Worldview & Culture

The Heart Test

Publication:Pastoral Letter,November 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: We really do not know ourselves until we are tested, when it is “crunch time”; what we do when the odds are against us and the stakes are high. The sports world applauds a team or individual who is down but does not. [...]

Miracles

Publication: Pastoral Letter, October 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: I believe in miracles and believe that I have personally witnessed some miracles.  I am taking into account that you probably would say the same; at least I hope so.  Oral Roberts, a  prominent evangelist of the last generation, often said,. [...]

Identity through Relationship with God

[Part 7] Jesus responded to the temptation to prove who He was by saying, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test?” (Matthew 4:7).  His identity was shaped by His relationship with the Lord His God.  And because of His relationship with God, Jesus was secure in. [...]

Three Dimensional Worldview of Jesus in a Two Dimensional World

[Part 4] The world sees a two dimensional worldview.  Jesus saw three dimensionally.  Worldview, just like every other view, is affected by the sight of the seer. I am near sighted in one eye and far sighted in the other eye.  This affects how I respond to the world around. [...]

Jewish Mothers and the Worldview of Jesus

[Part 3] Worldview is the window you’re looking through not just the world you’re looking at.  A Biblical worldview looks at the world through the window of Jesus.  In other words, to have a Biblical worldview is to see things as Jesus saw them. The worldview of Jesus was embedded. [...]

Isolation or Vena Cava Heart Filter?

[Part 2] We left our heroes—Luke, Leia, and Han Solo—with the worshiping, childish, primitive, Freudian Ewoks.  Thankfully (a phrase not to be confused with thank God, which implies a personal deity), sophisticated Luke Skywalker knows how to tap into the impersonal force, which just so happens to resemble the teaching. [...]

Will You Lead?

Publication: Pastoral Letter, July 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: July reminds us that the United States is a nation that was set free from political tyranny by leaders who were willing to give their lives. A total of 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence; later, they were captured, tortured,. [...]

Only Ewoks Worship

[Part 1] Jesus prayed that God would not take us out of the world, but that He would keep us from “the evil one” (John 17:15).  How does that work when there are so many good movies with an embedded message that contradicts Jesus? In every piece of art there. [...]

Here We Go Again

Here we go again. Sorry, that's a bit of exasperation. I read today about another Christian musician who has given up his faith because he discovered many things he had overlooked. So, here's another round of "I never knew this about Christianity." Shannon Low, frontman of Order of Elijah, a. [...]

You Owe the Gospel to Them

    Recently I read that the killer of Kitty Genovese died in prison.  He was 81 years old.  She was 28 years old when he murdered her.  Many of us are not old enough to remember the story, but it made national headlines because neighbors who heard her cries. [...]

Didn’t See That Coming!

  Ouch! These are painful words. They’re some of the most painful words I’ve heard parents say. It is usually at the end of the story about how their teenage son or daughter walked away from the faith. Sometimes there are tears, sometimes anger when this is expressed to me.. [...]

Unshakable Christians Shake the World

This year’s testimony of Joseph Bondarenko at the Gatlinburg conference reminded me of Peter and John.  As I listened to Bondarenko describe how the KGB paraded him in front of an assembly of his fellow college students and told him to choose between God and a diploma, I thought of. [...]

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