Showing results by narrator "Matthew Erwin" in All Categories

The Holy War Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul is a 1682 novel by John Bunyan. Written in the form of an allegory, it tells the story of the town Mansoul which rebels against king Shaddai, replacing his benign rule with that of Diabolus who turns out to be a harmful ruler. The king sends his son Emmanuel to reclaim the city. Salvation can come to the city only by the victory of Emmanuel.

Fifty Years on the Trail is the true story of John Young Nelson (1826-1903), an early frontiersman, military scout, interpreter, guide, and saloon owner. Nelson ran away from home as a young teenager to adventure in the west. He worked on farms, served as a cabin boy on a Mississippi steamer, and became an apprentice with a group of traders traveling west from Missouri. After meeting a band of Sioux, he got himself adopted into the tribe, learned how to live off the land and became a Sioux warrior.

John Owen (1616 - 1683) was vice chancellor of Oxford University and served as advisor to Oliver Cromwell. The Death of Death in the Death of Christ is a polemical work, attempting to prove, among other things, that the doctrine of universal redemption is unscriptural. It is divided into four parts. The first sets forth his thesis that the work of Christ on the cross was made for the full and complete salvation of those whom God intended to save.

This 1754 work by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is subtitled An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of the Freedom of the Will Which Is Supposed to Be Essential to Moral Agency, Virtue and Vice, Reward and Punishment, Praise and Blame. Edwards was a Christian reformer, theologian, and author in the Calvinist tradition, and in this work he explores the necessity of divine grace for the redeeming of the damaged will of humanity. He contends that free will is an extension of, and connected to, the grace of God.

Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889) was a biblical scholar who converted from Judaism to Christianity and wrote popular books like The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, and Bible History Old Testament. In this extensive work, Edersheim examines the Messianic prophecies in the Jewish scripture from the Christian perspective. Through the 12 chapters of the book, he argues that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Messianic hopes of many of the Old Testament prophecies.

Archibald Alexander was a theologian who served as Princeton Theological Seminary's first principal. The theme is about true religion inspired by the spirit, which affects the heart. The author argues that people are brought.

The Four Loves (1960) by C. S. Lewis explores the nature of love from a Christian theological perspective. Making a careful distinction between “like” and “love", the author first defines the terms. The discussion is based on four Greek words for love: storgē, philía, éros, and agápe. These four types are friendship, affection, erotic love, and charity, or the love of God. Lewis defines each of these types of love and how they affect our lives. Lewis considers affection, friendship, and eros as natural loves, while charity is supernatural since it is closest to the form of love which is defined by the expression “God is love”. Lewis examines each of the four loves in detail, including their benefits and potential dangers. 

Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. In School of Obedience, Murray takes traditional Christian ideas about obedience and interprets them to explain the true power and importance of those ideas to believers. Andrew Murray reveals not only what God demands, but also how obedience to those demands is possible through Christ's perfect example. He points out how obedience to God is obedience to our Creator and Sustainer.  

In The Weapon of Prayer the author explains the necessity and the depths and realities of prayer. It includes sketches of the prayer lives of dedicated Christians like David Brainerd, George Muller, and Jonathan Edwards. Stating that “the life of the individual believer has its being, bloom, and fruitage in prayer", he reminds us that throughout Biblical history, many of God’s greatest acts were prompted by the prayers of God’s people. Bounds believed that prayer must be a priority, above other Christian duties such as sacred works, communion, and church activities.

E.M. Bounds (1835-1913) was an American pastor. He authored 11 books, mostly on prayer. The Essentials of Prayer is considered one of his greatest works. 

E. M. Bounds (1835-1913) was a popular and respected Christian author and attorney. He wrote Power Through Prayer as a guide for Christians who wish to improve their lives. The book is practical, teaches the individual to pray fervently and effectively, and is claimed to have an invigorating effect on the soul.

 The Pilgrim’s Progress, a religious allegory by John Bunyan, was published in two parts in 1678 and 1684. The work is a symbolic vision of the good man’s pilgrimage through life. The Pilgrim’s Progress is one of the most famous Christian allegories of all time. 

  Following Christ is a series of lectures on the Christian duty to follow Christ and how to do it. The author discusses the role of the Holy Spirit, the importance of good works and faith, of using one’s talents, bearing fruit, and working for God’s glory. He cautions that one needs patience and emphasizes the combination of faith and godly works. The book serves as a strong motivator for stirring the believer into Christian action. 

Reuben Archer Torrey (1856-1928) was an American evangelist, administrator, pastor, educator, and Bible teacher. In Baptism of the Holy Spirit he discusses the meaning of baptism with the Holy Spirit with reference to the scriptures. This comprehensive study deals with the nature of the Spirit in the context of the Trinity, its relation to the Father and the Son, and its functions in the material world and in the soul of the believer.

Samuel Logan Brengle (1860 - 1936) was a commissioner in The Salvation Army and an author, teacher, and preacher on the doctrine of Holiness. He argues that holiness is not just about giving up anger or bitterness, but instead becoming like Christ. Holiness is about consecration, and reflecting the love of God through one’s own life.

Although the area had fallen under the dominion of Rome in the first century BCE, it was still a Jewish Kingdom under the Herodian dynasty. The author draws on Christian, Greek, Jewish, and Roman sources to present life in Jerusalem, Judea, and the Galilee, including quotes from scripture, rabbinic sources, and the works of the Alexandrian philosopher Philo and the historian Josephus. Sketches of Jewish Social Life is highly regarded as an authoritative work of history.

Alfred Edersheim’s book is a guide to the Holy Temple that attempts to relay the essence of the temple’s significance in the life of Israel and in the theology of the early Christians. The author shares his detailed knowledge of the building and its environment, the utensils used, and the tasks of the priests on the major holidays like Passover, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) was a Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He argued that the decisive argument for the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath is the fourth commandment. He claimed that it was an eternal law in the same league as the moral precepts.

As a pastor and student of the Bible, Archibald Alexander came to appreciate the different ways that people experience the new birth and its effects. In his book on religious experience, he observed that there is unity and diversity to the conversion experience, and that there is no more important event which occurs in our world than the new birth of an immortal soul.

Archibald Alexander begins this sermon by defining grace particularly as it concerns God’s grace to mankind. The sermon is based on 2 Peter 3:18, and in particular the exhortation to “grow in grace.” It is, as Alexander notes, “as if he had said, increase in holiness, or advance in piety.