Charleston’s Testimony to the Power of the Gospel

  

What has occurred in the aftermath of the unconscionable murders in Charleston is a testament to the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The attitude of forgiveness in the hearts of family members who lost loved ones is a remarkable witness to how God’s love can erase bitterness. That’s on a personal level, of course. Justice still needs to be meted out to the murderer. One can forgive while simultaneously seeking a just punishment for what he has done…. Read more »

Lewis, Learning, & War (Part One)

  

I believe I’ve read most of C. S. Lewis’s essays sometime during my life, but some of them I read so long ago I have forgotten the pearls within. I recently re-read his “Learning in War-Time” reflections as Britain was engaged in WWII and was reminded why others have commented on it so often. The big question he asks and attempts to answer is why should people continue to be interested in what are considered the normal, routine matters of… Read more »

Charleston: Tragedy, Hope, & a Warning

  

Most Americans, I believe, have been shocked and grieved by the murders in the Charleston AME church. Nine members of the predominately black church were simply attending a Wednesday evening Bible study/prayer meeting before they were killed. Among the dead was the pastor of the church, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was also a South Carolina state senator. From all accounts I’ve heard, he was a genuine Christian man. The consolation, of course, is that he and the others who were… Read more »

When the Weird Becomes Normal

  

Let’s get down to the basic facts here. Bruce Jenner is still Bruce Jenner. He may call himself Caitlyn, but he’s only given a man a woman’s name. He may look different now, but the changes to his sexuality are external only. Neither is he brave or courageous for doing what he has done, no matter what ESPN decides. In fact, he is going with the flow now, since everyone in the elite circles, including his former wife and his… Read more »

Patrick Henry & the Stamp Act

  

Why did the Stamp Act, passed by the British government in 1765 and scheduled to go into effect the next year, raise such a furor in the American colonies? What was different about this act and how did they respond to it? As we continue our examination of American history, I will begin to tackle that question today. The colonists considered this act poisonous to their liberties. Why? The act itself was a tax on all legal documents, newspapers, playing… Read more »

Whittaker Chambers: Conservatism or Counterrevolution?

  

The year: 1938. The occasion: a meeting between Whittaker Chambers, who had, at great peril, left the American communist underground, and General Walter Krivitsky, a defector from Stalin’s secret police. This meeting was instrumental in helping Chambers decide to inform on his former underground associates, and eventually led to the front-page drama of the Chambers-Hiss controversy from 1948-1950. Chambers was hesitant to talk with Krivitsky. He knew it might lead to that fateful decision that would change the rest of… Read more »

Lewis: Modern Man & the Sense of Sin

  

C. S. Lewis’s “God in the Dock” essay exposes one of the biggest obstacles we face in transmitting the Gospel message: the unwillingness of people to acknowledge they are guilty of anything and are in need of a savior. What Lewis says in this essay has become even more conspicuous in our day. He writes of what he learned when he spoke to Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) audiences during WWII. One of the first things he learned was that they… Read more »