Stress has become a way of life for many today. We live in a world of stressed-out people. In the military environment, I have Sailors and Marines who come to me all the time who are really stressed out! With the long work schedules and constant deployments, it takes a toll on the body…
lament, n.: an expression of grief or sorrow; a formal expression of sorrow or mourning1 For many people, Christian or not, Christmas is a time to raise money for your group or cause, help people who need food or clothes or gifts, to see family and friends, and, of course, it has something to do…
Murders come in all kinds of ways. They come through violence. They come through domestic squabbles. They come through gang warfare. Unfortunately, records of murder litter the history of the world. In fact, murders are so commonplace that they don’t always make the news cycle unless they’re bizarre or multiple. Yet, the most prevalent form…
Around the same time that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, another boy was born on the faraway untamed Iberian Peninsula (which we call Spain and Portugal today).1 He was an ordinary countryside boy who dreamed of grander things. Perhaps he played with little toy soldiers in the dirt outside his home or perhaps he admired…
I want to speak to local church leaders for a moment. Let’s talk to you about the spiritual and emotional health of your pastor. Charles Haddon Spurgeon spoke of the “Minister’s Fainting Fits” in his Lectures to My Students (p 171-183). His work is a very plain spoken treatise on the difficulties of ministry and…
On October 17, the government of Canada legalized marijuana for recreational use. My purpose in this post is not to argue the political issue but to present Christian guidance under the new regime. I understand that marijuana is illegal federally in the United States, but it is legal in some states. Christians and churches need…
A post card advertising a local church was delivered recently to my mail box. Printed on this card was a catchy slogan, “No judgment, just neighbors.” I can imagine that this catch phrase would have some appeal to certain people. After all, who wants to be looked down on or condemned? Apparently this church wants…
A Historical Survey As early as the second century, two contradictory trends had developed that would affect the doctrine of the church until the present time. One trend was toward external unity; the other was toward internal purity. These two directions were present prior to the Reformation, as Catholicism formed around the concept of an…
Christians have idols that we love to hate, at least superficially, like materialism or pride. For some reason these are the idols that are the ones that typically get the “amens” and “that’ll preach” comments when the pastor serves up a message about them. But for some reason, there are certain idols that we just…
Two stories from the New York Times struck me this week. Arthur Brooks opened his story on Friday with the words, “America is suffering from an epidemic of loneliness” (here). Then sex change candidate Andrea Long Chu published the article yesterday entitled “My new [female body part] will not make me happy and it should…