Conversations at the Ranch with Dudley Hall

The latest embarrassing eruption of incivility in the public eye has been reported recently including several people in President Trump’s administration being harassed by those holding different political views. But it has been escalating for some time, with multiple universities shutting down divergent political voices that might question the prevailing sexual revolution’s agenda. Late night TV i...

A friend recently spoke of the prevalence of “Adam’s itch” in all of us. He was talking about the compulsion to do something to get back into the good favor with God—back in the Garden of Eden—back to where we can be the recipients of God’s blessing rather than the object of curses. Like all itches, Adam’s itch begs to be scratched, and it feels so good for the moment, but later causes further inf...

In the eighth chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul is describing what living in the promised land looks like since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. He skillfully uses the story of Israel’s exodus and occupation in Canaan as a template for us. The Spirit leads us rather than an actual cloud and pillar of fire. We share the full inheritance, which is the life of Jesus rather than a small piec...

Acts 4:20 - The state of current American Christianity is generally rather shaky. For generations, we have spent the capital of moral strength we had stored up from generations that preached and practiced the gospel of transformation. We have tried to maintain a moral society without the infusion of passion that comes only from believing in the resurrected and ascended Lord. When we look at the mo...

Acts 2; Hebrews 1:1-2 - When I was a teenager, the big question at church youth camp was whether it was possible to know Jesus as Savior and not as Lord. Many of us wanted the assurance that we were “saved” from the penalty of our sins, but we weren’t sure we wanted Jesus to be the Lord (Boss) of our lives. Little did we know how dangerous it is to confess Jesus as Lord. There is good news: Jesus...

News today is suspect. We aren’t sure there is any source we can trust. What we hear is mostly bad news, and it comes with such a spin, we can barely get hold of it. We know that the American dollar bears the weight of such debt that it is threatened by currencies of other national economies along with multiplying crypto-currencies. The American dream has dimmed in the eyes of a young generation r...

We all like to be comfortable, but probably don't consider what is involved in such a state. We think of quiet, soothing, non-judgmental treatment. If we should think of a church service that is comforting, we might imagine an affirming message promoting how wonderful we are despite our missteps. That is a pretty popular approach of many trying to attract the contemporary consumer, but the wo...

Isaiah is one of the most important figures in the Bible. His writings are some of the very best, not only in the Bible but in history. His influence on the revelation of the gospel is unparalleled in the Old Testament. His story is fascinating. He was reared in an aristocratic environment. His family was well respected, and he was well trained as an elite in society. He was a faithful Hebrew havi...

Considering the apparent increasing darkness swirling across the land, many church people are talking about the need for another Great Reformation. This has been a good year to talk about the Reformation. It was 500 years ago this year that it began. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany noting the issues he had with the corrupt...

I was extremely blessed in my early years to know a businessman who loved to share Jesus with men who claimed not to be interested in salvation. He called it “winning souls.” He was very good at it as he would not try to convert someone who was not being convicted by the Spirit. One day he approached a man and offered to talk with him about his relationship with God. “I don’t want to talk about Go...

While surveying the current landscape of voices telling us what we can do to move God in our direction, I was confused and appalled. I wasn’t sure if I should send money to the speaker, fast more, pray harder (whatever that means), denounce my citizenship, lobby for Israel, or go to the mission field. One thing was evident: the subject of interest was about moving God to act on our behalf. Individ...

We haven’t lost the desire to know the times and seasons of God’s calendar. Books flood the marketplace, offering clues to the end of time and the meaning of certain political decisions and astronomical occurrences in the heavens. It has been true since the first couple ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We still clutch to the notion that if we knew everything God knows, we would be...

We continue to get confusing definitions of what a Christian is. It is not uncommon to hear some person make an off-the-wall statement and then back it up with, “because I am a Christian.” Dr. J. I. Packer has long been a trusted voice for evangelical Christianity. He says that a Christian is one who has God as Father. In his classic standard, Knowing God, he goes on to say that Father is the Chri...

2 Timothy 3:17 - All Christians are aware that we are called to be disciples of Jesus. Many of us don’t know what that means. We have gotten lost in trying to plant and grow local churches, seeking to influence our culture, and holding civil leaders accountable to their callings. We have tried to apply the industrial revolution’s assembly line approach to our own demise. We have often settled to h...

1 CORINTHIANS 10 - How does the story of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the promised land relate to us? In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 10, he uses their experiences in the wilderness as a warning for Christians to reject idolatry, moral impurity, and grumbling. But there is much more that we miss if we only value their journey as a lesson in morality. God isn’t just saying, “Th...

2 CORINTHIANS 6:14–18 - Cultures clash over the narrative that defines them. Every culture has its story, and those whose story coincides with reality as God defines it in the Scripture have the potential to flourish. Those who neglect or contradict God’s story are doomed to failure. We in western civilization are increasingly being influenced by secularism and its God-denying narrative. The domin...

TITUS 2:11–14 - One of the participants in an event at the ranch confessed, “I have read your books and listened to other teachers saying what you’ve said, and I know it is right. But I’m telling you, grace is hard.” I chuckled at the irony of that statement but had to agree. When we have been programmed to live with guilt and shame, grace is hard. It is both counter-intuitive and counter-cultural...

PSALM 2, HEBREWS 8:6-12 - We live in a day of a self-proclaimed identity crisis. It seems that the whole society is trying to figure out how we decide who we are. It is true that authenticity requires that we act out of who we are. No one can find their destiny trying to be another species. No matter how much a dog tries to improve in its meowing, it will never be a good cat. We have obsessed with...

Who among us values prayer so much that we make daily ethical decisions based on how it affects our prayers? This seems to be what the apostle Peter is suggesting—and even instructing us to do. In his discussion of the husband’s attitude toward his wife, he adds, “ . . . so that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). In writing about living a blessed life, Peter emphasizes the eyes and t...

Since the tragic fall in Eden, humans have been confused about identity. We weren’t made to live independently from God. Feeling alienated from God, our forebears began to incorrectly name things. In the divine design, Adam and Eve were given the ability to name the animals. This meant they had the capacity to see the essential difference in created things and thereby had the ability to manage the...

Revelation 18:4 -- In the final book of the Bible, the Revelation—amidst all the symbols and visions—there is a scene where the world system is described as Babylon. The word of God to his people in that situation is: “Come out of her, my people.” Could that apply to God’s people now?

More than ever in my lifetime, I am hearing people ask each other who they are voting for. I once asked my dad that question, and he reminded me there was a reason for that curtain around the voting booth. It seems people are less sure now about their voting, and some are wishing God would simply give them the right name. Well, he has already voted. This is not simply a cute way of trying to be re...

When God’s people live by trusting him, they experience joy in any circumstance that is attractive to those whose taste buds have dulled by all the substitutes for joy. All mankind is hungry and thirsty for the satisfaction found in trust. As the people around us watch us live in love with the unseen but very real Jesus, they too might be open to hear the message we carry. All the while we are wal...

There is plenty of angst in the country. The Democrats tried to focus on the positives at their convention, but I don’t think most people are doing that. There seems to be a sense of hopelessness hanging like a heavy cloud over much of the land. Christians are crying out for revival, but not many are defining what that means beyond wanting policies and platforms to align with their own personal ag...

Christians often speak of living the “blessed life” in an effort to demonstrate the benefits of following Christ. Books are written; sermons are preached; spiritual guides are offered, all in an effort to help us leverage the benefits of living right. There is some confusion, however, regarding how obedient one must be in order to get the benefits. For instance, does partial obedience gain partial...