Release from Bob Jones University: Dear Alumni Early this morning, Feb. 2, 2019, Beneth Peters Jones, 81, wife of Bob Jones University chancellor and former president Dr. Bob Jones III, went to be with the Lord. Mrs. Jones served at Bob Jones University 58 years, including 34 years as the wife of the third university…
The state of New York has been on the news, both in Christian circles and in the general media. The recent headlines about the new abortion law passed by the newly-elected government caught the attention of many, but there is more to come. The government’s agenda includes abortion expansion, anti-discrimination of transgenderism, a ban on…
Current cultural and religious trends in our country are alarming and ought to be upsetting to the faithful Christian. Church attendance is down. The number of churches in our country is declining. Enrollment in Bible colleges and seminaries is dropping. Bible reading is less and less common. There is increasing popular support for the legalization…
Time to wrap up the series of gender questions emailed to me a while back. (For related issues previously discussed, see Part 1 and Part 2.) Q: Since man and woman are both image-bearers, should we look at them as equal halves of a single image, neither of which completely bears that image without the…
There are times in the life of a Christian when certain passages of Scripture become especially meaningful. One of those passages for me is Psalm 91:1-2, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge…
It used to be that when people rushed to judgement or mistakenly over-reacted, they did it in private around the water cooler, over the back fence, or at the dinner table. But now, oh no, not us! Instead of being convicted that “the Father up above is looking down in love” on our fleshly private…
More questions about gender issues from an emailer. (See Gender Questions Part 1 for backstory.) Q: Scripture quotes Eve saying that she ate because she was deceived (Gen 3:13). Was she just blame-shifting or do 2 Cor. 11:3 and 1 Tim 2:13 corroborate her statement? She was, indeed, deceived. However, her deception doesn’t automatically mean…
Last Sunday was our church’s Annual General Meeting. We always look forward to this meeting because, for us, it’s been a discipleship tool and a time of “body-building” among our members (the “church body,” I mean). I don’t recall ever really having much disagreement in these meetings, for which we praise God. We also take…
Some well-meaning believers promote tent-making as the preferred biblical pattern for pastors today. By “tent-making,” I am referring to an approach to pastoral ministry in which a pastor works a full-time vocational job to support his family while also serving as a pastor. Thom Rainer encourages this perspective in an article entitled, “Eight Reasons Why…
As a fire service chaplain I have been exposed to extreme forms of crises most pastors never encounter. Frequently I have to minister to the victims of these tragedies as well as to the firefighters themselves. To better equip myself for this unique ministry, I have attended several conferences dealing with trauma and stress. The…