April 17, 2006
I MISSED GOOD FRIDAY THIS EASTER. We left for the airport in Samoa late on Thursday evening to catch our flight to New Zealand, and a few hours later arrived in Auckland – early on Saturday morning, En route we had crossed the International Dateline and lost a whole day: Good Friday! But celebrating Resurrection […]
April 10, 2006
IN HIS NEW BOOK, POPE BENEDICT XVI WRITES: ‘EUROPE IS INFECTED BY A STRANGE LACK OF DESIRE FOR THE FUTURE.’ I first heard of this book from a Dutchman studying in Australia. He wrote to ask how to obtain an English copy of my book, Living as people of hope. His chosen study assignment was […]
April 3, 2006
WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID: “WHEN ONE GENERATION NO LONGER ESTEEMS ITS OWN HERITAGE AND FAILS TO PASS THE TORCH TO ITS CHILDREN, IT IS SAYING IN ESSENCE THAT THE VERY FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND EXPERIENCES THAT MAKE THE SOCIETY WHAT IT IS ARE NO LONGER VALID‚Ķ” Churchill continued: “What is required when this happens and the […]
March 20, 2006
WHERE DO WE BEGIN TO BUILD THE RELATIONAL SOCIETY – A SOCIETY BASED ON LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOUR? We have suggested that the global uproar over the Mohammed cartoons pits Moslems, demanding one set of rights, against secular liberalists defending another; while Christians watch rather nonplussed from the sidelines. Neither the Muslim nor the […]
March 13, 2006
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM BONO’S ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST IN WASHINGTON D.C. LAST MONTH: “One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God. For me, at least, it got in […]
March 5, 2006
THE RECENT CARTOON RIOTS STIR IN ME FEELINGS OF AMBIVILENCE. On the one hand, we have to agree with much the secular liberalists like Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali say in defence of the open society and freedom of expression. After all, these concepts are closely linked with religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Such […]
February 27, 2006
THE WORLD’S TOP GLADIATORS CONVERGE ON GERMANY THIS SUMMER FOR THE LONG-AWAITED SHOWDOWN IN THE STRUGGLE FOR GLOBAL FOOTBALL SUPREMACY. German believers are sending out a Macedonian call for help during the World Cup Football, kicking off in just four months. Literally millions of guests are expected from all over the world to join in […]
February 20, 2006
BONFIRES AND TORCH PROCESSIONS DOTTED THE ALPINE VALLEYS OF THE OLYMPIC SKI EVENTS IN NORTHERN ITALY LAST WEEK. BUT THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TEARS AND TRIUMPHS OF THE WINTER GAMES COMPETITORS. Rather, these fiery celebrations commemorated centuries of suffering and heroism experienced throughout these Valli Valdesi by believers known as Waldensians, who […]
February 13, 2006
THE WINTER OLYMPICS SLOGAN SPLASHED DAILY ACROSS OUR SCREENS THIS WEEK REMINDS US OF THE PASSION DRIVING OUR TOP SPORTERS IN TURIN. It’s an almost fanatical passion demanding discipline, focus, sacrifice – blood, sweat and often a lot of tears. Once I found myself on an exercise machine at the local gym next to a […]
February 6, 2006
THE MOST OPEN REGION TO THE GOSPEL IN EUROPE RIGHT NOW IS THE REGION AROUND ODESSA IN THE UKRAINE. That is part of the bottom line of the ‘ESE’ (European Spiritual Estimate) study to have been released last week. If you visited the website mentioned in last week’s WW (http://emrg.friderich.net), you will have read that […]
January 30, 2006
WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF CATEGORISING THE WORLD’S NATIONS AS ‘UNREACHED’ (WORLD A), ‘PARTIALLY REACHED’ (WORLD B) AND ‘REACHED’ (WORLD C) HAD A BRILLIANT PLAN. These categories enabled anyone to look at a list of nations and see at a glance where the greatest spiritual needs were globally, and where resources needed to […]
January 23, 2006
SHOULD THE BIBLE STILL BE THE FINAL AUTHORITY FOR MATTERS OF LIFE AND FAITH IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY EUROPE? Or is that famous cry of the Reformation – Sola Scriptura – simply tired, old-fashioned, irrelevant and obsolete? Do we in fact need a fresh Reformation today, or would that simply be turning back the clock? And […]
