In the 11-year history of South Sudan as an independent country, the East African nation has known more conflict than peace among its disparate tribes. The conflicts, which began in 2013 as a political dispute between the country’s leading politicians…
Why praying for God’s will to be done is a dangerous act
Something remarkable and courageous, perhaps even miraculous, happened in Russia on Monday, March 14. Marina Ovsyannikova, a news editor at Channel One, the Kremlin’s leading news channel with 250 million viewers worldwide, suddenly appeared behind the news anchor during the…
How should Christians respond to rising gas prices in America today?
Sky-rocketing prices at the pump are showing no signs of slowing down. Some experts predict they are set to soar even higher. The national average price for a gallon of gas just hit $4.06, up a staggering 45 cents from…
Ukrainians want peace, regardless of their religion
Ukraine is a fascinating nation, the second largest in Europe by land area and the eighth most populous, after Russia. Although it is the poorest country in Europe, its extensive farmlands enable it to be one of the largest wheat…
Let’s put Herod back into Christmas
In 1936, with war clouds gathering in Europe, author E.B. White wrote the following for The New Yorker: “Shopping in Woolworth’s, in the turbulent days, we saw a little boy put his hand inquiringly on a ten-cent Christ child, part…
Merry Christmas from Paul the apostle in prison
Leave it the Apostle Paul to make a prison cell sound like a spiritual oasis. Throughout much of the New Testament, he’s trapped, you know, imprisoned by the Roman Empire for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Time and again,…
Concerns over escalating Ethiopian conflict trigger memories of past wars in Africa and the need for warlords to embrace peace
As government and rebel forces in Ethiopia advance toward each other and continue to beat the drums of war, concerns continue to pour in from people around the world about the escalating violence and humanitarian disaster in the East African…
Grace and peace to you — at the tip of a sword
For weeks now, I’ve been teaching verse by verse through the book of 1 Thessalonians on Sunday mornings. Last week and this week, we hit the hinge between the last verse of 1 Thessalonians and the opening lines of 2…
The need to be persecuted
Yesterday, I started teaching a new series to my adult Bible study class on 1 Thessalonians. As part of the introduction to this Pauline epistle, I attempted to explain to the class the kind of real persecution these early Christians…