Edwin R Eby

Many people mistakenly use the words Testament and Covenant interchangeably and synonymously. These words, in fact, have quite different meanings in the original Hebrew Biblical context. Someone has said that theology is the art of making distinctions in the Bible. In particular, two Holy Scriptures point out this important understanding of the Word of God: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2Ti 3:16).

An Incredible, Unspoiled Garden
In the beginning of the Biblical narrative, Divinity creates a dazzling garden. He names it Eden and saw that it was good. In all its fancy, in every spray of color, in every sound of peace, in every thought of wonder, in every taste of sweetness, for every human sensory, for every pleasure known, this garden is created for mankind—yes, everything an Almighty could “conceive.”

Our Christian forefathers were dubbed Anabaptist during the Great Reformation. The name was full of reproach and mockery for those who refused to baptize infants and who requested adult baptism. “Ana” was a Latin term meaning “over again”—or re-baptized. Later the name became a label for groups holding to the doctrines of adult baptism, church membership of adult believers only, nonresistance, and the separation of church and state.

Perhaps as a reader you have never considered whether Jesus is still a man. Does it matter? What does the Bible teach? Is Jesus a man now, or did He go back to heaven and become the son of God in the same form as before the Incarnation?

There is a teaching which states that a believer once called and chosen unto salvation and eternal life is no longer in a position to lose it. It teaches he is secure and can never fall from the grace of God. This is false.

The Halloween holiday and season represent an ancient European variant, All-Hallows’-Even (“evening”), that is, the night before All Hallows’ Day.

Psalms are poems. Poems are elegies of thought. Poems, often written by artistic personalities, vent emotion, thought, feeling or motive. Word pictures and couplet phrases deep in the soul spring out expressed as ideas, prayers or truth—sometimes in rhythmic meter—sometimes syncopated.

A compilation of Hebrew poems appear in the canon of scripture. David, the shepherd-king who mirrored God’s heart, wrote many of these.

Multiple titles could fit this piece; “The Chain maker With Long ears” or for more orthodoxy, “The Sin of Unrighteous Judgment.”

Jesus came preaching Messianic Kingdom rules. He preached that holiness and authentic Kingdom living resides inside a heart. His doctrines are our truest measure of righteousness.

One often neglected, misused and disobeyed rule of Jesus’ Olivet teaching is Matthew 7:1-2. “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

The Martyr’s Mirror as we have it is a history book first published in the Dutch language. The book contains chronicles, memorials and testimonies of Christians persecuted for their faith in Jesus. The aim of the book was to preserve in writing, accounts of Christians who were faithful to death. The book was not an attempt to glorify these men. It was written and complied as encouragement to faithfulness. It is the story of suffering people who esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in “Egypt” and who held respect unto the recompense of the reward of Christ.

No other story of Anabaptist martyrs seems to capture more notice in Mennonite minds than the account of Dirk Willems. Dirk was born at Asperen, Rotterdam, (The Netherlands). Historians record that Dirk was re-baptized upon confession of faith at the age of fifteen at the house of Peter Willems.