Can anyone point me in the direction of a Calvinist sermon on Ezekiel 18? Particularly verses 20 to 23: 20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him. 21 But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely…

Successful business people, Olympic athletes, and professional musicians have this in common: they are known for their extraordinary self-discipline. Are Christians? Do we eat healthier, exercise more, and foster positive morning routines like prayer and Bible study? Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t see that trend among the general church population to any noticeable degree. If we aren’t known for self-discipline, what are we known for? Are believers known for their love? For being joyful? Are we full of peace? Known to be patient and kind? Do we have the reputation of being good, faithful, and gentle? It…

Next month I will be completing three years of writing (almost) daily here. I guess I am “proud” of that accomplishment and it has improved my writing and editing skills. And that’s been valuable to me. But as far as having eternal value to the Kingdom goes, the greatest accomplishment of this little blog has been playing a not-insignificant role in introducing two individual missionaries to Cap Haitien Christian School. And they are both currently serving there. The first, Kacie, has been there many years now!  The second just arrived in country two weeks ago: Joel Zizi is there to…

I got the attention of a Calvinist YouTuber – Daily Theology 1689 – by posting the following comment on his video, “Election is Biblical”: “It’s good to see a Calvinist openly admit they see “faith” as a “work”. (Although Scripture obviously does not.) Most go to great lengths to dance around this.” He chose to engage with me to show me where I was wrong in opposing Calvinism, and before long he was asking me, “What is the gospel?” I replied: “Everlasting life and reconciliation with your Creator has been made available to humanity through the life, death, and resurrection…

For 3 years, my mission agency – Mission Resource – has been praying and advocating for the innovative work of OrganiLock, the Kentucky  company with an organic fertilizer we believe could revolutionize farming worldwide and revive soil everywhere.  Kind of a big deal. Since God first introduced Mission Resource and OrganiLock, we have wanted to see the potential of their fertilizer unleashed in soils across Africa.  Not long ago, Mission Resource sent our first shipment of OrganiLock fertilizer to Ghana. Now we are helping to send 4 tons to Malawi.  And other opportunities are starting to multiply! Just last week…

When I was teaching teenagers, I would sometimes point out to them how easy it would be these days for them to distinguish themselves from teenage peers in the workplace. The bar is set so low that all it takes to stand out is basic considerations like showing up on time, refraining from phone scrolling during work hours, and being friendly to customers.  If you do those things, I would tell the teens, you will be considered a rockstar by your employer.  So simple. And it seems to me that one could say something similar to American Christian adults. (I…

When I was teaching teenagers, I would sometimes point out to them how easy it would be these days for them to distinguish themselves from teenage peers in the workplace. The bar is set so low that all it takes to stand out is basic considerations like showing up on time, refraining from phone scrolling during work hours, and being friendly to customers.  If you do those things, I would tell the teens, you will be considered a rockstar by your employer.  So simple. And it seems to me that one could say something similar to American Christian adults. (I…

What do you do when faced with a faith tradition nearly universally honored and almost never questioned but you decide is kind of suspect? This is how it is with Bible translations substituting “LORD” for God’s proper name, “YHWH”, usually transliterated as “Yahweh”.  “Yahweh” is specifically given first to Moses as God’s name all the way back at the burning bush. It then appears nearly 7,000 other times throughout Scripture. But somehow a few centuries before the birth of Christ, the Jews started substituting “Adonai” (which meant lord or master) for Yahweh in both the copying and the public reading…

You have probably heard this short back and forth repeated during a worship service:     Leader: “God is good.”     People: “All the time.”     Leader: “All the time.”     People: “God is good.” I used to roll my eyes at preachers who would make weekly use of this mantra. I thought it was so simple and so obvious that I couldn’t imagine any reason to repeat it.  But these days I am convinced that God the Father has a PR problem.  But it’s not of His own making. I suppose it is a result of our shame and guilt,…

For several weeks I have been chewing on a recurring mental image: my experience years ago at Porter Pool, learning how to float on my back. Did you learn the back float too? It is so counter-intuitive.  If you relax and tilt your head back a bit, keep your chin up, you will find the water will support you. And it is magical. It’s like the water is your bed! But it’s so difficult to get to that level of trust for the water.  The beginning floater sees the water as a threat. And because the water is dangerous, he…