Curious about the origins of Christianity in Hawai`i, I researched via internet and found confusing and sometimes-contradictory information. After sifting for attempted accuracy, the following account seems to be generally reliable history. About 400 A.D., or so it is thought, a gentle people emigrated from Southeast Asia and Polynesia to what we know as Hawai`i, and there they lived peacefully for perhaps 500 years. Between 900-1100 A.D., Tahitian invaders enslaved the Hawai`ians, ruling with terror and torture for nearly 1,000 years. When British explorer Capt. James Cook "discovered" … [Read more...]
The Declaration of Independence Simplified
This unusually lengthy gracEmail is political rather than spiritual (although it contains some spiritual allusions). This Saturday is Independence Day here in the USA, marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Because of the Declaration's significance, and because of its elevated formal language, I thought it might be interesting to restate it in simple modern English. Although the signers themselves did not live up to their fundamental premise of human equality, or even of universal liberty, they set in motion an ideal which has borne much fruit during the 233 … [Read more...]
ASHES — OR JUST ‘A-FIB’
Feb. 26, 2009 -- This past Wednesday in many Christian traditions was Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of Lent, a 40-day period (not counting Sundays) of repentance and prayer that ends in the victorious climax of Easter Sunday. Some churches ignore, avoid or even oppose the liturgical church calendar because it is not mentioned in the New Testament. However, a person would be hard pressed to object to the traditional themes and details those special days incorporate -- words and actions that are solidly biblical and spiritually strengthening as well, when celebrated with faith resting on … [Read more...]
INAUGURATION 2009
Following are my personal reflections on the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. I did not vote for Mr. Obama, but as a Christian who grew up in segregated Alabama, it feels profoundly right to me to witness a Black family moving into the White House. I was pleased that Rick Warren, a Bible-preaching Southern Baptist minister whose view of God's agenda extends to helping the poorest, weakest and most despised of the world's population, was asked to offer the invocation, that he did so, and the way he did (Col. 4:2, 5-6). I disagree with President Obama's support … [Read more...]
WHEN THE SKY FALLS
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...]
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...]
