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God’s Name and Breathing…

There’s a popular post making the rounds about a supposed association between the Name of God and breathing. (If you haven’t seen it, don’t worry, it’s no loss.) I’m including a photo that’s been attached to this post, but not the post itself, because….well, this is because.  1. This post has absolutely no biblical basis. Nowhere in scripture are we told, or is it even implied, that the covenant name of God is associated with breathing. 2. The woman who wrote the original post claims that “scholars and Rabi’s [sic] have noted that the letters YHWH represent breathing sounds, or aspirated consonants. When pronounced without intervening vowels, it actually sounds like breathing.” Hmm. Who are these scholars and rabbis? What is her source for this information? Are they even credible, biblical sources? We don’t know because she doesn’t say. We’re just supposed to take her word for it, I guess?  And even if they DO “note” this, as she claims, somewhere, I have more questions: How do they kn
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Of Presidents and Policies

President Trump is the president of the country we live in, and as Christians, it is our duty to obey and support and pray for him, and to show him respect. I support Trump in this way, and I’m also thankful  to the Lord for His grace to us in the good policies enacted and actions taken that support biblical morality. As a Christian, I’m grateful for the fact that the Lord has used even an ungodly man to uphold values that are biblical in nature, which reflect godliness. However, I believe Christians tend to stray off track when we begin to act as though Christian values in policy and law has something to do with the godliness of our country in general. Christian values don’t save anyone. Individual hearing of the gospel, repentance, and believing change hearts. Policy doesn’t drive people to Christ. Faithful proclamation of the gospel is what we are called to do and to pursue. Why do Christians spend so much time actively pursuing and speaking on and pushing Christian values a

Persuaders or Proclaimers?

A fantastic preacher named Smedly Yates preached at our church last Sunday. Our regular pastor was at a conference, and as Pastor Yates grew up at our church and has family here, he graciously came here from Tempe, AZ, where he pastors a church, and spent the weekend—first preaching to the men at a Saturday morning breakfast, then feeding us the Word on both Sunday morning and evening. And boy, were we fed. He preached from 1 Corinithians 1 and 2…on the foolishness and power of both the gospel message (morning sermon) and the method of bare proclamation (evening). This post is borne out of that evening message, and I’m going to quote liberally and shamelessly from my notes (I’ll share links to both messages at the end of this post). This sermon was EXCELLENT. One of the best things about it was that he put his finger directly on one of the biggest problems with modern churches today, besides false doctrine/watered-down, erroneous, eisegetical preaching (that which uses

Causing Division

Wherever there is a faithful and discerning believer willing to step out on a limb and warn others about a false teacher or teaching, there is always a crowd of professing Christians there to start the outcry: “You’re causing division in the body of Christ! Just leave them alone! Plenty of people are getting saved and are being helped by this person/ministry/teaching! You’re just sour, or jealous, or bitter and unloving!”…etc. On and on the accusations go. I’ve been on the receiving end of this myself. If I’m honest, though, I’ve been there…when I was younger in the faith; more impressionable, more naïve, and less understanding of the scriptures that familiarity, growth, teaching and study give those who have maturity. And while I don’t claim to be a mature Christian, I’m certainly not a baby anymore. I’m maturING, praise God. He in His wisdom and preservation have kept me from falling into dangerous traps of many wrong teachings and teachers, and given me a love for Scripture

Broken Cisterns

Politicians, leaders, political groups, laws, revolution, rebellion, name calling, pushing back, racial and gender equality, "having a voice", awareness, raising money, comforts, privilege, freedom, good vibes, lobbying, positive thinking, good health, having a "tribe", mental health, environmentalism, recycling, "doing you", having a good time (whatever that looks like for different people), strengthening borders, opening borders, raising wages, equal opportunity, restricting or banning weapons, political correctness, eradicating "hate speech"--trying to offend everyone, hopefully I didn't leave anyone out— NONE of these things ever can or will solve the world's problems. Even GOOD things, like the establishing of biblical marriage, the abolition of abortion, freedom to pray, worship, assemble peaceably, homeschooling, providing for the poor and needy, charitable work...none of these things SOLVE the problem. While these are wort

My Testimony: God's Kindness and Grace

I grew up in a nominally Christian home. I thought we were a thoroughly Christian family, though, and especially admired my mom’s “faith”. She was committed to good works; she was a hard-working, faithful wife and mother, she read her Bible daily, and prayed constantly. She got to know elderly neighbors and helped them in any way she could. She made baked goods for people we knew and delivered them. She was a model of good works. We rarely went to church. I do remember going, sporadically, throughout my childhood, but only for a time, and then we always stopped for long periods before trying another church. I went to a Christian school in my very early school years, and we were told that Jesus loved us and wanted us to invite Him into our hearts. My teacher prayed with me (I think she prayed FOR me) with my mom present, and I believed that I was going to heaven. I tried hard to be obedient and do good things. I believed what my mom believed…that believing Jesus died for my sin