Hard Conversations

On the one hand, the whole world hears about it whenever well-known Christian leaders fall; before long, they become the butt of late-night comics. Sadly, we have witnessed too many spiritual leaders falling from grace lately. But, on the other hand, it seems hardly anyone notice, even in the church, those among us whose faith journey reflects what the apostle Paul confessed shortly before his mar...

No, this isn't a political analysis of the disturbing development taking place in Afghanistan right now. Rather, it is my attempt to understand the decision made by President Biden from the standpoint of parents whose children are serving in wars, and how one of them, who just returned from her stint in Afghanistan, is feeling upon seeing her Afghan friends and colleagues scrambling for life. Ulti...

This presentation is the third and last installment of the series, “End-Times Prophecy: Are We Living in the Last Days?” In this message—“Are We Preparing Ourselves in Anticipation of the Next Eschatological Event?”—I examine possible signposts that may point to the emergence of the next eschatological occurrences prophesized in Scripture. For those who adhere to partial Preterism, that event is t...

Multiple resurrections, judgments, deaths, and comings of Christ . . . Sounds like a heresy, right? (I say that in tongue in cheek.) Well, it is called the premillennial pre-tribulation view, and it's a popular eschatology held passionately by those who advocate it. Even if you don't agree with this view, you should get to know it since many in popular culture assume that that's the default eschat...

Are we living in the last days? What do you think? In the first installment of this series, I will first address the theology of eschatology (i.e., the study of end things or days) that focuses on the key difference between the two major schools of eschatology: preterists and futurists. The crux of their difference really comes down whether the Church and Israel are two separate entities or one an...

The Miami condo collapse is eerily similar to the infamous collapse of Sampoon Department Store in 1995 that took the life of 502 people, as well as the collapse of a tower in Siloam in Israel 2,000 years ago that killed 18 people. In this brief presentation, we are looking at what Jesus said about the latter event and then weight its relevance in light of the recent tragedy that probably took lif...

Critical Race Theory is in the news almost everyday. While some people are passionately for it, wanting to see CRT taught in public schools, others are dead set against it. In many ways, this theory is tantamount to the 'One-Size-Fits-All' approach that makes sense only if significant historical developments, beginning with the genesis of slavery, are completely ignored. CRT can do some good to ma...

In this brief presentation I deal with three questions all at once: first, why are some Christians so passionate about backing Israel (mostly Dispensationists); second, why are some Christians so-so about her (mostly the Reformed); third, why are many in the Middle-East (Arabs and Iranians) so passionately against Israel? These questions are addressed through the theological lens of ecclesiology,...

We are all witnessing how the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict is driving a wedge between the old-guard liberals and the Left (who have been remarkably symmetric up to this point on many social issues). While that’s interesting, what's alarming is the framing of this age-old conflict in terms of Critical Race Theory. We are quickly going there as several on the Left (including congresswoman...

What's the first thing that comes to your mind upon hearing the word "culture" as opposed to "pop culture"? The latter is about theaters, music, and arts; the former is about the way people in different environmental settings attempt to meet their basic needs (physical, psychological, social and spiritual). Do these ways look all the same? Of course not. "Connecting the Dots of Postmodernism" is a...

Is Robert Long, the Atlanta killer, a believer? No doubt, that is not the most important question right now since the families of the victims are still grieving. But the killer being so closely tied to a Bible believing church and in light of his recent baptism, it does raise a lot of questions about salvation. How can we tell whether we are saved? Can someone commit a heinous crime like Long and...

In a span of a week, we have had two massacres, one in Atlanta and the other in Boulder, Colorado. Even as we express our condolences as well as outrage, it behooves us to note who or what is determining the dominant narratives for the rest of the society to follow. While we, as believers, need to be receptive to anything that has biblical merits, however tangential, we must reject those beliefs a...

The recent massacres are stark in contrast: all-nonwhite victims (except for one), on the one hand, and all-white victims, on the other. Does that figure into whether we lament and grieve? This raises the issue of what makes an action so wrong that you would lament and grieve over it even though you are not directly involved: when it is done to certain people (i.e., those in my tribe) or because t...

In this message, entitled “Justice of God is more than social justice,” I delve into whether the justice of God and social justice are one and the same? If they are not the same, what could result if we treat social justice as if it is the same as the justice of God?

This short message treats abortion as a justice issue from the standpoint of the aborted babies. Of course, there are other ways to examine this troublesome matter, including the effect abortion has on those women who had abortions. I cannot speak for everyone who had abortions, but I have met women who had abortions who never quite stopped grieving. While that is sad and, therefore, we ought to s...

In this message, I encourage our social justice advocates to get to work. Walk the talk, starting from right where you live. To do that, I am going to share two personal stories that taught me the importance of not just talk a good game but actually play one. Or, as the apostle John puts in 1 Jn. 3:18, “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

“Hooray to Social Justice, but Whose Justice?” What does that mean? Well, you can tune in to the first message and find out. After that, in the second message, we will deal with what God’s word says about working hard and whether it is part of racist ideology in America. In the third message, I am going address abortion as a matter of justice for the people involved in that act of finality. Did th...

There is more than one kind of justice and not all social justices are alike! There is God’s social justice and then there are other kinds. Certainly, a passion for social justice is good, but if it has no answer to the question, “Whose social justice?” it can be great force for error with serious repercussions that adversely affect lives. I seek to show what that means and what that looks like in...

“Is the Expression, ‘If You Work Hard, It Will Pay Off,’ part of the Racist Ideology in America?” If that is true, then, telling that to racial and ethnic minorities would be unjust! So then, how does the concept of hard work square with Scripture, God’s word? This message begins with a reminder of what I plan to do in my talk in light of two important questions with respect to the most simplest d...

476? AD 476 to be exact! Okay, why is that date so important? Whatever happened that year to the once mighty Western Roman Empire WILL happen to the American Empire. It's not a matter of if but when. And I am making the case that this may happen to America a lot sooner than later. I believe that Saint Augustine would agree with me on this one.