If there ever was a time for turning our eyes and hearts to God, current events scream that this is that time. The United States is bogged down abroad in unwinnable wars against undefined and unidentifiable enemies, at a present cost of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. At home, metaphorical bears have emerged from the jungles of high finance to ravage the stock market, which this past week saw the greatest losses of any week since the Great Depression. Desperate and clueless, the federal government is borrowing first-aid kits from Socialism's warehouse, in hopes it can save the … [Read more...]
ELECTION DAY USA
This Tuesday, November 4, 2008, millions of Americans will go to the polls and register their choices for President and Vice-President. For the first time ever, voters will choose between two sitting U.S. Senators for President, neither of whom was born within the continental United States. A number of gracEmail subscribers have asked my political opinions; others have kindly sent me theirs. And several, from both ends of the political specrum, are so confident of God's will that there is nothing left to discuss. Today, most Christians in the USA consider voting to be a moral duty, … [Read more...]
THROUGH A PERSONAL STORM (2)
It was Sunday, September 7 (2008) and the aftermath of Hurricane Hanna had blown through New York the night before. The afternoon sun shone brightly as the Caribbean Princess glided through New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty into the Atlantic Ocean. For a year we had anticipated this seven-day cruise with our friends Mark & Phyllis Whitt, to Halifax, Nova Scotia and back to New York, with stops at St. John (New Brunswick), Bar Harbor (Maine), Boston (Mass.) and Newport (R.I.) along the way. By midweek, I became increasingly short of breath but pressed on. After a severe asthma … [Read more...]
THROUGH A PERSONAL STORM (1)
As you know, Hurricane Ike unleashed its wrath on South Texas last week (September 2008), with disastrous consequences on states as far removed as Indiana and Ohio. The storm took precious lives, destroyed billions of dollars in property and still leaves millions of people without electrical or other basic services. So today I pray for every victim of Ike, and give thanks for protection of my own and others' homes, an undeserved mercy which has no rational explanation in view of losses suffered by many faithful servants of God. I also give thanks for deliverance through a personal storm … [Read more...]
TOUCHED IN TULSA
March 30, 2008 -- I am thanking God today for his blessings received in Tulsa, Oklahoma this past week at the Tulsa International Soul-Winning Workshop (ISWW), where from Wednesday evening through Saturday noon I was privileged to meet dozens of gracEmail subscribers from across the USA and elsewhere, to hear powerful, Christ-minded speakers such as Terry Rush, Don McLaughlin and Randy Harris, to worship with the Zoe Group singers and to share three well-received presentations from my own heart concerning "The Sound of His Voice: Discovering the Secrets of God's Guidance." This was the 33rd … [Read more...]
“Propitiation/atonement”: LXX background to a NT verb
In Hebrews 2:17, the unknown author says that Jesus identified with his people as their high priest, “to make propitiation” for their sins. The Greek verb here (hilaskomai), which many English versions translate as “to make propitiation,” brings to the New Testament an interesting biblical background. That background comes from the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament that was the first “Bible” of the early church. Propitiation = atonement The verb hilaskomai, which is translated “to make propitiation” in Hebrews 2:17, appears 12 times in the Septuagint (Hatch-Redpath, 684). Three of those … [Read more...]
RETURN TO ROOTS
Jan. 29, 2008 -- The events of the past weekend bring to mind a poignant story from the life of David, told in 2 Samuel 23:14-16. Hidden from hostile Philistines in a cave at Adullam, David longed for a drink of water from his hometown well at Bethlehem, just five miles away. Overhearing this, three of David's bodyguards risked their lives to obtain it for him. Overcome with emotion and respect for his men's courage, David refused to drink the water but "poured it out to the LORD." To the person blessed with an idyllic childhood, there is something almost holy about one's hometown. I am still … [Read more...]
IN OUR OWN GENERATION
Sara Faye and I married in June 1967 and this year we mark 40 years of wedded life. We celebrated last weekend by splurging on a first-time, Friday-Monday getaway to New York City. It was a delightful surprise to the primary honoree (who, unlike me, loves surprises) and she first discovered our destination when she saw the "LaGuardia" sign above our boarding gate at Houston's Intercontinental Airport. (I derived special pleasure in dropping confusing hints for two weeks before the trip.) Like millions of other visitors to America's largest city, we were awed by the concentration of … [Read more...]
OUTSTANDING ONTARIO
(Sept. 2007) It began with the humbling announcement to these two Houstonians that Ontario Province alone is more than half again larger than all of Texas. Even bigger, however, were the hearts of believers at Stoney Creek Church of Christ in Hamilton, Ontario who hosted this past weekend of ministry, surrounded by two days of sightseeing in their magnificent land of lakes and vineyards, farmlands and cities. Sara Faye and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting many gracEmail readers from Stoney Creek, area Churches of Christ and several other Christian fellowships. One devoted brother reminded me to be … [Read more...]
ANTIGUA DAWN
August 2007 -- It is 5:00 a.m. in Antigua, Guatemala and the town has not yet woken. The security watchman at my hotel lifts two boards that he had wedged earlier against the courtyard doors to prevent night-time entry from the street. "Gracias," I say, as he opens the heavy wooden doors for me, and step through the opening to the narrow sidewalk outside. I look in all directions down empty cobblestone streets. They constitute a grid throughout the town, an anachronistically modern feature created by the founders more than 450 years ago. Stone walls border the streets on both sides, now richly … [Read more...]
