Preaching Anger

It happened again just recently. I sat in church and listened as the morning’s preacher vented anger and frustration toward some unspecified complainers and troublemakers in the church. Reactions afterward were the usual mixture. Some said “We needed...

Yard Dogs

Terry Billings is one of those fellows who has never done anything part way. He is known as a “full speed ahead” kind of man. He is this way about his business–meat processing and restaurant. He is this way about his family. And since last summer,...

A Time for Traveling Light

The biblical account of the exodus of the Israelites from the bondage of the Egyptians provides a most interesting survival technique that may be appropriate for modern-day America. The clue is found in the book of Exodus, verse 39 of chapter 12: “They baked...

Faith Is Not a Lonely Hunter

A reader chided me recently for promoting what he called a social gospel. It’s a complaint I have heard before. The social gospel is the idea that the church should make social applications of the teaching of Jesus Christ. Social-gospelers have accomplished some...

Politically Correct Moral Values Or Handy Slogans?

Anyone who has read my musing over the last few years knows my deep skepticism regarding going to war in Iraq. Nothing has convinced me it was a very wise or necessary thing to do. No facts have come forward to prove war was the only way to help the Iraqi peoples. But...

Does Barry Lynn Read a Small Bible?

Barry Lynn unfairly lumped James Dobson and Jim Wallis together this week, asserting that both were pressuring politicians to make public policy decisions based on the Bible. “Religious advocates of all stripes are applying all kinds of pressure on politicians...