The Indefatigable Monica of Hippo: Hope for Weeping (and Praying) Mom’s

August 23, 2014 by Christina

Augustine is considered one of the greatest theologians of all time. Christian History magazine writes, “After Jesus and Paul, Augustine of Hippo is the most influential figure in the history of Christianity.” [1] If the familiar adage is true, “Behind every great man is a great woman” there can be no greater example than Augustine and his mother, Monica. But don’t take my word for it. Take his.

“It is to my mother that I owe all.”

“If I am thy child, O my God, it is because Thou gavest me such a mother.”

“If I prefer the truth to all other things, it is the fruit of my mother’s teaching.”

“If I did not long ago perish in sin and misery, it is because of the long faithful tears with which she pleaded for me.”

That’s a powerful witness to a mother’s influence, don’t you think? But don’t be fooled. It didn’t come easy. Monica’s short 56 years on earth were marked by travail and tears – largely for a wayward son who, more often than not, gave her reason to despair and not hope. From her life story, I’ve gleaned a few lessons to encourage parents – especially mothers – to persevere in prayer for wayward children.

GOD’S PURPOSES WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED REGARDLESS OF AN IMPERFECT UPBRINGING: Even though Monica came from a devout Christian home, her parents (oddly enough) arranged her marriage to a pagan. He was a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered man, who subjected his wife to the pain of multiple adulteries. Though Monica rejoiced to see his conversion to Christianity one year before he died, his influence on Augustine was considerably bad and seemingly irreversible. But God’s grace is greater. Too many Christian parents, especially those who came to Christ later in life, live with the guilt of the “damage” they’ve done to their children. But God overrules our mistakes!

SEXUAL IMMORALITY WILL NOT HAVE THE FINAL WORD: As Augustine grew into manhood he struggled with sexuality. By the time he was 16 years old, he admits, “the frenzy gripped me and I surrendered myself entirely to lust.” Having learned his father’s promiscuous ways, he admits to “floundering in the broiling sea of … fornication. ” He lived with a woman out-of-wedlock for over 13 years and fathered a son with her. As God began to work in Augustine’s heart, his prayer reveals an inner turmoil. “Give me chastity … but not yet.” Though Augustine describes his break-up in extremely painful terms (it was clear there was a deep emotional bond between the two) the relationship was nonetheless permanently severed. Maybe you despair over a sexually immoral relationship your child is involved in. As time goes on the unholy partnership gets deeper, more attached, and more complex. But with God, none of that matters! When He says, “It’s over!” It’s over. Period.

THE TRUE GOSPEL PREVAILS OVER A COUNTERFEIT GOSPEL: At age 17, Augustine left home to attend school in Carthage. There he became a member of a Christian-gnostic group called Manichaeism. The particular sect he was involved with “saw themselves as the sole possessors of true Christian knowledge and interpretation of the Bible. Other Christians, they maintained, believed absurdities about God and accepted falsified versions of the Scriptures.” [2] Augustine was not just an adherent, he was an ardent defender who employed his strong oratory skills to lead others into this error. At Rome, Monica pleaded earnestly with Bishop Ambrose. “Talk to my son!” she begged. But the Bishop wisely refrained. He knew Augustine was not ready to listen. Instead he told Monica, “Go your way; as sure as you live, it is impossible that the son of these tears should perish.” [3] God, in His time, shook the foundations of Manichaeism and led Augustine to the saving knowledge of Christ. Maybe your child has been seduced by a false gospel. Remember, no matter what lie has taken up residence in your child’s life, God can tear it down and bring it to naught.

DON’T MAKE JUDGMENTS BASED UPON WHAT YOU SEE: For years it seemed like Augustine grew worse. His journey was a long one. “He had periods of skepticism and doubt; there was a gradual detachment from past errors, fits of starts and stops.” [4] But after 32 years of vain and worldly pursuits, the tears and prayers of his mother caught up. Augustine recounts the day the Word came alive: “Not in revelry and drunkenness, not in chambering and shamelessness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh” [Rom. 13:13–14]. I neither wanted nor needed to read further. Immediately with the end of that sentence, a light, as it were, of certainty poured in my heart and put all my shadowy doubts to flight.” If, at any point, Monica would have settled on what her eyes saw, she would have missed out on the great work that God brought about! Remember, this is a walk of faith!

The 4th-Century pagan philosopher, Libanius, once exclaimed, “What women these Christians have!” [5] Well, if Monica is any example, I can certainly see how he can say that. Maybe you are a hurting mom. You’ve wept, you’ve agonized, you’ve prayed and still, your wayward child grows worse. Pray on, sister! It’s true, not every child is destined to be an Augustine but God will be glorified in all your tears and prayers. Or, maybe you know a Monica. Churches are full of them. I have a few in my life. I know that behind their smile is a broken, hemorrhaging heart. Pray for her. Encourage her when she grows weary. And tell her about Monica, whose twenty-five years of weeping and praying ended in a torrent of triumph!

Recommended Reading: Augustine: A Mother’s Son by Dolina MacCuish

[1] Christian History Magazine-Issue 15: St. Augustine of Hippo (Worcester, PA: Christian History Institute, 1987).
[2] Stephen Cooper, Augustine for Armchair Theologians, Armchair Theologians Series (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 8.
[3] Christian History Magazine-Issue 67: St. Augustine: Sinner, Bishop, Saint (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 2000).
[4] Stephen Cooper, Augustine for Armchair Theologians, Armchair Theologians Series (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 9.
[5] Christian History Magazine-Issue 17: Women in the Early Church (Worcester, PA: Christian History Institute, 1988).

A Page From Church History

May 1, 2012 by Christina

There are so many good reasons to study church history. One reason is that it gives us perspective. When we study church history we see the providential hand of God guiding the affairs of men and nations in such a way that the Gospel is never extinguished.

I know I’m not the only one who sees the writing on the wall. The rising anti-Christian sentiment in our country gives pause for great concern. Anyone who knows me well is aware that I have very strong political views. But the truth is that politics are neither here nor there when measured against eternity and God’s grand plan of redemption for His elect. The most important thing to God is the church, and whoever touches her, touches the apple of His eye (Zech. 2:8). In the church’s history there have been seasons of peace and there have been times of terrible persecution. I pray for the peace of the church in America. I do that because I’d like to lead a quiet life and be able to pursue holiness without being harassed (1 Tim. 2:2). However, such has not always been the case, and it certainly is not the case for many of our brothers and sisters today in various regions of the world. What I am trying to get at is this: Persecution might be new to us, but it is not a new experience to the church. With that in mind, I wanted to share an excerpt from Stephen J. Nichols’s book, “Pages from Church History.” Here he describes the sociopolitical context that the early church, in the Roman Empire, found itself. Read closely. I believe you will find not just a few similarities. More important, I think it will encourage you to see beyond the noise of the immediate.

Due to the nature of the Roman Empire, a conglomerate of formerly independent city- and nation-states, a certain pluralism prevailed. To be a Roman was the glue that held everything together, but underlying this was great pantheon of gods and religions and world views.

To accommodate these differences, the empire dubbed certain religions as acceptable…These religions tended to be pluralistic or at least polytheistic, so to bring them into the already expanded fold of gods mattered little. Some of them observed secretive rites and rather bizarre practices. They were accepted, however, because these religions did not preclude their members from participating in the civil cult, or offering sacrifices to the gods of Rome.

But not all religions fit so well … Not only did Christianity affirm that there is one God, it also made the point that there is only one way to God. For Christians, other religions do not simply provide alternatives, they are false. All of this resulted in Christianity’s being designated an illegal religion …

The Christians in the region were plentiful and had abandoned the pagan cults and temples, making for economic difficulties, curiously similar to the fallout of Paul and the church at Ephesus just a century earlier (Acts 19:21-41). Pliny [a Roman senator] knew the Christians were to be executed, but he was puzzled as to the exact nature of the crime. He failed to see how they were enemies of the state. Emperor Trajan assured Pliny that they were in fact enemies of the state and were to be executed, though he did not seem to indicate that doing so should be Pliny’s top priority. The main reason for their treatment, Trajan affirmed and Pliny consented, was that they failed to offer a sacrifice to the images of the gods or to the images of the emperor.

Consequently, and quite ironically, the early Christians were accused of atheism; they did not recognize the gods of the Roman state, and they certainly could not offer sacrifices to them. This gave Nero, emperor during the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul-as church tradition has it- his reason to persecute them …Nero and the others bootstrapped the accusation that the Christians denied the gods of the state (which was true) to the charge that the Christians were the enemy of the state (which was not true). In reality, Christians made great citizens … Christ and the New Testament teach that Christians are to honor the government and its officials. Christianity practiced compassion for the less fortunate and practiced a high ethic concerning social relationships in the marketplace and in the home. Christians were law-abiding and peaceful. Yet they were hated and viewed as the very enemy of the state…perhaps the real reason for the persecution is that the Christians were a convenient scapegoat. Tertullian reveals the ulterior motive: “They consider that the Christians are the cause of every public calamity and every misfortune of the people. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not rise to the fields, if the weather will not change, if there is an earthquake, a famine, a plague – straightway the cry is heard: “Toss the Christians to the lions!”1

In a strange way, reading this page from church history helped settle my soul. How is that? Well, after all is said and done, there is only one thing that matters: I am a Christian.

Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. (Ps 119:36–37).

1 Nichols, Stephen J., (2006) “Pages From Church History: A Guided Tour of Christian Classics” (49-50), Phillipsburg: N.J., P&R Publishing.

Perpetua: High Society Believer

April 28, 2012 by Christina

“It will all happen in the prisoner’s dock as God wills, for you may be sure that we are not left to ourselves but are all in his power.”

“We have little idea what brought Perpetua to faith in Christ, or how long she had been a Christian, or how she lived her Christian life. Thanks to her diary, and that of another prisoner, we have some idea of her last days—an ordeal that so impressed the famous Augustine that he preached four sermons about her death.

Perpetua was a Christian noblewoman who, at the turn of the third century, lived with her husband, her son, and her slave, Felicitas, in Carthage (in modern Tunis). At this time, North Africa was the center of a vibrant Christian community. It is no surprise, then, that when Emperor Septimius Severus determined to cripple Christianity (he believed it undermined Roman patriotism), he focused his attention on North Africa. Among the first to be arrested were five new Christians taking classes to prepare for baptism, one of whom was Perpetua.

Her father immediately came to her in prison. He was a pagan, and he saw an easy way for Perpetua to save herself. He entreated her simply to deny she was a Christian.

“Father do you see this vase here?” she replied. “Could it be called by any other name than what it is?”

“No,” he replied.

“Well, neither can I be called anything other than what I am, a Christian.”

In the next days, Perpetua was moved to a better part of the prison and allowed to breast-feed her child. With her hearing approaching, her father visited again, this time, pleading more passionately: “Have pity on my gray head. Have pity on me, your father, if I deserve to be called your father, if I have favored you above all your brothers, if I have raised you to reach this prime of your life.”

He threw himself down before her and kissed her hands. “Do not abandon me to be the reproach of men. Think of your brothers; think of your mother and your aunt; think of your child, who will not be able to live once you are gone. Give up your pride!”

Perpetua was touched but remained unshaken. She tried to comfort her father—“It will all happen in the prisoner’s dock as God wills, for you may be sure that we are not left to ourselves but are all in his power”—but he walked out of the prison dejected.

The day of the hearing arrived, Perpetua and her friends were marched before the governor, Hilarianus. Perpetua’s friends were questioned first, and each in turn admitted to being a Christian, and each in turn refused to make a sacrifice (an act of emperor worship). Then the governor turned to question Perpetua.

At that moment, her father, carrying Perpetua’s son in his arms, burst into the room. He grabbed Perpetua and pleaded, “Perform the sacrifice. Have pity on your baby!”

Hilarianus, probably wishing to avoid the unpleasantness of executing a mother who still suckled a child, added, “Have pity on your father’s gray head; have pity on your infant son. Offer the sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor.”

Perpetua replied simply: “I will not.”

“Are you a Christian then?” asked the governor.

“Yes I am,” Perpetua replied.

Her father interrupted again, begging her to sacrifice, but Hilarianus had heard enough: he ordered soldiers to beat him into silence. He then condemned Perpetua and her friends to die in the arena.

Perpetua, her friends, and her slave, Felicitas (who had subsequently been arrested), were dressed in belted tunics. When they entered the stadium, wild beasts and gladiators roamed the arena floor, and in the stands, crowds roared to see blood. They didn’t have to wait long.

Immediately a wild heifer charged the group. Perpetua was tossed into the air and onto her back. She sat up, adjusted her ripped tunic, and walked over to help Felicitas. Then a leopard was let loose, and it wasn’t long before the tunics of the Christians were stained with blood.

This was too deliberate for the impatient crowd, which began calling for death for the Christians. So Perpetua, Felicitas, and friends were lined up, and one by one, were slain by the sword.”

Galli, M., & Olsen, T. (2000). 131 Christians everyone should know (362–363). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Luther’s Gethsemane: A Prayer Before the Diet of Worms

April 10, 2012 by Christina

History is so much more than just dates and facts. It’s about people. Real, flesh and blood people . When I think of the Reformers — especially Martin Luther, words like strong, unyielding, and uncompromising come to mind. The Reformers, like the Puritans, were men of great spiritual stature. They stood, as JI Packer has said, like “towering Redwoods”. Yet, it is also true that, like all historical figures, they were not one-dimensional characters. Talented and gifted? Yes. But also imperfect, frail, limited, and vulnerable.

At The Diet of Worms, the assembly presented Luther with his own writings. They then wanted to know two things: (1) Are you the author? and, (2) Do you still stand by the contents? In an almost inaudible voice Luther admitted to authorship but asked for additional time to consider a response to the second question. They agreed and Luther retreated in seclusion. RC Sproul, in his series, “Justification by Faith” calls this moment in Luther’s life, “Luther’s Gethsemane”.

Below is his plea for help. This desperate, heavenly appeal reminds us that there is indeed a human element to history.

“O God, Almighty God Everlasting! How dreadful is the world! Behold how its mouth opens to swallow me up, and how small is my faith in Thee! . . . Oh! the weakness of the flesh, and the power of Satan! If I am to depend upon any strength of this world – all is over . . . The knell is struck . . . Sentence is gone forth . . . O God! O God! O thou, my God! help me against the wisdom of this world. Do this, I beseech thee; thou shouldst do this . . . by thy own mighty power . . . The work is not mine, but Thine. I have no business here . . . I have nothing to contend for with these great men of the world! I would gladly pass my days in happiness and peace. But the cause is Thine . . . And it is righteous and everlasting! O Lord! help me! O faithful and unchangeable God! I lean not upon man. It were vain! Whatever is of man is tottering, whatever proceeds from him must fail. My God! my God! dost thou not hear? My God! art thou no longer living? Nay, thou canst not die. Thou dost but hide Thyself. Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it! . . . Therefore, O God, accomplish thine own will! Forsake me not, for the sake of thy well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, my defence, my buckler, and my stronghold.

Lord – where art thou? . . . My God, where art thou? . . . Come! I pray thee, I am ready . . . Behold me prepared to lay down my life for thy truth . . . suffering like a lamb. For the cause is holy. It is thine own! . . . I will not let thee go! no, nor yet for all eternity! And though the world should be thronged with devils – and this body, which is the work of thine hands, should be cast forth, trodden under foot, cut in pieces, . . . consumed to ashes, my soul is thine. Yes, I have thine own word to assure me of it. My soul belongs to thee, and will abide with thee forever! Amen! O God send help! . . . Amen!

Can’t you just hear the fear and trembling of this man’s soul? Luther’s prayer also confirms something else – that is, our faith rests not in men but in the unchanging and Almighty God they served. Praise God for strengthening Luther and depositing in him the courage and faith to return and stand alone for truth.

Now that my friends, in my book, calls for a hearty and loud, Soli Deo Gloria!