Friday, August 5, 2011

Storm the Forts.... 5, 6, 7, 8

Someone showed this to me this morning, and in the light of my last post I couldn't resist posting this video here.

Oh dear.... Here goes



Thursday, August 4, 2011

Winning the world WITH Jesus

One of my favourite Salvation Army Songs is "Storm the Forts of Darkness" (Song 802 in The Salvation Army Song Book). It's a real battle song. I love the way the chorus moves from "fighting words" to "praising words", and the use of the word "Lamb" at that point I think is particularly important. I also love the fact that this tune used to be a "pub" song, but was "captured" (back in the days before copyright issues prevented such a thing) and the words changed for Army purposes. We used to do this frequently, and this is perhaps the best and longest surviving example. I like that it used to be "Here's to good ole whiskey, drink it down, drink it down" but then became "Storm the forts of darkness, bring them down, bring them down." Genius!

But, there's just one word in this song (in three specific locations) that I would prefer to be changed. It's a little word, but I think a change here would make this song even better. It's the word FOR. It appears in the last line of every verse - "And take the field FOR Jesus"; "And dare or die FOR Jesus"; "And win the world FOR Jesus". 

What's the problem?


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

International Conference on Patristics Studies

The 16th International Conference on Patristic Studies is to take place in Oxford next week. Sadly I won't be there, but I'm sure it will provide another great insight into a fascinating time in Christian history.

The conference programme can be viewed here.
http://www.patristics.org.uk/

Also, there is a blog being run by Professor Markus Vinzent which currently has the abstracts for the papers being presented available. It's accessible here.
http://oxfordpatristics.blogspot.com/

If you're interested at all in Patristics, and you're able to attend, then this is the one to be at.

Sermon: Matthew 13:1

I love questions. Many here would be aware that I’m working on a PhD in theology. I’ve also been a teacher of theology, worship, and critica...