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Thanks for visiting our blog. In this section, we'll post our thoughts on a variety of topics such as Christianity, Culture, Politics, Current Events and more.  We invite you to post your comments by emailing us (your email address will not be shared with anyone).  We'll identify you only by your first name (or any username you'd like to supply) and state or country.  We welcome comments which disagree with our positions, but all must be suitable for "family viewing".

We are archiving many of our posts which are not time-sensitive.  We've also included a log of the archived posts, with a brief description of each.  Visit our Archive Log here.

Between our family, full-time jobs and developing content for our website ministry, our time for blogging is somewhat limited at present; however, we'll attempt to make regular posts and, as we complete some of the other sections on our site, hope to devote more time to it.  We are very excited that our blog will allow increased communication to and from our readers. 

Happy Independence Day

Posted: July 5, 2008 - 23:51 CT

On this holiday weekend, we celebrate our American independence, or at least most of us do.  Each year, we're bombarded by articles from the "Blame America First" media telling us that this should be a time of mourning rather than a time of celebration for being an American.  I think first prize this year should go to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Chris Satullo for his article A not-so-glorious Fourth.  The gist of the article is that America does not deserve a July Fourth celebration this year because of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, CIA secret prisons, and of course, the unforgivable fact that we elected George Bush president. 

Mr Satullo's article begins "Put the fireworks in storage.  Cancel the parade.  Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.  This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday.  This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement. For we have sinned."  So, how did we sin?  Was it by taking prayer out of schools, activist judges making a mockery of our constitution by finding the right to murder unborn babies, or re-writing history to remove God's name and providence?  Not according to Mr Satullo, who sees our biggest sin as reacting to the cold bloodied murder of several thousand of our own citizens in New York City.  He then hits the leftist talking points such as torturing prisoners, then (for those wondering when his Bush Derangement Syndrome would kick in) states  "We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office.  We have done them, without general outrage or shame".

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Sports and the Christian

Posted: June 26, 2008 - 21:23 CT

This blog entry will expand on some comments received from a reader in response to our recent Boston Celtics article.  The primary themes from this article was perspective and priorities.  It is certainly acceptable to admire the abilities of great athletes (and men and women of other professions), but we must not follow the sports writer's habits of ascribing deity on them.  As I'm writing this, the Dallas Morning News published a picture of the women gymnasts who had just qualified for the Olympic games.  Above the picture in big bold letters stretching across the page was the headline "The Anointed Ones".

In 1998, the world watched as Mark McGuire, Gen Griffey Jr and Sammy Sosa were all on pace to break the Major League Baseball single season home run record (60 home runs) set by Roger Maris of the Yankees in 1927.  The media spectacle increased as the lead swung back and forth almost daily.  Griffey dropped out with an injury and McGuire eventually claimed the record with 70 home runs (broken four years later when Barry Bonds hit 73) with Sosa finishing with 66.  This was very exciting to watch, but I couldn't help making a comparison.  One man hits a cowhide covered ball over a fence and we cheer wildly.  Another comes from heaven to be born in a manger, live a perfectly sinless life, die on a cross for our sins so that we can have eternal life, is physically resurrected, ascends back into heaven to sit at the right hand of God to make intercession for us... and we often yawn.  Where are our priorities?

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Boston Celtics - 2008 NBA Champs

Posted: June 18, 2008 - 22:13 CT

Ok, I'm back.  I've been busy this past couple of months researching America's Christian Heritage and should start writing on this new section soon.  I must confess that I've also been a bit occupied (like every year about this time) with the NBA playoffs.  No, I don't think the games are fixed, but are "weighted" somewhat in favor of the teams with the stars.  After all, shoe companies paying millions of dollars to the players and for television advertisements don't want to see their stars go out in the first round.  The league doesn't want to see a sweep when they can sell tickets for a full seven game series.  I also think Vince McMahon would be a natural replacement as commissioner when David Stern retires.  That said, though I don't watch much television, I rarely miss the football or basketball playoffs, even after the Green Bay Packers or Dallas Mavericks have been eliminated.  I do usually get in some studies during halftime and commercials.

First off, congratulations to the Boston Celtic organization on a great season and series victory over the Lakers.  Most of their accolades are well deserved, but I couldn't help being a bit disappointed with the usual media worship of the players, attempting to elevate them to the status of deity.  This blog entry is not written to put a damper on the Celtics' accomplishments or their fans' celebration.  I believe the Apostle Paul might have been a sports fan.  In several of his Biblical letters, he compares the purposeful life of a Christian to athletic competitions ("running the good race" etc).  I am writing merely to offer some perspective.

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Dr Jerry Vines - John 3:16

Posted: May 18, 2008 - 16:44 CT

I had the awesome blessing and privilege to hear Jerry Vines speak at Prestonwood Baptist in Plano, Texas this morning.  Dr Vines delivered one of the two finest sermons that I've recently heard on John 3:16 (the other was by Max Lucado a few months earlier). 

I spent much of 2003 and 2004 in Jacksonville, Florida designing transmission and distribution facilities for the electrical utility company.  I flew back to Texas every other weekend, but on the weekends I stayed, the highlight of my week was hearing Dr Vines while he was the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville.   He is an old-fashioned preacher who is not afraid to ruffle the devil's feathers.  He served two terms as President of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1988 and 1989, and was succeeded by Jack Graham, senior pastor of Prestonwood.  Dr Vines retired from fulltime preaching in 2006 and now runs Jerry Vines Ministries.  He is currently a member of FBC in Woodstock, Georgia .  I highly recommend going to hear him if he comes to your community.

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Minister Arrested in Internet Sex Sting

Posted: May 18, 2008 - 15:44 CT

As many of you have heard by now, a minister on the staff at Prestonwood Baptist Church was arrested this week during an Internet sex sting.  I was in attendance this morning when the senior pastor, Jack Graham spoke on the issue at the start of the service.  I must commend Dr Graham for addressing this head-on rather than sweeping it under the rug, as so often has been done by churches in the past.  Dr Graham, who was in Israel while all this was happening,  said "You need to know that we are appalled and we are disgraced by this terrible action, an unacceptable action by a minister on our staff.  I'm so sorry for the injury that this kind of behavior has brought to many people in our church and outside of our church."  He stated that the church had accepted the resignation of Joe Barron, and that all other members of the staff, including himself, would "continue to be held to the highest standards".  He further stated that it "we work very very hard to earn the trust of our congregation and the community, the testimony of our church within the community, and our integrity within the church.  I assure you that we will continue to make this the highest priority, that our staff and ministers will continue to be of the highest quality and character... and to the best of my and our ability as a church, we will continue to be accountable to God and this congregation."  He also asked for prayer that God would continue to "give us strength to faithfully fulfill our calling, and that the witness of our Savior be strong from the pulpit and from every person in our congregation who names the name of Christ... We've taken a big hit from the enemy this week, but we shall rise above and respond to the challenge.  It's been our experience that when the enemy attacks in  a powerful way, then God is about to move in a powerful way.  We're certain that, in the days ahead, God is preparing us for something magnificent and wonderful in the ministry of this church... We want to put this in the rear view mirror.  We'll handle anything required for the investigation, but we want to move forward with our priority of lifting up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to do it in a responsible and accountable way."

Those who know me are familiar with my views of the mainstream news media (MSM).  It's no secret that most are not friendly with Christianity, however I must give credit where it is due.  The local media has been very respectful of Prestonwood during this crisis, almost reluctant to report the story (Dr Graham also thanked them for this).   The national media (even CNN) thus far has reported the story but has held to the basic facts.

Ironically, the most sensationalized and condemning report that I have seen came from one of my favorite internet sites, WorldNetDaily, who is normally very critical of the MSM for their biased attacks on Christianity.   WND also conducted a poll with the question "What's your reaction to the arrest of the Texas megapastor for allegedly seeking sex with 13-year-old?"  Some of the results (at the time of this posting) were:

Like the prophet Nathan said to King David: 'Because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt' - 46%
If anyone knew what he was doing was wrong, this man did - 17%
It adds to my concern about the authenticity of then modern megachurch movement - 16%
To whom much is given much is required – he should suffer more because he's a minister - 6%
There but for the grace of God go I - 5%
It confirms what I've always believed – most Christians are hypocrites - 4%
It's not my place to judge - 2%
It was terrible what he did but he's unfairly being made to suffer more because he's a minister - 1%
Pastoring is a very stressful job – he obviously cracked under the pressure and I'm praying for his healing and return to ministry - less than 0.5%

A large portion of WND readers are professing Christians, so I was a little surprised by the harshness of the responses.  I particularly thought the "There but for the grace of God" option would have been much higher.  We know that ministers face a stricter judgment, and rightfully so (James 3:1), and we must purge the wickedness from among us (1Cor 5:13), but we're also commanded to attempt to restore sinners.  I don't  believe that a person convicted of a crime such as this should be returned to the church staff , but we should encourage healing if the person is truly repentant (2Cor 2:7-8).  Yet, even though a person is forgiven of a sin, consequences of the sin still remain; in this case, loss of employment, probable criminal charges with prison time if convicted, irreparable trust and broken relationships.  I'm therefore asking prayer for the accused minister, his family and the church.  Whatever the outcome, we can have confidence that God will somehow work this all for good (Romans 8:28).

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Mother's Day Thoughts

Posted: May 11, 2008 - 19:34 CT

It's almost impossible to overestimate the value of a Godly mother.  I was extremely blessed to be raised by one who made sure I was in church from the time I was in diapers.  My mom has been gone for almost eight years now, and I've only recently begun to realize the legacy that she left me.  When I look back at all the boneheaded things I've done in my life, I'm convinced that one of the primary reasons I'm still alive is due to the many hours my mom spent praying for me.  I am also blessed to see many of the same spiritual and motherly instincts in my wife with our two sons.

My two brothers and I were brought up in a little country town in east Texas.  We didn't have much, but my dad worked at the Texas Highway Department (now TXDOT) and started a land surveying business on the side.   Mom worked the evening and night shift as a nurse at the local hospital, so we had enough (although we didn't always think so at the time).  My mom had a disabling disease from the time I was ten, but for the next thirty five years, she rarely let it affect her attitude toward life.  I think it's her courage and sense of humor that I remember most.  Someone sent me a humorous email a few days before she died that has meant a lot to me (I've posted "What My Mother Taught Me"  in our Humor section). 

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Get Expelled

Posted: April 27, 2008 - 20:29 CT

I noticed that Ben Stein's new documentary, Expelled opened as one of the top 10 movies this week.  We highly recommend the documentary on our education system's censorship of any ideas even hinting of intelligent design, and terminating any teacher who dares question evolution.  Expelled rolled out in 1,052 theaters, only a third of the theaters showing the top grosser, and brought in nearly $3,000 per screen.

Olivia St. John has written a great preview over at WND.  You might also like to check out reviews by Jack Cashill and Chuck Norris. 

The film points out the utter hypocrisy of the atheistic humanist promoters of evolution.  In the Scopes trial of 1925, the evolutionists, represented by the atheist Charles Darrow and the ACLU, were attempting to overturn the law that allowed creationism rather than evolution to be taught in the schools.  Darrow stated that it was the height of bigotry to have only one theory of origins taught in our public schools.  Now that the atheistic humanists have succeeded in driving out creationism, the ACLU lawyers are fighting to keep only one theory (evolution) in the classroom, outlawing anything that might remotely question it. 

I've always wondered, if evolution is such great science, why does it require government protection?  The humanist's primary argument is that evolution is a science while creationism is a religion.   The truth is that it takes much more faith to believe in evolution than in creation.  Almost every branch of science that exists today was discovered by creationists.  Evolution is not science,  but a philosophy and religion.  Honest evolutionists will admit that there is absolutely no evidence for evolution, but they will cling to it because the only alternative is to believe in a Creator, which they find unthinkable.  Darwin called evolution his "deity". 

I'd also like to point out that the creationism proposed to be taught in the schools is scientific creationism rather than Biblical creationism.  They are quite different.  Biblical creationism is based on the Holy Scriptures (which we hold to be infallibly true).  Scientific creationism deals with biology, psychology, origin of cells, chemistry, physics, anthropology embryology, astrophysics and other scientific subjects.  It deals with the evidence of origins to determine if life arose gradually over billions of years, or abruptly.  That is, are we a cosmic accident due to lightning striking a mud puddle somewhere, or are we the product of design?  We'll present the scientific evidence in many articles elsewhere on our website.

Perhaps the best argument for teaching both theories came years ago.  A writer once wrote that the only way that we can have a fair result in this debate is by presenting the facts on both sides of the question, and letting the people make up their own minds.  Now, obviously this was written by some radically conservative, bible-thumping, right-wing Christian... or was it?  Well, actually, this quote is taken from the writings of Charles Darwin.

So, we suggest taking Darwin's advise.  See the movie, study the evidence, and make up your own mind.

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Have We Lost the Concept of Sin?

Posted: April 3, 2008 - 23:39 CT

I ran across an article a few days ago from Cathy Lynn Grossman in USA Today entitled Has the 'Notion of Sin' Been Lost?  Her data was based upon a survey by Ellison Research (Phoenix, AZ) in August 2007, which I found here.  The good news is that a majority of people surveyed believe that there is such a thing as sin.  The bad news is that opinions differ greatly over what actually constitutes a sin.   

For the survey, Ellison Research asked each participant if they believed in the concept of sin (defined in the research as “something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective”).  The 87% who responded with a "Yes" were then asked whether they would personally define each of thirty different behaviors as sinful.  Here's where the responses got interesting.

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The First Easter

Posted: March 26, 2008 - 17:56 CT

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. I heard several excellent sermons this past week, and wanted to comment on two characters from the first Easter, Pilate (original thought from Alistair Begg) and Barabbas (got the idea while listening to Chuck Swindoll).  I couldn't think of a better subject for our first blog post than the first Easter (scripture references: Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 18).

First to Pontius Pilate (the Roman governor of Judea), as he entertains the trumped-up charges leveled against Jesus by the Jewish religious leaders.  I believe Pilate, unlike many of his portrayals, was probably a very intelligent, capable politician, who could have risen to a position of power in most eras or regimes.  He immediately saw through the falsehoods of the accusers, proclaimed Jesus to be innocent and attempted to release Him.  Although he had found no guilt in Jesus, Pilate wavered when the crowd threatened to report him to Caesar.  The Roman government did not have a large number of troops in Judea at the time, so one of Pilate’s main duties was to do whatever was necessary to maintain peace.  We know from historical records that he had previously been warned about other uprisings in his region.  As governor and judge, he was bound to protect the innocent and administer justice, but gave in to the demand of the Jews to avoid an uproar in his region. Thus, he hands Jesus over to be crucified.  Begg states that Pilate intellectually discerns the truth, but has neither the courage nor the moral ethics to do what is required.

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