Peterson says we are too impatient. We do not really believe in the power of prayer, the ministry of the word (and sacrament), and patient spiritual direction. We want to fix problems. And we want it now. My own heart does. I look at my kids and see things I don’t like and I see... Continue Reading

The ‘Scary Black Robe’ Factor: Stereotypes often win out. Many unbelievers think of pastors as strange, alien people—something like Jedi Knights from Star Wars. The robe and clerical collar don’t help much. For this reason pastors are often perceived as unapproachable, mysterious, and even intimidating. You however are a “normal” person. (Well, most of you anyway).    I... Continue Reading

It is no coincidence the increase in attacks on Christians began right after the fall President Mubarak in February 2011 and sharply increased after the Muslim Brotherhood won the Egyptian presidency in June 2012. “I accuse the Muslim Brotherhood and their Islamic groups of abducting the Christian girls in Egypt and forcing them to convert... Continue Reading

I want my husband to love God more than he loves me or our children. Why? Because if he loved us more than God we would serve as his idols, and would eventually let him down. We are not good gods. But a husband who loves God above all other people in his life will... Continue Reading

“If you push a decision on something that innovates on the Bible’s testimony, you’re creating the division. Division begins with that first departure. The first step away from the agreement is the original divide. It is simply necessary, then, for Christians to walk away from a divisive person (Titus 3:10). Perhaps they may even say,... Continue Reading

“Was this reversal a wholly pragmatic decision? I don’t know. Do they now truly agree with the biblical standard regarding homosexual sin? I hope so. But let us remember that oftentimes repentance is a process. Assuming the worst, that World Vision’s quick reversal was merely a pragmatic response to what would surely have been a... Continue Reading

“Christians have many different opinions about what constitutes good government. Jesus said that his “kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). That marvelous statement still leaves an important question unanswered: As long as we live in this world, what kind of civil government is right for humankind?”   Is God a Democrat? A Republican?... Continue Reading

“Overall, incentives to make charitable gifts could suffer somewhat due to the proposed 2% floor on charitable contributions, meaning that only gifts to charity above 2% of an individual’s adjusted gross income (AGI) could be deductible. Moreover, with the increased standard deduction and cuts to other itemized deductions such as the real estate tax reduction,... Continue Reading

“Four years after the death of his first wife, John Knox met his second soon-to-be wife, Elizabeth Stewart, youngest daughter of Andrew Stewart. Their family was staunchly Protestant, though related to Queen Mary at the time. And indeed, she was taken in marriage on March 26, 1564, when she was but 19 years of age,... Continue Reading

“This is what you get these days when progressive Christians commence to doing moral and political theory and public policy by asking “what would Jesus do.”  It was said of the nineteenth-century  theological “quest for the historical Jesus” that when they finally found the “historical Jesus” it turned out  he looked remarkably like a 19th... Continue Reading