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Ties That Bind: The Meaning of Peace

TIES THAT BIND: THE MEANING OF PEACE

This post is a word study on the New Testament word for “peace.”  Given the polarized state of the nation in 2024, it is imperative that we all give the next President of the U.S. a chance, regardless of our personal opinions. In this sense the party out of power becomes part of what is known as the “loyal opposition.” The country needs a healing and this will not happen overnight. This post examines those ties that bind and the meaning...

Sarcasm

SARCASM

Sarcasm: Hostility disguised as humor. It’s very difficult to have grown up in the Catskills and not to have been exposed to sarcasm.  Comedians such Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, Billy Crystal, Sid Caesar, Jerry Seinfeld, Jacky Mason, Buddy Hackett and many others entertained New Yorkers for many, many years.  Today, shows like “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) feature sarcasm and SNL fans are probably enthused about the show for this very reason.  This show has a well-earned and well rewarded reputation of cutting-edge humor...

SCHADENFREUDE

SCHADENFREUDE

I am going to begin this post with a confession. I have what the MAGA (Make America Great Again) maniacs call TDS. This stands for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Don’t bother looking it up in the DSM-5-TR.  It is not there, though Trump supporters believe it should be classified as a mental disorder. “Psychology Today” contains a rough but hardly a clinical description of TDS, noting that it is: Yep! That’s me! Ask my wife Deena if you don’t believe me. Whenever Donald...

Fight!

FOR GOD’S SAKE, FIGHT!

This post is the third essay on spiritual warfare, the first two dealing with spiritual dungeons and the second dealing with whole armor of God (found in Ephesians 6:12ff.)  These two essays should be available on this website if anyone interested in reading them. The three posts deal with the constant struggle between good and evil in this world. Even though the focus of this post is on James Chapter 4, verse 7, it is important to look at the...

Metamorphosis

METAMORPHOSIS

At this time of the year in the northern U.S. and southern Canada, the monarch catepillar is starting to eat voraciously in preparation for the next stage of its life. You can easily find them on the leaves of milk weed, perhaps its favorite source of food. Presently, it will retreat into the darkess of a chrysalis, with which it enshrouds itself. When it emerges as a brilliant butterfly, we say that a metamorphosis has taken place. The apostle Paul...

New wine

NEW WINE

Wine has been a household staple since the days of Noah and likely long before his days as well.  Because some Biblical characters (including Noah) abused wine while others drank it in moderation, especially to celebrate special occasions, the Bible both commends (Psalm 104:15; Isaiah 65:8; John 2:1ff) and condemns (e.g. Genesis 9:21ff; Isaiah 28:7.; Joel 1:5-6; Micah 2:11) the use of wine.  However, wine was used in the Old Testament in the worship of God (as a drink offering)...

Fruits of the Spirit

FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT

The apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia speaks of the fruits of the Spirit as follows: “But the fruit (karpos) of the Spirit is love (agapē), joy (chara), peace (eirēnē), forbearance (makrothumia), kindness (chrēstotēs), goodness (agathōsynē), faithfulness (pistis), gentleness (prautēs),and self-control (enkrateia). Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22, 23. Just as there are gifts of the Holy Spirit, some natural such as teaching and some supernatural such as prophesy, there are also fruits of...

Lamentations

LAMENTATIONS

This past week, my wife and I watched almost every vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.  I’m a political scientist by training and she is an equally concerned and informed citizen. And, we are both educators.  Both of us love our country.  We each unselfishly gave more than twenty years of our lives in service to America during our careers.  The spectacle that we saw unfold in the House of Representatives last week, and the changes to the House Rules, concern us both,...

Dirty shirt and jeans on floor

86 YOUR TIRED THREADS

During the period of Prohibition in the United States, the merchandising of alcohol was prohibited.  As a result, private and secret clubs called “Speakeasys” emerged. One such Speakeasy was located at 86 Bedford Street in Manhattan.  It was typical of these clubs back then to have one or more police officers in their hire, who would tip them off when a raid from the Vice Division was about to be launched.  At that point, the bartenders would quickly and loudly inform...

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