America is good at producing original personalities and at least two of them are named John: Hagee and Steinbeck. Steinbeck would have loved writing about Hagee. I don’t know if Hagee would enjoy Of Mice and Men. John Hagee is nobody’s idea of a careful theologian, but he is a well known, and in some circles, well regarded pastor. He presides over a mega-church ministry where by some strange twist of fate the next generation of leaders often have the name... Read more
There will be an interesting astronomical phenomena tonight and some Christians have gone quite mad. They have sold product and riled up the Church claiming that the “blood moon” is the start of “big things.” Some have gone as far as to say that the apocalypse is coming. I believe in the possibility of prophecy. People I trust have given me insights into what God is saying, some with future implications, that were Biblical and came to pass. The Biblical... Read more
I will see Jesus soon. He (almost) certainly will return for me in the next sixty years. This is because I will be dead. If human, we live in constant knowledge that the end is coming. I will not see Super Bowl CX even if the Packers are in it. There will be more glorious and jolly games afoot in a better world. I love the good of this life so very much (Christmas! Kittens! Brown Paper Packages Tied Up... Read more
Once I went to a Christian event with a friend and realized: “We are weird and not in a good way.” Our problem was not holiness, but a “look” that fit a culture unrelated to the mainstream. We stuck out for nothing, but our cussed cluelessness. It was comforting to think: “It would be worse to be a hipster and care what the world thinks about style, speech patterns, or quality.” Then we realized we were wrong: we were conforming... Read more
Watching the première of The Muppets would have been boring if it had not become a fascinating journey into how unfunny a comedy program could be. I would start to laugh at a sketch on Dancing with the Tsars when the writers would decide that a crabby putdown in the mouth of Kermit would be funnier than continuing the joke. There are half-formed jokes in the show, but they are aborted by the kind of television making that still thinks... Read more
Nobody looks at The David and thinks: “I should buy that and take it home to be mine.” The David belongs to Florence and makes no sense outside of Florence. At least I hope nobody sees The David and thinks it should stand in front of their split level in Texas. Some beautiful things are not for me. I can enjoy their beauty, but it is not my beauty. I can never claim the ownership or any power over that goodness. This... Read more
So the news is bad and for the Christians of the Middle East, their world is becoming a new Dark Age. American culture seems determined to test whether one nation can amuse itself to death. Russia, China, India, and other rivals wait to see what comes of the massive social experiments we have undertaken. Will Vegas morality leave us with a Vegas mentality? So there is much to make us sad and yet not all the trends are bad. Here... Read more
Today in Church we learned that the oldest Christian diocese in the world is in serious peril. A Christian leader got a message out to us saying that “almost all hope” is gone. ISIS confronts his community on three sides and his food kitchen, feeding people of every faith, faces extinction. This week, unless something is done, horror may fall on good people. My newsfeed says a Republican candidate said something about Islam and the Presidency. Since the GOP fellow is... Read more
Any of us can be great. Holiness requires no IQ test, wealth, or even victory. History has been and will be made by people of character who succeed in eternity even when they fail now. This is encouraging because there are no limits on us. Holiness is not a tiny, narrow, ugly thing, but a divine beauty that can burst the shell of our conventions, even our conventional morality, and make us great. You can be a saint. God help... Read more
Picking a President is hard, but at least our vote does not count so much. If we are wrong (and I have certainly regretted every vote for any candidate named Arnold), our vote was not decisive. Our guilt need not be so great. Still I want to choose. . . wisely. . . not because divine wrath will fall on me (as it would if I picked the wrong grail), but because it is better to be right than wrong.... Read more
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