Stephen M. Miller

HERE’S HOW JEWISH SONGWRITERS said thanks to God more than 2,000 years ago. Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Psalm 100:1 Lord, it is good to praise you. Most High God, it is good to make music to honor you. Psalm 92:1 Our God, we thank you …

WHAT IF WHENEVER WE COMPLAIN, we try to think up one reason to be grateful? Not that I’ve done it. I’m just wondering if I can. Let me give it a try. It can’t be much harder than putting money in a jar every time we cuss. Complaint: I got word that a …

IT’S A FAIR QUESTION that gets asked a lot. Last month, another reader wanted an answer to a scholarly twist he put on that same question. You can read my answer here: Why did Jesus die? But I just got the question again from a reader who seems more …

I’M A NEAT FREAK. Always have been. When the kids were growing up, it used to bother me when I came home from the office and found it hard to plant my feet anywhere since the living room was covered with toys and dolls and blocks and books and …

TIME FOR A SPIRITUAL GUT CHECK. Miller status: • Upper respiratory infection. A tenor, I can now sing lower than Johnny Cash. And he’s dead. • 10 degrees outside. And Buddy the Dog still wants me to walk him. Let’s wait till noon. • Computer fussy. I …

HOW MANY TIMES does a body have to die? Isn’t once bad enough? Yet a mysterious writer who called himself John wrote in the last book of the Bible that good and godly people “will not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:11). What “second …

SWINGING A CANE LIKE A CLUB, has as elderly person ever come at you with something less than peaceful intentions? It happened to me recently. The experience is sending me to the Bible to see if there’s any good advice for my situation. I’m looking …

IF PRAYER WORKS like my seminary prof said he thought it might, I’ll be asking for your prayer support today. My prof, years ago, said he pictured prayer like a pipeline to heaven. He said in his mind’s eye he sees God pouring out his grace on all of …

JESUS HATED FAMILIES. That’s the impression he leaves with many folks today when they read his mission statement: “I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. Your …

I’M NEGOTIATING A CONTRACT for a new book. And by “I’m” I mean my agent. I don’t know if you’ve heard that most writers don’t make much money. But if you haven’t, they don’t. I have sold well over 1 million books. Most of my books …

WHEN I SAY I have free review books for “virgin” readers – and I do – I don’t mean virgin in the biblical sense. I mean virgin in a marketing sense. Your mailbox remains untouched by any free books of mine. Here’s what’s going on. I’ve sent out a lot …

ONE OF THE STRANGEST laws in the Bible, as far as I’m concerned, is this one about what should happen to a man who rapes a Jewish virgin. “The man who raped her has to give her father fifty pieces of silver. He has to marry her because he took …