We live in an era which places a high value on hardness of heart. We can tell this by our love of soft teaching. Of course this is not how we describe it inwardly. In speaking to ourselves, when we generally have a most appreciative audience, we have great affection for smooth words, words which …
Cradle of Liberty
American Christians are very active participants in the American character, for both good and ill. There is no real need to rehearse the blessings which come from this because we are all probably more aware of our virtues than we need to be. But one of the problems we have is the tendency to moralize …
General Abraham
While their benefits have no doubt been many, church pageants have also had the unfortunate result of making us think that biblical characters did little more than stand around in their bathrobes. The first time someone graduates from such images to an “actual read” through the Old Testament, the effect can be more than a …
Our Cultural Tongue
If a pastor were to begin a series of messages on “the tongue,” more than a few of his listeners would start running a finger around the inside of their collars. They would do this before he had even said anything on the subject — we all know that gossip, and backbiting, and inane conversation …
Cultural Backbone
Chesterton once commented that a man who does not believe something will fall for anything. The observation certainly holds for societies, and only a blind man could fail to miss that such a necessary gullibility is currently driving our culture. The gullibility is not created by various social pressures; rather, such pressures reveal the gullibility. …
The People Had a Mind to Work
One of the great blessings which was given to Nehemiah in the course of his life was blessing of a people ready for work. “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work” (Neh. 4:6). The gift of an …
Sexual Wisdom
Having wisdom is not the same thing as being clever or smart. When the Bible speaks of the folly of fools, the reference is not to those who struggle with the higher forms of calculus. In Scripture, folly is a moral issue, and many very intelligent people exhibit the problem. In short, knowledge is not …
Love and the State
“Buckle up. We care.” The sign seems so nice. But beneath such pleasant words along the highway, a worldview lurks. We have come to the point where we want the civil magistrate to love us and have a wonderful plan for our lives. The book of Proverbs warns that a fool sent on an errand …
Dead and Gone
C.S. Lewis commented once that the present is, historically speaking, a “period.” This may seem too obvious to point out, but there will come a time when what is currently happening will no longer be happening. Several centuries into the future, various schoolchildren will be sweating out the details of our century as they frantically …