As we approach this Christmas season--indeed, as we live any day in any year--are there guidelines, principles, or maxims from God to direct our shopping and to guide our giving? Indeed there are, including a healthful cluster of instructions found in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. We might have overlooked them, because they are directed to "those who are rich" and we assumed that meant someone else. However, we need to know that the rich person in Timothy's world, and in most of the world ever since, is any person who is wearing clothes and who owns other clothes they are not wearing. It is … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2013
TURKEYS, THANKS, AND TYPHOONS
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States this year, the holiday is a good time to remember that thanks and giving properly go together. For God's gracious gifts to us, we give thanks. The expression "say grace" means giving thanks. Because we are thankful, we give to others in need. The circle is completed when those to whom we give, themselves give thanks to God. This year we enjoy our Thanksgiving against a world background that includes horrific destruction in the Philippines, resulting in incalculable human suffering and loss. I invite you to join me in asking God … [Read more...]
THOSE WHO WAITING, REST
The calendar weighs heavy with religious and secular significance this weekend, and that's before we even get to birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions made special in relation to family and friends. Tonight, for example, October 31, is "Halloween," short for "All Hallow's Evening," the evening before All Saints' [Hallows'] Day on November 1. Although it is far more difficult to be a saint in the Catholic Church than it is in the Bible, that hasn't slowed down the manufacture of the Catholic brand. As a result, Catholic saints greatly outnumber calendar days, leaving enough day-less … [Read more...]
CHARISMATIC ‘PURITANS’
California fundamentalist pastor John MacArthur recently sponsored an anti-charismatic conference. His promotion of the event included MacArthur's blanket condemnation of Pentecostals and charismatics in general. Not only are charismatics the fastest-growing element in the global Church, they (and their sympathizers) are some of the most highly-respected evangelical pastors, teachers and other leaders today-- including Gordon Fee, John Piper, Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Wayne Grudem, and Donald A. Carson. But we are very close to the scene. How, we might ask, would the 17th … [Read more...]
FUDGE ON FOOTBALL
I have never been much of a sports fan--except for a time in high school when I rooted for the Athens (Ala.) Golden Eagles, our town's home team (my private Athens Bible School did not particpate in intramural sports.) Thinking back more than half a century to those mighty Golden Eagles, an Old Testament verse comes to mind--the one that says "There were giants in the earth in those days; mighty men which were of old, men of renown." High school giants, I'm tellling you, with names like Mott Dollar, brothers Terry and Jerry Daniels, and Baxter Booth. Just saying the names conjures … [Read more...]
POWERS SEEN AND UNSEEN
As anyone could see, the power all belonged to Nicolae Ceausescu, ruthless dictator of communist Romania. The powerless man was Christian pastor and humanitarian activist Petru Dugulescu. His weapons were words--about truth and dignity and freedom. Words written in poems and essays. Words spoken in sermons and conversations. And, so you see, Petru Dugulescu endured years of persecution, including multiple assassination attempts, always under the hostile eye of Securitate, the Romanian secret police. Even in a world of secrets and shadows, these things were plain to see. But Petru Dugulescu … [Read more...]
NOVEMBER 22, 1963
If you are an American and are 63 or older, you probably remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on November 22, 1963 when you learned that President John F. Kennedy had been fatally shot. Today's generation might think of the radical jihadist attack on New York and Washington D.C., since remembered as "9/11." November 1963 found me on leave from college and at work in my parents' family bookstore, earning money to return to school a year later. I went to lunch alone that Friday, a sheltered nineteen-year-old in an innocent world. What happened in Dallas during that lunch … [Read more...]
TRIP TO PERU
TRIP TO PERU Edward Fudge Imagine three Californias and you visualize the size of Peru, where people already lived busy lives when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees. The Incas were its best-known inhabitants, ruling and thriving from approximately 1,200 A.D. until the Spaniards slaughtered Tupac Amaru, the last Inca ruler, in 1572. This is the land of Machu Picchu ("ancient peak"), the lost city of the Incas, and Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake at 12,725 feet. Peru, like Roman Gaul, is divided into three parts. Along the Pacific lies the desert coast, where one also finds … [Read more...]
REFLECTIONS FROM THE COCKPIT
REFLECTIONS FROM THE COCKPIT Edward Fudge I pull the seatbelt snugly in place and adjust the earphones. Spread before me are 30 gauges and dials, 50 toggle switches and a dozen other electrical controls. I am sitting in the co-pilot's seat of a nine-passenger Mitsubishi twin-engine turbo-prop on a business trip. My only job is to keep my arms and legs out of the way while Earl, the pilot, takes care of the flying. I am impressed with his skills -- and am reminded of several spiritual truths as well. Looks can be deceiving, I quickly learn, as Earl avoids a tall and picturesque column … [Read more...]
EARLY MORNING SPRING
EARLY MORNING SPRING Edward Fudge Now that Springtime 1997 has come to Houston, I am trying a new exercise regimen. Rather than walking in the evening, I like to face the outdoors head-on at about 6:00 a.m. My neighborhood trek takes about an hour and covers three miles. The first mile is thoroughly residential. The next passes a couple of schools separated by soccer fields and baseball diamonds, then fades into open road surrounded by the Gulf Coast version of woods. The final mile completes an approximate circle through a different residential area and back home. At 6:00 a.m., God's … [Read more...]