All posts filed under: Main

What the conversion of a famous Jewish nanotechnologist tells us about Christianity

Published by

I recently came across a story on God Reports of how a Jewish man from New York became a Christian. What makes James Tour interesting is that he is a rather famous nanotech computer scientist. He holds over 120 patents and in 2015 was actually inducted into the National Academy of Inventors. He has taught at every major university in the US and Thebestschools.org nominated him as one of “The 50 most Influential Scientists in the World Today.” He has also written 650 research papers and R&D Magazine chose Tour as the top research scientist in the US in 2013 and four years earlier he was nominated as one of the top ten chemical scientists in the world by Thomson Reuters. These are just a sampling of the numerous awards that Tour has received. He currently serves as both a Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, and Professor of Computer Science at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is a pre-eminent scientist who believes in Jesus and Tour explains his journey to Christ in a …

Seal found confirming the existence of King Jeroboam II

Published by

Archaeology keeps confirming the Biblical record by not only finding evidence of the good guys, but the bad ones as well. In 1904, archaeologists discovered a seal of Jeroboam II at an archaeological dig in Megiddo located in Northern Israel. Jeroboam II ruled Israel for about 41 years between 786 BC and 746 BC. He was the 13th King of Israel after the nation split apart into the Northern Kingdom, Israel and the Southern Kingdom, Judah. Jeroboam II should not to be confused with Jeroboam, who was Israel’s first king after the separation. The small seal actually did not belong to Jeroboam but rather a man named Shema. The seal reads: “Belonging to Shema, the servant of Jeroboam.” Only the important or the wealthy had seals, and Shema’s description as “servant of Jeroboam” indicated he was a very senior bureaucrat at Jeroboam’s palace in Samaria. Throughout the Bible, the Hebrew word “ebed,” translated “servant” on the seal, was used to describe important government officials as we see it used in 2 Kings 22:12. The description …

Have we completely misunderstood what Jesus told us about worry?

Published by

In the Gospels, Jesus talked a lot about worry and I think we have completely misunderstood two pieces of advice that Jesus gave us about this problem. First, Jesus said as God provides for the sparrows, that He will also provide for you. 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26 ESV) Ultimately, worry is a form of unbelief, but perhaps a different form of unbelief than you may think. By comparing us to sparrows, the Lord was hinting at a completely, different issue. This is because worry may actually reflect how little we believe God values us. Why would Jesus as the question: “Are you not of more value than they?” unless, it was the actual root of the problem. You worry because you don’t believe God values you. You are important to God and whether you believe that or not is a different issue. To deal with worry, …

God Loves Outcasts

Published by

A lot of movies and TV shows have been made about outcasts. To many, outcasts are peculiar and hold the same morbid fascination as freak shows or perhaps car accidents and disasters. You know they are there, but they just don’t affect your life. The Bible is full of stories about outcasts. Some rose to great heights, even becoming kings. Esther saved an entire nation. David is the most revered king in Israel’s history. Joseph ruled Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. Others are mentioned briefly. Like the blind men healed by Jesus or the lepers healed, and we are not told what happened to them. But there is one outcast story in the Old Testament that touches me deeply. This story parallels the stories of many people pushed aside and forgotten except for crime or poverty statistics. The story of Ishmael is the story of the ultimate outcast and begins with Abraham. In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham who was distraught that he had no children as heirs. God tells him to …

Jail time for praying about a virus

Published by

So, how are you coping with the lockdown for the Corona virus or COVID-19? Whatever name we give to the virus, the effect is the same. A virus can make us sick, and possibly kill us, and spread to others. We know that. The other effect, is to destroy society. Have you noticed the list of corporations that are now in bankruptcy? This morning I heard about Hertz, the company that rents cars. We may not think about them unless we work for them, but did you ever imagine a world where so many big corporate names would disappear? The world is changing around us, in this pandemic. Some of the changes are made by us. The pandemic itself is terrible in some places, or just a temporary disruption, depending on how people managed the crisis. History will judge us all. One other problem, is the blame aimed at people who break the rules. I live in a place where the restrictions are not too extreme. If I don’t like the line ups when I …

Dealing with the fear of the unknown

Published by

Fear of the unknown can overwhelm us and impact our body, mind and spirit in unhealthy ways as we start obsessively worrying about the future, which some refer to it as “future tripping.” The actual purpose of fear is to signal our brain that there is potential for danger or death telling us to ‘fight, flee or freeze.’ Though there is benefit to it, that changes to negative when we are consumed by prolonged bouts of fear. Psychotherapist Terri Cole, who has worked with women for 20 years, states that we must be aware of the psychological, emotional and physical cost to walking around in a constant, heightened state of fear. She says being on constant alert is not good for you and can even compromise your immune system. Exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, brain fog and depression are all symptoms that your nervous system is being overloaded by fear. And if this describes you, it may also suggest this pandemic is exposing deeper emotional issues and trauma in your life, that you have been carrying around …

Listen to Warning Dreams?

Published by

I recently read an article on Charisma News about a dream that Eddie Keever received warning of the possible attack on his daughter who was attending North Carolina State University. In his dream, Eddie was with his 18-year-old daughter when a car full of strange people showed up. When his daughter got in the vehicle, feeling nervous about the group, Eddie decided to join them. They drove to a house where Eddie said he felt an evil presence. There were also a number of women in the house who attacked him and his daughter. In his dream, Eddie saw they had killed people before, and he used a broken piece of glass to fight them off. He was also able to kill one particularly evil woman saving both him and his daughter. At that moment, the dream abruptly ended. Because of this dream, Eddie and his wife Debbie prayed for God to protect their daughter. They had no idea what it was about but believed the dream suggested that their daughter was in danger. Then …

Study confirms miraculous healing from blindness

Published by

A study by The Global Medical Research Institute (GMRI) confirmed that a Baptist woman was miraculously healed of blindness after her husband prayed for her in 1972. The woman was diagnosed with Juvenile Macular Degeneration (JMD) and had been legally blind for 13 years. JMD is an inherited and incurable condition that results in the central part of what a person is looking at becoming dark or blurred, while the edges often remain clear. The woman first contracted the condition in 1959 when she was 18 years old. Her condition rapidly deteriorated over the following months, and she was eventually forced to turn to braille for reading and the use of a cane for walking. She would also eventually marry and have a child. The study of the miracle was undertaken on behalf of GMRI by two professors, Joshua Brown of Indiana University, Kenn Freedman of Texas Tech University, and as well a retired radiologist David Zaritzky and GMRI associate researcher Clarrisa Romez. According to the researchers, the woman was healed of this incurable condition …

Spiritual Warfare #5: When Do I Win?

Published by

As we saw last week, a knight’s identity as a knight is what gave him the character and ability to win in battle.  The same is true of a Christian. Imagine yourself in a new modern soldier’s uniform with incredible weapons. You are about to board the transport plane for your first ever battle. You see some dirty, tired soldiers disembark and their faces are set, determined, grim even. A shudder goes down your spine. You know you are a solider but yet you experience fear. In what seems an eternity you find yourself jumping from a helicopter in the middle of a battle. Bullets, explosions, noise, and confusion surround and engulf you. You freeze. Your instinct is to move back. Then you hear the yells of your leader and you jump into action.  You are a soldier and you go forward into the battle. Jesus is our leader and although He doesn’t often yell, his voice is the one we must seek and is the one to which we must listen. Our identity comes …

Religion in the Alley: What are you resisting?

Published by

A few years ago, I did something that was wrong, maybe. I will tell you the story, and you decide. We had moved to the place where we live now, and I like to go for walks, so I travelled through the new streets and alleys. In our alley, I met a young man, who always seemed to be in the same place, and he always spoke to me. This was strange because he seemed strong and healthy, and the economy was good. He should have been at work, unless he was a drug dealer, and he was working. In the language of the seventies, he was into something. I knew he was going to ask me for something, and I was ready. When he got too fake-friendly and aggressive, I told him how I found Jesus, and how that worked for me. That is the truth, I did find Jesus, and that does work for me. The other guy wanted to pull me into something, and I didn’t need his thing. The guy looked …

A cocoon is not a tomb: A prophetic word about the Coronavirus

Published by

A recent prophetic word by Nate Johnston has encouraged me during these last stages of the COVID lockdown. For a while now, my husband and I have sensed that things may be different for the church and the people of God when we are finally released from this lockdown or maybe  ‘set free’ is a better term to use. Nate Johnston is a prophetic minster from Australia who I have been following for years. Nate’s recent prophetic word “This is not a tomb season, This is a cocoon season” has helped me understand the place many of us are finding ourselves in — spiritually confused, frightened, disorientated and maybe a bit angry.  For many of us, it feels like we have been locked up in a dark place for too long and the glimmer of hope that it may soon be over has many wondering what’s next?  Things may not be the same. We are not the same and how do we prepare for this new stage that has been set before us?  Nate prophesies …

3,500 California Churches will reopen on May 31st with or without permission

Published by

Churches in California are being impacted by government mandated lockdowns and 3,500 churches in that state announced they are reopening with or without government permission. Many are concerned that the lockdowns implemented by the state and municipal governments may go on for months, if not indefinitely. In an interview with Good Morning America, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the lock down in his city may never end. This announcement followed an order by LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, that she was extending the city’s stay-at-home order another three months. Garcetti quickly contradicted Ferrer’s statement by adding the extension to the end of August will only include the use of face masks and social distancing. Garcetti did not address bans put on public gatherings that includes schools and churches. But then Garcetti added that “LA will never completely open until we have a cure.” Some believe the Democratic mayor plans to keep the city in some version of a lock down until a vaccine is found, that …

Why is there a wire surrounding an area of Manhattan?

Published by

Many people don’t realize there is a string of wire encircling a large part of Manhattan Island in New York. It is strung along posts 15 feet (4.57 m) high off the ground. Why? Well it allows Orthodox Jews to go outside their homes on the Sabbath. In the Mosaic Law, the Jews were told to rest on the Sabbath day. This of course resulted in a big discussion on what it meant to rest and more specifically what was work. This resulted in the development of a series of oral laws, where Jewish teachers provided specific details on what was allowed and not allowed under the Mosaic law. This included regulations surrounding the Sabbath. These were eventually written down in what is referred to as the Mishnah. There were different versions of these oral and written laws, and in the fourth century, they were eventually gathered into a single written record called the Talmud. Today, it involves of a multi-volume set that compiles hundreds of additional rules Jews need to obey in order to …

Spiritual Warfare #4: Who am I?

Published by

There are two sections of the Bible that many people use as keys to victory in spiritual warfare. These are the Armour of God section in Ephesians 6: 11-18 and the resist verse in James 4: 7. According to them if I put on the full of armour of God and resist the devil, I will have victory. Yet, there are times in which this does not appear to happen. So how can we have victory every single time we battle the devil? The first thing to know about any Bible verse is that the words are not just some powerful enchantment. They must be believed to be true. That is where faith comes in. We must choose to resist or put on the armor. That’s where our mind comes in. The Bible is full of advice on spiritual warfare. Every single book in the Bible mentions it in one form or the other. In fact, it is the sword of truth in Ephesians 6. A sword is a great weapon but it is only …

Israel and Egypt: The future does not look good

Published by

While the whole world is focusing on the Coronavirus Pandemic, there is other news. Some interesting things are happening in the world, and there are lessons that we could miss. As I write this, Muslims are in their month of Ramadan which according to the information I have runs this year from April 23 to May 23. About 1.8 billion people are counted as Muslim, and this year’s Ramadan is complicated with the restrictions of a pandemic lock down. A few years ago, I worked as a trainer for a bus company, and that meant I drove a school bus when a driver phoned in sick; and someone always phoned in. One morning I drove some children for a bilingual Arabic-English program, so they were from immigrant families from the Middle East. I heard two little girls talking behind me, about ‘those people’ which meant people like me. One little girl said “and they don’t have Ramadan!” They both seemed shocked by this information. That was a lesson for me; these people take their beliefs …

So who plays the thugs in this modern Broadway remake of the Good Samaritan?

Published by

The parable of the good Samaritan involves a man who went out of his way to help a person who had been attacked by thugs, robbed and basically left unconscious on the side of the road. Several people walked around the man, before the good Samaritan arrived, bandaged the man’s wounds and then transported him to a nearby inn and paid for the man’s stay until he was healed (Luke 10:25-37). Based on this story, Samaritan’s Purse, an organization currently headed by Franklin Graham, provides financial and medical assistance to areas hit by disaster. They will bring in doctors and nurses and provide medical aid at no charge to anyone who needs it. So when officials at New York’s City’s Mount Sinai Health System called Samaritan’s Purse for help in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, the organization immediately responded. At no charge to New York City or the state, Samaritan’s Purse set up a 68 person field hospital in Central Park and immediately began treating people. In an interview with Faithwire, Franklin Graham said: …

Is the Age of the Gentiles About to End?

Published by

GOD TV, an evangelical organization out of England, has just received approval to preach the Gospel of Jesus in Hebrew on a cable channel in Israel. GOD TV recently signed a seven-year deal with HOT to distribute a new Christian channel entitled “SHELANU TV” (translated “Ours TV” in English). HOT controls about 50% of the Israeli cable market. Before this could happen, HOT had to receive permission from Israel’s Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council that regulates cable TV in Israel. According to Ward Simpson, GOD TV’s CEO, their organization believes this will be the first time, that this type of broadcasting has been allowed. While other Christian channels are broadcasting on cable channels in English, this will be the first one that broadcasts in Hebrew. The English broadcasts are largely watched by the thousands of English-speaking Christians in Israel. The significance of a Christian organization broadcasting its message in Hebrew has certainly caught the attention of the media, as it showed up on several major Israeli news site. Haaratz reported the new with this headline: …

Is China’s Communist Regime Paving the Way for the ‘Harlot of Babylon’?

Published by

ChinaAid has just recently released a video of a violent attack on a church in China by the country’s communist regime. ChinaAid is a Christian non-profit that focuses on human rights abuses in China. In their description of the video, ChinaAid writes: “In a video taken at the scene, officers and attendees of Xingguang Church shout as they engage in a physical altercation. As they block the entrance, officials drag a Christian to the door, with other congregants fighting along with him.” Aside from the violence, what is disturbing is the reason for the attack. The church is considered illegal because it was not part of the Communist Regime’s Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Churches (including house churches) are required by law to be a part of the Three-Self movement. The Communist regime uses the Three-Self movement to control the Gospel message by inserting itself into choosing the Church leadership. The Gospel message is still being preached in some Three-Self churches, if the original pastor is still in charge. However, when he leaves, retires or dies, …

Spiritual Warfare #3: Mind Meld

Published by

The modern culture tells us that faith and intellect are two different things. Either you have belief or you have brains. You can’t have both. In the previous two articles on spiritual warfare I wrote about how most spiritual warfare happens. This week I promised to start fighting back. To do so requires unity between our mind and our faith. In spiritual warfare, the evil enemy has hijacked our reason and rationality. He has been able to make science the final word and pitched it against the Bible. Many people, even those who profess to be Christians, defer to science to explain creation, the progress of life, and the world about and in us. People who chose to believe the Bible to be true and accurate are mocked and thought to be less intellectual. In effect, Christians don’t use their brains and are just wrong or misguided. This elevation of science and rational thinking over faith and divine inspiration (man exalted over God) created an either-or atmosphere. Either you are a believer or you are …

Religious Arguments: When you are just not good enough

Published by

I’m a Christian and I know what that means. I know, but most of the world seems to know what I should be. Whatever you believe, other people will try to make you into what they want you to be. You might hear ‘You people should …’ They have a preferred image for people like you and you are wrong if you don’t do follow the program. Unmarried marriage counsellors don’t play the game, but they do make the rules. When I was a student in a university, I took a course from a professor that we all liked. He was an excellent teacher, and we all enjoyed learning with him. He also talked openly about his connections with a church, and my family went to a church; I thought we had something in common. One day I had an appointment in his office, and after we finished talking about my assignment, I told him that my family went to … church. I expected a smile, at least. I still remember that severe look on …

Start walking

Published by

One of the problems with vision is that we want instant success. We want it to happen now, but in order for you to produce fruit, there first needs to be pruning.  Pruning can be a long process for some of us, as in 40 years of pruning from when my husband started to write and pursue his passion for Bible teaching and world events.  It wasn’t until my retirement that I began to pursue my dream and desire for women to connect and whenever I gave up and let go of the dream, it always came back stronger than ever.  Maybe God has given you a dream or vision that He has called you to do. Below are a few tips from a sermon delivered by Matt Adams a couple of years ago, that helped me in my journey: “It doesn’t matter how many we lead. It matters where we lead them and how you lead them.” “Learn to lead from your placement, where you are now, without wanting to be a star.” “We …

Attacks by a spirit of compromise: A sign of the times?

Published by

I believe the church is under attack from what I would describe as a spirit of compromise. This is exemplified by an incident in Communist China where authorities arrested the pastor of a house church in Hunan province because he refused to join the Communist Party’s sanctioned protestant church denomination — the Three Self Patriotic Association. According to Radio Free Asia, when Pastor Zhao Huaiguo was originally arrested in March, he was accused of re-posting messages about the Coronavirus. However, during his interrogation, the police repeatedly asked him to join the Three Self Patriotic Association, which indicated this was the real reason for the arrest. The Communist-run church denomination forces churches to make small compromises such as installing phrases by Mao on their walls. Sure they can still preach the Bible, but that is alongside the communist messaging. Because he refused, the Communist party has since charged him with “inciting subversion of state power.” It appears that Huaiguo could have escaped imprisonment and torture if he made that small compromise. It must have been tempting, …

49 | Thinking old?

Published by

FOLLOW OUR PODCASTS ON: Itunes Stitcher Spotify Google Play IHeartRadio TuneIn Podchaser PODCAST NOTES: Hi my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to discuss the question: Does how we think, affect how we age? But first let me ask you a question: At what age does a person officially become old? So what age did you pick? A recent survey of 2,000 Americans commissioned by LetsGetChecked asked that very question. This survey concluded that you are officially old when you turn 57. When I read the number I was absolutely shocked and also concerned because if we think we are old at just 57, could this potentially impact our aging process? As well, they provided some top indicators that you have officially reached old age. 39% listed an increased concern about health. 36% said more wrinkles. 35% listed grey hair And perhaps what was most disturbing is that 34% said hair loss. Good grief I was losing hair by the time I was 30. But in England, a similar survey of …

How change reveals the truth of a miracle

Published by

I recently read the testimony about a miracle that completely transformed a family and it reminded me a bit of the disciples. Pureflix recently interviewed Allen Jackson, who pastors the 15,000 member mega church, World Outreach Church in Nashville, Tennessee. In the interview, Jackson shared the miracle that led to his family becoming Christians about four decades back and ultimately played a key role in him entering the ministry. Forty years ago, Jackson’s mother had been diagnosed with cancer. And as so often happens during times of crisis, people turn to God. As Jackson’s mother, who wasn’t a believer, was leaving with her family for the Mayo Clinic, she prayed “Let me know the truth, so I can tell my children.” When she arrived at the clinic and went through the scans, the doctors were amazed when they discovered that her tumours had completely disappeared. It was a miracle. A short time later, she was washing the dishes and the Holy Spirit spoke to her about the prayer she uttered just before leaving for the …

Spiritual Warfare #2: Guerrilla Warfare

Published by

There’s an old song by The Platters called the “Great Pretender.” The first line is: Oh-oh yes I’m the great pretender”. I used to belt it out because it is one of the few lines I can sing well.  That line could also be Satan’s tag line. Satan, the great pretender. Pretending he is God. Pretending that he has our best interests at heart.  According to Oxford, to pretend is to speak and act to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not. A second definition from Oxford is to lay claim to a quality or a title. This is Satan’s problem. He speaks and acts as if he is God and tries to lay claim to the throne of God. He knows he is defeated, and he knows his claim is false. Yet he continues to “prowl around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). As we read in last week’s article, Satan does not directly attack God since he would lose such a …

The Coronavirus: Were We Warned?

Published by

Nostradamus was a French predictor, possibly a prophet who said something about a “twin year” when life would change for the whole Earth. I am no expert on the writings of Nostradamus, but I know he lived almost five hundred years ago. If he told us something about a pandemic in our time, we should pay attention. One big problem with the writings of Nostradamus is that they are cryptic, like a puzzle. It is possible to say now, that he wrote about something in our times. It is also possible to interpret what he said in some other way. If Nostradamus was a prophet, he did not communicate clearly to us so that we could hear his warnings, and protect ourselves. A warning that we don’t understand until after the event is mostly a curiosity. READ: Nostradamus ‘There will be a twin year’ prediction: Did Nostradamus predict coronavirus?: Express And then there is Bill Gates. He is a wealthy man who seems to be concerned about the welfare of his fellow humans. With his …

Can we block our own prayers?

Published by

What is your stance these days in light of all that is happening? What are your thoughts? Are they fear based or faith based? Are you standing on solid ground or shaky ground? Do we need to shift our prayers from a place of fear and frustration and step onto more solid ground? The Apostle Peter writes: “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3) Based on this promise, I have challenged myself to change my position from pleading to God for help to stepping into a posture of thanksgiving and praise. God’s word says that He has already given us everything we need to live a life of abundance. Asking for what we want or need is a good thing, but staying stuck in a place of continual pleading may block us from receiving or even seeing God’s provision and answers to our prayers because of our frustration and …

Why did a Danish Bible translation remove references to Israel?

Published by

Recent reports are claiming that a new translation of a Danish Bible, Bible 2020, has basically been censored removing almost every reference to the nation of Israel in the New Testament. This was the first new version of a Danish Bible published in 20 years. According to Jan Frost, who has gone through the new version in depth, Bible 2020 has replaced terms such as the “land of Israel” with phrases such as “the Jews” or the “land of Jews.” According to Frost, 59 of the 60 reference to Israel in the New Testament were changed. And even the Old Testament didn’t completely escape this renovation. In one instances, they replaced the word “Israel” with “us.” Instead of Psalm 121:4 reading: “indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” It now reads, “he who watches over us.” But somehow the names of other ancient foreign nations, such as Egypt, managed to survive in the new translation. So why did the authors of the new translation decide to remove the name Israel? In …

Persecuted for doing good? Somethings never change.

Published by

It’s not the first time something like this has happened, but Samaritan’s Purse ended up in trouble because of its willingness to help heal the sick. Samaritan’s Purse, founded in 1970, is now run by Franklin Graham, the son of Evangelist Billy Graham. With offices in over 100 countries, one of its goals is to provide material assistance and medical aid in times of disaster. During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, Samaritan’s Purse set up a 68-bed field hospital in New York City, one of the regions the hardest hit by the Coronavirus in the US. As a Christian humanitarian organization, it is staffed by believers and volunteer Evangelical doctors and nurses. Though the organization supports traditional marriage, and requires its staff to do the same, Samaritan’s Purse helps all who come through its door. It doesn’t matter what their faith is or sexual preference, if they are sick, the doctors and nurses will tend to their needs. And equally important, Samaritan’s Purse provides this help at no charge. But as Samaritan’s Purse set up its …

Spiritual Warfare #1: Fear or Freedom

Published by

Spiritual warfare is the foundation of many Hollywood movies and best-selling novels. We all know stories that scared us and our nightmares are full of frightening images and visions. All these things have one purpose and that is to cause fear. That moment in the movie when we jump as the monster leaps out of the dark, that build up of suspense in the book until the killer is standing over the victim, and that scary thing under our bed cause us to fear the unexpected, the unnatural, or the spirit world. Is this fear warranted? In this first in a series of articles on spiritual warfare, we examine that question. I used to like monster movies and those weird TV shows looking for Bigfoot, Chupacabra, or Loch Ness Monster. These creatures were shown as bigger than life and portrayed as frightening, almost supernatural. As a child, The Mummy scared me the most. Movies and TV moved into more powerful supernatural areas over time and evil spirits are shown as powerful unstoppable forces. People, even …

That Little Boy Who Prayed

Published by

There is a picture, and a story on the Internet, about a six-year-old boy in Peru who prayed to God, about the Coronavirus pandemic, in the middle of a street. From the story, the boy wanted to pray, but his home was too noisy, so he went outside and prayed in the quiet street. I am skeptical about two things, but the boys’ story is a good one. Jesus did say “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3) That boy can teach the world something. I am skeptical about the claim that this story has gone viral. It is being circulated by one denomination, the Roman Catholic Church, and probably most of the readers are in that group. But then here we are; I’m not Catholic, and we are taking the story to the wider world. Maybe it really will go viral. It should. I am also skeptical about the picture. The camera angle, the boy’s pose, and the street lighting all look like …

Keeping Prayer Simple

Published by

When I looked at prayer in the past, I thought it meant praying for at least one hour before it counted, and this belief discouraged me from entering into prayer. I believed that it was just too hard to incorporate into my everyday life and as a result prayer was often the last thing I did. Then I started feeling guilty about not praying enough, and this led me to just stop praying altogether because I felt my prayers weren’t good enough or long enough, so why bother. The priests ministering in the temple in the Old Testament had a great spiritual responsibility to offer sacrifices to God for the sins of the people. But they also had other duties. These were called ‘sacred lots’ where the menial duties of priesthood were divided up including such things as kitchen duties, yard work and providing oversight to the Levites. They had other necessary duties that did not include the sacrifices, but were important enough to be called ‘sacred.’ Understanding that the Old Testament priests had menial …