The Martyrdom of Polycarp

There is one quote not mentioned on the video when they wanted to burn Polycarp alive by nailing him to a stake because of his refusal to deny Christ. Rather than allowing himself to be nailed to the stake he told his captors:

• "Let me be as I am. He that granted me to endure the fire will grant me also to remain at the fire unmoved, without being secured with nails."

Here's another older video that gives a few more details:

Standing in the Gap - Men Wanted!

Here are some distressing and disturbing statistics taken from Mark Driscoll message a while back.

"So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." (Ezekiel 22:30)

• There are 11-13 million MORE women Christians in the US than men

Women are:

• 100% more likely than men to be involved in DISCIPLESHIP
• 56% more likely than men to be involved in CHURCH LEADERSHIP
• 54% more likely than men to be involved in SMALL GROUPS
• 39% more likely than men to HAVE A NORMAL DEVOTIONAL/QUIET TIME
• 33% more likely than men to VOLUNTEER AT CHURCH
• 29% more likely than men to READ THEIR BIBLES
• 29% more likely than men to ATTEND CHURCH
• 29% more likely than men to SHARE THEIR FAITH
• 29% more likely than men to GIVE FINANCIALLY TO A CHURCH

Voddie Baucham Jr. Clips

Here's a couple short video clips from the author of a book I am reading called "Family Driven Faith." Voddie Bauchman Jr. has a lot of good teaching on the Biblical family and the Biblical worldview.

The Duty of Christian Education


The Consequences of Feminism


The value of family

John Weaver - Good Preaching - Good History

John Weaver preaches on The Black-Robed Regiment, telling the stories of early American pastors who fought in the first war for American Independence.



John Weaver preaches on State's Rights, with many poignant illustrations from American history.

Victor, the Martyr

Here is one of the many amazing true stories from the Foxes Book of Martyrs. It's one of my favorites. As is all the martyr stories, this is very humbling and inspiring. We so often take our liberty for granted. We get spoiled and even complain when our comforts are not comfortable enough. God give us the conviction and courage of the martyrs of old.

"Victor was a Christian of a good family at Marseilles, in France; he spent a great part of the night in visiting the afflicted, and confirming the weak; which pious work he could not, consistently with his own safety, perform in the daytime; and his fortune he spent in relieving the distresses of poor Christians. He was at length, however, seized by the emperor Maximian's decree, who ordered him to be bound, and dragged through the streets. During the execution of this order, he was treated with all manner of cruelties and indignities by the enraged populace. Remaining still inflexible, his courage was deemed obstinacy. Being by order stretched upon the rack, he turned his eyes toward heaven, and prayed to God to endue him with patience, after which he underwent the tortures with most admirable fortitude. After the executioners were tired with inflicting torments on him, he was conveyed to a dungeon. In his confinement, he converted his jailers, named Alexander, Felician, and Longinus. This affair coming to the ears of the emperor, he ordered them immediately to be put to death, and the jailers were accordingly beheaded. Victor was then again put to the rack, unmercifully beaten with batoons, and again sent to prison. Being a third time examined concerning his religion, he persevered in his principles; a small altar was then brought, and he was commanded to offer incense upon it immediately. Fired with indignation at the request, he boldly stepped forward, and with his foot overthrew both altar and idol. This so enraged the emperor Maximian, who was present, that he ordered the foot with which he had kicked the altar to be immediately cut off; and Victor was thrown into a mill, and crushed to pieces with the stones, A.D. 303."

Tyranny and Resistance

"If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." ― Samuel Adams

Grudem - Evangelical Feminism

17 Reasons God Made Man in Gen 1-3

I had my kids go through Genesis 1-3 on their own and find at least 3 reasons why God made man (or woman for the girls) in just those three chapters. They each found about five. It was a good exercise for them. I did it also and came up with seventeen. I’m sure there are more. I’m just amazed at how much you can learn in the first three chapters of the Bible.

1. To reflect the image of God (“Let us make man in our image” 1:26)
2. To be like God (“after our likeness” 1:26)
3. To have dominion (“let them have dominion” 1:26)
4. To be fruitful and multiply (“Be fruitful and multiply” 1:28)
5. To work the land (“and there was no man to work the ground” 2:5)
6. To be a temple of the Holy Spirit (“breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” 2:7)
7. To have eternal life (“The tree of life was in the midst of the garden” 2:9)
8. To obey God’s law (“the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” 2:9)
9. To enjoy good food (“every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” 2:9)
10. To keep or protect (“put him in the garden of Eden to… keep it” 2:15)
11. To have relationships (“It is not good that the man should be alone” 2:18)
12. To exercise authority (“whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name” 2:19)
13. To have and to hold a wife (“man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife” 2:24)
14. To be pure (“the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” 2:25
15. To walk with God (“they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” 3:8)
16. To be the head of the family (“the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” 3:9 – Eve sinned first but God went to Adam first as the head)
17. To be forgiven and clothed with Christ ("the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them" 3:21)
    

With the Loudest Voice

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." Martin Luther

Along the same lines, Luther also said this: ""If we are correct and right in our Christian life at every point, but refuse to stand for the truth at a particular point where the battle rages--then we are traitors to Christ."

God Give Us Men

GOD, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

Josiah Gilbert Holland