Dr. J. Vernon McGee's Recipe for Success by Chris White

J. Vernon McGee 1904-1988

I’ve always had a great appreciation for the radio Bible teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee.  Even though he presented himself on the radio in a folksy, home-spun style, you could count on him to take you through even the most tightly woven Bible passage and come out on the other side with a lot better understanding.  I recently presented a series of biographical talks at my church and in preparation for the one I did on Dr. McGee I discovered what I believe to be some of the secrets of why he remains one of the most popular radio preachers today even though he passed away in 1988.  First of all Dr. McGee had a routine of personal Bible study that was nearly sacrosanct.  He would arise at 4 am and study the Word until 9am before having his breakfast and beginning his ministerial duties for the day.  This in turn would fuel his thinking and his heart and it certainly came out in his preaching.  Another principle that Dr. McGee lived by came to him as a young preacher.  Early in his ministry he had a teenage farm boy come up to him after church with tears in his eyes.  When McGee asked him why he was crying he said, “I never knew Jesus was so wonderful!”.  Dr. McGee considered this the supreme compliment anyone could give him on his preaching and from that day forward he prioritized making certain that his listeners always heard about their wonderful Savior.  Last of all, J. Vernon admired and was mentored by another great preacher and scholar by the name of Harry Ironside.  Ironside had a radio ministry himself and was the pastor of the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago Illinois.  Ironside said to “always put the cookies on the bottom shelf where the children can get them.”  What he meant was that the Word of God should not be preached with soaring rhetoric but rather explained in such a way that the common man may understand and take it’s message as something that applies to himself.  Who Dr. McGee was privately no doubt differs from the radio persona as is almost always the case.  But his goal of teaching the whole Word to the whole man seems to have been reached by the Dr. McGee we all hear on the radio.

Whatever Happened to Paul the Apostle? by Chris White

Statue of Paul at St. Paul's in Rome

Paul the Apostle is credited with writing half of the New Testament and yet was not part of the original apostolic band that followed Jesus during His earthly ministry. The New Testament book of  Acts 9:15 makes it clear that although he was a chronological latecomer, he was a specifically chosen instrument of the Lord to bear witness of the gospel to the Gentiles.  Most of what we know about Paul’s ministry is recorded in the book of Acts as well as short self-references in many of his epistles.  Paul makes mention in Galatians that he had a long sojourn in Arabia prior to moving into official ministry.  This is most likely today’s Jordan rather than Saudi Arabia since in that time, the lands east of the Jordan river were frequently called Arabia.  In the book of Romans (ch.15),  Paul references his great journeys to preach among the Gentiles as having gone from Jerusalem to Illyricum. He also writes that he would like this congregation to help him on his way to evangelize Spain after he stops and ministers to them.  If you follow these statements with a map in front of you, it is clear that Paul had covered the eastern half of the Roman Empire and had as his ambition moving on to cover the western half.  What was unknown to Paul at the time was that he would be coming to Rome but he would be in chains when he did so.  There are many ancient testimonies that suggest Paul was released from his first imprisonment because no one showed up to testify against him and that he did make his way to Spain and possibly even Britain.  Returning to Rome after these journeys, Paul was caught in the Neronian persecution (AD 65?) of Christians and is believed to have been beheaded outside of Rome on the Appian Way.  Paul’s burial site is believed to be inside of St. Paul’s (Outside the Walls) Church in Rome.  The provenance of this is fairly undisputed since the tradition is so ancient, the Church is actually built over the old Appian Way, and because archaeologists have recovered an ancient shrine on site that actually marked  his grave.

Whatever Happened to the Apostle John? by Chris White

The Apostle John by El Greco

Among the ruins of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey is a house of Mary and a well-attested tomb of St. John.  What would this Galilean Jew be doing in Asia Minor with the Lord’s mother?  In John 19:26 Jesus places John in charge of caring for his mother and following the resurrection we read that John was one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church.  By 70 AD, Ephesus had become a huge center of Christianity and many Jerusalem Christians fled there, as did John with Mary, before the fall of the city to the Romans.  Many historians point out that there is not a shred of evidence that Mary ever lived in Ephesus and that if she did she would have been in her early to mid 90’s by this time. The house of Mary was found in the 19^th century based on the writings of Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German nun who claimed to have a vision of its location.  Emmerich had never been to Turkey or Ephesus, but apparently the foundation was found by others who read the book.  Not surprisingly the Catholic Church neither endorses  or denies the authenticity of  this site.  They just say it is a shrine that commemorates the Mother of the Lord and leave those conclusions to the hearts and minds of the visitors.  There is also a tradition that John went to Rome to assist the Apostle Peter and was also captured during the Neronian persecution and was boiled in oil.  The story further states that he miraculously escaped injury and fled back to Ephesus.   The 5^th Century Church Father Jerome shares an anecdote in his writing that when John was quite aged, he would be brought to Church every week carried on the shoulders of the young men in the body.  He would teach the same thing every week “Love one another”.  Some of the younger men complained saying “why do you teach us the same thing every week?”  “Because if you would do it, it would be enough,” he said.  All the ancient historians of the Church agree that John died of natural causes around 100 years of age.  Not widely known is that the church that once protected the grave of John (it has been destroyed by earthquakes, Muslim invasions, and the passing of time) was largely constructed from materials taken from the Temple of Diana, one of the wonders of the ancient world, that had fallen into disrepair and disuse because of the Christianization of Ephesus.  The only known remains of the Apostle John are his Gospel, Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.

My Personal Nominee for Sainthood by Chris White

 

"Is that fresh coffee I smell?"

Thank God for the wisdom he gave Pope Clement VII.  Even though he said “no” to Henry VIII’s divorce to Catherine of Aragon, he said “yes” to coffee.  It was the turn of the century (the 16^th century, that is) and Rome was under the threat of the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire.  The Muslims, then as now, eschewed all alcoholic beverages as pagan (apparently Jesus was unaware of this at the wedding of Cana) but had their own special concoction called “Kahve” which we call in English, coffee.  Clement’s advisors came to him seeking a papal edict condemning this devilish new brew throughout Christendom.  Wisely, before he issued such a sweeping statement, Clement asked his advisors to bring him a cup of the Muslim drink.  To everyone’s surprise Clement loved the taste and aroma of the coffee and he did not become an arch-heretic or devil worshipper after partaking in his first “cuppa- joe”.  As the story goes he told the papal court that we must not allow this beverage to become the liquid of Satan.  No, we have more power than Satan and we shall make coffee our own.  And that they did, for what church gathering today would seem complete without a “coffee hour” afterwards?.  It is the Psalmist who said “O Lord, how many are your works!  In wisdom Thou hast made them all; the earth is full of Thy possessions (104:24).”  Take some time today and thank the Lord today for the many pleasures He has so generously given us.  May we enjoy all His blessings in true wisdom and of course with a little cream and sugar.