The Best About Marriage

The defining issue of the 19th century was slavery. It took 250 years to change the hearts of the American nation and get it right--at the cost of 600,000 lives.

Abortion was the paramount moral issue of the 20th century. In the United States, we have killed over 56 million children since 1973. We have yet to stop this profound evil against our own progeny, but the tide is turning and victory may be in sight.

The great challenge of the 21st century will be preserving marriage. To our great shame, Washington is poised this month to become the seventh US state to redefine it. Many have prayed, made calls to our legislators, and spoke out passionately for God's truth about the importance of the marriage union.

This issue will not go away because many people--especially children--will be broken by the destruction of marriage. We must not quit, but be faithful.

Truth always wins out in the end.

I offer today some of the best words I've read recently on marriage. May you use them to strengthen yours--and share the truth to all of those around you.

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Are Pastors As Courageous as the Governor?

I really don't like most Internet "forwards." Some are insightful--and occasionally one or two are real zingers. But most are not profound or important enough to pass on to my already-information-overloaded friends.

Today I make an exception and ask you to deeply consider fowarding the following words to every pastor or spiritual leader that you know personally.

I didn't write this letter. But I consider it a "Wittenberg Door" moment that is desperately needed to halt the destruction of many lives and an entire civilization.

The following article begs you to get involved in the seminal  cultural issue of the 21st century--the redefinition of marriage. Will you twittle your thumbs while Rome burns or will you grab a fire-hose and start putting out the flames?

What will you do?

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Celebrate the Truth This Christmas

Merry Christmas!

I’m working on a new book this year as a part of a doctoral program at Faith Evangelical Seminary. My thesis will explore the following idea:  There are only five major religions (or views of God) in the world and that only one of them can be true.

I used to think that there were thousands of religions or concepts of God. This made things quite confusing.  How do you research thousands of ideas in your quest for the truth?  How do you persuade others that there are not many roads that lead the same direction?

In my own quest for the truth—which began my late teens and early twenties—I realized that the myriads of paths that you find in a world containing billions of people can be brought down to just five concepts of God.

Every person on earth is one of “five.”

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Lessons on Discipleship from Abraham Lincoln & American Slavery

I’ve spent the past week in the nation of Colombia helping to make disciples of a new generation of missionaries. For the flight down I purchased a copy of Eric Foner’s The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Foner is one of America’s foremost historians on the Civil War period and his book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010.

I started reading it on the ten hour flight and finished it in Colombia near a place where Lincoln once wanted to colonize the freed slaves.

This book blew my mind about American slavery. I realized how little I knew of the real struggle this nation went through in the 1860s.

It also taught me how important it is for believers to have a vision for discipleship. Many 19^th century Americans didn’t have it—including President Lincoln. That mistake led to a tragic “fiery trial.”

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Covering the Bases in Prayer

Though I'm not a huge baseball fan, I recently enjoyed catching some of the action in the World Series which was dramatically won by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The most memorable moment came in Game Six when the Cards fought back to beat the Texas Rangers in extra innings. World Series MVP David Freese was down to his last strike when he launched a home run that won the game. As he rounded the bases, and then finally scampered home to a hero's welcome, an interesting idea came to my mind.

It's important to hit all the bases in the home run derby of personal intercession.

In today's column I'd like to share how I've learned to cover the bases in prayer.

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Charles Darwin as Walt Disney: "If You Wish Upon a Fossil..."

Recently I was in a bookstore that was giving away free books. One little paperback caught my attention--Charles Darwin's The Origin of the Species. The "price" was right so I got it.  I wanted to take a look at Darwin's own words to see if I would learn something about the man and his ideas.

After all, an idea is only as good as its source. Would Charles Darwin's words change my mind or at least cause a few doubts about my opposition to macro-evolution?

On the contrary. After reading the Origin of the Species from cover-to-cover I'm all the more convinced that what we see around us is the work of God's special creation.

Charles Darwin was the Walt Disney of the 19th century. "If you wish upon a fossil..."

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