news

I'm going back to school on Tuesday, following my Easter break. Kvetka is still doing her usual jobs. We're both hoping to go to the Ichthus worship weekend at the beginning of May.

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bible teaching

You may not agree with everything in this section (as I don't - I believe eldership is for men and women) , but I hope you'll find it at least interesting and thought provoking. Here is an article about foreknowledge by Gregory Boyd. When the Bible says that God "changed his mind" (e.g. Ex. 32:14; 2 Chr. 21:15; Jon.3:10, Jere. 26:2-3; Joel 2:13-14), I simply do not see anything, in the text which suggests it is intended to be taken as figurative. So too, when God adds fifteen years to Hezekiah's life after he's prophetically informed him of his intention to end it immediately (Isa., 38:1-5; 2 Ka. 20:1-6), 1 assume that God altered his plans. The same is true when God says he will reverse his prophesied decision to bless or curse a nation if that nation changes (Jere. 18:7-11). I don't know how to faithfully interpret this passage unless God really changes his mind. And this, so far as I can discern, implies that the fate of the nation was not from eternity a foregone conclusion. To see the whole article, click here. Biblical eldership by Alexander Strauch. While attending a sacred music concert, I received an insightful lesson in ecclesiology. As I walked into the main foyer of the church where the concert was being held, I immediately noticed the photographs and names of the senior pastor and his staff arranged in a pyramid within a glass encasement. The senior pastor’s photograph was at the top, his three associate pastor’s photographs were below, and the rest of the church staff’s photographs completed the base of the pyramid. As I walked further into the building and down a side hall, I saw another glass encasement that contained the photographs and names of the church elders. I immediately thought, What a superb illustration of how the church elders have been pushed aside to a scarcely visible position in the church! This is quite different from the New Testament model of eldership. To see the whole article, click here. Calling of the Gentiles - my first study paper. You can see it by clicking here.

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church history

Under the presidence of high clerical dignitaries and led by Simon de Montfort, a military leader of great ability and a man of boundless ambition and ruthless cruelty, the most beautiful and cultivated part of Europe at that time was ravaged, became for twenty years the scene of unspeakable wickedness and cruelty and was reduced to desolation. When the town of Beziers (South of France) was summoned to surrender, the Catholic inhabitants joined with the Dissenters in refusing, though warned that if the place were taken no soul should be left alive. The town was captured, and of the tens of thousands who had taken refuge there, none were spared. After the capture of another place, La Minerve, about 140 believers were found, women in one house, men in another, engaged in prayer as they awaited their doom. De Montfort had a great pile of wood prepared, and told them to be converted to the Catholic faith or mount that pile. They answered that they owned no papal or priestly authority, only that of Christ and His Word. The fire was lighted and the confessors, without hesitation, entered the flames. It was near this spot, in the neighbourhood of Naibonne, that the Inquisition was established (1210), under the superintendence of Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order. When, at the Council of Toulouse (1229) it was made a permanent institution, the Bible excepting only the latin Psalter, was forbidden to the laity, and it was decreed that they might have no part of it translated into their own languages. Taken from "The Pilgrim Church", Marshall & Pickering 1989.

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prayer

Please pray for our health, God's guidance and wisdom in all the decisions we have to make now, and when my Bible course finishes. Thank you.

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other websites

You may find the following websites interesting. http://www.ichthus.org.uk/ http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/ http://come.to/the418project

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photos

Here is one of our lates photos. If you'd like to see more of them, click here.

You can send me an email: [email protected]

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