The Iron Pen #59
"...graven with an iron pen and lead..." Job
19:24
Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
God & Country
"The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the
way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to
regulate your life by its precepts."
John Jay - 1st Chief-Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
Points to Ponder
"Worldly wisdom is foolishness before God…so if we be wise in Him, it ought
not to dismay us, when the world judgeth us to be fools…" Erasmus
"You might as well try to hear without ears or breathe without lungs, as to try to
live a Christian life without the Spirit of God in your heart." D.L. Moody
Mind At The End of Its Tether
David L. Brown
Herbert George Wells (1866-1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was a man
who was at the forefront of modern thought at the beginning of the 20th
Century. This successful author and political philosopher was most famous for his
science-fantasy novels with their prophetic depictions of the triumphs of technology as
well as the horrors of 20th-century warfare. He authored more than 80 books. His
science-fiction works include, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the
Worlds, and The Shape of Things to Come. In addition he wrote a popular two volume
historical work entitled The Outline of History.
As an atheist, he refused to believe that men were sinners. Instead, he
believed in the innate goodness of man. In fact, Wells envisioned a utopia in which the
vast and frightening material forces available to modern men and women would be rationally
controlled for progress and for the equal good of all. But, Hitler proved the depravity of
man, and the world was plunged into World War II. When the atomic bomb was dropped, Wells
knew that his dreams of a new world utopia were gone. About a year before his death he
wrote a little book called Mind At The End of Its Tether which clearly shows he was
a man in despair, without peace! He wrote -- "Here am I at the age of sixty-five
still seeking peace. I can’t adjust myself to find any peace in this world. The end
of everything we call life is close at hand and we cannot avoid it. The world is moving
into impenetrable darkness."
Outside of Jesus Christ there is NO PEACE! Isaiah 57:20-21 says, But the
wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. How different things could have
been if H. G. Wells had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 26:3 promises, Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Instead of despair at the end of his life Philippians 4:7 could have been his
portion, And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.
Is your mind at the end of its tether? It does not have to be! A bumper
sticker I recently saw concisely gives the remedy - No Jesus, No Peace! Know
Jesus, Know Peace!
5 Dangerous Hindrances To Our Fellowship With The
Lord
Rev. Richard Baxter (1615 - 1691)
[Editor’s Note: Richard Baxter was in the vanguard of the Puritan movement. For
his separatist views he spent 18 months in an English prison. He has been called "the
profoundest theologian" of all the Puritans and "the most learned and moderate
of Dissenters." His works are well worth reading." DLB]
Baxter says -- Our fellowship with the Lord is hindered when we…
- Live In Any Known Sin – 1 John 1:6-10
- Have An Earthly Mind – Colossians 3:1-6
- Keep Company With The Ungodly – Psalm 1
- Argue About Religion That Lies Only In Opinions – 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy
2:15-16&23
- Have A Proud and Lofty Spirit – James 4:6
How We Got The Chapters and Verses In Our Bibles
The oldest books in my library are a two volume Greek New Testament set printed in 1549
by Robert Stephanus (also known as Robert Estienne). French ecclesiastical authorities
raised such opposition against his printing Greek and Latin Bibles that in 1550 Stepahnus
fled Paris with his family and took refuge in Geneva. As he rode along on horseback he
marked his small New Testament in the places where he wanted the verse divisions to be
made and numbered them accordingly. The first Bible to be printed in the modern
chapter-verse format was Stephanus' Latin Bible of 1555. The first English Bible to
incorporate these verse divisions was The Geneva New Testament of 1557. Though it is true
that a Latin Bible was printed in 1538 with different verse divisions, it is the Stephanus
system that we use to this day. I should note, the Old Testament verse divisions follow
those made by a French Hebrew scholar Vatablus in the 1530’s. The chapter divisions
we use in our Bible today were made by an English churchman named Stephen Langton in the
1200’s. D.L.B.
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