BEARING THE SWORD IN THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Some Christians, for the sake of their conscience, believe that it is wrong for them to carry firearms. To those individuals, I would first direct them to I Corinthians 10. If it troubles your conscience, then do not carry firearms. But if your conscience is clear, then it is not a sin. The carrying of […]
THE WORLD WANTS ITSELF
The devil did not need to convince Adam and Eve to turn away from God; he needed only to turn them to themselves. By getting them to love themselves, he got them to hate God. The devil knows no one can serve two masters, and anyone who tries to will hate the one and love […]
HOPE THAT BUILDS
According to legend, Martin Luther once said, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” I have thought about that line often—not as sentimentality, but as a reminder to stay optimistic about the future and take meaningful action in the present. A belief the […]
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE RHETORICAL QUESTIONS?
If your eyes moved from the title to this opening sentence, then the rhetorical question in the title appears to be doing its job. By common understanding, a rhetorical question is one posed by the speaker without expecting the audience to actually answer it. It is a way of grabbing the audience’s attention and keeping […]
THE SELF-OBSESSION PANDEMIC
People just seem stuck on themselves these days. I bet your pastor has complained about this a time or two from the pulpit. After all, displays of self-focus and plain old-fashioned narcissism are so common as to make this observation cliché. Media glorifies self-interest; television promotes it. How many Disney movies have counseled us and […]
BRINGING LUTHERANISM TO THE WEST
The American West has always needed wranglers in the office of the holy ministry. In his book Cowboy Preacher, Rev. John D. Schroeder recounts his mission to spread Lutheranism in America. Born on January 1, 1872, in Westerburg, Germany, Schroeder’s only knowledge of America came from reading books and Indian stories. He and his friends […]
RICH TOWARDS GOD
IT IS OFTEN SAID THAT MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.Jesus says that the love of money, not money itself, is the root of all kinds of evil. While money-talk can be uncomfortable, our Lord tells in the parable of the unjust steward, “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous […]
A LUTHERAN WEDDING
There was a great wedding in Leipzig, Germany, in the mid-1730s. We don’t know whose wedding it was, and we wouldn’t think anything of it today at all, had not Johann Sebastian Bach composed a cantata for it. A cantata was a piece of concerted music, about 20 minutes long and split into various movements, […]
ARE YOU PRO-LIFE?
I have been associated with the pro-life movement since college. Ever since then, I have been involved in various marches for the cause. I have been to the nation’s capital, state capitals, courthouses, and capitol buildings. I have worked in a number of states doing sidewalk counseling. I have had a gun pulled on me […]
SEEKING CREATIVITY THROUGH CONSTRAINT
We live in a world where freedom means life without constraint. It is terrifying. It does not work. The laissez-faire parenting advice from a couple generations ago has contributed to our prolonged adolescence and an epidemic of thirty-year-old men living in their parents’ basements. Sparing the rod truly spoils the child (Prov 13:24). Life without […]