Saints CVs – Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (1707-1791)
‘I am encircled in the arms of love and mercy’1 Selina Hastings often thanked God for the letter ‘m’ since, she said, she would never have been saved without it. She referred to the fact that ‘not many noble are called’, 1 Cor. 1. 26. Certainly Selina was a member of the upper class, born […]
Matthew 26. 39
For most people, there is a routine to the days of our life that is somewhat comforting. We make arrangements for the days, weeks, and months that lie ahead and try to organize our lives so that we can accomplish our plans. However, there are times when an event happens, or we receive news, that […]
Fascinating Facts – Part 5
From late October through to March, many of us in the UK and across Europe will see an amazing phenomenon. As twilight falls, thousands of starling birds flock together and fly in large groups called ‘murmurations’. The flock constantly remoulds its overall shape and produces rippling patterns as birds change direction in unison. It is […]
Editor’s Introduction – February 2024
Thanks once again for reading YPS. This is the first issue for 2024, but for me, it is my final issue of Young Precious Seed. From the May 2024 issue Andrew Dutton will be taking over as Editor of YPS. Andrew has been involved in the work of Precious Seed for several years now, and […]
Asa
In this series, we’re looking at the first four kings of Judah after the division of the nation. We’ve seen that Rehoboam lacked conviction and that his son, Abijah, though a man of conviction, lacked courage. The third king is Asa. Asa was different from his father and grandfather. From the start of his forty-one-year […]
Saints CVs – William Tyndale
WILLIAM TYNDALE 1494 – 1536 Can you imagine the hardship of not being able to read the Bible in your own language? This was the situation throughout the Middle Ages when the scriptures were only available in Latin, which few people could read or understand. William Tyndale stated his great ambition to a Catholic priest, […]
Luke 9. 60
One of the pieces of evidence that the Bible is the inspired word of God is the way the Holy Spirit takes a verse we may have read many times and impresses a lesson from it upon us personally. That happened to me with this verse a few months ago; and it has continued to […]
Fascinating Facts – Part 4
One of the stand-out events of 2023 was the coronation of King Charles III, and I became rather interested in the Crown Jewels used in the ceremony. Perhaps you have been to the Tower of London and queued up to view this collection of ceremonial objects, which includes crowns, swords, sceptres, orbs, trumpets, and even […]
Editor’s Introduction – November 2023
Thanks once again for reading our magazine – we really do appreciate it. Whether you read it from cover to cover or just dip in and out of it, we hope that you find the articles interesting, challenging and biblical. One of our objectives is to encourage the study of scripture. Please don’t ever replace […]
Abijah
If Rehoboam was a carnal man, lacking in any conviction at all, is there any hope for his family? You’ve maybe heard the expression, ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, or ‘a chip off the old block’. In other words, we often behave in the way that our parents did before us. It […]
Saints CVs – Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora
MARTIN LUTHER 1483-1546 As a young man, Luther abandoned his legal studies after being caught in a dramatic thunderstorm, during which he vowed to become a monk if he survived. He entered a monastery and devoted his life to the formal, religious routines of the Catholic church. These included frequent confessions to more senior clerics […]
Rehoboam
‘Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it’, Winston Churchill(1948 speech to the House of Commons) There is no such thing as a perfect generation. Each fails in one way or another. Our choice is whether to repeat the mistakes of the past, or to learn and change. In these studies, […]
Plotting Your Path Through Life – Knowing the Will of God Part 2
The prescribed will of God This brings us to the difficult part of knowing the will of God in relation to a specific matter. It is not always easy to know God’s will when it comes down to our personal decisions. What we do know, however, is that God has given us the indwelling Holy […]
Fascinating Facts – Part 3
One of the few places I find my emotions occupying the small overlap between excitement and fear is the bat cave at the zoo. Knowing that bats use sophisticated echolocation to build a detailed picture in complete darkness helps settle my nerves a little. Yes, they can see where they are going, and they are […]
Editor’s Introduction – August 2023
Depending on where you live in this country, or overseas, you might get this issue before you have your summer break or holiday. This summer, my advice, for what it’s worth, is – take a break and do some serious reading. Although technological advancement has brought many advantages, one of its dangers is that people […]
Saints CVs – The Middle Ages
We’ll consider more recent believers in future Saints’ CVs, but for this initial article we will look back at three individuals from the Middle Ages. The problem with medieval times is the difficulty of separating fact from fiction. Any surviving records are unreliable. We have utmost confidence in inspired biblical authors, but we should be […]
Plotting Your Path Through Life – Knowing the Will of God Part 1
How a Christian can know the will of God is both an easy and a difficult question to answer! The easy part is that God’s will is clearly stated on a number of occasions in scripture without ambiguity. The difficult part is when it comes to making specific choices in life in relation to big […]
Mark 16. 15; Acts 5. 41
The Bible is unlike any other book, it is God’s inspired word and is dynamic. A verse that we may have read many times before can suddenly hit us and cut us to the heart, cause our lives to change or suddenly give us the supernatural peace that only comes from God. At other times […]
Fascinating Facts – Part 2
Most will remember ‘The Ugly Duckling’ by HANS Christian Andersen, the tale of the duck foster family that raised an unattractive youth, only for it to transform into a beautiful swan! In biology, this is an example of ‘brood parasitism’ and perhaps the best-known example is the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), the only British bird […]
Editor’s Introduction – May 2023
I love reading biographies and so I am looking forward to seeing the different people Jeremy Singer focuses on in this series of Saints’ CVs. The scripture calls us to imitate those who follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. There might just be one feature of their life that stands out, but what […]
Saints CVs – Introduction
Introduction In any high street bookstore, the biography section is always popular. We are naturally attracted to stories about other people’s lives; we can relate to them, gaining insight into their successes and, perhaps, their failures. This article introduces a new series covering some believers from history and their circumstances. Since the church is about […]
Numbers 23. 19
Integrity is an admirable quality in the character of any man or woman. It is, however, an intrinsic attribute of deity. The Lord Jesus addressed His Father in John chapter 17 as the ‘only true God’, and as the One whose ‘word is truth’. Paul commended the Thessalonians for their conversion to ‘the living and […]
Fascinating Facts – Part 1
The Hawaiian bobtail squid (Euprymna scolopes) swims in tropical waters, blissfully unaware that it is marvellously designed by God. It has a neat symbiotic’ partnership with a glowing bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, which lives inside it. This gives the squid a built-in torch to help it camouflage, by a crafty technique known as counterillumination’. In the […]
Editor’s Introduction – February 2023
Welcome to the new format of YPS. We have moved to this style of YPS insert as the cost of print and paper has risen significantly over the last 12 months and we are seeking to make sure that we produce our magazine as cost-effectively as possible. As always, this creates some fresh opportunities as […]
About Life
The world we live in is moving away from the truths and principles set out clearly in the word of God with increasing rapidity. The common view is that only you can decide what is right for you’ or what your truth is’: but the Christian is measured by a higher standard. We should always […]
Why Should People Believe the Bible? (Continued)
In our previous article, we looked at experience and agreement as two lines of evidence for the authority of the Bible. Our third proof is Revelation. Revelation One of the things that sets the Bible apart from all the so-called holy books of world religions is that the Bible is a book of prophecy – […]
How To Live as a Christian – Part 2
One of the biggest challenges that every believer faces is their daily walk as a Christian. Our walk, or manner of living, should be consistent and Christlike. When God saved us, He changed us and made us ‘new creatures’, 2 Cor. 5. 17, and this should be reflected in how we live our lives. There […]
Gospel Truth
To bring this short series of articles on some of the doctrines of Christ to a conclusion, I thought I would end with one of the most fundamental truths of the gospel, ‘Jesus is God’. There are several compelling reasons to believe that Jesus is God. I will list some and then focus on one. […]
Eliashib
The last significant Old Testament priest in chronological terms, Eliashib, served in the time of Nehemiah during the 5th century BC. Eliashib’s name has a wonderfully optimistic meaning in Hebrew – ‘God restores’. Appropriate to his name, this high priest lived in a restoration period; there was a civic rebuilding programme in Jerusalem, while at […]
Editor’s Introduction – November 2022
As I write this editorial, it is extremely hot, but I imagine by the time you are reading it we will have left the warmth of summer behind and be heading for colder days. Life has its cycles both in the seasons and in our individual circumstances. I trust that you will find this issue […]
Career Choices – Hospital Pharmacist
Defining what a hospital pharmacist does is probably beyond the scope of this article and will vary significantly depending on the area of work and grade of the position. In essence, every hospital pharmacist will be involved in some aspects of governance to promote and ensure the safe, efficacious, and cost-effective use of medications within […]
Words Are Important
Some of the important distinctions between Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christians come down to the meaning of a word; this is nothing new. In the early days of church history, there was a significant debate about the body of the Lord Jesus. Was it flesh and bone or did it just appear as flesh and […]
Why Should People Believe the Bible?
In a society in which there is so much unbelief and so many other beliefs, we can’t just assume that people view the Bible as reliable or relevant, never mind as God’s word. Often, before we can tell them what the Bible says, we have to make a case for why they should listen. That’s […]
How To Live as a Christian – Part 1
One of the biggest challenges that every believer faces is their daily walk as a Christian. Our walk, or manner of living, should be consistent and Christ-like. When God saved us, He changed us and made us a ‘new creature’, 2 Cor. 5. 17, and this should be reflected in how we live our lives. […]
Esther – Part 3
Author The writer is unknown. He was possibly a Persian Jew who had access to ‘the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia’, Esther 10. 2. Others suggest it was written by Mordecai. Dates and Time Span There are three specific date markers: Chapter 1 verse 3 – ‘the third year […]
Editor’s Introduction – August 2022
Hopefully, by now you will have had a summer break and some rest and recuperation. I have enjoyed pulling this edition of Young Precious Seed together – not the process but the content of the articles. One of the benefits of being an editor is reading new articles and being challenged by what we are […]
