An addendum to my points about key false allegations in the Bible and the way Jesus and Paul both fell victim of false charges: I was making the point that we have a hard time believing the innocence of a person who is forced into a position of denying any sort of allegation.  Obviously, though, there are many times when we are right to not believe a denial and Scripture relates at least one high profile false denial. Curiously enough, it happens simultaneous to the false allegations against Christ. And it happens three times. Of course, I am referencing Peter’s…

Samuel told me that a friend asked him this regarding the assassination of the Haitian President, Jovenel Moise: “Did he get killed because he was a good guy or because he was a bad guy?” I thought it was a pretty insightful question. In American news sources I have seen, Jovenel has been portrayed as a corrupt dictator. The clear implication is that he brought this upon himself. I even saw one article that compared him to Trump in a very negative way. It was almost as if the writer was wistful that the same hadn’t happened to our former…

Sometimes when I am reading Scripture, I come across things that would seem to contradict Calvinist teaching. So here is another question for my Calvinist friends that I am not sure how they might answer: What does Jesus mean when he says, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven”? (Matthew 19:23) And then “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”? (Matthew 19:24) If a person is…

My day started with news of the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moise. Gunmen gained entrance to the president’s house late last night and gunned him down. His wife suffered serious injury as well and is currently in a Florida hospital.  “Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!” – Robert Burns For Haiti, it is 11 million who mourn and face a truly uncertain future. 11 million souls! The news left me feeling deeply discouraged.  Haiti’s daily existence is marked by severe poverty, hunger, unemployment, political instability, kidnappings, and gang violence.  A tiny minority of individuals, fueled by greed…

Since the Son of God himself was a “victim” of false accusations, it might seem anticlimactic to mention at least one more key instance of false accusation in Scripture. Nevertheless, it is worth being reminded that the second biggest personality in the New Testament was also put on trial based on false witness: the Apostle Paul. (And more than once!) In fact, five entire chapters of the Book of Acts are devoted to the lies told against Paul, the resulting punishments, and his attempts to defend himself before the authorities. (Chapters 22 to 26) The result was imprisonment and house…

The trial of Jesus himself has to be the most shocking direct reference Scripture makes to false allegations: Luke 23:2 – “And they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.’” This, of course, was the council of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law speaking to Pilate after Jesus’s arrest.  Consider the following about the false allegations that the Son of God himself endured: 1) Multiple people banded together to bring the charges. If you were…