Blog
For the last several years, I’ve been reading how people are attempting to rewrite Scripture, softening its impact to make it easier to digest. This applies to sexual sins, the consequence of a person who has lived a life of disobedience, and whether hell is real or...
At Christmas time, we all have traditions we follow. Those good traditions bring families together in joyful celebrations. There is another kind of tradition - a negative kind. These are the unexamined religious traditions. They can lead us away from a pure and simple...
Every individual, city, and nation will have an opportunity to respond to the message of Jesus or to reject Him. The choices people make about the message of Jesus will determine their fate. After Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, His familiarity with the...
There are no accidental believers. Neither are there any adjustments to the words of Jesus that can explain away the eternal consequences of our disbelief no matter how warm and spiritually fuzzy that explanation might sound to a natural mind. Doctrines of demons are...
I had a teacher in high school who was interested in his student's lives. He attended various after-school events, from sports to drama, to show his support for his students. During one of my swim meets, he attended the event. Everything was fine until the starter...
I remember the first time I heard what is called in police work a “mic check.” I heard my first mic check as a rookie cop still in the early stages of my training. A mic check happens when a cop picks up the microphone on their in-car radio and simply depresses the...
Some who follow Jesus can appear to die before their time. What is interpreted as an early death can be confusing to those left behind. There are other reasons for an early departure from this life. “Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no...
Fifty-three years ago, my wife, Jan, was a student at what was then known as Multnomah School of the Bible. We would eventually meet on campus when our paths crossed one day which led us to love and a life-long commitment to each other. One of Jan’s classes was...
I write this not to create a riddle because it lacks pertinent definition or to write something so prophetic sounding that it will stump the reader. Numbers can reveal things like history and a repeat of the past. We each need to do our research, under the direction...
I saw the image of a tornado tossing about the debris of human opinion. The storm was a distraction. What was true for Elijah is true for us. Elijah was told the Lord was not in the storm. He is the still small voice offering the peace of God's truth. If we want that...
How we choose to see God in the middle of the trauma and troubles of life will determine how we live. Apart from making that choice, despair and depression will rule the day. The word of God offers adjustments to our thinking when dark and dismal outcomes are ruling...
When Israel realized the Assyrian army was about to overcome their nation, it was a desperate time. Fear and uncertainty were overcoming the hearts of the people. At that time, Isaiah offered the people an invitation, “Search the book of the Lord and see what he will...
As I read through the book of Isaiah, blessings are surrounded by warnings for the continuance of people’s sins. They are buried within the text. God's blessings require engagement on His terms to receive the blessing. This isn't an Old Testament thing we can ignore....
I have noticed a trend among some believers. They are attempting to change the nature of God. Some of the motivation behind this change comes from reading difficult sections of Scripture and assuming there is no deeper understanding behind the challenging facts being...
Reading the Old Testament prophets can scare some people. They read the harsh treatment of God upon the rebellion of His people and miss the point that before God’s harshness was displayed the people had plenty of opportunity to repent. They confuse God’s judgment...