Author Archives: P. Douglas Small

… He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, … Psalm 78:5 The Directory for Family Worship, used by the Presbyterians argued that family worship was necessary to secure “the power and practice of godliness, amongst all ministers and members” A [...]

I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:11 Christensen [...]

“Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned” (Job 8:8) When a man led his family in prayer, the very act of prayer and reading the Bible to them, those in this era believed, promoted righteousness in his own life. In leading the experience of prayer and worship the father “submits himself [...]

For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? 1 Timothy 3:5 Almost two-hundred years ago, it was stated, “… error and worldliness make inroads upon the church” and there are increasingly “… the wants, temptations, dangers, and sins of the family [...]

‘Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness [...]

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman …” (Ezekiel 33:16-17) Adam was given, along with Eve, the gift of dominion over all the earth (Genesis 1:28). But it was to Adam specifically that the charge was given to ‘grow’ the garden, to cultivate it; and to ‘guard’ it (2:15). The scope of the [...]

If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.  Jeremiah 18:8 Jonathan Edwards famous message, ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’ preached on July 8, 1741, was a call to the church to repent, an appeal for sensitivity [...]

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25 The book of Judges climaxes with a story of self-styled faith. Micah, deeply religious, hungry for the spiritual, secures a priest for his own house. It sounds noble. But it is a microcosm [...]

… What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? I Chronicles 17:21 The American Colonists were a diverse assortment of ethnic groups in a strange land. There was no central government. Unity was localized. A wild and adventurous spirit prevailed. Morals had declined and religious devotion had deteriorated. [...]

These that have turned the world upside down are come here also! Acts. 17:6 The time of the first Christian church at Antioch, the mission of the Church moved steadily forward. Seventy years later, Pliny expressed with deep concern and passion the proliferation of Christianity to such a degree that it then threatened the stability [...]