It was a hard letter to write.  It is not the letter Jude wanted to write, Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert th...  Read More

The older I get the more I understand the need for balance (not just that I’m getting old and feeble and thus worry about breaking a hip) but balance of perspective socially, politically and theologically.  Yes, I have a certain political perspective.  I’m of a conservative persuasion but I’m not in lock step with conservatives on every issue.  I’m reformed in my understanding of Scripture and how...  Read More

I just feel so “out of step.”  It is easy to think, “It must just be me” because everyone else seems to be fine with things.  When I look around, I see things that cause my blood to boil and makes me feel as if my head is going to explode while others seem content with the status quo.  I was just talking about this last week at my club, “The Old Curmudgeon Society.”  I really don’t want to be that...  Read More

I get it.  I’m tired of the experts.  Whether it is sports, politics or movies or well, you name it, I’m tired of those folks who with great confidence and authority tell everyone else just how things are.  Yet, I have to acknowledge that we do have responsibility, biblically, to confront error.  When a person claims to speak for God, that person a responsibility to defend the truth they declare. ...  Read More

I’m such a dinosaur.  My kind is all but extinct.  I find myself in conversation with other pastors and think, “Are we talking about the same thing?  Are we reading the same book?  Is this what the church has become?”  It’s not just that I’ve gotten cranky as I’ve gotten older and it’s not that I’m set in my ways and I don’t like this “new fangled music” or these entertainment palaces they call ch...  Read More

I, by nature, am not confrontational.  I don’t like having to deal with difficult situations.  I want to smooth things over.  I want everyone to get along.  Yet there are times to be confrontational.  There are times you must step up and do the uncomfortable or unnatural thing.  I find that confrontation is not that difficult when it involves something I care about.  If someone says something abou...  Read More