Last Sunday I began a series of messages from Peter’s first letter to the church. It is a letter of a pastor who cared deeply for the Christians in scattered churches in areas now known as western Turkey. Roman Emperor, Nero, had begun bringing severe persecution upon Christians using them as a scapegoat for the...
Maybe you’ve seen the Facebook posts where some individual has come up with a new, simple way to complete a task or perform a work-around to some problem, obstacle, or the like. In recent years, these have become known as “hacks”. I think it derives from software technology where fixes or a patch to software...
The poet Elizabeth Landon said, “Tis a strange mystery, the power of words! Life is in them, and death.” When I was younger I heard about all the Christians that were being martyred in Russia. Men and women were being asked at gunpoint if they were Christian or not. If they said yes, they were...
My heart grieves for the lives recently taken in the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Arguments are being waged on surface issues. But I want to share that such an incident is merely symptomatic of what’s going on in our culture to create the dynamics of such a tragedy. What I list here is not comprehensive,...
I have always been fascinated by martyrdom and the faith required to stand up for Christ to the bitter (often horrific) end. The very act of martyrdom has often been the strongest witness, not only of the martyr’s faith, but also of the transforming power martyrdom can have on the other witnesses. I remember when...
