What Is a Christian Family?

The traditional family is under assault these days. Watch a primetime television program about the family and you’ll soon discover that fathers are presented as idiotic, mothers as overbearing, and children as wise beyond their years. That’s assuming you can find a program portraying a “traditional” family with a husband and a wife. To say […]

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Taking Off the Gloves and Making Up

Derrrriiiick!” The yell of my daughter penetrated the walls, entered my ears, and put my nervous system into a headlock. “What happened now?” I thought to myself as I walked upstairs. Just as I reached the top of the landing, both son and daughter zeroed in on me—like stink on a skunk. Then began the […]

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Ghosts and the Gospel

Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness—for then The spirits of the dead who stood In life before thee are again In death around thee—and their will Shall overshadow thee: be still.1 For many, Halloween is a fun time of telling ghost stories, passing out candy to little ghouls and goblins who come […]

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Discovering the Gates of Hades

Of all the gods of Greek mythology, he was one of the ugliest, with goat’s horns growing from his head, goat’s hoofs in place of feet, and the shaggy hair of a goat covering his body. But the half-man, half-goat god, Pan, was merry, bounding among the thickets and mountains playing his reed pipe. It […]

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A Weekly Furlough for Your Pastor

Church folk don’t always live in reality—especially those who are on committees searching for a new pastor. In a description for the perfect pastor, one church was looking for the following characteristics.1 The perfect pastor for our church must: Be married with two children—one boy and one girl Be on call 24/7, including holidays and […]

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Delilah: Tempting a Man to Death

“The lips of an adulteress drip honey / And smoother than oil is her speech” (Proverbs 5:3). How true of a woman who uses her feminine charm to beguile and deceive morally weak men to fall into sin. Delilah was one such woman. And Samson was one such man. Delilah made her home in the […]

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Being the Beatitudes

On the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee there is a hill, green and gently sloped and overlooking deep, blue waters. From this hill a panorama unfolds of the early ministry of Jesus—healing in nearby Capernaum, calling His first disciples to fish for men, and simple yet profound teaching that continues to change lives […]

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