Articles

Two millenniums ago in a shepherd’s field, A Heavenly Host sang—as God willed— “Peace on earth,” the Almighty decreed: A Savior was born to meet our need! That Heavenly Host was “praising God,” For His response where human’s trod; From the beginning blood had flowed, As Cain—like conduct growed and growed! Jesus, that Savior, solemnly warned You and me, That “wars and rumors of wars” would continu...

Have you ever had to make decisions that would be considered acceptable to a few hundred people (keep reading)? This year’s circumstances have prompted your shepherds to meet on several occasions and hash out decisions we never thought we would have to make. It is one thing to cancel worship assemblies & Bible classes for ice, snow, tornaders and the like when the safety of the flock was an obviou...

About a week ago as I write this, terrorists violently beheaded three Christian men in the Indonesian village of Lemban Tongoa and burned another man and his son alive in their house. In Nigeria, West Africa, a minister & two Christian women were recently kidnapped by terrorists. Their condition and whereabouts are presently unknown. A mob of around 2,000 Hindus attacked and beat 80 people in the ...

Are you one of those “silly” maskers, or a crazed “conspiracy theorist” non-masker? Do you believe in science? Well, duh, everybody believes in science, right? But which of the multiple, mutually opposed scientific statements do you espouse about Covid? Herd immunity science? Chinese genocide science? Leftist agenda science? Vaccine research science? Medical community science? Wait, which medical ...

Evil has shown itself and is waging a war against Christianity and the Gospel of Christ. This morning I saw a video of a man getting knocked out. It seems he was trying to protect others. Afterward, he had his head stomped on multiple times and then his phone was stolen from him as he lay there helpless. During the same incident, a person was stabbed and another 13 people were arrested. Yesterday,...

This last week, Central Oklahoma experienced a natural disaster. Do you ever wonder why natural disasters occur on earth? I mean, other than reasons science tells us about like soil erosion, seismic activity, tectonic movements, air pressure, and ocean currents; why do they happen? It may seem that, during these times, it’s easy to ask, “Where was God?” We can be assured that God does use natural ...

Literally hours before this photo was taken, this entire rose bush and each individual bloom was laying flat on the ground, not only covered, but encased in ice from a recent storm. Have you ever looked closely at a rose? Have you noted the wonderful delicacy of each silky petal? What a marvel to me that such a fragile living thing could be held in ice, but afterwards be so perfectly and completel...

Let's talk "tracers." Tracers are projectiles (bullets & cannon caliber ammunition) with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base. It ignites and burns very brightly when fired and makes the projectiles trajectory visible to the naked eye. They are usually loaded as the fifth round in a rapid shooting firearm like a machine gun. The path they leave can then help to point out where that ammunition ...

It’s the Lord’s money, of course, as you already know! I thought this would be a good time to discuss the importance of being good stewards of our possessions. We recently had large expenses that were not budgeted for this year, but we were able to cover these without going into debt. This is thanks to our elders and our excellent money manager, Sarah Kriwanek! My job is to keep their success runn...

If you know me, you know I don’t believe in dress codes for the church…… buuuut the subject of what we wear in public is not quite so simple as to be dismissed in the name of being against a dress code. Judging from passages that mention it (1st Timothy 2:9 & 1st Peter 3:3 for example), modesty in the first century and before seemed to be a matter of avoiding ostentation, that is the wearing or di...

I love it. Line in the water, just waiting for the first stirring of a nibble. Then “BOOM!”, they bite hard, you set the hook and feel that life on the other end of the line as you reel him in. There is just nothing else like that kind of excitement. Remember that time the apostles had fished all night and caught nothing (Luke 5:1-11)? Jesus told them to go out into the deep and let down their net...

The United States of America is not the church. We understand that, right? But is it wrong to love and honor America as our nation? “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive co...

The above is a question asked by Pontius Pilate after Jesus told him that he had come to testify to the truth (John 18:33-38). There he stood, the man “in power”, not realizing he was speaking with his own creator and Lord of all. He could never have encountered a more suitable authority for answering his question. Apparently, however, he did not ask in order to receive an answer. Reality is truth...

I am constantly examining myself. Something I have discovered is that I struggle with procrastination. It is very easy for me to let life take over and procrastinate. Not in just my priorities, but in my everyday relationships as well. Whether it be neglecting text messages and emails for days, putting off a school paper one more time or letting my yard get out of hand; procrastination is a consta...

I woke up this morning with a “crick” in my neck. I’ve heard of these, but never had one before. Naturally, I figured I could just stretch it out throughout the morning to ease the pain. Unfortunately, by the time I had gotten to work, the “crick” was so bad I decided to go buy an Icy/Hot patch! I’m glad to tell you that after an hour, I could finally turn my head again. Between this adventure and...

Dear Brethren, the City of Choctaw has mandated that masks be worn from September 6th through October 6th of this year. Here are a few particulars from the City’s document itself, Ordinance 830-2020. Actual quotes are underlined: Section B. Definitions, paragraph #1 – “Face Covering” means a covering that fully covers a person’s nose and mouth. The term “Face Covering” includes, but is not limited...

I was just reading about the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:7). They had problems with some guys there who were false apostles and liars. I wonder what kind of trouble that caused, especially among the weaker members of the church. There were also people there called “Nicolaitans” whose behavior was so bad that God said he hated it. Jesus warned the church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8) that some of ...

Boom! Everything is different now. As shepherds, we used to agonize over cancelling a worship assembly because of icy roads or stormy weather. Who ever imagined the present circumstance? We used to joke about how the back pews always filled up first, and that having to sit near the front was the penalty for coming late. Now we only have every other pew available. Our loved ones go to the hospital,...

Joshua 1: 8-9, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” I’ve been thinking about this passage lately. I know t...

Jesus’ apostle Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’” Romans 1:16-17 So just how is God’s righteousness revealed in the gospel? Paul returns to this idea a...