It was in the course of this last year that I began doing a book-of-the-month review in the hope that you would link on one or more of the links, and find yourself in the realms of edification and uplift. In case you missed them first time around, here is a round-up. I started in …
Book of the Month/January 2013
I like and respect Al Mohler a lot, and am happy to report that this book, The Conviction to Lead, was in no way a disappointment. I went in with my expectations high, and was not let down. That’s always a plus. There are certain kinds of books that I try to graze in regularly, …
Fools and Blind
In the long aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, one of the things that has become apparent in the midst of all the recriminations is we do not know how divine judgment works. We do not yet know how God operates, and we do not see how diseased our culture has actually become. We are not …
Our Little Piggy Hearts
As we are now in the midst of farcical fiscal cliff negotiations, with the Republicans being lame and the Democrats being eeeevil, I thought I should handle this as a teachable moment. We should take these teachable moments whenever they arise, for there will be fewer and fewer of them as the clouds of economic …
Book of the Month/December 2012
The Truth About Organic Foods was a tasty, soul-satisfying book — sweet and savory both. The author, Alex Avery, does not attack organic food as such, but what he does critique, devastatingly, is the pretension that wafts over the whole organic movement. If you like how organic tastes — as Avery himself sometimes does — …
A Brief for Israel
Yesterday I tweeted this . . . “If you read the escalating fighting in Israel with anything other than sympathy for Israel, then you need to turn the book right side up.” . . . and the responses I got indicated I needed to say something more. So here it is. A few qualifications first. …
Book of the Month/November 2012
I have read many books on preaching, and this one (The Imperative of Preaching) is now right up at the top of the list. One of the reasons it is up there is that it addresses essential topics that I just don’t see being effectively addressed elsewhere. I’ll explain that in a minute. Here is …
A Garden of Grace
One of the temptations young parents face is the temptation of wanting to learn some “techniques,” some 1,2,3 tricks for sure-fire success. When you feel lost, it is easy to want to resort to easy solutions. If you already feel like you are in over your head, why would you seek out solutions that are …
Staggering Backward
Isaiah gives us a good description of what it is like to be ruled by those who have been struck with a judicial stupor. He also describes what it is like when a people are liberated from that rule. “The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful” …
The Holy, Horror, and Halloween
I want to take the approach of yet another Halloween to address something that is increasingly related to it. A few years ago I wrote about the lawfulness of celebrating Halloween itself — at the little kid dressing up level — but here I want to develop further a thought I mentioned in passing there. …