Many of us as children read Robert Louis Stevenson’s best-selling books like Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and a Children’s Garden of Verses. He was a popular celebrity in his own time. Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, wrote to Stevenson speaking of “all the pleasure you have given me during my lifetime – more than any other living man has done.” Rudyard Kipling … [Read more...] about Robert Luis Stevenson’s global kingdom impact
Pigs in the Ocean: The socialism of Dostoevsky’s The Possessed
One of Dostoevsky’s most brilliant, darkest, and least known novels is The Possessed, also called Demons or The Devils. Dostoevsky, as a devout Christian, often grounded his novels in particular biblical stories. The opening scripture in this novel is about the pigs being cast into the ocean (Luke 8:32-37). Have you ever wondered what possessed Putin to invade Ukraine, and … [Read more...] about Pigs in the Ocean: The socialism of Dostoevsky’s The Possessed
Finishing well, remembering Archdeacon Jack Major, apostle of renewal
February 22, 1926 – February 3, 2023 Archdeacon Jack Major was so quiet and gentle that few would initially suspect that he was an Anglican apostle of spiritual renewal. It was Jack that introduced us to the remarkable world of Anglican renewal as we accompanied him to the major Anglican Renewal West Conference at UBC in 1982. Though we had already privately … [Read more...] about Finishing well, remembering Archdeacon Jack Major, apostle of renewal
Facing our growing Canadian gambling addiction
You can bet that the increase in gambling is harming many Canadian families. We have personally seen many marriages break up. Wives are not happy to lose their houses to their husband’s gambling addiction. The Bible in 1 Tim 6:9 warns against falling into the trap of temptation, and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin … [Read more...] about Facing our growing Canadian gambling addiction
The foolishness of God in Dostoevsky’s Idiot
In Dostoevsky’s favorite novel The Idiot, we meet Prince Myshkin, a Christ-like person whose goodness, open-heartedness, and genuineness lead people to call him an idiot sixty times in the novel. Dostoevsky saw Myshkin as his best and richest poetic idea. Three times in his notes, Dostoevsky identifies Myshkin as a Christ figure. Like Jesus, he was full of child-like … [Read more...] about The foolishness of God in Dostoevsky’s Idiot