Posts by David Oliver
Boasting in Shame
Among the many books in my library is a very useful commentary on the book of Genesis by Lutheran scholar, H.C. Leupold. This two-volume exposition of the first book of the Bible contains careful verse by verse explanations of the text. Particularly helpful for the preacher is a concluding section at the end of each…
Read MoreEternity
On December 31, 1999, I, along with millions of others, was watching television early in the day as the New Year arrived in far off New Zealand and Australia. Normally, the arrival of the New Year in other countries would hold little or no interest for me. However, this was the year of “Y2K.” Everyone…
Read MoreTreasure Hunting
For nearly a decade cable television’s History Channel has broadcast a reality program called The Curse of Oak Island. The show follows the efforts of Rick and Marty Lagina, originally from Michigan, who search for hidden treasure on a small island off the shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The thought that lost treasure might be…
Read MoreRunning before Ahab’s Chariot
The Bible is a timeless book, as helpful to people today as for those who lived when it was first penned. (Rom. 15:4; I Cor 10:11) However, because the culture in Bible times was much different than in our own, some passages of Scripture can be difficult to understand. The Bible refers to anointing with…
Read MoreA brief look at Billy Sunday
At a recent meeting for preachers at Camp CoBeAc, guests had the opportunity to rummage through several boxes of books donated by a retired pastor. Anything found to be of interest was free for the taking. I selected a biography of early 20th century evangelist Billy Sunday. After I brought the book back to my…
Read MoreMY BIBLE
Just days before Christmas of 1970, a package arrived at my home, addressed to me. As a child, of course, I received very little mail, so to have a parcel arrive with my name on it was very exciting. I had started to tear open the brown paper to find out what was inside the…
Read MoreHelp Wanted
Right after graduating from college I enrolled in seminary to pursue a master’s degree. At the time I also became engaged to the young lady I would marry. I needed an increase in income to match my increasing financial obligations, so I applied for a job at a textile mill not far from my school.…
Read MoreHelp Wanted – the vanishing work ethic
Right after graduating from college I enrolled in seminary to pursue a master’s degree. At the time I also became engaged to the young lady I would marry. I needed an increase in income to match my increasing financial obligations, so I applied for a job at a textile mill not far from my school. …
Read MoreNot By Bread Alone…
I recently completed Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley’s best-seller about the six U.S. Marines who raised the flag on top of Mt. Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The flag raising was made famous by a photograph taken by combat photographer Joe Rosenthal. The picture became the model for…
Read MoreRevive Us Again
In 1983 Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn provided a concise explanation as to why, in his opinion, the horrors of Soviet communism occurred. He said, “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Those with any spiritual perception at all are burdened – yea, alarmed – by the accelerating moral and spiritual decline of…
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