So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6 (NIV) An amazing message was given to this prince, Zerubbabel, who was in a trying situation – a descendent of king David, who having returned from the Babylonian captivity to […]

A Jamaican girl joins her parents in London at age eleven and makes formidable adjustments and choices to overcome the limitations of her family life. Book Title: The Family Author: Buchi Emecheta Release date: 03/01/1990 Genre: Fiction Hardcover – 239 pages – 978-0-8076-1245-3 Although her characters speak in authentic patois and authoritatively convey the grim travails of a dysfunctional emigre […]

It’s partly out of fear, partly self-flattery, and partly delusion, and it’s been happening for thousands of years. Ira S. Wolfe is a business consultant in Pennsylvania. A decade ago, all his clients were worried about the same thing: millennials. “Millennials at that point were mostly either teenagers or just getting out of college,” Wolfe recalls, “and they were this […]

As the year closes out the flurry of activities to celebrate CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR accentuates to a high crescendo that deafens our reasoning and common-sense in several areas. One of such areas is the credit card bills we recklessly rake up during this season while throughout the year we have been careful about how we use them. We should […]

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 As lilies of the valley pour forth perfume, so good hearts pour forth thanksgiving. No mercy is too […]

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is precipitated by and in answer to a question posed to Jesus by a lawyer. In this case the lawyer would have been an expert in the Mosaic Law and not a court lawyer of today. The lawyer’s question was, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25). This question provided […]

With the continued normalization of vice in modern life, the idea of preserving or recovering innocence seems somewhat irrelevant. For most people, a return to innocence is more likely to bring to mind a new age hit single from the nineties than a serious societal concern. Today, only a few parents (usually of the Mormon or traditional Catholic variety) will […]

I think my most difficult experience in youth ministry, to date, is talking to teens about someone they look up to who failed them. It is trial by fire, and has come my way multiple times. Leader failures are the reality of our fallen world, and of the Body of Christ broken by sin. Whether it is remote (church scandals […]

It is important to note that “heaven comes to earth” only through God’s miraculous intervention and re-creation. No amount of human effort, as noble is it may be in some cases, will ever be able to create “heaven on earth.” People may speak of spending eternity with God in heaven, and they may also speak of eternal punishment in hell. […]

The point of origin and central figure of the Christian faith is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah prophesied in Hebrew Scripture, our Old Testament of the Bible. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem (Luke 2). St. Joseph took his wife Mary and the infant Jesus on the […]