be easy to forget that squeezed between Lebanon to the south and Turkey to the north, Syria has a sea coast of some 193 kilometre…
Russia, Syria and the Black Sea Fleet Read More »
No historian better captures the essential character of Alexander of Macedon than Daniel the prophet. Consider his words (Dan 8:6–7): “the fury of his power”, “he was moved with choler against him”, “smote… and brake… cast him down… stamped upon him… none could deliver”. These …
Alexander the Great Read More »
This was the heading of an article by well known commentator, Mark Steyn, on the outcome of the seizure and subsequent highly publicised release by the Iranians of fifteen British Navy and Marine personnel at the head of the Persian Gulf. Steyn noted that The Associated Press reported the story unde…
Iran’s Bluff Humbles Britain Read More »
The year 2009 marks the bi-centenary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 1809, and the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his best known work “On the Origin of Species”. Those whose sympathies lie with the theory of evolution might be expected to make much of these anniversari…
Scarcely any experience in life gives more joy than the birth of a child. Parents, grandparents, family, friends and indeed all the ecclesia rejoice at this new life, innocent, still, full of promise.
Praise at the birth of the Saviour
So the first instance of praise in the chronology of the N…
Worship and Praise in the First Century and Today Read More »
Obeying the injunction to “forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”, as the body of Christ, we form into groups for convenient worship and establish ecclesias. Our ecclesia becomes our spiritual home. Within the ecclesial family we have a haven from the world, a place of solace, and of…
The Ecclesia, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Read More »
We are not surprised by reports of anti- Semitism in places such as Europe or the Middle East. In Europe the rising trend of anti-Semitic behaviour and violence can in part be accounted for by growing Muslim populations in many European countries. But Hitler and the Nazis did not need any Muslim the…
Latter Day Anti-semitism Read More »
The daily readings for 6 January bring together the beautiful sequence of Psalms 14, 15 and 16. This series of David’s psalms, though each is complete in itself, has an instructive flow of thought. In Psalm 14 we have set before us the inherent evil of all mankind. Psalm 15 answers the inevitable …
Three Psalms of Warning, Vision and Encouragement Read More »
The preamble to the Basis of Fellowship set out on pages 13–15 of the Unity Book includes the following : “… a clear basis for ecclesial unity has now been formulated… The basis arrived at and which is offered as a means to ecclesial association is as follows”. We should not be surprised t…
The Unity Book – Fellowship Clauses Read More »
