“And when the Gospel was to be spread in the world, Satan had the power of the sword and the learning in the world engaged in the defense of his kingdom; and Christ singles out a few fishermen, neither swordsmen nor bookmen, Paul excepted, and they pull it down; notwithstanding all the magistrates could do by their force …”
Thomas Boston, “Of the Spirit’s Help in Prayer,” Complete Works of Thomas Boston, Vol. XI, (Stoke-On-Trent: Tentmaker Publications, 2002), 29.
“Rome was founded and extended by the labours of those men of old; their descendants made Rome more hideous while it stood than when it fell. For in the ruin of the city it was stone and timber which fell to the ground; but in the lives of those Romans we saw the collapse not of material but of moral defences, not of material but of spiritual grandeur. The lust that burned in their hearts was more deadly than the flame which consumed their dwellings” (City of God, Penguin edition, p.49).
“Paul began to admonish them, and said to them, ‘Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.’ But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul … the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there” (Acts 27:9b-11).
“… Then Paul stood up in their midst and said, ‘Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss’” (Acts 27:21).
Pray for Pastor Wang Yi, Minister of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China. Pastor Yi has been sentenced to nine years in prison for “inciting to subvert state power” (i.e. preaching the Gospel). Yet, Christ is King of Heaven and Earth! His eternal dominion is inevitable. China’s Marxism eventually will crumble like other false gods of sunken empires — Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Christ will build His church in China and in every other land despite the raging of the nations.
ADELBERT INK. 