Who was the man from...
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Who was the man from Macedonia urging Paul to travel to Philippi instead of the Roman province of Bithynia? Scholars are divided: some say it was Luke who wrote our passage; others speculate it was Alexander the Great, appearing in a dream. After all, these critics assert, the full name of Troas was Alexandrian Troas, named after the great conqueror of East and West. Perhaps Paul, the great spiritual conqueror and cavalier of Christ, decided that, as Alexander had conquered through the sword, he would conquer the world through the Gospel of Christ.
Rudyard Kipling said in the days of the British raj, when imperialism's flags waved where "the sun never set on the British empire": "Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat."
Centuries before Kipling, Paul had shown the world a Savior in whom east and west, north and south, can be united in brotherhood, peace, and love. The hymn, written by John Oxenham, "In Christ There is No East or West," shouts out our Savior's lordship over all the earth: "In Christ there is no east or west, In him no south or north But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide earth."
Rudyard Kipling said in the days of the British raj, when imperialism's flags waved where "the sun never set on the British empire": "Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat."
Centuries before Kipling, Paul had shown the world a Savior in whom east and west, north and south, can be united in brotherhood, peace, and love. The hymn, written by John Oxenham, "In Christ There is No East or West," shouts out our Savior's lordship over all the earth: "In Christ there is no east or west, In him no south or north But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide earth."
