“God remains humanity’s greatest disappointment.” ~ Dallas Willard If you have your ear to the ground or your eyes on the screen, you will see a daily avalanche of mere mortals cursing, damning, and blaming the eternal God for everything that’s wrong in the world. If people treat Him this way, while He is invisible, what would happen if He made Himself visible, like so many say they want? They’d no doubt kill Him! Wait . . . He did. And... Read more

The following article is an excerpt from Jesus: A Theography (Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola, Thomas Nelson, 424 pages, hardcover). The excerpt was published in Life Today with James Robison and Rick Warren’s Pastor’s Toolbox Newsletter. — “She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” ~... Read more

Here’s an incisive insight by the late Leanna Payne: “Often the enemy will take advantage of opposition that arises within the most intimate circles–our close relatives or friends in the body of Christ–to stir up the most heartrending kind of spiritual warfare. This especially occurs when a groundbreaking ministry is at stake. There will always be slander and lies in such demonized warfare. I have yet to see a case like this where a root of sin of envy was... Read more

Ever meet a fellow Christian for the first time? There’s always that thing. That thing they are jazzed about. That thing that drives them. That thing that turns them on and sets them aglow. That thing that manifests itself quickly after they start speaking. Here are some of the many “things” that the Christians I’ve met throughout the years were stuck on, obsessed with, fascinated by, and well, just plain in love with. Evangelism. Theology. Pacifism (war, guns, the military,... Read more

There are two kinds of Christianity. 1. The Christian “religion.” 2. The Christianity we find in the New Testament. The Christian religion is built on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Christian religion can be studied using the same categories of thought used to study any other world religion. It can be analyzed just as Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism are analyzed. The difficulty with the Christian religion (like all religions) is that it makes its adherents think... Read more

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From the Lips of Lazarus . . . It’s been more than thirty years since I met Him. The day He first entered our home is etched in my mind forever. I shall never forswear those memories. My sisters, Mary and Martha, are no longer with us. Neither is my father, Simon, whom Jesus healed of leprosy. Most of the Teacher’s close disciples, all of whom I had the privilege of knowing, have rendered their lives for His Name’s sake. A number of... Read more

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Be good anyway. Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People need help but will attack... Read more

I keep hearing people in ministry say, “I have no hope for today’s Christians who are in their 20s and 30s. They aren’t interested in the deeper things of God. They are only interested in celebrity Christianity and what’s supposedly popular but shallow.” My response: This may be true for the majority, but the deepest Christians I know who are in their 20s and 30s are part of *The Deeper Christian Life Network* and they are an impressive tribe of... Read more

Most errors circulating in the Christian world today can be found in the New Testament era. In particular, the two main enemies of the gospel—legalism and libertinism (license to sin)—were both present in the early church. Galatians was written to legalists—hence the strong emphasis on liberty, freedom, and grace. James was written to libertines, those who presumed on the grace of God and turned it into a license to sin. Thus the book of James is strong on obedience, faith... Read more