Traitors for Christ
Some woeful news for us ministers: WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ rating of the honesty and ethics of the clergy has fallen to 47%, the first time this rating has dropped below 50% since Gallup first asked about the clergy in 1977. Clergy have historically ranked near the top among professions on this measure, hitting a…
A valuable article on the mainstreaming of vulgar language from Jonah Goldberg. Christians (including pastors) are also guilty of helping make obscene speech the norm and acceptable. Shame on us. (And, with all due respect to those who disagree, Christians who claim foul language is okay are choosing to ignore and or misinterpret ample biblical…
A new Twitter friend posted an article which showed that prayer had no effect on the success of heart bypass surgery (and that, actually, those who knew they were prayed for fared worse). For her consideration I shared my article, "A God that Does Not Want to Be Measured Will Not Be Measured." Although she…
I may cringe at some other things he has been quoted as saying, but… Admitting that he's never played a video game before, televangelist Pat Robertson said Friday morning that murdering someone online in a video game is no different than committing the act in real life. (From "Pat Robertson: 'Murdering someone in cyberspace' is…
Since current events once again force me to write about the issue of the pro-homosexual agenda, I wanted to make a clear and concise statement about what I believe about homosexuals (the individuals) versus homosexuality (the behavior). No one human, homosexual or not, is better than any other. We are all afflicted with the same…
After yesterday's post about depravity, I didn't think I'd immediately have another one so soon after. I am at a loss for words to say just how terrible "Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor’s haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan" is. To the parents and medical personnel involved, I…
Perhaps God wasn't clear enough in this list… 6 "None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not…
As I keep my eyes open for ideas for these bulletins, sometimes it seems more than coincidental that two items cross my social media streams so perfectly to highlight a potential subject. In one case, it was a random tweet that someone I follow must have retweeted combined with a Gawker article where the author…
In a short clip about homosexuality, “Bible Answer Man” Hank Hanegraaff answers, “Can you be a Christian and actively practice homosexuality?” (The title of this short post is a quote from his response that is very important to the discussion…even in a secular context.)
Betrayal How many here have experienced a devastating betrayal from a friend, a spouse, or a family member? I suspect if you have spent more than a couple decades on this earth it has happened to you…and that by me causing you to think about it you immediately recalled a taste of the same pain…
I am no longer going to update this post. Instead please see the Beliefs page to read the most up-to-date list of what I believe. AKA, "What I Believe" I had an interesting conversation with a Twitter friend, and after he agreed to an uncomfortable implication of his belief system I commended him on being…
I continue to slowly read through the Bible in one year. Although there are some days it does seem like a burden (due to my humanity, not Scripture itself), being “forced” to spend time in God’s Word daily has been a great blessing. I’ve never really been big on poetry (I abhorred it in high…
Dispensationalism How many people here have heard of the term "dispensationalism"? My short definition of it would be "God dealt with people differently through the ages." However, I don't have the intelligence gained from a Masters of Divinity, so I suspect that won't show up in any scholarly work, whereas this definition from There Really…
Lame Movie Plot Devices Friday night Barry Junior joined me watching a movie that Barry Senior had brought up after I did my sermon, "Heaven…This is Heaven." For those who caught that, you may recall my mention of the Valkyries (val-`keer-ees)…babes on white horses who collected those who died on the battle field. Barry Senior…
This week I had the opportunity to spend a couple days in downtown San Francisco. It’s not that I’ve never been to that city before—I’ve just never had an interest in walking its streets. So, my visits have always been limited to quick stops at its airport or meeting with the San Francisco Giants (a…