"Restoring the church to the faith of our fathers"
I had a friend that instructed me "Don't waste your time reading a good book. There are too many good books to read." He said, "Only read great books."
I think that is great wisdom.
I have stopped reading many "good" books, because they were just not worth the time.
On the other hand, I have…
Of course the Tiger Woods scandal is disappointing.
Adultery always is. When marital betrayal occurs, it isn't just the spouse who tastes the bitterness.
Think of the children, the close family friends, the business partners, the neighbors.
Adultery is like that. It's foulness isn't confined.
…
It was good to have my family in for Thanksgiving. When I was younger I heard other Christians comment that the holidays, that is to say, Thanksgiving and Christmas are all about family. As a believer and knowing how much the world wishes to remove Christ from Christmas, this upset me. I don't…
If someone were to write an anthem for the Charismatic movement, it would have to be titled "God Told Me." You hear that over and over again. Strange prophecies abound in the Charismatic movement. In fact, it is well neigh impossible to turn on a Charismatic television station or a radio station…
A gunman opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood, killing one civilian and 12 soldiers, last week, Nov. 5. Twenty-eight people were hospitalized.
The gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist, was shot multiple times and was taken into custody, ending the…
Anyone that knows me well, also knows I love the Fall season. The color in the trees that God has blessed this region with is but one reason I love this time of year.
We also have football.
Just before each football season I begin to want to see football. I don't do this with other sports…
A sweat lodge is meant to be a "spiritual awakening" for participants in the "Spiritual Warrior" program.
They can repair the damage done to their spirits, their minds and their bodies. A place of spiritual refuge and mental and physical healing, a place to get answers and guidance by asking…
The Old Testament frequently predicted the coming of the Messiah who would reign as king over his kingdom.
Jews throughout history have looked for the coming of this Messiah. But many Christians deny that Jesus has established His kingdom. They say that Christ must establish an earthly, literal,…
In The 6th chapter of John Jesus said these words:
"Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
Even in this band of Jesus' closest followers, those that were most privileged to see his miracles and hear his teaching, there was one who did not believe and who ultimately would…
One of the largest churches in South Africa is the Rhema church in Johannesburg which has a membership of 20,000.
Several years ago its pastor, Ray Macauley ran an advertisement in a national magazine which read:
"Why be trapped in a Datsun when you've got a Daimler faith? God wants everyone of…
Song writer John Popper wrote a song entitled "Hook." Here are a few lines of the song:
"It doesn't matter what I say, So long as I sing with inflection, That makes you feel I'll convey, Some inner truth or vast reflection, But I've said nothing so far, And I can keep it up for as long as it…
"Never, never, never give up." These words were spoken by the prime minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill. Churchill's life exemplified these words.
He had a speech impediment, and possibly mild dyslexia. He dealt with depression from political isolation of the 1940's because of many…
In his many years of public service, Ted Kennedy had become a legacy in his own time.
He stood as a hero to liberals, not only as a counted vote for the left, but as one that led many of the great fights for liberals in legislation.
On the other hand, he was the poster child for bad government…
What are you looking for in a good leader? That was a question Douglas Webster posed to a large number of American church congregations and this was the conclusion he came to: they had to be "captivating, charismatic, executive like pastors who exude warmth and success."
Today, many pastors are…
I often marvel over what people think it is to live a spiritual life. It is amazing to see what different people think following God should involve. There are so many different opinions and many of them are radically different one from another.
Take for example a man named Simeon Stylites. Simeon…
Tonight, we will begin a study in our house. I have invited a few people to view a DVD set on the theology of Calvinism.
We will be meeting each week for the next eight weeks on Tuesday nights. So far about 13 - 15 people will be coming to our home to watch the DVDs and talk about them.
I have…
Any one that knew me during my 20's, 30's and 40's, would also know that I loved to play basketball.
In my 30's I was playing basketball three mornings a week beginning at 6 a.m. We played for a hour, showered and went to work. But I also played nearly every Monday night for about three hours. As…
The story of the blind men and the elephant is well known, but there is a lesser known account of the blind men in a parallel universe visiting a zoo.
This second story as told by Chris Knight of Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, is far more interesting and, I would argue, far more…
They said it was safe. As safe as houses are and absolutely unsinkable. So confident were they that they provided lifeboats for only half the passengers. It was a waste of space they said. Then on April 15th, 1912 on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic, the Titanic struck an iceberg at 22 knots…
The death of singer Michael Jackson at the age of 50 did not come as a huge surprise to me.
Individuals who enjoy immense celebrity and success in America often die early.
Going by news reports a great many people are moved by Jackson's death.
The fact that Jackson sold three quarters of a…
You can learn a lot about someone when you find out what things get them fired up. When you see their heart's desire, it is like seeing right into them.
When you talk to someone it doesn't take very long to see what they are passionate about. When we take a genuine interest in another person, we…
D. E. V. Rieu was one of the world's great classical scholars, whose English translation of Homer is published in the Penguin Classic Series. Although a life long agnostic, he was asked to provide a translation of the Gospels.
When his son heard this, he commented, "It is going to be…
At least once a year, there comes a news report with stories that claim to damage Christian views. This year we have the story of "Ida." Ida is said to be a 47-million-year-old fossil. It has been labeled "the missing link."
The missing link is what evolutionists have been looking for for decades…
In light of the greed that seems to run rampant on Wall Street as well as Main Street in the last few years, one must ask, "Can the just succeed?"
Can people living by Biblical principles successfully compete in a capitalist economy without compromising? Should we even try?
What type of standard…
I can recall as a young child something that happened nearly every Saturday morning. I would get up from bed and go jump in bed with my dad. My mother was already up and in the kitchen. During the week, my dad was always gone by the time I got up, so Saturday mornings were unique. My dad would lay…
Psalm 136:23
"Who remembered us in our low estate: for His mercy endureth forever."
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Notice the phrase, "Who remembered us." Is this not a striking contrast from our forgettings of Him? Like every other part of our beings, our memory has been affected by the fall and…
John 5: 4-7
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw…
"Not only do we only know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves."
Pascal
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Many…
Christians often have a hard time understanding what separates two very different views about what directs all things toward their certain outcome. The one is fatalism and the other is called predestination.
The difficulty comes from two influences at work in our fallen nature.
One is a desire…
I'm teaching a class on theology at our small church in Hamlin. We have just come to the section where we will be looking at the attributes of God. What is He like? What does the Bible tell us about Him. You will find the God of the Bible is greater than most would think.
The importance of the…
You may have seen the movie called "The Green Mile." It is a story set on death row in a prison located in the South back in the 1930's. All the men in that section of the jail face the death penalty. An execution by the electric chair. The "green mile" in the title refers to how long the walk was…
