Award-Winning, Bestselling Christian Author
I’LL GIVE YOU THIS MUCH: Jesus never told anyone how to vote, as far as I know. He couldn’t vote. Nor could anyone else in his part of the world. His country was occupied and ruled by an autocrat—a dictator in Rome. Jesus did, however, tell his …
Q Paul serves up a big plate of predestination in Ephesians 1, or so it seems to many Christians. Paul says “God chose us. Even before he created the world, he decided that we should be his children” (1:4). Who do you think Paul was talking about? …
I WAS MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, proofing my work on the Gospel of Matthew paraphrase for the Casual English Bible, when I tripped over a surprising Bible verse. I paraphrased Jesus putting it this way, “If people want to find their own worst enemies, …
Q In a nutshell—which is where many Jews probably felt Paul belonged—Paul essentially argued in Galatians 4 that God had a two-part plan for saving people from sin. Part 1: Obey the laws of Moses until Jesus comes. Part 2: Obey the laws that the …
I READ THE NEWS morning, noon, and night. I hold my breath each time I open up a news app on my phone. I’m afraid of what I’m going to read. I keep hoping for someone to take a stand for integrity, human decency, and justice. I’m almost always …
Q Why do you think Paul, in the book of Galatians especially, was so bitterly opposed to fellow Jewish Christians who sincerely believed that Jesus wanted people to continue to honor and obey the Jewish laws that God gave them through Moses? After …
OKAY, THAT’S NOT MY QUESTION. That’s the question from a woman who’s struggling for an answer. I got the question this week. It’s one of more than 10,000 questions and comments in response to my YouTube video “What Romans said about crucifixion.” I …
AFTER JESUS FLIPPED THE TABLES of merchants at the Jerusalem Temple, he tore into the religion leaders but good. To some readers, he might even sound uncharacteristically mean-spirited. Not like himself and all. In fact, beside himself. I was working …
Q Curious souls with an eye for detail might notice that just about every time Bible writers talk about going to or from Jerusalem they say they are going “up to Jerusalem” (Galatians 2:1), or they are headed home “down from Jerusalem” (Luke 10:30). …
SORRY ABOUT NOT WRITING the blog articles last week. My wife and I have been busy with dogs, diapers, and newborn babies. The blog took a back seat. A month ago my wife and I had one pair of two-year old grandkids. A boy and a girl. Today we have …
Q Galatians is the angriest surviving letter Paul wrote. He was fed up with Jewish Christians trying to pressure non-Jews into observing all the ancient Jewish laws. Those included laws that require all men to be circumcised, and that everyone eat …
WHEN I NEED A SHORT BREAK, or at the end of my workday, I answer emails along with comments on my blog and my YouTube channel. Here’s a taste of it from the past 24 hours. I’m not Trump’s Stephen Miller “Tonight, as you settle into your …
