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
Joseph Parker, an English #Congregational minister, turns Matthew 25 inward. Who truly gives as they ought—sharing even their last crust with Christ in the poor? He questions whether comfortable lives can claim obedience at all. How can you live an examined life?
#christian
February 17, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Cyril of Alexandria, imagines the rich man hearing this in hell: you could’ve shared paradise with Lazarus if you’d shared your wealth with him. Refusing mercy made the punishment fit the crime. Would any preacher today urge the rich to make the poor partners in thy wealth?
#churchfathers #christian
February 17, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Robert Moffat, #Congregationalist, recounts African Christians harassed for their faith—arrested on the way to church, hunted in homes, punished under impossible laws.

Anyone treated this way now, and what happens when Christians defend them? How will you pray for the persecuted?
#persecutedchurch
February 16, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Beveridge, #Anglican minister, says God’s work comes in two flavours: devotion upward and justice outward. Miss either and you’ve misunderstood the job. Today we mock one or the other to dodge inconvenience. Steadfast faith, it turns out, still expects both hands to be busy.
#christian #neighbor
February 16, 2026 at 10:23 AM
Luther hears God say in Isaiah 58: I’m not after holy misery or spiritual self-harm. I want justice with skin on it—feed the hungry, clothe the naked, lift the poor. If faith never leaves the prayer room, it’s missing the point. So—what fast will you live?
February 15, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Parsons Cooke, #Congregationalist, notes that early Christians treated plagues as a call to service: rich women volunteered as nurses, risked infection, spent money, energy, prayers—everything. Today we fear inconvenience more than contagion. When did charity develop an immune response?
#usaid
February 15, 2026 at 11:28 AM
John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, urges humility through almsgiving, forgiveness, and honest reflection on our own sins. He warns that power, wealth, and force are spiritual dangers, not prizes. It’s worth asking what we admire—and how we learn to stay low.
#christianity
February 15, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Robert Harris, a #Puritan and Westminster divine, complains that we’re impressively generous to ourselves and astonishingly tight-fisted toward God and neighbour. He says this should shame us into repentance. If that sermon feels unnecessary today… well, that might be the problem.
#sermonsky
February 14, 2026 at 9:56 AM
John Calvin notes that the dogs tended Lazarus (Lk 16) when respectable people didn’t. Imagine being out-performed in mercy by a Labrador. Calvin says when animals do the duty we dodged, God has appointed witnesses—and it’s not flattering. So, before the dog beats you to it: who will you help today?
February 14, 2026 at 12:41 AM
John Noble Coleman, #Anglican minister, calls dueling what God calls it: murder. Society excuses it, the law barely restrains it, but Scripture does not. It’s strange to celebrate “masculine energy” while refusing to admit when violence is being dressed up as virtue.
#christianity
February 13, 2026 at 9:53 AM
John Abernathy, #Presbyterian minister, taught that Christ’s life and the Last Judgment test mercy, not mere devotion (Matt 25; Jas 2). Gratitude to God must move outward. Piety that ignores the poor misses obedience. How will you show mercy today?

#mercy #piety #ConfessionalFaith #TheologyMatters
February 12, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Isaac Watts wrote “Wondrous Cross”. He reminds us that one privilege of life on earth is caring for the hungry, sick, widows, orphans, and the poor—needs that don’t exist in heaven. Mercy is work reserved for now. Who, then, will we serve while we still can, and whom do we leave unseen?
#mercy
February 12, 2026 at 10:04 AM
William Weston Patton, #Congregationalist abolitionist, said duty isn’t optional: it binds us to neighbours and strangers alike, and conscience already knows it. Which makes claims that slavery was “helpful” sound like moral yoga. What does your conscience know?
#abolitionist #christian
February 12, 2026 at 1:01 AM
#Puritan minister William Gouge warns that some guard full pantries yet begrudge crumbs to the poor—then calmly throw spoiled food away. He says both the wasted food and the hungry will cry out before God. What does faithful stewardship look like in your kitchen?
#charitybeginsathome #pulpitsky
February 11, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Frederick Stanley Arnot noted that the gospel was hindered not only by local beliefs, but by centuries of brutality—rum and slave trades included. Many Reformed missionaries agreed: bad Christian witness can block good news. Even if God’s decree stands, will you be the obstacle—or the help?
#PlyBren
February 10, 2026 at 10:43 PM
Llewelyn Joan Evans, a #Presbyterian minister, says bearing burdens starts with noticing. He saw tenement faces marked by poverty and vice and asked: do they stir even a flicker of concern? Faith isn’t looking away—it’s looking back. What happens when suffering meets your eyes?
February 10, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Thomas Becon, a Reformation minister imprisoned under Mary I, warned wealthy Christians in his catechism that unmerciful riches fall under Christ’s judgment in Matthew 25. Not comfort for power, but mercy for the poor marks true faith. How will you practice liberality today?
#wealth #reformation
February 9, 2026 at 11:04 AM
William Gouge, #Puritan minister, argues that charity earns no merit before God, yet God still freely rewards it in this life and the next. He laments that the rich, though able to gain a “good inheritance,” often lack the heart to give. How will you use what you have?
#latinwords #theology
February 9, 2026 at 12:27 AM
William Howard van Doren, #Presbyterian minister, notes in the Good Samaritan that mercy can overturn hatred. Help from a despised group may feel like help from a brother. Compassion exposes how quickly fear gives way when love acts. How might you aid someone taught to see you as an enemy?
#love
February 8, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Basil of Caesarea, a church father, reads Scripture and then does the maths. Ten percent? Twelve? He treats interest rates like a moral thermometer: when the numbers rise, mercy freezes. Apparently holiness isn’t helped by APRs that need a calculator and a conscience.
#sermonsky #Christianity
February 7, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Edward Traill Horn, #Lutheran pastor and president of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, warns against idle curiosity while urging faithful charity. Our duty, he says, is first to those in our household—and also to the stranger placed directly in our path. Mercy begins where God places need before us.
February 7, 2026 at 10:16 AM
William Attersoll, #Puritan, reads Philemon and asks whether anyone Christ calls “brother” may be despised in matters of redemption. If God is not ashamed to name rich and poor, master and servant alike, how can we justify disdain? The question presses every age: what divisions do we still defend?
February 7, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Ralph Wardlaw, a Scottish #Congregationalist minister, writes with compassion for women trapped in prostitution, describing the forces that ensnare them and society’s harsh response. In this passage he sets aside scolding and urges mercy toward lives being lost.
#mercy
February 6, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Thomas Manton, English #Puritan, preaching on Ecclesiastes, acknowledges ongoing oppression of the poor by the powerful. He urges patience before God, who will surely own the afflicted—without denying their suffering. Faith, he implies, neither excuses injustice nor silences the poor.
February 6, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Charles Spurgeon warns that charity can grow so cautious it stops imitating Christ. When we restrict mercy only to the “deserving,” we become judges, not helpers. Christianity, he says, is called to mercy—not merely the careful distribution of justice.
#justice #Baptist #imitationofChrist
February 5, 2026 at 11:33 AM