pray to God for caesar
The Roman emperors demanded that their citizens demonstrate allegiance by kneeling before their image, pinching a bit of incense, and declaring, “Caesar is Lord.” Tertullian, a writer in the early church, would have none of it. He told the emperor that Christians would not pray to him as if he were a god but instead would pray to God for…
forgetting faces
In 2004, a woman named Claire contracted viral encephalitis. After treatment for her illness at a local hospital, she returned home. But her memory had been dramatically affected. Claire developed a condition known as prosopagnosia—the inability to recognize faces. After several years of effort, she can finally pick out her husband’s countenance in a crowd, but she still can’t point…
perfect suffering
Prosperity preachers don’t last long in countries where there is persecution. They usually just leave.” That quote by Ajith Fernando from his book The Call to Joy and Pain captures two realities of the Christian faith: (1) Jesus suffered; (2) those who believe in Him will suffer too.
Unlike “health and wealth” false teachers, Jesus taught that suffering was something God…
