February | 2017 | Craig T. Owens

February 2017
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Poetry Saturday—Confession

February 4, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

No, not despairingly

Come I to Thee;

No, not distrustingly

Bend I the knee;

Sin hath gone over me,

Yet is this still my plea,

Jesus hath died.

Ah, mine iniquity

Crimson has been;

Infinite, infinite,

Sin upon sin;

Sin of not loving Thee,

Sin of not trusting Thee.

Infinite sin.

Lord, I confess to Thee

Sadly my sin;

All I am, tell I Thee,

All I have been.

Purge Thou my sin away,

Wash Thou my soul this day;

Lord, make me clean! —Horatius Bonar

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: confession, forgiveness, Horatius Bonar, poem, poetry, prayer, redemption, sin. Leave a Comment »

The Unusual History Of The King James Bible

February 2, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

“How odd that the most famous Bible in history should bear the name of a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, ego-driven homosexual who rejected all demands for reform within the church.

“James VI of Scotland, son of imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, was raised in drafty Scottish castles by self-serving lords. He grew up religious and well-trained in theology. He went to church every day. But he was rude, rough, loud, conceited, and bisexually immoral. He was also shrewd.

“At age 37 he managed to succeed his cousin, Elizabeth I, as England’s monarch. As he traveled from Scotland to London, he met a group of Puritans bearing a ‘Millenary Petition’ signed by nearly 1,000 pastors. It demanded renewal within the church. The Puritans, stirred by the Geneva translation of the Bible and by Foxe’s popular Book of Martyrs, wanted to purify the church. The established clergy opposed Puritan demands, and the new king realized his kingdom was torn.

“He convened a conference for church leaders at his Hampton Court estate on January 12, 1604, and the Puritans vigorously presented their concerns. James rejected their requests, sometimes thundering against them, white with rage. At the conclusion of the conference he flung his arm toward the Puritans, shouting, ‘I shall make them conform or I will harry them out of this land, or do worse.’ Many of the dispirited Puritans, abandoning hope for the Anglican Church, began worshiping in small groups as they felt the Bible taught them. They were tagged Separatists, but from these persecuted cells came the Baptists in 1611, the Pilgrims who fled to America in 1620, and other dissenting groups.

“But on one issue at Hampton Court the king and Puritans had agreed. When Puritan John Rainolds requested a new translation of the Bible, James promptly approved it, saying, ‘I have never yet seen a Bible well-translated. But I think the Geneva is the worst.’ Seven years later the Authorized Version was unveiled, ironically making vice-prone King James one of the best-recognized names in English church history.” —Robert Morgan, On This Day

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, church history, Church of England, English, history, King James Version, Puritan, world history. 1 Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—What To Do With Spiritual Barriers

February 2, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

What To Do With Spiritual Barriers

The inevitable barriers are there in every one of our lives. … The thing to do is to recognize that the barriers are inscrutable, that they are not by chance but entirely by God’s permission, and they should be faced and not ignored. …

The peril of the inevitable barriers is that if I have not faced the facts sufficiently, I am apt to blame God for them. There is one fact more that I do not know, and that fact lies entirely with God, not with me. It is no use to spend my time saying, I wish I was not like this, I am just like it. The practical point in Christianity is—Can Jesus Christ and His religion be of any use to me as I am, not as I am not? Can He deal with me where I am, in the condition I am in?

From Shade Of His Hand

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, Who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25)

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was giving me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, and hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. When I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

“The Bible point of view seems to cover most of the facts” (Oswald Chambers).

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Corinthians, barrier, Christianity, facts, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, quotes, Romans. Leave a Comment »

Horatius Bonar On What Happens When You Pray

February 1, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

“This incense was to be ‘offered with’ or ‘laid upon’ so as to cover or envelope the ‘prayers of all saints’—yes, all saints, from Able downwards; for this seems to be the gathering into one of all prayers from the beginning, that at length they may be answered (Luke 18:3, 7). Upon the golden altar in front of the throne the prayers of the saints of all ages have been laid; there they have accumulated; the unanswered ‘How longs?’ not forgotten.

“Not one petition, even the poorest or feeblest, has dropped from that altar, or been swept away, or lost in the process of time. All, all are there. In themselves the are poor, having no fragrance; but their intrinsic imperfection cannot change the nature of that altar on which they are laid. There they are preserved— each sigh, each tear, each cry, from child or aged man, from the chief of sinners, from the thief upon the cross, from the chamber of weakness and sorrow, from the crushed spirit and the broken heart—there they are: the groanings that cannot be uttered; the ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner;’ the ‘How long?’ of the tortured martyrs; the moan of the suffering saint upon his tossing sick-bed—there they are: the father’s prayer, ‘Lord, save my child;’ the child’s prayer, ‘Lord, save my father’— there they are: the pleadings for the church of God, for the overthrow of Antichrist, for the binding of satan, for the deliverance of earth, for the consummation of the eternal purpose! Not one cry lost; not one petition gone astray. All there!

“There is no such thing as unanswered prayer. Delay will only add to the fullness of the answer, and increase our joy when it comes. And it will come. He is faithful that promised. He cannot deny Himself.” —Horatius Bonar, in Light & Truth: Revelation (emphasis mine)

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: encouragement, God's timing, Gospel of Luke, grace, Horatius Bonar, incense, mercy, perseverance, prayer, quotes, Revelation. Leave a Comment »

The Pro-Life Philosophy

February 1, 2017 — Craig T. Owens

This is an excerpt from the 21-Days For Life Prayer Guide (which I highly recommend) that outlines a clear moral pro-life philosophy.

There is no morally significant difference between the embryo you once were and the adult you are today that justifies killing you at that earlier stage of development. Differences of size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency are not good reasons for saying you could be killed then but not now. Stephen Schwarz suggests the acronym SLED as a helpful reminder of those non-essential differences:

Size: You were smaller as an embryo, but does body size determine value? Of course not!

Level of Development: You were less developed as an embryo, but infants are less developed than teenagers physically and mentally. Do we think they have less value? Of course not!

Environment: Where you are has no bearing on what you are. Does an eight-inch journey through the birth canal change the essential value of the unborn? Of course not!

Degree of Dependency: You depended on your mother for survival, but does dependence on another human determine value? Of course not! (Consider those with disability, or conjoined twins, for example.)

In short, humans are equal by nature, not by function.

We all differ immensely in our respective degrees of development, but are nonetheless equal because we share a common human nature. We had that human nature from the moment we began to exist. If that isn’t true then human equality is a fiction.

Download this 21-day prayer guide for prayer points, encouraging pro-life stories, and helpful information that will equip you to articulate an effective pro-life position.