“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” – this is precisely the historic, but intensely spiritual reflection, accorded this memorable text of Church History.  Yes, it is decidedly Protestant in its application, given the tenor of Foxe’s era.   Secular and religious (even so-called Christian) persecution is an awful but spiritually glorious consequence of following Christ to the uttermost.  Those who have loved not their lives unto the death are the same throughout history who embrace the cross and know the reality:  If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him!  This is their witness, their testimony and their martyrdom – but glory abounds in the midst of their crucifixion, torture and terror – “be not afraid, I have overcome the world!”

Undeniably, the most significant accumulation of intelligent and inspirational text ever written on eschatology – the study of the Last Days….  Contending with the skeptics and theological compromise of his day, Sir Anderson’s unwavering adherence to the inspirational mathematical accounting of Daniel’s prophecy, coupled with the exposure of the mercurial figure of The Coming Prince – the Antichrist – catapults the prophetical time clock to a yet future time frame, not an inane Amillenarian future or Preterist past but a relevant ingathering of the exiles – Israel, the prophetic time piece set to climax the ages – the Seventieth Weeks awaits us all. 

Revivals, awakenings and refreshing from the presence of the Lord are tragically fraught with rank deception and counterfeit “manifestations” of hypocrisies, apostasies and the awful “doctrines of demons.”  The Welsh Revival of 1906 witnessed an admixture of unfathomable blessing and spiritual warfare – truly, a “War on the Saints” was launched in which the discernment of believers was tested beyond one’s wildest imagination.  What was of God?  What was wrought by the Spirit?  What was naught but flesh?  The “spiritually discerning” should have governed the day when the power of the Spirit fell upon the Welsh.  Alas!  More often this was not the case.  Yes, souls were abundantly saved, evil was curtailed – and saints enlightened and emboldened to preach the gospel – but in the midst of such spiritual abundance the “deceiver of the brethren” was fast at work – yet the “weapons of our warfare” were declared against him “who doth accuse.”

Another of Penn-Lewis’ great classics – a devotional masterpiece that grips the inner life of the believer with spiritual tenacity and focus. … “Centrality” – is the universality of the Cross – the nexus of time and space, of history and focal point of the galaxies.  Without the Cross – the objective, unique distinctive of all history – without the Cross of Christ – the wherewithal to live the Christian Life through overcoming, incomparable power able to defeat the powers of darkness and the energies of the flesh – even so, without the Cross there is no meaning to history, no meaning to true Christianity.  There is a “Lamb upon the Throne” and forever shall be world without end, into the Eschaton – the Cross shall ever stand as the everlasting symbol and living reality when sin that separated us all from His holiness was nailed once and for all and a “new and living way” was opened to us “through the death of His cross.”  The depth of this message cannot be reached – nor can the height of its profound declaration – the Cross shall ever declare His righteousness.

 Couched in historical specificities – and especially Scripturally pertinent insofar as the  “seven churches of the Apocalypse” concerns – the undeniable and uplifting devotional aspects of those who have given their all, paying the ultimate price, will leave the reader inspired and challenged to follow in their footsteps if He calls to “love not their lives unto the death!”  Church History is not a vacuous cavalcade of facts, figures, names, dates and places – but a living embodiment – a corpus – of witness and testimony wherein the life, death, resurrection and ultimate ascension and enthronement of the Savior is vividly portrayed in the saints.  “So great a cloud of witnesses” await the grand finale when “these are they who have come out of great tribulation and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb” shall meet and greet to receive the Crown of Life.

The 1888 version of The Spirit of Christ authored by the great Bible Teacher and Evangelist, Andrew Murray (Afrikaner-Dutch) of South Africa, should be heard loud and clear...his text is one of the most marvelous presentations on the topic and of great comfort (the Comforter has come) to the Church at the close of this age--in particular, it is the ministry of the Spirit Who presents, declares, and illuminates (Zechariah 4 and Revelation 1) . . . in the midst of the Churches – Christ.  The timing of this classic (1888) prior to the Welsh Revivals of Evan Roberts and the Holiness-Pentecostals, Parham-Bartleman-Seymour et al, proclaims the orthodox, yet dynamic, ministry of the Spirit under His anointing through the pen of this servant of Christ. Intensely devotional – purposefully subjective, yet utterly empowering . . .