“King Herod stood in awe of John and protected him, since he knew that John was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, and yet he like to listen to John.” -Mark 6:20-(NET) King Herod, like the Taliban, ruled with an iron fist, never took no for an answer,… Read More King Herod’s protecting Afghanistan
“When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by… Read More Someone else’s faith
Three themes that accompanied the socio-political and religious culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are power, colonialism, and nationalism. These themes are often so intertwined that, at times, are hard to separate. All three at times are syncretized with the Christian faith to appear as if they are a logical outworking of the Christian… Read More Nationalism was, and still is, a serious problem.
As I’m writing this, I’m distracted by the news of a pipe bomb going off in an NYC bus terminal. When shooters send barrages of bullets into church services or the news of a man with no apparent motive shoots people from his hotel room in Las Vegas, we know something isn’t the way… Read More Holistic Salvation
Genesis 11:1-9 (NRSV) The Beginnings of a nameless empire (1-2) The whole earth has one language (1) 1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. The nameless people settle on a plain in Shinar (2) 2And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar… Read More A Graceful Judgement
Originally posted on Biblical Preaching:
Good preaching should be biblical, clear, engaging and relevant. At first sight we may be tempted to think that only the first, being biblical, is a theologically driven goal. At first sight we may feel that being clear, engaging and relevant are more pragmatic goals. I disagree. There is a…
Originally posted on Biblical Preaching:
Let me be honest. I love studying the subject of preaching. I want to be a lifelong student of the subject. But if I’m honest, a lot of books about preaching are somewhat dull, tedious, repetitive and unengaging. Not this book. Engaging. Compelling. Motivating. Intriguing. Is it perfect? No. But,…
In some instances the two Yahweh figures are found together in the same scene. Genesis 19:24 “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” How does this make sense? We will see that there is a physical presence that is identified ambiguously with the LORD and yet remains seperate “Basic hearsay involved interpreting scripture to say that a principle angelic or hypostatic manifestation in heaven was equivalent to God… Read More The Hebrew Scriptural Foundation for the Trinity
“Not only must we understand, but we need to underscore it to ourselves again and again so severe is our temptation to center on the disciplines. Let us forever center on Christ and view the spiritual disciplines as a way of drawing us closer to His heart.” p.111 ‘Submission’ … Read More A Celebration of Discipline
“Part of the confusion and difficulty of adolescence can be traced to this new self-consciousness, which I have summed up with the following couplet: I see you seeing me…..I see the me I think you see; and it’s reciprocal: You see you according to me….you see the you you think I see.” (Fowler, 2000, p. 46).… Read More
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