Is it the End of the World?

If you ask many Americans what they think about Turkey, most will answer, “I like it with dressing.” We don’t know much about geography or geopolitics, or even what geopolitics means. Yet the events in Turkey this past week show just how fragile the world is—even if Turkey’s Erdogan in some way “planned” the attack…

Elie Wiesel died last Saturday, at the age of 87. The iconic Holocaust survivor (he was at Auschwitz and Buchenwald) waited until 10 years after the war to write about his experiences; a friend, the French Resistance fighter (and Christian) Francois Mauriac, urged him to write. One outcome of that endeavor for the Romanian-born moral…

Forty years ago this summer (this week marks 40 years), an airline hijacking played-out before the world. PLO and German terrorists took control of Air France Flight 139, after a refueling stop in Athens. What they decided to do next made history. Rather than land at a nearby airport and make a list of demands,…

In the latest issue of Relevant magazine, Jesse Carey interviews the writer Chuck Klosterman. In the interview, the pop culture author seems pretty sure that he has a handle on truth, at least in the way individuals view their truth. At one point, he makes an interesting statement regarding faith: “The central component of faith…

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into…

The Southern Baptists passed a resolution in support of Israel last week, during their annual convention. The resolution also condemned the BDS (Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions) movement, aimed at hurting the Jewish state economically. I’ve written a lot the last five years about the encroachment of the so-called Palestinian Narrative into American churches. No denomination/association has been unaffected…

The Southern Baptist Convention recently concluded its annual convention, electing a new president, Steve Gaines (of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis); he replaces Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church in Rogers, Arkansas. Besides a resolve to denounce the Confederate flag, the convention made some news on the heels of the recent story involving a planned mosque…

Especially in light of the barbaric murders of Israeli Jews in Tel Aviv yesterday—by Palestinians—it was appropriate that my daily Bible reading landed on Ezekiel 36. In this lead-up to the great Israeli “Declaration of Independence” that follows in Ezekiel 37 (the famous “Dry Bones” prophecy), we find several critical pieces of information that explain…

Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali in 1964. The man who broke down barriers during the volatile Civil Rights movement was a “conscientious objector” to service in the Vietnam War, and his Muslim faith was an oddity to a country that didn’t know much about it. We still don’t. I will be in the minority this…

For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. (Isaiah 45:4) One of the most confounding chapters in all the Bible for critics (including those who have slithered into the church) is found in…

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