When Jim and Lil Dickson arrived in Taiwan (then Formosa) in 1927, there was one unreached tribe of headhunters in the mountains know as the Tyal. Chi-oang, an elderly woman, was the first convert. Some objected to enrolling her in Bible school. What could this old woman do? But she persisted. The Japanese ruled the […]
Author: Bill Nicholson
Posts by Bill Nicholson
If Christianity is so great, why are there so few Christians? Don’t underestimate how many the Lord will save. When Jesus said, “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mt 7:13-14), He was speaking about that generation of Jews, most of whom […]
As a boy, I loved good Christian biographies. One day I found my father’s copy of Archibald Glover’s massive “A 1000 Miles of Miracle in China,” It is a must-read for serious saints. It tells the harrowing, miraculous story of some CIM missionaries fleeing the Boxers who were intent on killing “the foreign devils.” One […]
There is today a pale, pathetic, and unflinching interpretation of the blessed gospel, which guarantees salvation as “a financially and socially upgrading experience”; then it finalizes the offer by “a superlative bonus in eternity and comfort world without end.” How different was Paul’s concept of a disciple of Christ! Look at his vivid interpretation: “I […]
Is the Bible to be taken literally? Yes. And no. Like any great piece of literature, there are some literal, some figurative and metaphorical sections. If something is metaphorical, it does not mean it isn’t true; it is true but is being described in a different way. For example, we read about “chains of darkness” […]
“Neither were thankful” (Rom 1:21). Leonard Lindsted tells of an incident at a bus stop during the days of WWII. Rationing involved the use of “mills,” red plastic coins worth a fraction of a cent. A man dropped one, and it rolled through the crowd to Leonard’s feet. He picked it up and handed it […]
My beloved first-born son and his precious wife have such a challenge with two special needs sons. As I grieved for them recently on a family holiday, the question gripped me, “Are you more compassionate than their heavenly Father?” Would I be like the one who snipped the restrictive opening of the chrysalis of an […]
“What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mt 16:26). While this is almost always applied to the lost, it was spoken by the Lord to His own. To turn it around, since your soul has been rescued by God’s Champion, what will you give Him in gratitude for such heavenly heroism? Here’s […]
Leonard Sheldrake reminds us that “No work is more noble or fraught with more blessed possibilities than sowing the seeds of the gospel.” What to sow? “The sower sows the word” (Mk 4:14). When should we sow? “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do […]