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Atheism : many folks can’t find God for the same reason a burglar can’t find a policeman: they don’t want to find Him.

Atheist or Agnostic? Occasionally someone tells me that he is an atheist (doesn’t believe in God) or an agnostic (not sure there is a God).  Such skepticism is rooted in one of three things: 1. Intellect. Most skeptics would like for you to think their problems are intellectual. However, few people have ever given God that much thought. They don’t care that much about him. Honest intellectual skepticism is almost nonexistent. 2. Emotions. Much skepticism is roofed in emotional experiences. The person had a bad experience with some person (a parent, preacher, friend) or group who was closely associated or identified with religion. Their disappointment and rejection of the person/group led to their disappointment in and rejection of God and Christianity. They never separated their feelings from the facts. So they threw the baby out with the bath water. 3. Morals. Most skepticism is rooted in immorality. The person wants to run their own life, and the most comfortable way to...
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Your choice Paul Powell

Life’s Greatest Choice The Bible presents life's greatest choice to us when it says, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15). We are all either the servants of God or the servants of sin. We are mastered either by God’s will or our own appetites and desires. We make life’s greatest choice when we decide which master we will serve. It is a choice that affects our life and happiness, now and also in eternity. There are four significant things to know about this choice. 1. It is a necessary choice.  Every person must choose for or against God. To refuse or neglect to make a choice is to make one. You may not make up your mind, but you do have to make your life. You can’t escape deciding something—even if it is the decision not to decide. 2. It is a personal choice.  No one else can make it for you. We are individually responsible to God and must in...
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Tim Keller political ideologies which are idolatries

Every political ideology: 1. Idolizes something that’s good-but-fallen: for Nationalists it’s the people; for Conservatives it’s the market; for Liberals it’s individual freedom and reason; for Progressives (also referred to as Socialists) it’s racial/gender/sexual identity and the State. 2. Demonizes something that’s good-but-fallen: for Nationalists it’s the other races/cultures; for Conservatives it’s the State and big organizations; for Liberals it’s moral authorities like religion and family; for Progressives it’s the free market of money and ideas. 3. Each of them tends to exclude and marginalize classes of people they see as enemies. 4. Each of them tends to idolize people they see as saviors. 5. Each of them fails to see the complexity of evil. The Bible sees the world, the flesh and the devil. Progressives see only the world, systemic evil; Liberals see only the flesh, individual moral evil. Nationalists have some sense of both but only as seen in other cult...
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Psalm 37. What to do in a crisis

These days, many of us are feeling scared. Turmoil at home and abroad has left our economy reeling. Chaos seems to reign in the markets. Prices remain high and household budgets are tight.   The economy isn’t in crisis, but it feels unstable, leaving us uncertain and stressed about our financial futures.     Yet we must look to the things that have eternal value: faith, hope, and the treasure that awaits us in heaven.   When times are uncertain, what does God have to say that will give us comfort?   Psalm 37 speaks to our hearts when fear is stalking us. David wrote this psalm when he was older, reflecting on the great questions of his life.   I have been young and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants beggi...
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Salvation is in no one else

A government affairs attorney and Christian apologist named Jay Atkins recently  asked  a popular AI engine to evaluate the world’s major belief systems and determine which one makes the most sense. He used a two-step framework: which worldview best explains reality, and which one does so while requiring the fewest unsupported assumptions. In other words, which has the highest explanatory power with the lowest evidentiary burden? The worldviews in question were atheism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. In seconds, the AI engine concluded that Christianity offers the most reasonable view of the world. Atkins explained the AI’s reasoning: [Christianity] offers a comprehensive explanation of reality, why the universe exists, why it is ordered, why we are rational and moral beings, and why we long for meaning. At the same time, it concentrates its evidentiary burden into a relatively small number of claims, most notably the life, death, and resurrection of Jesu...
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Child Sexual Abuse Is No small thing !

Permitting a convicted pedophile to minister in any way in a church is no small thing. It is not a thing of indifference! I reported my concerns. Those I reported too regard it as a little thing. Not a thing to be concerned about ! There has been no repentance. Just coverup. Luke 17:1-4 ESV And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! [2] It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. [3] Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, [4] and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." Matthew 18:1-9 ESV At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" [2] And calling to him a child, he put him ...
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Pastoral ministry

FW Boreham related his experience of travelling with the Superintendent of home missions by train. The youth to whom I was introduced  a few moments later possessed a magnetic personality, a fine  presence, a cultured, though perfectly natural, style of speech and a  soft pleasing voice. In answer to the questions of the elder minister,  he made no attempt to conceal the failure of his efforts to attract  the people to his services. I saw that my travelling-companion was  about to offer this young colleague a few words of intimate counsel;  and, knowing how precious their time must be, I quietly moved  away. But my friend called me back and thus I was privileged to  overhear the advice he tendered. ‘Don’t be disheartened,’ he said. ‘You’ve only been here  nine months; it takes longer than that to make an impression. ...
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We say that we depend upon the Holy Spirit, but actually we are so wired up with our own devices that if the fire does not fall from heaven, we can turn on a switch and produce false fire of our own. If there is no sound of a rushing, mighty wind, we have the furnace all set to blow hot air instead. God save us from a synthetic Pentecost!
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Differences between Roman Catholicism and the Bible

Roman Catholics and Protestants share a decent number of similarities on the surface. Several include the worship of Jesus Christ, belief in the Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), interaction with the Bible, the concept of baptism, preaching, the need to serve others, the importance of the church, and both tend to be conservative politically.  There are so many surface level similarities that people often make the mistake of thinking Roman Catholics and Protestants are just two slightly different denominations within Christianity itself. But that could not be further from the truth. At their core, Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity are two different religions.  These differences between the two are not minor, but rather, they strike at the heart of the Christian gospel. To help you discern these key differences, I wanted to lay out several for you.  1. Authority: Scripture Alone vs. Scripture + Tradition Roman Catholic View: Scripture is ...
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Differences between Roman Catholicism and the Bible

Roman Catholics and Protestants share a decent number of similarities on the surface. Several include the worship of Jesus Christ, belief in the Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), interaction with the Bible, the concept of baptism, preaching, the need to serve others, the importance of the church, and both tend to be conservative politically.  There are so many surface level similarities that people often make the mistake of thinking Roman Catholics and Protestants are just two slightly different denominations within Christianity itself. But that could not be further from the truth. At their core, Roman Catholicism and Protestant Christianity are two different religions.  These differences between the two are not minor, but rather, they strike at the heart of the Christian gospel. To help you discern these key differences, I wanted to lay out several for you.  1. Authority: Scripture Alone vs. Scripture + Tradition Roman Catholic View: Scripture is ...
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