There’s Bad News and There's Good News

A saddened and frustrated architect looks at a collapsed building he had designed, goes back to his drawing board, surveys every detail of his blueprints and, in anger, sweeps his arm across the tables scattering the blueprints across the floor. What went wrong? Where are the flaws? Was it his design? No one is perfect but he had checked every drawing and had his subordinates recheck them. He begins to survey every step of the construction from…

First impressions, do you have them? What is more important, do you believe them and act them out? I believe it takes years of faith to undo 'first-impression' conditioning. First impressions are our immediate judgments based on a variety of factors like, regional origin, ethnic bias, national heritage, physical appearance, accents, our primary assumptions of the moment and my general comfort zone wherever I am. We have born into us the gift of judgment and the question is, what are we doing…

Judgment: Getting Real About Why We Share Jesus

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not shout, I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list and counting it twice, he’s looking for those who are naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows when you’ve been sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been good or bad so be good for goodness sake….” Remember that song around Christmas time? As cute as the song is it’s…

Having been asked to expand on the “Have You Been 'Trump'ed'?” article let me say this again. The real issue is not political. It is spiritual. So let's carry it a bit further in the analogy. In Jesus' time there were two major parties and a third advisory group, Pharisees, Sadducees and priests. The Pharisees were religious conservatives. The Sadducees were liberal cultural compromisers and the priesthood was a kind of cabinet. Each had their own agenda.

Jesus came on the scene…

Have You Been 'Trump'ed?

OK a'ready! You asked me about Donald Trump. You know I don't do politics on this site. My personal political view will be voiced in my vote which I will pray about and be informed to make. Your political view, I hope, is shaped by your faith. But, my point here is when asked a question about anything I need to be ready to bring a spiritual evaluation into the discussion. That's what I want to do now and encourage you to do. So return with me to the 'debate'…

No Longer Orphans

Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (Jn.14:18).”

Continuing our way to look at wrath as separation from God and the loneliness it produces, we tread even further within. The inner self is always going to be unsettled unless there is a settlement with our Creator. God is not angry with you, condemning you or out to get you. He loves you and has created you for a life of acceptance and love in Him and others. He is simply being who…

Being Alone Ain't Fun

“If only I could find a way to be accepted wherever I go, be liked, be successful, stay healthy and have enough money to survive, I'd be happy.” Sound familiar? It's the lonely cry of a mind, heart and spirit longing for ultimate answers and 'why?' without an answer is the thumb in the eye. “I deserve a break” is the plea. “Is God mad at me? I try my best.” It leads into the idea of wrath, God's wrath and we need to look at it. But there is man's wrath as well.…

Inside Out and Upside Down

Recently I wanted to translate an English paragraph into Norwegian and German just to see what it looked like and if I could remember some of these languages in which I am no longer skilled. I used both Google and Bing translators. It was an interesting exercise. I went back and forth, sounded out the languages and grasped the word structure. It's not easy, especially if you've spent the majority of your life immersed in the language of your birth culture.…

When Thinking Becomes an Attitude and an Attitude Becomes Action

Suppose you woke up in a wilderness and didn’t know where you were? This happened to a friend of mine in college. Some of his drunken fraternity brothers crept into his room when he was asleep, tied him up in a big burlap sack, carted him out to a country road and dumped him there in the middle of the night. He was terrified but his survival instincts kicked in and he was able to find his way to a main highway, identify…

Cavemen Are Alive, Kicking and Need Our Help

“When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people did hide themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits (1 Samuel 13:6).”

Man can only think, analyze and understand so much. Man is needy from birth. He is limited in every phase of his life. Hard as he may try there is no way he can overcome his limitations by his own effort. He is limited in his…

Maestro, the Podium is Yours!

It’s concert time and you have anticipated hearing the announced symphony. As you enter the concert hall ushers give you the general outline of the evening's program. The musicians are tuning their instruments, the audience wrapt in multiple conversations, each oblivious to the sounds of the other. As the mingling increases, the musicians in their pre-performance mode, the patrons locked in the moment of non-purpose, a kind of holding pattern takes place.…

When the Enemy Knocks on the Door

“Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1John 5:5).”

The Holy Spirit elevates Jesus as the only person to whom we can look to guide us through the growing hazy maze mankind has fallen into. This is the Father's will. It is the Holy Spirit Jesus sends to enter our heart to direct its trajectory toward Him and away from the devil. But in order to let Him work in us we need to know this enemy and his…

Q: When’s the Best Time to Witness?

A: Whenever You Can!

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…(1Pet.3:15).”

There are three parts to this verse, heart, preparation and method. When these are in proper order our witness is secure in Him.

First, the heart.

The first thing to deal with in the heart is fear.…

Why Jesus?

When you think about the condition of the world around you, the political, social and economic division that is crippling human growth and maturity, you can’t help but ask, ‘Why Jesus?' After all, let's be reasonable. Why can't we just sit down and be civil human beings, discuss and solve our issues whatever they are by ourselves? With all that we have developed in technology and the social sciences it seems logical that, instead of war, peace would prevail. What is there…

Runaway Minds in a Runaway World

Years ago Michael Green, the brilliant Anglican evangelist, wrote a book called Runaway World in which he exposed the world running away from spiritual reality as presented in Jesus. It was brilliant in its analysis and theme. It was a direct appeal to the secular mind to consider its ultimate destiny. When you get right down to it there are really only two kinds of mindsets, spiritual and secular. One that processes life through spirituality and the…

Academic Arrogance, A Culprit in Disguise

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln

These are wise words from a wise man whose experiences as President gave him an opportunity to see the broad perspective of a struggle he knew was bigger than him. His reliance on God and His Word showed him the depth of man's sin, the evil it causes and, as the leader of a nation, the need…

When the Mt. St. Helen’s blast went off in the 80’s it created a vast sea of debris and covered the whole area with fine clouds of ashes and smoke for miles, the detritus of deadly destruction. We visited there and a park ranger came describing the aftermath pointing to Spirit Lake. She said it had risen an incredible 250 feet due to the landslide pouring into it. The blast didn't go up like you'd expect. It blew sideways scattering debris for miles. Then she described the trucks on…

Why We Need Spiritual Grounding

“Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you (Gal.5:1 The Message).”

Let’s get down to it. What drives the secular world? Behind the scenes, underneath the glitter, the gloss and the glamor of what we can see, lies a sea of dark spiritual activity called evil. Add a 'd' to evil and you identify the source of all the world's personal and interpersonal conflicts. To name the…

Has Smokey the Bear Left the Building?

Remember Smokey the Bear? “Only you can prevent forest fires!” That's on signs you see when you enter public forests. Note how that touches you in the mind and heart individually. That's the point. What you do in the forest is an individual thought, decision and action. It goes beyond the group you're with. It's you and what you as an individual do right where you are. If you carry that warning with you, you will consider how you use anything…

Spiritual Correctness vs. Political Correctness; Our Testimony

The context in which we operate is biblical thus being spiritually correct as opposed to politically correct. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word (Rom.10:17).” Look at that context. Biblically, there are three major epochs, pre-Creation, Creation and post-Creation. For mankind the middle epoch, Creation, is the starting and ending point. It begins with God and ends with Him.

God was there before…