There is a great divide between Christianity and Judaism. And it goes back a lot further than most people realize. It goes back way beyond Paul, and way beyond the early days of the church. …
Christian Origins #5 - Acts
I think it is fair to say that God used the power of the Holy Spirit to jump start the early Christian church. They started with 120 members, then baptized 3,000 people in one day. …
This Old House
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #33 - Colossians
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, …
How to Read the Bible
I forget where I first saw the book title, How to Read the Bible, but I recall a certain, what shall we say, amusement. I thought, Find a comfortable chair, open the book and read. …
Christian Origins #4 - Acts
I remember my first experience with power. It was behind the wheel of a 1948 Chevrolet. Granted, by today’s standards, that is not a lot of power, but it was power to me. If I …
Christian Origins #3 - Acts
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at …
Christian Origins #2 - Acts
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled …
Christian Origins #1 - Acts
How many hundreds of millions of Christians are there in the world by now? What is your guess? Well, I looked it up. Christianity of all stripes is the largest religion in the world and …
A Forecast for the Future
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #32 - Philippians
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if …
Whatever Happened to the Bible?
When I was a lot younger, I was associated with a church that was, hands down, the most Bible-reading group of people I have ever known. With all of the faults of that generation and …
About the Bible
What did the first Christians believe about the Bible? It is an interesting question for several reasons, not least because the Bible, as we know it, had yet to exist. The components of what we …
Not Guilty
A long time ago, when I was a very young minister, a series of remarkable things happened to me. I found myself deeply troubled by what I called at the time “wrong thoughts”. It was …
The Tree #2
The apostle John is in vision, and he’s nearing the end of an incredible experience. Step by step, he has seen the sequence of visions that make up what we all the Book of Revelation. …
The Tree #1
There’s an odd thing about the Bible that’s easy to overlook: It begins and it ends with a tree. Everybody knows that in the Garden of Eden there was the Tree of Life. What’s easy …
The Prime Directive
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #31 - Ephesians & Philemon
I beseech you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: Who in time past was to you unprofitable, but now profitable to you and to me: Whom I have sent again: …
The Mysteries of God
Why is God so mysterious? Why all the mumbo-jumbo about religion? Why doesn’t God just speak plainly to man and tell us what he wants? I think that is a fair question. So does God. …
About Christmas
What did the first Christians believe and practice about Christmas? I know in a way that is a loaded question, because the word Christmas is found nowhere in the New Testament, nor is any noticeable …