To modify the book title of a conservative classic written by the incomparable English professor Richard Weaver, elections have consequences. That fact will play-out Nov. 8. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. Supreme Court, all 13 U.S. Circuit Appellate Courts, hundreds of federal and state judicial appointments and our state’s attorney general. Voters will chart, for decades to come, one of two courses for our federal and state judiciaries. Will we have judges who uphold the … [Read more...]
Welcome home, Mo. Baptist Foundation!
As you’ve no doubt heard, the Missouri Baptist Foundation is coming home to the MBC family of ministries. On Sept. 20, the Missouri Supreme Court clarified corporation law by upholding the Appeals Court ruling and the Foundation is returning to the Missouri Baptist Convention family, ending 14 years of litigation. As I’m sure you are, I am so thankful to the Lord for the Supreme Court’s final decision. I invite you to join me in welcoming back the Foundation into the MBC family. We look … [Read more...]
‘God at work’ and your vocation
Vieth, Jr., Gene Edward. God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002. 176 pp. $15.99. Work is hard. Although God originally created us to live with him in a perfect world, fulfilling our tasks in flawless harmony with him, one another, and the creation, we now live in a sin-cursed world where we make our ways by the sweat of our brows, with thorns and thistles frustrating our harvests. Work is often monotonous, boring, and thankless, something to endure … [Read more...]
John Yeats: Baptist pastors and the ‘parent card’
It was one of those “youth events.” My friends and I loaded up in our family vehicle—all eight of us. We were going to the next town to eat pizza after Sunday night church. I climbed into the driver’s seat just like I did when my family all rode in from the country for worship that evening. But this time my mom said, “John, I’d better drive.” She said it as she looked straight into my eyes as if to say, “There is no dispute about this; move over.” Wow. Right in front of my friends, my mom … [Read more...]
Then sulks my soul
I think my spirit gets a little pouty every now and then. It’s a spoiled rotten little spirit, mind you, and the things that inspire the pouting are most often quite trivial. Like having to get a new phone and not being able to keep the old number. Or like when you’ve been thinking about that last Ding Dong all day and then find somebody ate it and left the empty box. I so hate to admit this, but I’m just climbing out of a ridiculous pouty-mope right now. The other day I sighed so hard I’m … [Read more...]
God is still in our schools
Watching sand pass through an hourglass always captivated me as a child. It seemed as though the mass of sand would never pass through the bottleneck, but in quick order the final grains fell. There is a bottleneck where nearly every person over the next 20 years will pass. The church could surround this bottleneck and change communities and impact every life in across the nation over a few decades. Some churches have realized the great strategic value and have already gotten started. The … [Read more...]
Observatory earth
A stunning astronomical event next year will shed light on our world’s intelligent design. How? By leaving us in darkness. In Mark Twain’s classic story, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” a denizen of nineteenth-century New England named Hank Morgan mysteriously finds himself thrown back into sixth-century England. The resourceful Hartford man, taken for a magician and sentenced to burn at the stake, recalls reading about a total solar eclipse that took place on that date in … [Read more...]
First Amendment rights are under attack
If you feel like your government has made you a target for exercising your First Amendment rights (specifically freedom of speech and religion), you now have good reason. The demonizing of conservative Christians is spreading in numbers and intensifying in its vitriolic rants. Lest you think Missouri will escape such behavior, think again. In recent days a top Obama administration official and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee for president, both attacked people who oppose same-sex … [Read more...]
Does the Bible teach Purgatory?
This is the sixth in a series of articles on biblical terms that describe the afterlife and the unseen world. Do some Christians undergo purification from the stain of sin between death and entrance into heaven? Many who answer yes to that question embrace the doctrine of purgatory, which became official Roman Catholic dogma in A.D. 1438. Simply stated, purgatory is a place or state of suffering where the dead bound for heaven achieve the holiness necessary to enter into the presence of … [Read more...]
America’s demographic winter
Is America heading for a demographic cold snap? The fertility forecast is gloomy these days. We’ve talked before on BreakPoint about the fertility crisis facing China, Japan, and much of Europe—all of which face what has been called a “demographic winter.” Until recently, the United States has been an exception to this distressing trend, but this seems no longer the case. To understand why, here’s a primer. Demographers use two numbers to measure fertility rates: the average number of … [Read more...]
A look into Tartarus
This is the fifth in a series of articles on biblical terms that describe the afterlife and the unseen world. If Sheol or Hades is the temporary abode of deceased people, is there a transitory place of punishment for some demons? It seems the answer is yes, in a place the New Testament refers to as Tartarus. Tartarus is mentioned only once, in 2 Peter 2:4. Many translations render it “hell,” including the King James Version and the New American Standard Bible, while others, like the … [Read more...]
Back to school
“My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you….bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 7:1,3 Much time and attention is given to providing school supplies and new clothes to prepare children to go back to school in the fall. How much Spiritual preparation do we give our children to face the many challenges they will undoubtedly encounter? It seems that many of us are often guilty of waiting until problems arise and then attempting to … [Read more...]
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