In the 4th century, John Chrysostom, one of the finest Bible preachers and commentators of the patristic era, served as bishop at the church of Constantinople (Constantinople was the capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire). Golden Mouth, as Chrysostom became known, proved extremely popular with the common people because of his faithful and unswerving commitment to the Word of God. The imperial elites, on the other hand, only liked Chrysostom when it served their political i

God doesn’t always give us what we ask for—and that’s not a bad thing. Paul’s Pains In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle speaks of an unhappy trial in his life. He calls this difficulty a “thorn” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Thorns are prickly and pokey. Paul evidently felt that this particular trial, whether a physical ailment (see Galatians 4:13) or something psychological, continued to jab at him. The faithful man of God calls this inconvenience a “messen

Never underestimate the power of asking the right question. In college, before I switched my major to psychology (which, it turns out, is mostly a useless degree, I must say), I studied mass communications. I dabbled in television, radio, and newspaper. I enjoyed my short-lived gig as a disc jockey on the airwaves and my even-shorter-lived gig appearing on TV. But ah the newspaper—I absolutely loved the print medium. Ink and paper thrilled my soul. In particular, I found trem

The big mess in Minnesota at the moment, besides the Somali fraud scandal, relates to ICE. Completely different narratives shape the internet headlines—some in the media blame border patrol agents for the problem, while others point fingers at the protestors. As usual, CNN and Fox News do not agree. As for me, I’ll go on the record right now and admit I don’t know the whole story. And that’s actually the main point I want to address in this post. Proverbs Still Speaks If you

More than a few well-meaning Christians feel uneasy on the topic of hell and may prefer we simply talk about something else. Unfortunately, because hell—pardon the pun—regularly comes “under fire,” you’ll have to excuse me for entering the fiery fray. Now to be fair to myself, I am not normally hellbent on controversy. It’s not like I woke up this morning and decided I needed a new fire to put out—or in this case, put back on . But then Hollywood icon Kirk Cameron lit the tor

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a million times— don’t judge me! Or, Who made you to be the judge? —as said arbiters of judgey-ness judge me for being too “judgey.” For my part, I have no qualms with judgey-ness. Here are my top judgey credentials: I don’t let pedophiles babysit my kids. I don’t let my kids watch rated-R movies (or PG-13 films for that matter) if there’s a lot of inappropriate content—and yes, me, myself, and I am the sole determiner of what is “inapprop

At least one daycare in my town of residence shuddered its doors during the pandemic for one reason or another. Turns out, the daycare administrators were doing it all wrong—they actually enrolled real kids, when they could have easily kept their doors open, and profited financially,  without any kids. Or wait, does that only work in Minnesota? Minnesota Fraud You’ve no doubt seen the many headlines alleging fraud in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Apparently, there were more than

…and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. Matt. 1:23 I consider myself a complete carnivore when it comes time for dinner. Forget the vegetables—give me meat. And lots of it. Okay, the truth is: I actually don’t mind the greens, so long as there is plenty of yummy carne  for the main dish. I’m good for carne  just about anything. Carne asada, anyone? By the way, did you know that ancient festivals were meat-eating spectacles, often called—you guessed it

Sometimes our exiles can feel like an endless, bottomless pit. Photo: Shutterstock Thank the Lord, for the Christian, our exile will not...

Movie-goers who enjoyed the 1993 American classic Sandlot  will remember the epic scene where it was declared of the backyard beast that...

Don’t let the title mislead you—I have nothing against grandmas. I really don’t. Yet when you read Ruth’s story—technically, it feels...

The noble savage is something of a myth. The popular narrative that says natives in their own land are generally good at heart and would...

Jesus has purposed to rule the world—and he does so one family at a time. Photo: Shutterstock When the Israelites first entered Canaan,...

Deuteronomy should probably be one of your favorite books of the Bible. After all, Deuteronomy was the go-to text for our Founding...

The world is wired for glory. Yet sin with all its glory-defacing side effects has all but trashed God’s good creation. Thankfully Jesus,...

Jesus is King over every square inch of this terrestrial ball. Said another way: Jesus owns the dirt. All the dirt on Planet Earth...

Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, and Kim Jong Un of North Korea all share at least one thing in common. Photo: Shutterstock...

News headlines often lead us to think Christianity is currently trailing in the proverbial game of history, as though Jesus is at present...

It never failed. During my time overseas in China, I could travel to the most distant, far-flung village imaginable—some remote place all...

Regardless of the final election results, Jesus Christ is still King. Photo: Shutterstock Never forget that… Jesus is the King of Kings....