Apparently there is a new controversy involving the former Lakeland evangelist leader Todd Bentley who had lost his position of leadership due to adultery and divorce and remarriage to the woman he had committed adultery with. His restoration was apparently unsuccessful and he has allegedly gone from bad to worse. It grieves me to even […]
“…That we may be like all the nations.” (1 Samuel 8:20) Nobody likes to not fit in. Billions of dollars are spent on advertising each year, in fact, to tell us how to fit in. You need these clothes, that video game, this music CD, these shoes, that car. Culture does not create the marketplace. […]
So many Christians are bound by a “rapture mentality” that they have consistently failed to see the wolves at the gate. It has been so for generations. I remember clearly Corrie ten Boom telling of a Chinese pastor that wept as he told her, “I preached that the church would be raptured before the tribulation. […]
Read your Bible consistently, diligently and frequently. “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) Neither Jesus nor His followers ever deviated from the truth of the Word. If it’s not in there, it’s not from God. (John 17:17) […]
I came from an unconventional background, and I lived an unconventional life and did unconventional ministry. I was an unconventional child, much to the concern of my very conventional parents. I tried to re-bury worms when it rained one day because they were coming out of the ground and I thought they would be cold. […]
Youth Pastor or Youth Director? A few years ago, I noticed a big change in youth ministry. It came on the heels of – or maybe part of – a package deal with megachurch, purpose driven and seeker friendly methods for “doing church.” Young youth ministers taking jobs in churches found themselves re-labeled as “youth […]
A Letter to the Church-Wounded in “Exile”; This is a very sensitive message, one I hope to convey with a heart of humility and grace, one I pray will bring a little healing to those who are hurting for reasons beyond your control or choosing. There are many who have passed through the fires of […]
There was a time when ideas like yoga or eastern meditation in the church were only associated with Christ Science churches, Universalist Churches, and a few spurious non-biblical fringe places. In a few scant decades, the walls have been so completely torn down that we not only see no harm in these things, we promote […]
“Oopsie!” I think if the church stopped labeling things mistakes and called them sins (which we are all guilty of) we could lead people to repentance – the cure at the Cross. By calling sins “mistakes” it implies that we did an “oopsie” and we just need to get our boo-boos cleaned up. But sin […]
As Above, So Below – Why It Matters I did not really understand the spiritual nature of this crisis until I was confronted with the paraphrase, The Message , by Eugene Peterson. Peterson’s “Bible” was very tinged with terms very prone to nature-type analogies that are more familiar to Wiccan and pagan circles than to Christianity. […]
