Christianity is not a “new religion”. It did not begin in the 19th century nor the 18th century. The Church was born when Jesus was raised from the dead – the post resurrection Church as I would like to call it. There was a pre-resurrection Church. It began with Abraham. All the OT saints were part of the pre-resurrection Church. We can even go back further to say that the Church was conceived even before creation. Rev.13:8 says Jesus is the lamb that was lain before the foundation of the world.
Since Christianity is not new, this then means there is no new teaching/doctrine. Millions have been walking these “old paths” for a long time. By ” these old paths”, I mean the godly path of fidelity to God’s word as revealed in the Bible.
God does not only give us teaching in the Bible, He also gives us history. I do honestly believe that most Christians would treasure their faith more by learning about faithful believers who have walked the paths ahead of us. While we do have the word of God to guide us, learning how our forefathers handled, pain, sickness, death, disappointments and even doubts but still remained faithful till the end would not only encourage us, but strengthen our faith as well.
It is to this end that I plan to make quotes of prayers and the gospel message from faithful preachers of old, mostly puritans part of my blog posts from time to time. Since these faithful preachers (past and present ) have been give as gifts to the Church by the Lord, I believe their writings would edify the body. Some of you may be familiar with their works, while for others, this might be the first time getting acquainted with them. Either way, I believe everyone will be blessed.
Those of you who follow me on twitter or are familiar with my tweets know that in addition to scripture and some of my own thoughts, I do tweet quotes from JC Ryle, Thomas Watson & others. I plan to do the same thing on this post from time to time.
Elizabeth
