Recently, a friend sent me an article which criticized a high profile church. Some of the church’s current and former members are celebrities. The former celebrity members were interviewed in this bit of “investigative journalism.” (I use quotes because this was for some online rag. Not exactly Woodward and Bernstein). Those interviewed complained that the…
Tag: God
Struggling and Prevailing (Part 2)
Please read part one before continuing… Jacob named the place he wrestled with God, “Face of God,” adding that he saw God’s face and was delivered (Gen. 32:30). In a sense, seeing God’s face and dislocating his hip were of a piece. Said another way, Jacob’s hip was dislocated because he saw God’s face. We…
Struggling and Prevailing (Part 1)
In fear of meeting his brother, Esau, Jacob sent his family away. That night, alone, he wrestled with a man until daybreak (Gen. 32:24-32). The man touched Jacob’s thigh at the hip and put it out of joint. He told Jacob to release him but Jacob refused, saying he wanted a blessing. The man told…
The Person of the Tree of Life
A friend of mine, Cameron Fultz, has been translating the book of Revelation. A month or more ago, he read his translation of Revelation four to a group of friends. What follows are verses two and three of chapter four. I had never before considered John’s vision in the light of Cameron’s translation. It is,…
Two-Faced
Recently, I watched a documentary about young-earth creationism. For the uninitiated, young-earth creationists believe a literal reading of Genesis: creation took six days, and the earth is less than 10,000 years old. This is worlds apart from the common belief that life today resulted from billions of years of natural processes. I am far from…
Grace Areas
Something the Lord said to me while I was praying the other day: Things aren’t black and white. There aren’t gray areas. But there are grace areas. Food for thought!
Love Is King
The following article appeared in our local paper today. Unfortunately, the paper changed the title and cut the last two paragraphs so I am not linking this to their digital edition. *** Believe it or not, “Christ” is not Jesus’s last name. “Christ” means “anointed one.” Anointing in biblical times meant pouring oil on someone’s…
Parting Ways
As Jacob increased in wealth, he came into conflict with Laban (Gen. 31:1-2). We’ve seen that Jacob’s increase was the increase of what is spiritual and that this leads to escalating conflict with what is fallen and fleshly. God doesn’t let this conflict go on indefinitely. God told Jacob to leave Laban. He brought separation…
Christ, the Covenant Within
About two years ago I became acquainted with Christian Quakerism through the writings of the founder, George Fox. The first work I read was, Some Principles of the Elect People of God Who in Scorn Are Called Quakers. In it, Fox writes,“The same Light makes manifest the Saviour from whence it comes, And makes manifest Christ to…
Batting Cleanup
I’m delighted that God forgives me. The fact that the blood of Jesus cleanses every sin is precious (1 John 1:7). That said, sometimes I feel like a sin factory. Even if I apply the blood of Jesus 70 times seven times a day, it gets discouraging. In fact, it gets worse than discouraging. It…
The Voice of One 