ANNOUNCEMENT – NOW AVAILABLE! Religions of the Stars: What Hollywood Believes and How it Affects You Oprah Winfrey,Tom Cruise,and Madonna all promote their own brand of spirituality. Richard Gere, Marie Osmond,and Ashton Kutcher embrace beliefs of yet other religions. In a culture obsessed and saturated with celebrity, people can’t help but be inundated with the spiritual practices of the rich and famous. Whether athletes or actors or talk show hosts or even reality TV stars, these peo... Read Full Story

ANNOUNCEMENT! For anyone in the NEW YORK CITY area, I will be speaking at THE JOURNEY Church in Manhattan, on July 12, as part of their God in Film series. I will be teaching on “What Would Jesus Say to Harry Potter?” It should be a fun and interesting message designed to coincide with the release of the new Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Please stop by if you are close to NYC — I’d love to meet some of you! peace in him, RICH... Read Full Story

No one laughs at God in a hospital; No one laughs at God in a war. No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very poor. No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests. No one’s laughing at God when it’s gotten real late, And their kid’s not back from the party yet. Read Full Story

[N]othing burns me up more than being presented with information so thoroughly false, so completely stripped from its context, that it can be considered an outright lie. A lie presented for the sole purpose of manipulating the way I think, what I believe, or how I behave. The video has an agenda. And it pushes that agenda by presenting specious information. To say its disingenuous would be a vast understatement. To say it’s revolting would be slightly off the mark. To say that it’s overwhelmi... Read Full Story

Last night I watched one of the most heart-breaking television programs I’d ever seen: Jon & Kate Plus 8 (TLC). The reality show — molded out of the daily lives of the Gosselin family (Mom, Dad, a set of twins, and sextuplets) — had for many seasons been one of my favorite escapes from the oft-nauseating TV menu comprised of Nightly News (depressing), profanity-filled sit-coms (disgusting), and a multitude of other reality shows (dumb). Read Full Story

I was reading my Bible the other day and asked myself: “Am I really doing what I’m reading?,” “Am I really living as a Christian ought live?,” “Am I just filling my head with more knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, when I know darn well that I’m still not doing my best to live up to the knowledge I already have?” Read Full Story

In recent months I have been making a concerted effort to expose what has become a curse of the Internet—i.e., the Cult of Online Discernment Ministries, also known as ODMs (see my article Don’t Believe Everything You Read On the Internet and several additional linked assessments). Others—including well-known blogger Tim Challies (Article #1 & Article #2), Pastor James MacDonald, and the Internet Monk—have raised similar concerns about these so-called watchbloggers. Most recently, w... Read Full Story

One of the most precious teachings of Christianity is the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. It is rooted and grounded in the idea of reconciliation between God and humanity, which is made possible through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. This supreme act of love has been called the “heart of the gospel,” the “center of gravity in Christian life and thought,” the “crucial point of Christian faith,” and the “distinguishing mark of the Christian religi... Read Full Story

In recent months my attention has been pulled to a number of websites run by various watch-bloggers and so-called “discernment” ministries. In response, I’ve posted several articles dealing with these websites and voiced my concerns with them (see my main link page of articles). But there is one aspect of SOME of these websites that I’ve not yet addressed—i.e., a bizarre preoccupation with homosexuality and related issues. Don’t get me wrong. The gay agenda, homo... Read Full Story

One of the most oft-quoted passages of scripture is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But I wonder how regularly any of us actually think about the miraculous and magnificent truth resident in that verse—i.e., the sovereign God of the universe, the Creator of all that exists, the very embodiment of goodness itself, the living standard of righteousness & justice LOVES U... Read Full Story