The Hand behind the Hand in the Middle East
The Middle East is going insane. We constantly see news about Islamists going ballistic everywhere. Yet for centuries Christians and Muslims lived together in peace, or at least respectfully side-by-side. What’s happened? Can the identifiable historical reasons really account for the degree of insanity? Or is there more? I have a theory: Every year increasingly more Muslims come to faith in Isa al Masih (Arabic for “Jesus the Messiah”). Most don’t identify themselves as “Christians,” and they don’t need to. The Holy Spirit of God penetrates every border and every restriction to reveal to people through dreams and visions typically…
George Bush Sr. Knows How to Live
George Bush Sr. knows how to live before he dies. For his 90th birthday he jumped out of a helicopter, went skydiving. At 90. I like this guy. So many people try to live safe lives, or they live in fear of anything outside their comfort zone. And they never live well–whether in the face of eternal reality or of their own earthly mortality. Bush went skydiving on his 75th, 80th, and 85th birthdays as well. Whether he makes it to 95 to continue the pattern remains to be seen. But even if he doesn’t, he’s living. As opposed to…
The Blessed Poor
How can poor people be richer than rich people? By not having what keeps rich people poor. An African farmer hoes his field with a machete, lives in a mud hut, and is happy for two meals a day. In fact I could argue that in some ways he’s better off than a lot of people in other countries who own mansions and luxury cars. A Gallup poll questioned thousands of people in 132 nations (yes, one hundred and thirty two). Out of all the data, researchers are finding that people in poor countries generally sense a greater meaning in…
Evil Is Not a Mental Illness
Contrary to popular feel-goodism / we’re-all-somehow-good-people liberal mindsets, evil is not a mental illness. Because so many people willfully blind themselves to this, they wonder how rampages like the recent one at UC Santa Barbara could happen. A young man was mentally ill. He rebuffed people’s friendliness then blamed them for rejecting him. Despite his kind parents’ every attempt to help him, he grew isolated and bitter, a victim consciousness driving him to rage. It’s not uncommon. As a pastor, I’ve encountered this kind of person many times. I understand such people; I have pity on them and want to help….
The Girls Who’ve Become “Our Girls”
“Bring back our girls.” Our girls. In the protracted tragedy that has become the abduction of 276 schoolgirls in norther Nigeria, the international cry of care and disgust has led much of the world to what seems to be a new step. Too often tragedies that unfold in Africa don’t receive nearly the attention or concern among Western nations (or Eastern for that matter) that tragedies in many other areas of the world. It has often seemed that if those who suffer are black Africans, the media doesn’t care much, and likewise citizens of developed nations–unless and until the tragedy…
