Can we speed up the return of Christ? Up until quite recently, I would have given a resounding NO!! However, more recently, I have drifted into the "PROBABLY NOT, BUT MAYBE" response. My reason for the resounding NO in the past was that there were two common arguments that I heard. Argument #1. Matthew 24:14 …
Continue reading Can We Speed Up the Return of Christ (If We Are of a Mind To)?
If one looks it up online, the expression "plain sense of Scripture" refers to the literal sense of Bible interpretation. But this doesn't help at all. Why? Because both "plain sense" and "literal" are somewhat technical terms that sound as if they are anything but technical. Both "Plain Sense" and "Literal" focus on the grammatical-historical …
Continue reading What is the “Plain Sense of Scripture” Anyway?
I do admit that I rarely criticize a group that I am not part of. As a missionary associated with the Southern Baptists, an Evangelical Protestant Christian Denomination, I feel pretty comfortable critiquing or complaining about missionaries, Southern Baptists, Baptists, Evangelicals, Protestants, and Christians. At least I am more comfortable with critiquing these groups than …
Gehazi was a servant of the prophet Elisha. This role gave him a unique ability to serve as a mediator for the prophet. Also in that role he potentially has the ability to serve as a mediator for God in some sense. Three chapters later, Gehazi served as the storyteller for Elisha to the King …
Continue reading Reconciliation and Gehazi. Pastoral Care Reflections, Part 2
While this is listed as Part 1, it could be thought of as a continuation of a previous post. I use the story of Naaman the Leper from II Kings 5 to illustrate three of the four pastoral care functions as described by Clebsch and Jaekle. These three (which were orignially identified by Steward Hiltner) …
Continue reading Reconciliation and Gehazi. Pastoral Care Reflections. Part 1
So I think I had already talked about this but I keep coming back to a certain thing I read on social media. Was it FB? Can't remember. Anyway, the writer was giving advice to some American Christians (Evangelical I must presume). He said something to the effect... "When evangelizing someone, you don't need to …
Continue reading More Reflections on Evangelical Political Thinking in the USA
Ryan Burge is a professor of practice at the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University (Click Here for his FB> He likes to share data regarding religion in America, with one specialization being looking at the term "Evangelical." A recent post he shared on FB regarding the term Evangelical was regarding different …
Continue reading “Evangelical”— What to Do When a Label Doesn’t Really Fit You Anymore?
Attending the conference, I thought I would share a few takeaways from it. The way the conference is set up, everyone joins in the initial plenary address (being the meaning of plenary after all). After that, the rest of the day is several breakout sessions, 5 at a time. Because of that, one can only …
I recall the comic books from the 1970s with the goofy advertisements. Along with the Sea Monkeys and X-Ray glasses was a mini-comicstrip advertising an exercise regimen associated with bodybuilder Charles Atlas (aka Angelo Siciliano). His regimen, built around "dynamic tension," I believe, was promoted to teenage boys. The short comic had a scrawny young …
Continue reading Did Samson Look Like Someone Who Might Have Sand Kicked in His Face?
I don't repost very often. However, we are entering Holy Week 2026 and post I did regarding hope seems more relevant than ever. https://munsonmissions.org/2016/02/04/as-a-protest/ Happy Protesting Week!