Abraham, the father of the faithful, is obviously the greatest figure in the Old Testament. But the greatest man in the history of Israel has to be King David. He was not only a king, …
Our Report Card
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #7 - Acts
Then all the multitude kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had done among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, …
Leadership Lost
In my time, I have followed a lot of election campaigns. I remember sitting in a car, in the rain, in England listening to the Democratic National Convention on the BBC when Lyndon Johnson was …
The Book of Samuel #20
I bought a CD course on the Old Testament once, because I was considering teaching an online course myself. I hadn’t got very deep into the first disc before the teacher said flatly that King …
The Book of Samuel #19
Even victory can be bitter. How can there ever be a clear victory when there is war between a father and a son? To be sure, it was a short war—only one battle—and David’s son…well, …
The Book of Samuel #18
When a palace coup takes place, any influential person is going to have walk very carefully. It may, in fact, be impossible to sit this one out. You may wish you could retreat into the …
The Book of Samuel #17
Sometimes, there is no explaining love. It just is. The love of God for King David of Israel knew no bounds, and that love persisted through some terrible times and some terrible acts on David’s …
Apocalypse Now?
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #6 - Acts
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called …
One Nation Under God
Years ago, in watching the three memorial services for Ronald Reagan, and all the formality that went with them, I found myself strangely touched. There were several moments when I had a lump in my …
The Book of Samuel #16
It is hard to think of a family situation worse than one created by a man named Amnon, the son of David. It was event of sexual violence, ultimately leading to bloodshed. But considering what …
The Book of Samuel #15
It is always painful to see a good man fall. And in the affair of David and Bathsheba, that is pretty much what happened. It happened to a good woman at the same time. Who …
The Book of Samuel #14
And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanun the son …
The Book of Samuel #13
It isn’t always easy to understand why God does some of the things he does. It isn’t always certain, even, that God does everything attributed to him. In our generation, for example, we use the …
The Foundation of Freedom
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #5 - Acts
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke unto him …
Leadership in Crisis
By now, everyone realizes that we have a leadership crisis, not only in our country, but in the world at large. I wonder how we got to this place? Where does leadership come from and, …
The Book of Samuel #12
It is fascinating, when you’re reading history, to see how much people are the same—in every age and every time. Cultures change, standards change, technology changes, but human nature—at its base—changes very little, if at …
The Book of Samuel #11
War makes strange bedfellows sometimes. It’s possible that David might well have been an ally of the Philistines when they went to war against Israel and Saul. It’s hard to imagine David at war with …