(OPINION) On a certain level, things just got a lot more simple. That’s because it will become increasingly difficult for the church to look to Trump to lead the way on key moral and cultural issues. To be sure, he has chosen his battles carefully, highlighting the destructive extremes of radical transgender activism while distancing himself from Project 2025.
Read More(OPINION) Our grandson Connor made a very interesting comment when he was a little boy. His parents (our daughter and son-in-law) were praying for him when he was fighting some minor illness, asking God to heal him. When nothing happened, he said, “Jesus doesn’t have enough hands to heal everyone.”
Read More(OPINION) When Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom isn’t of this world. If it were, my followers would be fighting,” he was saying, in effect, there’s no kingdom on this planet — including yours, Pilate — that operates according to the rules of the kingdom I proclaim. Today we fail to see how cosmically revolutionary Jesus, his kingdom and his early followers were.
Read More(OPINION) Have you ever considered that we could be thankful and never give thanks? Imagine having a heart full of gratitude but never expressing your thankfulness. A search of the New Testament for the words “thanks,” “thanksgiving” and “thankful” reveals some interesting finds.
Read More(OPINION) As someone who battled unhealthy eating habits the first 59 years of my life, I am the last one to criticize someone for trying almost anything to lose weight. These are difficult battles, and many of us will take a lifeline wherever we find it. So, to repeat, I am the last one to criticize.
Read More(OPINION) So what are we to do? Wring our hands and swallow nerve pills like they’re Pez? Stay hopping mad at those on the other side of our political barricades? That’s sure no way to spend the next four years. That’s a recipe for madness, both personal and societal.
Read More(OPINION) It was all the rage back in 2020. A chorus of prophetic leaders announced with certainty that Donald Trump would be reelected and serve a second term in the White House, but he did not — at least, not in 2020.
Read More(OPINION) After researching everything I could find about supposed miracles — from books and articles, doctors, religion experts, skeptics and, naturally, dozens of people who’d claimed they’d run smack dab into the hand of God — here are three conclusions.
Read More(OPINION) I had long self-righteously labeled non-churchgoers as unbelievers or undisciplined Christians. However, after being thrust into the outskirts of the churchgoing tribe, I can more accurately see the people on the outside, especially those who wandered away hurting and filled with distrust.
Read More(OPINION) I can’t do justice to these responses in full here, but they all go back to that same fundamental point: Abortion snuffs out a real, human life, a life with unknown potential, however tiny and still-developing it may be.
Read More(OPINION) Every day when I read or listen to the national news, I want to drive over to the public square and shout, “You kids stop it! Stop it right now!” So, before things get any further out of hand, let me offer up some thoughts on the election for all of us who are civically involved but not fanatics.
Read More(OPINION) Pop quiz: What do you imagine God was doing before creation, back then in eternity past? Many answer how, in eternity past, God chose us before the foundation of the earth to be part of the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. True, except that in eternity, there is no such thing as time back then, before creation. Eternity is timeless.
Read More(OPINION) This past weekend, we celebrated our 25th annual missions conference, thanking God for the amazing testimonies from our faithful workers who have served on the mission field worldwide, often quite sacrificially.
Read More(OPINION) This moment in time is not solely about Harris becoming the first Black and Asian woman as a presidential nominee. This historic juncture, in particular for Black girls and women, bridges the hopes and dreams from our past, the tangible opportunities of the present and the limitless possibilities for the future.
Read More(OPINION) To the shock of the state of North Carolina, where my wife Nancy and I have lived in 2003, Hurricane Helene wreaked massive devastation, taking at least 118 lives with at least 92 still missing. No one saw this coming, and it has brought unimaginable suffering to whole communities living in the mountains of our state, where horrific, unprecedented flooding wiped out little towns and destroyed countless homes, businesses and roads.
Read More(OPINION) I am neither a political pundit nor a pollster. And I am simply raising questions rather than making assertions, let alone dogmatic assertions. What if Trump wins the national election and taking Pennsylvania was a key to that victory? (Again, this is not a prediction; these are questions). What if choosing Gov. Shapiro for Vice President would have secured Pennsylvania for Harris? And what if he was not chosen because of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish sentiments?
Read More(OPINION) I’m getting inquiries from folks about the broadening war among Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah and now Iran. Folks are asking, Is this it? The Big One? The End Times? My typical answer, year after year, crisis after crisis, is “Not to worry.” But this time I’m not saying that. This time might — I emphasize the “might” — be different.
Read More(OPINION) By his own admission, C.S. Lewis grew up a rationalist, shaped by a naturalistic viewpoint characteristic of the modern West. Naturalism holds that Nature (usually capitalized) is all that exists. Religion is nice, perhaps even inspiring, but it isn’t the stuff of real life.
Read More(OPINION) Pastor P. Yesupadam is one of my closest friends in the world and the truest Christian I know. But he was not always a follower of Jesus. To the contrary, although his father gave him the name Yesupadam, meaning “the foot of Jesus,” he grew up hating that name and hating the caste system of India. That’s because he was born into an untouchable family, suffering terrible deprivation and almost dying of starvation as a boy.
Read More(OPINION) A lot of people — hordes, in fact — feel some amorphous pull toward the spiritual. There’s the old saying that all people are born with a God-shaped hole in them and only God can fill it. At some point in their lives many folks become seekers. But just as we all have to start at the beginning, we all have to grow.
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