prosperity

Even the legendarily left-leaning Huffington Post called it “provocative.” A new study claims that religious people are less intelligent than atheists. The “study” is actually a review of 63 studies of intelligence and religion conducted over the past century (1928-2012). The “meta-analysis” apparently shows that in 53 of the studies there was an inverse relationship between having religious beliefs (and/or performing religious rituals) and intelligence. In other words, non-believers scored higher than religious people on intelligence tests. Some smelled raw meat, jumping immediately to the conclusion that “religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable and, therefore, unappealing to intelligent people who ‘know better.’” Actually, no. Study co-author Jordan Silber...

One of the ways that children sometimes try to deepen their relationship with their parents is to travel back to where their father or mother grew up. They might visit historical societies, read archives, and gather newspaper stories and artifacts from old friends. Doing so, they build a bigger and better picture of their father or mother and experience a deeper sense of connection with them and love for them. In a similar way, Christians go back to the Old Testament to build a bigger and better picture of Jesus Christ. By connecting with His past, we connect better with Him and deepen our love for Him. The Old Testament connects us with Jesus’ past in the following ways: 1. We are reading Jesus’ Bible: The 39 books of the Old Testament are the Scriptures He heard and read. These are the v...

Evangelical Christians have been especially attentive to worship in recent years, sparking a renaissance of thought and conversation on what worship really is and how it should be done. Even if this renewed interest has unfortunately resulted in what some have called the “worship wars” in some churches, it seems that what A.W. Tozer once called the “missing jewel” of evangelical worship is being recovered. Nevertheless, if most evangelicals would quickly agree that worship is central to the life of the church, there would be no consensus to an unavoidable question: What is central to Christian worship? Historically, the more liturgical churches have argued that the sacraments form the heart of Christian worship. These churches argue that the elements of the Lord’s Supper and the water of b...

People often project confidence when they have no reason to. Some do this out of defiance and others out of ignorance. An example of defiant confidence would be Saddam Hussein. You may recall the video of Iraqi President, during the Gulf War, sitting in an underground bunker while informing the people of Iraq that they were trouncing the Coalition forces. Again, he was in the bunker! The rest of the world saw what the Iraqi people were seeing: the war was going very badly for him. Obviously this confidence was ill-founded. Another example comes is from my childhood. I remember my family crossing a rickety bridge about twenty feet over a river in Florida. My dad declared that he was going to stand up on the railing and cross the bridge like a tightrope walker. My mom prevailed upon him and ...

Moving the ministry of your church forward requires a delicate dynamic of giving and receiving between the leaders and members. If not monitored closely, this dynamic morphs into a tug-of-war match, which always ends up with one side tumbling. If not both. When the effort behind the ministry tugs toward the leaders, programmatic ministry results. This is when the church does things through events and campaigns run mainly by the pastors and elected church leaders. On the other hand, when the members mostly pull the ministry forward, organic ministry will characterize the church. That is to say, spontaneous, relational service and outreach will be deemed most valuable and authentic. Both programmatic and organic ministry have strengths that all churches desire. We need pastoral ministry team...

Picking up a sub sandwich today, I saw a news report on CNN about Miley Cyrus’ performance at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. I was shocked, then sickened, then saddened. For the rest of the day, I wondered: What kind of people are we? What kind of culture have we created? What do we want our children to be? No more wondering. Tonight, I weep. I weep for the little girl who gave us Hannah Montana and became a role model to millions of little girls across America. I weep for the lostness of a girl who doesn’t see herself stumbling around in the dark. I weep for the news channels that profit from their all-day coverage of a young woman spiraling out of control. I weep for the American Idol culture that promises glitter and gold to children, then chews them up and spits them out. I weep f...

The Bible begins with God, the good Creator of all things and the One who rules the universe. His creative handiwork—everything from light to land to living creatures—is called “good.”[1] But the crown of God’s good creation is humanity. We are made in the very image of God. And God declared: “behold it was very good”.[2] As the pinnacle of God’s creation, human beings reveal God more wonderfully than any other creature as we were created like God,[3] by God,[4] for God,[5] and to be with God.[6] In Genesis 1:26, God says “Let Us make man in Our image.” The fact that our Creator gave us a remarkable title—“the image of God”—speaks of the inherent dignity of all human beings. The expression “image of God” designated human beings as representatives of the supreme King of the universe. Immedi...

The difference between barbarism and culture is, simply, work. —Lester DeKoster If you’re like me, you’ve often heard the saying that “work is a curse” as result of the fall in the Garden of Eden. That statement couldn’t be further from the truth.  Our Original Purpose In the beginning, prior to sin, God assigned Adam and Eve important work. In Genesis 2 we read about man’s first day of work: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). We were created to be stewards of God’s creation through our work. The opening two chapters of Genesis provide a foundation for how God sees work, culture, and our responsibility. This same perspective extends throughout the Scriptures. Work is not a curse, but a gift from God giv...

Many Christians have an uneasy relationship with the Lord’s Supper. Though this gospel feast has been central to Christian worship since the beginning of the church, many believers find the Lord’s Supper either confusing, intimidating, or just plain boring. I was raised in a tradition that observed the Lord’s Supper only twice a year, complete with unleavened bread and alcoholic wine. These biannual services were usually very solemn, and though they prompted serious self-examination and genuine gratitude for the work of Christ, they also made me feel uncomfortable. It was rare for me to approach the Table with anything like celebratory joy or the expectation of receiving practical help for my Christian life. Even in my early days as a pastor, I approached Communion Sundays with a certain d...

Most Christians seem to still agree that preaching is important. We download podcasts and attend conferences that center around preaching, and it remains a primary reason many choose a new church. However, one of the most neglected forms of preaching is also one of the most powerful–preaching to ourselves.  By “preaching to ourselves” I mean the discipline of intense Biblical meditation; reading, dwelling on, and applying the truths of Scripture to our own lives that leads to a deepening love of God, hatred of sin, and faith in Jesus Christ.  The idea of preaching to ourselves is popular today, though my experience suggests that it is under-practiced. Perhaps the reason for this is that we aren’t clear what it is or how it should take form. But I believe t...

How do you handle temptation? I’m not talking about the fleeting, seemingly benign thought of sin that may hold initial allure, but is easily dismissed. (Though we should be on guard against these kinds of thoughts, too). No, I’m talking about that moment when you’ve savored the juicy morsel and like the taste. You clamp down your jaws and suddenly feel the sharp piercing desire for more and a forceful tug towards deliberate, willful sin. You realize that you’ve swallowed a hook and the angler is reeling you in. Your better judgment, and God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit are whispering “No.” But your appetites and emotions are screaming, “Yes!” I have in mind those times when you are like Peter in the courtyard, your heart frenzied by fear, about to commit an act of cowardice and treachery. ...