How to Read the Bible

I forget where I first saw the book title, How to Read the Bible, but I recall a certain, what shall we say, amusement. I thought, Find a comfortable...

Compassion and the State

God forbid we, as a nation, should ever stop caring about the children and about the poor, but real care should lead us to call a failure what it is—a...

The Book of Daniel #8

No word from the Bible conjures up more dread than the word Antichrist. It is kind of unfortunate, because the word is not used in the Bible in the se...

The Book of Daniel #7

Early in the 2nd century BC, a truly vile man came on the scene in the Middle East. What is it about planet earth that our soil periodically brings fo...

The Book of Daniel #6

One of the most fascinating prophecies in the Book of Daniel (and one that raises as many questions as it answers) is the 70 weeks prophecy at the end...

A Forecast for the Future

If you were looking for a resolution for the new year (or the new decade), you'd have to go a long way to do better than this:
Wash you, make yo...

About Christmas

What did the First Christians believe and practice about Christmas? I know in a way that is a loaded question, because the word Christmas is found now...

The Book of Daniel #5

One of the things that puzzles me about the Book of Daniel is the question, Why now? Why did God, at this particular juncture in history, lay out the...

The Book of Daniel #4

What was it about Daniel? Through at least three major administration changes in Babylon, he kept coming out on top. For the believer, it makes perfec...

The Book of Daniel #3

Did you know that Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty king of Babylon, wrote one chapter of the Book of Daniel? Initially, I couldn’t help but wonder why God w...

The Book of Daniel #2

Daniel may be the most important prophet in the Bible. He is easily the most fascinating. And he is the one that most tempts us to offer interpretatio...

A Great King to Come

The prophecies of Zechariah are among the most difficult in the Bible. It’s not only that Zechariah is so rich in imagery and symbols; it’s a strange...

The Book of Daniel #1

Of all the major prophets of the Old Testament, one stands out as the most fascinating. One has had a hold on the imaginations of men from time immemo...

The Book of Kings #26

The last days of Jerusalem and Judah were hard times. When a nation, a people, begin to lose their identity—their sense of who they are and where they...

The Book of Kings #25

Almost any kingdom will get a little tired and old in 300 years. The House of Israel only made it a little more than 250 years. And Israel must have b...

The Book of Kings #24

There are some strange things about the way God works that I am not sure I understand. I know what he does, it just isn’t always clear why he does it...

Taking God Seriously

Should we take God seriously? it may seem a stupid question to ask, in a way. We’re dealing with someone here who could blink his eyes and start the B...

The Book of Kings #23

The Middle East is a very curious place, but I hardly need to tell you that. For instance, everyone learns the parable of the Good Samaritan in church...

The Book of Kings #22

Reading through the stories of the last kings of the house of Israel, I always get a feeling of ineffable sadness. That nation had been served by two...

The Book of Kings #21

It was now 126 years after the death of Solomon and the division of the Kingdom of Israel into two houses—the House of Israel and the House of Judah....

The Book of Kings #20

It is a sobering thought to consider that the Kingdom of Israel was once ruled by a woman—but not a very good woman. To secure her throne, she had all...

Son of Man

Are You Angry?

Are you angry? Are you mad at what is going on in government? If you are a Republican, you are probably mad at the Democrats. If you are a Democrat, y...

The Book of Kings #19

Evil has lasting consequences. Not only was King Ahab corrupt, so were his children, who learned in their mother how to get the things they wanted. Th...

The Book of Kings #18

All through this period of Kings, there is pattern that develops. The people would fall away, go after idols, and suffer all the results of that. In J...

The Book of Kings #17

The days of the prophet Elisha seem to have been somewhat unique in the history of Israel. Prophecy was vital in those days, but most of it was delive...

The Book of Kings #16

I’m still amazed at how many would-be prophets want to take on the mantle of Elijah. I think I mentioned that I have met three or four Elijahs in my t...

Thankful for Freedom

Leadership Found

In all of the Bible, who is the greatest example of leadership (apart from Jesus, of course)? Without a doubt, it’s David. When you speak of David in...

The Shield of Thanksgiving

The Book of Kings #15

One of the most dramatic moments in all the stories of the Bible is that moment when Elijah and Elisha have crossed over the river Jordan, and a great...

The Book of Kings #14

It has been 62 years since the death of Solomon. For 62 years there have been two Israels: the House of Israel, now with a capital in Samaria; the Hou...

The Book of Kings #13

Not everyone gets this, but let me have a run at it anyway: God does not care for centralized authority. That is not to say he hasn’t allowed it. And...

Leadership Lost

In my time, I have followed a lot of election campaigns. I remember sitting in a car, in the rain, in England listening to the Democratic National Con...

The Book of Kings #12

I simply cannot imagine a greater prophet than Elijah. He was not a smooth man, like I suspect Isaiah was. Isaiah was a poet, and a great one at that....

The Book of Kings #11

He is the archetype of all prophets; his name was Elijah. Probably one of the reasons he is so well known is because he is so persistent in the Bible—...

The Book of Kings #10

I was standing, looking out an open window in my hotel room at Victoria Station in London one night. My wife and I had been to the theater, had just g...

The Book of Kings #9

When you settle in to read the Bible, you run into any number of difficulties—none of them fatal, of course. The sense of the Bible is not that hard,...

Master & Lord

At the Last Supper, after washing his disciples' feet, Jesus said something of singular importance. He said, You call me master and lord, and you say...

Leadership in Crisis

By now, everyone realizes that we have a leadership crisis, not only in our country, but in the world at large. I wonder how we got to this place? Whe...