In my younger days, I heard much ado about TULIP, the five tenets of Calvinism. I did not hear about the five solas of the Reformation. Do you know these? All of these were shifts away from the Roman Catholic Church, and Sola Scriptura was a major key. The Reformers recognized the church should be…
Perhaps you think it dark to dwell on death, but there are bright spots. According to the United States Deaths Clock website, in the US: A person dies approximately every 11.14 seconds Number of deaths per year: 2,830,688 Number of deaths per day: 7,755 Number of deaths per hour: 323 What are the major causes…
Some “attend services” in order to be entertained by heart-tugging music and finely-tuned presentations. Some “go to church” for the social aspect of seeing friends and catching up on the latest news. Some “go to worship” in order to get that important check-mark done for the week. Even those who earnestly desire to honor God’s…
Whoever first said, “You are what you eat”? Jesus said in Matthew 6.22-23: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you…
Everyone is concerned these days about lies. False narratives. Fake news. A concerning number of individuals are actively attempting to silence and punish those who don’t agree with them by casting them out of office, removing them from their jobs, and banning them from public conversation. They are calling for powerful tech companies to outlaw…
Are you a man, woman, leader, public servant, elder, deacon, preacher’s wife, wife of a millionaire, artist, tennis player, pianist, father, mother, sister, brother? How do you identify? A favorite question when first meeting someone is, “What do you do for a living?” We tend to define a person based on his or her vocation….
[First written in 2017.] I hardly ever offer advice to strangers, let alone biblical advice, but today I swam into those dangerous waters. Picture a small waiting room with four chairs against a wall. I grabbed the chair closest to the door, and a lady sat with a two-year-old child at the other end in…
Paul begins a series of three chapters concerning spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no…
The thoughtful reader will recognize a difference between someone who is “called a saint” and one who is “called to be a saint.” The first indicates an external title; the second has to do with a state of being. Those in Christ belong in the second category. We are called to be saints. The verb…
Christmas, to my parents, was not to be celebrated. My father told us some at church thought it was wrong to celebrate Christmas, so we did not even decorate the house for fear of making someone stumble or offending a brother in Christ. We even had a separate holiday we made up for our family…