So, Who Was Sgt. York? As the U.S. commemorates Veterans Day, I’d like to tell you the story of a Christian pacifist and war hero named Alvin York. You may not be familiar with him, but he was a skilled marksman who became the most highly decorated U.S. soldier in World War I. A recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre, York was honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City and... Read more
Dear God, I Hope Not Americans will vote in off-year elections this Nov. 7. As we go to the polls, we should be thinking about the nation’s ongoing argument over separation of church and state. It’s an important issue. The debate moved back to the forefront recently because of statements made by the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. So, let’s see what Johnson said, look at what the constitution says about separation of church and state, consider statements... Read more
Protestants Observe Reformation Day on Oct. 31 Change has been a fact of life in the Christian church since its founding 2,000 years ago. You don’t need a college degree in church history to know that sweeping changes in Christianity have occurred like clockwork every 500 or so years since Christ laid the groundwork for his new religion in the first century. The first seismic change in the church took place around 500 A.D., when the Roman empire collapsed and... Read more
It’s almost Halloween, and Americans are decorating their yards with ghosts, ghouls and goblins, planning costume parties and loading up on candy. It’s the perfect time to talk about ghosts. So, let me begin with an obvious question: do you believe in ghosts? I mean actual apparitions of dead people… disembodied spirits… translucent entities that roam the land and scare the living. A Haunting in Tennessee I haven’t believed in actual ghosts since I was about seven or eight years... Read more
Controversy surrounds the idea of women teaching and preaching the gospel even in the 21st century, but I’m here to say that women played an important role in the early church and women continue to shape the Christian faith today. You may read my post about women in the early church here. Christians recognize Christ as the greatest teacher to ever walk the earth. I would rank the Apostle Paul second despite misgivings about some of his teachings. And as... Read more
When I was a child, women did not preach – at least not in the Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian churches in my small town. The pastor was invariably a man with a family. He ran the church, and his wife took care of their home and the children. But today’s Christian churches don’t necessarily follow that model, nor did churches in the distant past. Ancient texts uncovered in the last 20 or so years describe a church that we would... Read more
How Spirituality & Faith Affect Mental, Physical & Emotional Well-being Call it instinct, observation or experience. Call it whatever you wish, but people realized several thousand years ago that spirituality and wellness go hand in hand. And recent studies confirm the body-mind-soul connection and suggest a prayer a day may actually keep the doctor away. Consider these Findings… Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have determined that people “who practice religion had better immune function than those who didn’t. So... Read more
Looking Ahead to Yom Kippur & Sukkot The Bible clearly tells Christians how to treat their neighbors in several verses. Leviticus 19:18 in the Old Testament says, “You shall love thy neighbor as yourself.” In the New Testament, Christ says we should love God above all else, and the second command is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 1 John 4:20 adds, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his neighbor, he is a liar; for he who... Read more
Methodists have reached a crossroads in 2023, as many conservative churches have left the United Methodist Church (UMC) to create a new, more conservative denomination called the Global Methodist Church. But this isn’t the only time the church has split. Keep in mind that the current divide affects millions of people, as the United Methodist denomination has 12 million members worldwide and is the second largest denomination in the U.S. Also keep in mind that Methodists have a history of... Read more
Ahhhh….classical music….People tend to love it or hate it, and I love it. Since September is Classical Music Month, I decided there’s no better time to write about three great pieces of classical Christian music and the composers who wrote them. Those pieces are Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion”: Click here for the Netherlands Bach Society’s performance; Frideric Handel’s “Messiah”: Listen to the Royal Choral Society perform the “Hallelujah Chorus,” which reportedly brought a king to his feet, here; And finally,... Read more
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