Issues In Perspective

One of the key themes of Issues in Perspective is the articulation and defense of the Christian worldview. That worldview is discerned from a study of the Bible and the application of that worldview to life. Two recent studies validate the biblical viewpoint.

Probably one of the most influential women in America today is Oprah Winfrey. The Oprah Winfrey Show is now history but she has founded her own network and her influence will hardly diminish.

Historian Niall Ferguson has written several insightful articles over the past few years helping me to understand the ongoing shift from the West to the East going on in the world. A new order to our world is emerging and, in this Perspective, I seek to make sense of it. First of all, Ferguson argues that over the last 500 years the West has had six ?killer applications? that explain its dominance...

At the end of December 2010, a huge natural gas discovery was confirmed in the Eastern Mediterranean inside Israel?s territorial waters. It is called the Leviathan gas deposit in the Levant Basin and marks a major development for Israel, with the potential for making Israel an energy exporter over the next decade. Natural gas was first discovered off Israel?s coast in 1999, but the quantity was so...

Marvin Olasky was at one point a radical leftist history professor and an advocate of the communist worldview. But he trusted Christ a number of years ago and is now the editor of World magazine. Olasky recently appeared on Glenn Beck?s TV program. Beck is one of the media stars on the late afternoon Fox TV lineup. I believe the substance of that interview needs to be summarized. In effect, I will...

One of the key themes of biblical Christianity is the importance of sound doctrine. The Apostle Paul uses this phrase especially in the Pastoral Epistles. The term ?sound? actually means healthy and, from Paul, we learn that sound doctrine is the key to godly living and to spiritual health. It is therefore quite significant to focus on the importance of sound doctrine in this postmodern world. And...

There is quite a stir going on right now about the anticipated publication of Rob Bell?s new book, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. It is scheduled for release on Tuesday, 29 March 2011.

Issues in Perspective has lamented family breakdown, social disintegration and the decline of American civilization for several years now. The evidence for all these propositions seems overwhelming. However, a recent study gives a small ray of hope.

Recently, President Obama determined that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages?is unconstitutional. He directed the Justice Department to stop defending the law in court. Despite the fact that his administration had defended DOMA during the first two years in office, that department will no longer do so.  The Attorney [continue reading...

President Obama recently presented his budget to the Congress and, as a part of this budget, he is launching an initiative for a high speed rail network for the United States.  Indeed, VP Joe Biden, with great fanfare, announced the administration?s plan in Philadelphia to spend $53 billion over six years for a ?national high-speed [continue reading...]

During World War II, Adolf Hitler showered the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini (the titular leader of the Palestinians) with gifts, wealth and a Berlin villa.  Why?  Because he broadcast Nazi propaganda to the Middle East, recruited European Muslims for the SS, exulted the Holocaust and after the war went on to represent [continue reading...]

As I am writing this, the Middle East is in turmoil. It is simply impossible to have a clear view of all that is occurring and what the short term and long term implications are. Civil war in some of the nations, a disruption in the flow of oil from this region, higher energy costs, the growth or the demise of radical Islam are all potential results, but no one really knows. It is simply too early...

The proverbial day of reckoning for the United States, both at the national level and in most of the respective states of this union, has arrived. In this Perspective, I want to defend that proposition.

One of my favorite authors is Kay M. Hymowitz. Her written works have helped me in developing one of the major themes of Issues in Perspective?an analysis of cultural trends, especially the growing confusion of young men in American culture. She uses the term ?pre-adult? to define a new cultural development or even a new stage in human development between the teen years and adulthood. [Other socio...

Years ago, my wife and I watched a movie based on a famous book by Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago. The movie, made in 1965, is a gorgeous movie: The scenery of Russia in the winter is breathtaking and stunning. The movie is set during the tumultuous years of the Bolshevik Revolution that swept Russia from 1917-1920. As the forces of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who took the name of Lenin, ravaged the...

n preparation for a recent conference at which I was to speak, I was studying Matthew 6:19-24. Among other things, Jesus is clearly asking His followers to have an investment strategy, one that balances investment for the future with investment for eternity. Material wealth is not evil, but it is transitory, will deteriorate and can be stolen (vv. 19-20). Not so with investment for eternity. As Ra...