Posts from February 2023

Fraternal clubs like the Lions and the I.O.O.F. support our community with societal development and personal interaction. These organizations are about people helping people and working for a common goal. Each has its own organizational structures, charters, and guidelines to avoid becoming inconsequential through chaos and anarchy. Was God’s church designed without similar organizational structure? God told the church to save the world, build up Christians, and care for the impoverished and oppressed. Nothing in history has more riding on…

Recently I asked someone if her salvation was secure. She gently patted her chest and said, “I know I am saved because I feel it in my heart.” For many people emotions and feelings have become the guarantee of their salvation. Others appeal to their good works or generosity to affirm their security. But Peter’s challenge to secure our salvation involves more than emotions and works (2 Pet. 1:10). When Adam and Eve sinned, it ushered in the fall of…

Who robs a blind man? Who mocks someone who is bald? Who curses someone who is deaf? Who looks at someone in adversity and takes advantage of their limitations? It sounds like bullies on the playground, but God warned the children of Israel, “You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:14). I read that and thought, “Why would someone do that?” People…

On the way from Mizpeh to Shen, the prophet Samuel set up a stone memorial and called the place Ebenezer, meaning stone of help (1 Sam 7:12). The help of God came to the Israelites in the midst of a battle with the Philistines. During the battle, God thundered from heaven, confusing the Philistines. In their confusion, the Israelites pursued them to Beth-car where they defeated the Philistines. To the Christian, God continues to be a great help. Through the…