By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
Weary from the week and frankly with nothing better to do, Sam went to bed. Besides, he had to winterize the home in the morning. If the weather cooperated, he might even throw up some Christmas lights. Something he hadn’t done for years. He hadn’t been real “Christmasee” for a while. He hadn’t been since […]
In years past political parties used to speak of their “platform,” a formal collection of their positions and aspirations. “Planks” made up their platform, statements and positions on individual issues such as tax rates, domestic goals, foreign policy, and so forth. In years gone by, civil debate and discussion took place between politicians and constituents […]
There are two things I have never done (actually, there are millions of things I have never done). But you know what I mean. The first is that I have never walked into a military recruiter’s office. But I imagine some of their spiel, “Come see the world”; “The GI bill will be waiting for […]
It’s bland. It has little taste, color, or smell. It goes down easy, really easy—no chewing necessary. I’m not talking about oatmeal. I’m talking about evangelicalism. It’s mild, plain, and vapid. It’s been told to stay in the corner and it has for years. It has been told to stay within its four-walls and it […]
I have not hidden my animus for our state’s governor. Virtually every decision, every policy, and every signed law is a reminder that the man who lives in the governor’s mansion is a snake. If I needed any more confirmation (which I did not), it came down yesterday in his latest press release. For those […]
To Whom It May Concern: The pastors and elders of Evangelical Reformed Church are writing on the behalf of ____________________ to confirm that his/her sincerely held religious beliefs prevent him/her from receiving a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. Our church, for ourselves and our congregants, affirms our right to invoke religious exemption against mandatory vaccination by governmental […]
The “Vax Net” is getting larger. Healthcare providers, government employees and contractors, soldiers, law enforcement personnel, firefighters, airline employees, teachers, coaches, and more are on the growing list. More will be added. I promise. I have seen this movie before. Hubris knows no bounds. O, and about coaches, the net has caught me. If you […]
The wall was old. How old, few knew. It was there. It had been there for years. It was taken for granted. It kept the bad out. It provided security for those on the inside. That was good, for it was dangerous times. But the binary categories of good and bad had fallen on hard […]
I have been into C.S. Lewis as of late, “The Screwtape Letters”, especially. If you are not familiar, the old and cagy demon Screwtape is mentoring his inexperienced nephew, the demon Wormwood. Screwtape’s letters of advice concern how to best secure the damnation of the young man assigned to Wormwood by Satan. So, it reads […]
In Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters”, the old and experienced demon Screwtape is mentoring his novice nephew, the demon Wormwood, on how to best secure the damnation of the young man assigned him by Satan. In one of his letters to his prodigy, Uncle Screwtape writes, “One of our great allies at present is the Church […]
There was a time in our past where the ascetics headed for the desert and the monks hid behind high walls. Removing oneself from society was thought the way to keep oneself pure. But like our shadow, we take our sin with us wherever we go. For two-plus centuries the church has had a good […]
Charles had become good at crawling in the shadows. He had been doing so for some time. When you are behind enemy lines, you keep your head down and you stay low. It was unclear how he got there. But the landscape did not lie. He was in enemy territory. The thought of getting caught […]