(A good story to rehearse any time of the year)
What is the Christmas story? Is it really just a baby in a manger, or a baby plus angels, shepherds, and wise men? Is that really the whole story, or is there more? Is Christmas really even a story at all, or is it just an event in a bigger story, and if so, what is the rest of the story?
If you believe every conspiracy theory that comes along, you’ll end up paranoid and delusional. On the other hand, if you don’t see a reason to think a conspiracy of evil is afoot, then you’re not paying attention. Learn to discern what’s edifying versus theories and fables that are a trap designed to suck you down a rabbit hole. There is a conspiracy to lead humanity in a symphony of destruction, but we don’t have to dance to that tune.
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This is not a typical sermon topic. However, there is a spiritual point to be made.
I’ve pondered and prayed about this subject for many years and what I have come to understand about it has enriched me. I believe it will benefit you as well.
Continue reading “Conspiracy Theories and the Symphony of Destruction”
We read the Old Testament and find the Jews as the good guys of that story, then we turn the page to the New Testament and find Jesus as the good guy of that story. But if they’re both the good guys of the Bible, then why do we find them in constant conflict throughout the gospels? Discover why Jesus called the Jewish religious leaders hypocrites and why they opposed him and ultimately killed him. You’ll gain a new appreciation for the gospel stories and learn not to repeat the mistakes of the Jews.
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Continue reading “Jesus and the Jews – What’s the Beef?”
It took 85 years, but it appears we’ve come full circle, back to the Warsaw Ghetto, where an occupying force rounds up an ethnic group, imprisons them in a sealed-off district, and then proceeds to exterminate or expel them in an attempt to cleanse the land of the disfavored. In 1940 it was Nazis imprisoning and exterminating Jews. This time it’s Israeli Zionists killing and starving Palestinians by the tens of thousands.
How quickly we forget and fail to recognize the same story playing out before our eyes with only the names being changed to protect the guilty. Yet Satan, the sin nature, and human nature remain the same, so history surely will repeat itself to the degree we forget and fail to guard against it.
Continue reading “Back to Warsaw: It’s 1940 All Over Again”Anyone who has read the New Testament knows Christians are supposed to walk in the spirit, not the flesh. We’re to be spiritually minded, not carnally minded. But what is a spiritual mind, and how do you get one, and just how does one go about walking in the spirit?
The good news is that the Spirit, life, nature, and character of God are already in the New Testament believer. What we have to do is learn to let what’s on the inside flow to the outside and walk in it.
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Continue reading “Inside Out Minded: What It Means to Walk in the Spirit”
Depending on who you listen to, tariffs are good, or tariffs are bad. Tariffs will make us rich, or tariffs will make us poor. Tariffs are terrific, or tariffs are terrible. Where people stand on tariffs mostly depends on where they stand on Donald Trump.
The heart of the matter is not so much tariffs themselves, but the objective of making US products competitive with imports and thereby preserving US manufacturing and jobs.
There’s a lot of minutiae that can obscure the bigger picture. We can be kept so busy arguing over partisan talking points that we ignore overarching principles. However, there are fundamentals essential to an intelligent understanding of the matter.
Continue reading “Tariffs and Trade – There’s No Free Lunch”Does everything that happens really work together for good? A lot of Christians say that it does. But is that what the Bible actually teaches? Discover a life in the Spirit where all the things of the kingdom of God are designed to work together for your good.
A few years ago while visiting family for the holidays, I was asked to share something at our gathering, like maybe reading the Christmas story, you know, the one depicted in every church play and recited by Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Now maybe it’s just because I’m a guy, or I might have watched too many episodes of Tim the Toolman Taylor souping things up because he wanted “More Power,” but I don’t get stoked over babies, shepherds, and cattle lowing in a manger. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that story and I’m all for it, and cardboard angel wings strapped to a kid for a play are cute, but I’m looking for something more, like a supernatural reality with the power to change things.
While praying about what to share, the Lord brought John chapter 1 to mind and showed me that it’s “the other Christmas story.” It’s the same story viewed from a different perspective.
Continue reading “The Other Christmas Story”Does the Bible really teach that spiritual and moral decline are a sign of the last days and the second coming of Christ? For that matter, what are the last days and when do they start? What if Satan has conned the church into believing for an increase in evil that doesn’t have to happen?
Discover a Biblical understanding of what the last days really are, what’s happening in those days, and the church’s job of advancing the kingdom on earth.
Perspective 