Studies on the Fringe of Christianity
As usual, around holiday events I get questions concerning its celebration. So, I was not surprised when a few inquiries arose around our last Thanksgiving Day. The first question asked was “Is Thanksgiving Day a religious holiday?” The second question was “Do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving Day?” The third was “What does Black Friday mean?” …
The story about Jezebel is recorded in 1 Kings and 2 Kings of the Old Testament, but for those who do not know much about this character, here is an overview. According to Hebrew scripture, Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of Tyre in Phoenicia during the 9th-century BC. Phoenicia was a coastal …
While I write this, there are wars (Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas) and rumors of wars (Israel-Iran, NATO-Russia, U.S.-China, China-Taiwan, and more). Regional wars change fast, so who knows what will be happening in just a few weeks. Jesus said that this would happen before the end of this age, so these events are just the beginning …
When I was twenty years old, back in 1963, an American singer-songwriter named Bob Dylan1 wrote a song in an “attempt to create an anthem of change for the time.” The song is titled ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’.2 That happened sixty years ago and the times did change. But the point I’m making today …
“So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’” (Matthew 27:24-25, ESV).1 …
I recently read a very good article about the LGBTQ rainbow flag, in Wisconsin Christian News. The author was Rob Pue, an ordained minister and the founder of the newspaper. He was writing about a recent community bike ride in his city called the Annual Naked Bike Ride. This social crusade, which began in Spain …
There has been another death in my family, not my immediate family but close enough. If this kind of event has ever crept into your own family’s existence – and it most likely has – you know exactly what I mean. When death does visit our families occasionally, those deaths can arrive in a variety …
Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. (Psalm 127:3, NLT).1 Yes, in the Bible, children are considered a great blessing from God, however according to Mosaic Law, although a blessing, they had no rights.2 It wasn’t until the last century that much thought was given to the concept of …
I wrote about gay and transgender issues about five years ago, but continue to get questions concerning those groups and what is God’s point-of-view on the LGBT lifestyle. Those descriptive alphabet characters change over time, but currently the official identification is LGBTQIA+ and they stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transvestite, questionable/queer, intersex, asexual, and ‘plus …
I’ve written several articles about demons over the years, but many readers of this website still don’t believe in these creatures. Most think of demons only as mythological entities, having neither factual credibility, nor historic validity. That is understandable, because we have been taught this in schools, and it has also been implied in some …