I held a three-hour seminar on prayer this past Saturday at my church. It was intended primarily for the people of my local congregation to lay a foundation for becoming the house of prayer our God wants us to be and for which our Lord Jesus is zealous. I opened with what I envisioned the seminar would be like.

The modern church has ignored these issues, but we can no longer afford to be silent. The civil magistrate is responsible for such things as securing our national borders with military force, enforcing legal contracts, protecting the people against fraud (such as inflation), providing a judicial system to both protect the rights of people and to punish convicted criminals (who break the laws of God).

Over time four myths have developed that keep Christians in a state of suspended animation when it comes to political involvement. Worse, some consider their adherence to these myths as virtuous, viewing their passivity as an exalted state. Let's take a look at each of the four myths as well as the biblical reality that breaks the spell under which many Christians have fallen.

Even so, if we were to repent of our spiritual disloyalty and seek and savor the Kingdom of God above all lesser kingdoms, saying with Jesus “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”, I daresay we would grasp for an idea without content.  The spectacle of... Continue Reading

Who knows what the future holds for the world now that the reins of power in what is probably still its most powerful nation are once more being wrestled over? Who knows what rulers and authorities will rise and fall in the coming months or decades or centuries, if God spares us?

Journalists also focus on unexpected changes or events that suggest something significant or noteworthy has happened. When journalists are faced with choosing between a story about a Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting children or a priest serving at a homeless shelter, we can guess which story will make the 6 o’clock news. The tendency is not necessarily a bias toward or against religion as much as it is a question of what journalists see as newsworthy.

We play balloon volleyball, for one thing. Mom, Dad, and kids smash power serves across the living room. If the balloon hits the ground, that team must answer a Bible trivia question. Sundays are a wonderful opportunity for families. I delight in the freedom of time to talk with my children about their Sunday school lessons, to build missionary houses with Legos, to sit together on the couch and read aloud the children’s version of Pilgrim’s Progress.

So many children are taught that excitement and boredom form the poles of the economy of how life is evaluated. Rather than teach children about the truths of the gospel, the condemnation of the law, the promises of the gospel, and blessings we receive through Christ and the Spirit, all too many children look to evaluate life the same way they would a theme park.

Between 50 and 70 percent of couples cohabit today. But only about 1 in 5 such relationships result in marriage. And the results are consistently pessimistic for those cohabiters who do marry

Since medication falls under dominion as an attempt to address the effects of the Fall, psychiatric drug use should seek to restore regular brain functioning. In cases of injury and underdevelopment, this could mean compensation for what is damaged or absent. In cases of uncontrollable excesses or deficiencies of neurotransmitters or hormones, it could mean stabilizing the brain's regulatory functions