Posts by Kevin Schaal
Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing Again
I spoke too soon. In commenting in September about the abuse accusations within the Roman Catholic Church, I said that there have not been accusations about wide-spread abuse among independent Baptists. I was wrong. In a series of articles in the Dallas Star-Telegram, Sarah Smith delineates a number of accusations. Most in the articles are…
Read MoreDealing with Holiday Blues
The old timers called it melancholy. Some today call it depression. Modern vernacular calls it the blues. Many face feelings of extreme sadness and melancholy during the Christmas season and Christians are not immune. It might be helpful to understand some reasons why you might feel this way and take biblical steps to address it. Physiological…
Read MoreMissionary Martyrs: Are We Paying Too High a Price to Evangelize the World? | Central Baptist Theological Seminary
Two fresh missionary deaths have made the news in recent weeks. The first was the unexpected death of missionary Charles Trumann Wesco (1974–2018), an independent Baptist missionary from Indiana. Charles, a father of eight, was accidently caught in the crossfire of civil unrest in Bamenda, Cameroon, having been in the hostile northern part of the…
Read MoreIs religion better than atheism as a coping mechanism?
We obviously do not agree with this article, but we do find it helpful to understand how some people are thinking. This article does identify an aspect of human need that only God Himself, not religion, can meet. (KSchaal) Many of us have been there in darker moments: You hadn’t crossed the threshold of a…
Read MoreWhy You Need to Send Your Pastor Away
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…
Read MoreHow December 25 Became Christmas – Biblical Archaeology Society
On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods—these all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus’ birthday? The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of…
Read MoreDBTS » Dispensationalism Unhitched?
So says the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:11. The statement caps a rapid-fire sequence of references to the Old Testament in a timeless warning against moral vices common to both the OT and NT ages—idolatry, sexual immorality, and discontent—and in so doing establishes a certain moral continuity between the testaments. Paul’s summary explains, in…
Read MoreAn apocalyptic cult, 900 dead: remembering the Jonestown massacre, 40 years on | World news | The Guardian
Four decades ago this Sunday, the Rev Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of an American cult in the Guyanese jungle, ordered his followers to murder a US congressman and several journalists, then commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced fruit punch.The Jonestown massacre was, before 9/11, the largest single incident of intentional civilian death in American…
Read MoreReaching a Lonely and Confused World
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…
Read MoreOpinion | How Loneliness Is Tearing America Apart – The New York Times
America is suffering an epidemic of loneliness.According to a recent large-scale survey from the health care provider Cigna, most Americans suffer from strong feelings of loneliness and a lack of significance in their relationships. Nearly half say they sometimes or always feel alone or “left out.” Thirteen percent of Americans say that zero people know…
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