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On Dec. 6, 2017, Pope Francis, in the midst of a video segment explicating the Lord’s Prayer on Italian television, voiced a criticism of the English translation of the phrase “lead us not into temptation” that created a brief media stir. Snip When I heard the Pope’s words, I knew that the linguistic discussion sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember it from any Bible study or Scripture class. Then I realized: I had heard it from J.R.R. Tolkien, the devout Catholic, author and creator of the Middle-earth “legendarium.”SnipIn a passage Tolkien wrote more than 80 years ago, he observed that...

“In [Christ] we have redemption” (Eph. 1:7). Slavery to sin is bondage; slavery to God is freedom. Freedom is a precious thing. People throughout history have prayed, fought, and even died for it. Our Declaration of Independence upholds it as one of our inalienable rights. But the truth is, no matter what one’s political situation might be, everyone is a slave—either to sin or to God. Jesus said that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34). Paul added that all of creation is in slavery to corruption (Rom. 8:21). However, believers have “been freed from sin...

“Let love of the brethren continue” (Hebrews 13:1). Christianity’s primary moral standard is love, especially for fellow believers. Love of other believers is a natural outflow of the Christian life and should be a normal part of fellowship within the church. You can no doubt remember how after you were first saved it became very natural and exciting to love other Christians and to want to be around them. However, such an attitude is extremely difficult to maintain. This love, which is a gift from God’s Spirit, must be nurtured or it will not grow—it may actually shrivel. That’s why...

I won’t make any assumptions about how many readers noticed I took a three-month break from column writing. Nevertheless, I want to explain why. I needed the time to finish the first volume of the biggest project of my life as a writer, a commentary on the first five books of the Bible, or what are called the Torah in Hebrew. The commentary is addressed to people of every faith and, especially, to people of no faith. I have believed all my life that the primary crisis in America and the West is the abandonment of Judeo-Christian values, or, one...

In the total numbers we have updated over 80 million Christians killed by Muslims in 500 years in the Balkan states, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia. Then we have India. The official estimate number of Muslim slaughters of Hindus is 80 million. However, Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time.With these new additions the Muslim genocide of non-Muslims since the birth of Mohammed would be...

When Christ purchased His bride, He bought a bride who was “damaged merchandise.” His bride was sullied by manifest impurities. She was covered by spots and marred by wrinkles. Yet what He purchased He also sanctifies: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for herto make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:25–27, NIV) Christ prepares His bride for His wedding feast envisioned in...

We are failing our children and destroying our culture. The evidence is everywhere, and we're ignoring it. Exhibit A: YouTube sensation Logan Paul. Paul is a social media phenomenon; a 22-year-old millionaire and a high school dropout with millions of followers on his various channels and accounts. Already notorious for his asinine behavior and pranks, Paul stepped into a real minefield when a video he filmed while traveling in Japan showed the body of a man who had apparently just hanged himself. The outcry on social media and elsewhere was immediate and severe. Paul took the video down from his...

I saw an ad recently for the new television program of Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” fame. It airs on CRTV (the same network Mark Levin and Michelle Malkin appear on). It’s called “in the Woods with Phil,” and he’s “declaring open season on political correctness.” I did an interview with Phil Robertson a few months ago for my radio show, where he commented on a variety of issues from his unique perspective. Here is some of Robertson’s wisdom from that interview, on issues ranging from abortion to the true motive of the Las Vegas shooter; from President Trump to...

January 11, 2018 Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Sm 4:1-11 The Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel.Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer,while the Philistines camped at Aphek.The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel.After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines,who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said,"Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated todayby the Philistines?Let us fetch the ark of the LORD from Shilohthat it may...

God chose us “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in [His beloved Son]” (Eph. 1:6). You were created to glorify God. Englishman Henry Martyn served as a missionary in India and Persia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Upon his arrival in Calcutta, he cried out “Let me burn out for God.” As he watched the people prostrating themselves before their pagan idols and heard blasphemy uttered against Christ, he wrote, “This excited more horror in me than I can well express. . . . I could not endure...

“Let love of the brethren continue” (Hebrews 13:1). To be a testimony to the world, Christians need to live what they profess. The nineteenth-century preacher Alexander Maclaren once said, “The world takes its notion of God most of all from those who say they belong to God’s family. They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. They see us; they only hear about Jesus Christ.” Sound biblical doctrine, as important a foundation as it is, is inadequate by itself to influence the world toward Christ’s gospel. Christians today could learn much from the early Christians, whose...

Bethel Church, a controversial megachurch in California, said there is no truth in the accusation that it promotes New Age occultism by using "Destiny Cards," which critics likened to tarot cards. The 8,000-member church in Redding was accused of working with a Melbourne, Australia-based group known as Christalignment, which claims to have worked with many churches in that country to do such readings, but Bethel responded by saying that Christalignment is not formally affiliated with Bethel and nor does it use "Christian tarot cards." Bethel admitted the leaders of Christalignment, Ken and Jenny Hodge, are connected with several of their...

Facebook has unpublished the Facebook page associated with the pre-denominational Christian ministry "Warriors for Christ," an organization that opposes homosexuality and abortion, on grounds that it violated its community standards on bullying and hate speech. Warriors for Christ, a West Virginia-based ministry that stands unapologetically opposed to all sinful behavior, no longer has access to its main Facebook page that had over 225,000 followers. The main Warriors for Christ Facebook page, which is often used to post memes that lash out against society's embrace of things like LGBT rights and abortion, and is used to facilitate the organization's video ministry...

I learned today "Oprah" Winfrey was born "Orpah" Winfrey. "Orpah" is a very interesting Biblical name, one up there with Hamen and Pharoah. It means, in this context "neck" and is a specific reference to turning away from G-d. Specifically, Orpah was the sister and sister-in-law of Ruth, married to Chillion. When the two brothers died, their mother-in-law (Naomi) urged the sisters to return to their people and to their "gods." Ruth refused. Orpah gladly recanted her adopted people and G-d, and went back to Moab. There she "gave" herself to so many men she was likened to a threshing...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WATN) - Across the country, people are sounding off after megachurch pastor Andy Savage confessed to having a sexual incident with a 17-year-old girl while he was her youth pastor in Texas 20 years ago. Savage, a teaching pastor at the popular Highpoint Church, admitted Friday that he "regretfully had a sexual incident with a female high school senior in the church." On Sunday, he addressed members of the congregation. Taking to the stage, he could be seen in a YouTube video addressing the crowd, reading from a prepared statement. "As a college student on staff at a...

By grace, God offers the righteousness of Christ to all who put their trust in Him. For all who believe, all who have faith in Him, the merit of Christ is reckoned to their account. Does this exclude good works in the life of the believer? By no means. Our justification is always unto good works. Though no merit ever proceeds from our works, either those done before our conversion or those done afterward, good works are a necessary fruit of true faith. “Necessary fruit?” Yes, necessary. Good works are not necessary for us to earn our justification. They are...

January 10, 2018 Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20 During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli,a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infrequent.One day Eli was asleep in his usual place.His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.The lamp of God was not yet extinguished,and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORDwhere the ark of God was.The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am." Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me.""I...

“In love [God] predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5). Because God loves you, He adopted you as His child and grants you all the rights and privileges of family membership. Moses told Israel that God didn't choose them because of their great numbers or any inherent goodness on their part, but as an expression of God's sovereign will and sacrificial love (Deut. 7:7-8). That's true of you as well if you're a Christian. The Greek word translated “love” in Ephesians 1:4 speaks not of emotional...

“Walk . . . with all humility” (Ephesians 4:2). Humility is fundamental to spiritual growth and blessing. It’s no secret that family problems are on the rise. Husbands and wives can’t get along. Children rebel against their parents. Unfortunately, most of the proposed solutions deal only with the peripheral issues instead of the central issue, which is pride. There will never be unity or happiness in a family without humility. Humility is not only essential in families; it is also a basic ingredient for all spiritual blessing. The book of Proverbs is rich with such teaching. “When pride comes, then...

God said to Isaiah: “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Isa. 6:9–10, NIV). This type of judgment is articulated by Paul in Romans 1: “Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (v....