Author: S&P

A pastor friend told me last week that he had church members enraged with him when he suggested from the pulpit that we ought to pray for the salvation of Islamic State terrorists. The people in his church told him that he ought to be calling for justice against them, given their brutal murder of Christians, not for mercy. I thought about my friend a few days ago when these murderous fiends behead...

I had an E.F. Hutton moment when I walked into a deli in New Orleans and ordered a roast beef sandwich on Friday during Lent. As soon as I realized what the stares were all about I quickly changed my order out of respect. At the same time, having lived in New Orleans for a number of years, I was asked more than once why I didn’t observe Lent. Depending upon who was doing the asking my typical repl...

If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, then why do we pray? What can we possibly tell God that He doesn’t already know? Jack Graham [embedded content] For more information about Jack Graham, visit: www.prestonwood.org or www.powerpoint.org For more answers to questions about Christianity, visit: www.christianity.com Originally published October 22, 2012.

Over at our sister site, Crosswalk.com, Fridays mean movies. Today, several new reviews appeared on the site, as they do every weekend, of films opening in theaters across the country. It’s a rare occurrence that we don’t review a movie that gets a wide release – especially one everyone is talking about. But today you won’t find an official review of the Fifty Shades of Grey film on our websi...

It’s Valentine’s season again. Strange, how in our popular culture the word “love” can be used in such a trivial way, but then also be used to refer to the deepest of relationships. “I love my wife!” “I love hamburgers!” “I love my husband!” “I love the movie Nacho Libre!” No wonder it’s so easy for us to miss the type of love God calls us to express toward, not just our favorite ...

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place,remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committedterrible deeds in the name of Christ…”   —President Barack Obama, February 5, 2015 National Prayer Breakfast The Crusades may have happened 1000 years ago, but they’re headline news once again. President Obama’s statement above compar...

I’m a super busy husband and father of three. Sometimes I feel piled under with all the things on my plate. Praise God he’s given my bride as a helpmate; my wife is a superstar! She helps in so many ways, yet, too often I either take it for granted, or – with the weight of everything else – I overlook shepherding and loving her well. This article is not just an admonition to other husbands; it’s a...

President Barack Obama’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, 2015 has reverberated through the corridors of the world and provoked shock and dismay in numerous quarters. Even a professor at the University of London commented on his shallow understanding of the Crusades. I hesitated to write anything on the subject because it would drag me into politics or into a sober...

The words. Those words.  I’m sure you’ve heard…the ones that have ignited such debate…from President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast. I’m sure he had no idea the scrutiny his speech would soon muster. And did someone write these words for him to say or did he think of them himself?  Seemingly careless words for such troubled times we live under. “Unles...

A little while ago Veronica Partridge wrote a piece about why she has decided to no longer wear yoga pants. It was not a prescriptive piece. She was simply sharing her thoughts on modesty and her decision to no longer wear spandex in public. I highly doubt that Ms. Partridge wrote her post on leggings thinking it would go viral or that her and her husband would end up on Good Morning America. I al...

Years ago, I stared into the empty eyes of my mom—a woman who had never stopped praying for her four wayward sons—and saw no recognition, no love, no anything. Mental illness temporarily took her life from her and made her forget she had a youngest child. To her, I was a lie. So, you could say that when it comes to Christians dealing with the ravages of mental disorders, I have a vested interest. ...

There is a great misunderstanding in churches of the purpose of music in Christian worship. Churches routinely advertise their “life-changing” or “dynamic” worship that will “bring you closer to God” or “change your life.” Certain worship CD’s promise that the music will “enable you to enter the presence of God.” Even a flyer for a recent conference for worship leaders boasted: “Join us for ...