Currently, Dean Taylor is teaching a five-week Anabaptist History course at Faith Builders Educational Programs. He is uploading video of the course to his website radicalreformation.com. This should be a nice resource for those who want to get an overview of Anabaptist history.
This is day one:
Just finished reading ‘Twas Seeding Time: A Mennonite View of the American Revolution by John L. Ruth.
This book leaves one feeling deep sadness for what defenseless Christians, including Mennonites and others, had to endure during the Revolution. They endured far more hardship and tyranny at the hands of the American patriots than they ever had at the hands of the British government. Particularly in Pennsylvania, which was founded by William Penn on principles of religious freedom, the harshness of the revolutionaries was hard to bear.
And yet, we are supposed to believe that our country was founded by wonderful Christians on biblical principles.
This is a nice informational/teaching video put together by Mike Atnip and Dean Taylor about the well-known massacre of the Jacob Hochstetler family several hundred years ago. They use this story to discuss the classic question of what a Christian should do if his home and family are attacked. This of course is precisely what occurred in this story. 40 min. long and worth watching.
Last month there was a nice opportunity to be part of a weekend men’s choir. There were two rehearsals, Friday night and all day Saturday, then two concerts on Sunday. It was enjoyable.
The concert below was at Christian Light Fellowship. Video by Caroline Bergey. This playlist includes all twelve songs.
Read this old poem a bit ago for the first time. Reminds me of the book I am currently reading – My Father’s Country. It talks about a German family whose father fought for Germany in WWI and WWII. Why have thousands and millions willingly gone to an early grave for the sake of leaders like Hitler or Obama? Partly because of the glory that many see in it. War is kind all right.
Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because the lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the Battle-God, great, and his Kingdom -
A field wher a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
One of the best blogs about the Amish is amishamerica.com. It’s more than a blog, it’s becoming one of the best sites for good, first-hand information on the Amish. It’s written by Eric Wesner who has traveled extensively among the Amish and written a book on the success of Amish businesses.
The blog is currently running a giveaway of a new book called The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World, by Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, and David Weaver-Zercher.
We are delighted to announce the birth of our sixth child and third daughter. If a boy and a girl make a million-dollar family, that makes us multi-millionaires!
We are thanking God for his rich blessings to us!
This audiobook seems to have two purposes. Firstly, to make Jesus the center of Christianity; and secondly to criticize today’s church for not doing so. I have a few issues with the book. There is a section which is written as though God were speaking to you. This kind of thing annoys me because finite men are writing what they think God would say. (Some admittedly may find this style of devotional writing inspirational and convicting.) Another issue I have with the book is that it seems somewhat verbose. In an effort to make Jesus the supreme message of the book, the authors tend to be a bit repetitive and flowery.
However, the central point of the book I believe really is needed today. Christianity is more about the person of Jesus than about religion or dogma. The authors really hammer this. They criticize the church for replacing the worship and pursuit of Jesus with all sorts of other things. 
I think the message of Jesus being the central point of Christianity is needed. I think that the church today really does fail to make Jesus central. So the core message of the book is right I believe.
However again I didn’t feel quite satisfied. There are many and long passages of scripture cited in the book, but I feel that a message of the centrality of Jesus should include a lot of focus on what Jesus actually said and did when he was here. This book seems to spend most of its time saying who Jesus was, which is highly important. But I think they could have spent more time on his teachings and his life.
In total, I feel the book is worth listening to as a starting point for discovering our need to make Jesus central. The reader does an excellent job and the recording is top notch, as usual.
This review was written for christianaudio.com’s reviewers program.
The audiobook can be purchased from christianaudio.com.
I liked this recent email by Peter Hoover. It has to do with the myth of overpopulation and the blessings of having children. Lots of them. 
My sister Nancy, married to Bishop Menno Brubacher of the Orthodox Mennonites in Ontario Canada, with nine of her children, in 1983.
Twins Levi and Lydia Anne on the swings, another pair of twins Joseph and Mary feeling shy (with their fingers in their mouths) and a third pair, Menno and Nancy in the double stroller. All together Nancy had five sets of twins and six single births, sixteen children in total, of whom thirteen grew to adulthood. Now most of them are married and she already has around thirty grandchildren.
A classic case of an overworked, underprivileged mother in modern times? Nothing could be further from the case.
I have come to appreciate books that attempt to teach biblical doctrine, and that manage to do so without being boring theological tomes.
The Hole in Our Gospel is a well-written book that combines biblical teaching, personal experience, and stories and facts about the world scene. The subject of the book is the need for Christians to reach out to the world’s poor.
This book was what I would call a very heavy read if it weren’t an audiobook. In fact, one of my main issues with this audiobook was the sheer volume of stories, scriptures, facts, and powerful statements that require thought to digest. Because of this, I would recommend that if you want to get the most out of this book, purchase a hard copy. I found myself wanting to underline or highlight statements of the author. 
There is no doubt that attention to the needy is a hole in the gospel of western Christendom. But I think that there are plenty of other holes that could be addressed as well. Richard Stearns, the author of the book and president of World Vision, is understandably in a position to speak to this particular “hole,” and is well worth paying attention to on this topic.
I’ve heard quite a lot of critique of the popular evangelical doctrine of salvation from the view of those who say it lacks an ethos of discipleship. This book also challenges popular Christianity, but from a slightly different angle. He calls into question the Christianity that does not produce a genuine love for the poor of the world. I believe it is a valid point to be made. You will be convicted by this book and will definitely be more accountable after listening to or reading it.
This review was written for the christianaudio.com reviewer’s program, which does not require reviewers to write positive reviews.
This audiobook can be purchase at christianaudio.com.
