Tag: providential

“I Was the Lion”

In my ongoing preparation for teaching C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia at my church, I’ve now completed five of the seven books, the latest being The Horse and His Boy. This book is unique as being the only one where no one from our world enters Narnia; rather, it focuses on two young people, Shasta and Aravis. The former is a slave seeking the freedom he heard exists in the land of Narnia; the second is a girl fleeing… Read more »

Jamestown: Divine Intervention?

As a Christian, I believe that God does intervene in the lives of men and nations. Scripture points to this continually. The most significant intervention was the incarnation of Jesus—God taking on human form. Therefore, I have no problem believing He still does this in our day. Nevertheless, as a historian, I have to be cautious about declaring something in history is absolutely an example of God’s intervention. I always tell my students to be cautious as well, and not… Read more »

Finney & God’s Providence

Charles Finney relates a very unusual story in his Autobiography, one that has stayed with me ever since I first read it back in the mid-1970s. He was carrying out his ministry as a traveling evangelist when he was approached by an elderly man who asked him to come preach at his village, a place that had never had any religious services. Finney went with the man and, as was his custom, simply relied on the Lord for guidance as… Read more »