Greg Johnson
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pteranodo.bsky.social
Greg Johnson
@pteranodo.bsky.social
"The Church of the present day has as yet much to learn in the carrying out of the principles underlying this verse."
- Revere Franklin Weidner
John Abercrombie wrote devotionals as a Scotland church elder. He says living faith strips away artificial distinctions and resists selfishness that dulls us to others’ needs. True discipleship, he argues, reshapes how we see people—not as categories, but neighbors.

#faith #reformedtheology #unity
February 4, 2026 at 10:44 PM
Alexander Maclaren, #Baptist, notes that in Philemon, Paul doesn’t coerce a slaveholder but lays “siege” to his conscience through kindness and brotherly love. Moral change comes by truth pressed patiently. How do we witness against wrong without hardening the heart?
#christianity #justice
February 4, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Joseph Parker, a Congregational minister, turns Matthew 25 inward. He asks who truly gives, if Christ meets us in the poor—and whether comfortable lives can still claim obedience. His “inquest” isn’t accusation but repentance: Scripture presses us to examine what we excuse.

#christian #examinedlife
February 4, 2026 at 12:33 AM
John Gregg Fee, a #Presbyterian turned abolitionist preacher, noted that Scripture says we’re all “of one blood.” So inventing racial loopholes to defend slavery isn’t clever theology—it’s simply deciding the Bible is wrong. An awkward position for people claiming to revere it.
February 3, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Richard Bernard, #Puritan minister, warns that charity wrung from unwilling hands profits the soul nothing. Writing on taxes for the poor, he says resentment and resistance empty the gift of spiritual good. The issue isn’t payment alone—but the heart that pays.
#christianity #pulpitsky #taxes #poor
February 2, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Thomas Granger, an English parish preacher, treats “You shall not steal” as more than petty theft. Citing Nehemiah, he condemns monopolizing work to force dependence and lending that profits from another’s distress. His question lingers: how narrow have we let this commandment become?
#christianity
February 2, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Matthew Newcomen warns that Christians may not plead ignorance when others face ruin. Citing Proverbs and Job, he says faith searches out unseen causes and rescues the oppressed. The question isn’t whether Scripture speaks—but which parts we’re willing to obey.
#christianity #empathy #faithfulness
February 1, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Ambrose says justice isn’t abstract: it’s selling what you have and giving to the poor. That’s a bracing definition. It asks whether our idea of “justice” risks shrinking to what costs us least—while the older church assumed justice should cost us something.
#christianity #sermonsky #righteousness
January 31, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Frank Delitzsch, a German Lutheran scholar, reads Job as a man who would not let a widow’s eyes fail or her tears be wasted. Mercy, he says, gives tears weight before God. If we believed that causing tears offends heaven, what habits would we finally abandon?
#lutheran #biblical #christianity
January 31, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Basil does the unthinkable: he tells the poor not to steal and the rich to stop charging interest. Not class warfare—just obedience. Better to share hardship than breed misery with usury. Lend, says Jesus, expecting nothing back. Radical, apparently.
#christianity #discipleship #class
January 31, 2026 at 2:29 AM
Paul Baynes, a Puritan cleric, reads “stop stealing” and says it includes nicking pennies from the poor via wages and prices. That “tiny” loss might be their whole livelihood. Cheat a brother and you don’t beat the market—you meet an Avenger. What will you share?
#NottheMCU #christian #puritan
January 30, 2026 at 5:11 PM
William Tyndale, who translated the Bible and paid for it with his life, looks at Luke 16 and says God loves first, opens our eyes, then sends us out. The servant’s job isn’t hiding with the Master—it’s handing out the Master’s goods. So… where’s your post?
#christianity #bible #martyrs
January 30, 2026 at 9:38 AM
Charles Spurgeon, #Baptist, basically says: if your heart’s shut for business, heaven’s not taking reservations. Love isn’t a hobby for outgoing types; it’s the whole point. If your inner life is just you applauding yourself, you’ve missed it. Real life is doing good, on purpose, for real people.
January 29, 2026 at 8:47 AM
Samuel Rutherford says heaven’s King has sent you an invite. Pack light—but bring conscience, faith, love, patience, kindness, meekness. Apparently those matter where you’re going. Which is funny, because today #kindness is suspicious and conscience is optional. So… what are you actually packing?
January 28, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Thomas Taylor, a Calvinist #Anglican priest, warns—rather tiredly—that greed is the devil’s favourite workshop. Once gain is king, no sin is off-limits: Ahab kills for land, Balaam sells sermons, Judas cashes in Christ, Demas defects. Apparently this still endangers souls. Shocking.
#christianity
January 28, 2026 at 10:41 AM
Ludwig Lavater, Swiss #Reformed, notes in Ruth that if you can’t help the needy yourself, you should pester someone who can. Commending the poor to the rich isn’t meddling; it’s duty. If that’s “advocacy,” Scripture seems untroubled by the label.

#christianity #advocacy #bookofruth
January 28, 2026 at 12:46 AM
John McDowell, #Presbyterian minister, notes in Amos that selling bread dear simply because your neighbour is poor is oppression, full stop. Cornering life’s basics and hiking the price isn’t “commerce”; it’s grinding faces. Funny how that gets mislabelled as smart biz sense today.
#christinanity
January 27, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Adolph Saphir, #Presbyterian missionary, notes that the Lord’s Prayer (“OUR daily bread”) trains us to pray outward. The closer people get to God, the more humble and generous they become, eager to lift the weak.

Oddly, we’re now told closeness to God means keeping to self. How did that happen?
January 26, 2026 at 9:56 PM
George Hutcheson, a Scottish Presbyterian, reads Job 24 and does something awkward: he agrees with Job’s moral outrage. He praises mercy in letting fathers keep their children—and calls tearing kids away for debt or raids a barbarity. Funny how some still defend that.
#christianity #pulpitsky
January 26, 2026 at 10:10 AM
William Weston Patton, #Congregationalist, noted that churches propping up tyrants in Europe and slavery in America did more to manufacture unbelief than atheists ever could. When the church drops basic decency, it shouldn’t be shocked when people drop the church. How will you let your light shine?
January 25, 2026 at 8:47 PM
John Brodhead Romeyn, the Dutch Reformed–Presbyterian, says that if you only help the miserable once you’ve been coaxed, you’ve misunderstood your duties. A Christian—indeed a human—shouldn’t need prompting to feel mercy. Are we training ourselves not to feel it?
January 25, 2026 at 11:07 AM
James Buchanan, a Free Church of Scotland minister, fumes that once you turn church seating into a rental business, you quietly bar the poor at the door. Call it respectable finance if you like; Scripture calls it partiality. God doesn’t sell tickets.

#reformedtheology
January 25, 2026 at 3:16 AM
Benjamin Keach, a Reformed #baptist, reads Luke 16 and says: admire the rich man’s purple and banquets if you like, but notice the staff change—he ends up attended by devils. It’s a blunt warning to wealthy people who are generous in theory and stingy in practice.
#wealthcreators #1689baptist
January 24, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Thomas Gouge, a #Puritan, says the fastest way to divine displeasure isn’t exotic vice but plain old unmercifulness—Ezekiel blamed it for fire and brimstone. Today we flinch less at ignoring the poor than at offending wealth. Curious priorities. How might mercy look now?
#libertarian #mercy
January 24, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Alexander Maclaren, the Scottish Baptist, says Christ bore our sins by stooping like a labourer lifting a weight. Think of healers and helpers, he says, and you’ll grasp the Passion better than by abstractions. So—whose load will you shoulder, remembering who carried yours?
#goodfriday
January 23, 2026 at 10:11 AM