That Heaven Might Be Opened

“When he was thrown into a stable, and placed in a manger, and a lodging refused him among men, it was that heaven might be opened to us, not as a temporary lodging, but as our eternal country and inheritance, and that angels might receive us into their abode.”

John Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, on Luke 2:1-7

Reformation Day: What the Word can do

Today is Reformation Day and a reminder that God grants reformation and revival not primarily through new church programs or slick technologies, but through the simple act of opening the Bible:

“I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenburg beer with my friends, Philip and with Armsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy, that no prince or emperor ever inflicted some damage upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.” (Martin Luther, The Eight Wittenburg Sermons, 1522)

For more information about Luther and his act that sparked the Protestant Reformation, Justin Taylor has posted some good resources.

Without grace-driven effort

“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

D.A. Carson, For the Love of God, volume 2, Jan. 23

10 Myths About the Middle Ages

Listverse shows how the following  misconceptions about the Middle Ages (the period between the 5th century and the 16th century) are false:

1. People of the Middle Ages were crude and ignorant.
2. People in the Middle Ages believed the earth was flat.
3. Women were oppressed in the Middle Ages.
4. The Middle Ages were a time of great violence.
5. Peasants lived a life of drudgery and back-breaking work.
6. People didn’t bathe in the Middle Ages, therefore they smelled bad.
7. Peasants had thatched roofs with animals living in them.
8. The poor were kept in a state of near starvation.
9. Bibles were locked away to keep the people from seeing the “true word”.
10. The death penalty was common in the Middle Ages.

Read the whole thing.

http://listverse.com/2009/01/07/top-10-myths-about-the-middle-ages/