Snapshots and Synapses

I met with a friend recently, and like a growing number of people I’ve discovered he no longer believed in the God of the Bible. My friend is still a “good person” by the world’s standards, and relative the majority of people I’ve known, I’m privileged that we’re friends. I’m glad that he was honest with me, but I’m saddened. I am committed to being a friend still, but I recognize that we now come from two different world-views. This difference is more than simply having different opinions; we have conflicting beliefs about what is true and good. And I’m saddened that we live in a post-Christian society. Our society has a confused sense of what’s “good”. Without anything higher than ourselves, how can we call anything “good”? Is it by general consensus or perhaps by what has been traditionally accepted as “good”? If so, then there is nothing truly good, intrinsically good. Rather, the ideal of “goodness” morphs over time. So who is to say that what we call “evil” today won’t be cal...

In the context of church, American Christians typically think of worship as the songs we sing. Depending on what church you attend, the word “worship” may have some greater meaning, but church music is typically what comes to mind. It has become the center of so many criticisms: it’s too loud / soft, too traditional / new, too slow / upbeat, etc. In general use, the English word for worship can be thought of as a noun (“the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.”) or a verb (“show reverence and adoration for [a deity]; honor with religious rites.”). The origin of the word was “worth-ship” or “weorthscipe”, which is basically an acknowledgement of worth or worthiness. While God is certainly worthy, the English definition just seemed to fall short, so as I did a search on the Internet, I came across this quote, which summed up my feelings: In some ways an etymology-based definition can be a helpful start. God’s worth is infinite, so we can never give back e...

I was driving to church on Sunday November 1st, All Saints Day by the church calendar, and saw what looked like a white dove. God sometimes gets my attention through things I see, and prompts me to pray. This was one of those occasions. As I’m sure all of you are aware, the Holy Spirit is often represented as a white dove, so as I have continued to seek Him and His Will, I believe He has given me a word for you, His people, who are reading this message: God is planning to again pour out His Spirit on his people, on those who seek Him. I believe this will come “soon”, being immanent in God’s timing, and is associated with Biblical End Times prophecy. No man knows the day nor the hour, and with God’s help I will never fall into the trap of saying “when”. According to Jesus, ONLY the Father knows the timing… not even the Son. It’s always been His plan to pour out His Spirit in the last days, and the time is closer now than it has ever been before. So unless you insist on a preterist...

There has been a lot of speculation around the Blood Moon Prophecy. Do a search and you’ll find many references, including some free videos to stream off the internet. One of my kids was very concerned, having stumbled across the Blood Moon discussion and thinking that the world would come to an end somewhere around Monday September 28, 2015. Well, I’m writing to give you my thoughts on the subject. Pure and simple: I don’t know. In fact, no one knows but God. But there are somethings I do know related to this. First, I know that the world will not end on Monday. Biblical scholars who take stock in the Blood Moon Prophecy would agree on this because Jesus said that no man knows the DAY or the hour. Only the Father knows when the world will end or when the Tribulation will come. We also know that certain things need to occur. For example, the man of lawlessness will be revealed before the world ends.  However, we are given signs so that we’re not surprised, and there are m...

I heard something on the radio this week that I believe is true: we (Christians) have lost the culture war. Now that doesn't mean we roll over and adopt values that are counter to the life Christ would have us live, but I think it's important to acknowledge the reality of our environment.Understanding the issues allow us to work on resolving them. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease, and that truth combined with persistence to seek and live in truth has resulted in my being symptom free for over a year.  So if we lost a "culture war", what is the truth with respect to how we contributed to the loss and what are the implications for those of us who live in America and are committed to following Jesus? First, I think we need to acknowledge that the "culture" was never the correct strategic objective. The culture changes when the attitude, values and prevailing mores of the people are morphed over a period of time. We called to crea...