Is discernment a spiritual gift that some believers have and other believers do not? Why is it easier for some people to discern when something is spiritually amiss, and others fail to notice? I have noticed that spiritual discernment is a lot less common than it used to be. Spiritual discernment sounds an alarm that something is wrong with an event, location, or words spoken. It seems like it used to be common for people to notice. It is like someone who has been driving for many years and can just “feel it” when another driver is about to cut them off or do something careless while driving. Inexperienced drivers have less built-in radar for all the possible risks around them. It is an acquired wisdom that comes with age and ...

Jesus described it as two gates and two paths. He said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14). The reality is that the vast majority of people in the world has stepped through the wide gate onto the broad path and is heading the wrong way! That majority includes many in our lives too! They don’t realize it but this path won’t lead them to heaven but to destruction in hell. How did they get on this broad path? Perhaps they have listened to the voice of the unsaved culture and followed its dictates. Perhaps they ...

You probably already know the answer to that question but let me elaborate on it and what the Bible says about Halloween. Let’s do a short walk through the history of the celebration. Here’s what the History website says concerning the origins of Halloween.

By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church (i.e. Roman Catholic Church, my edit) made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, church-sanctioned holiday.

All Souls’ Day was celebrated.........

With apologies to C. S. Lewis who wrote the quintessential text on The Problem of Pain, here is my brief discussion of the issue of pain. Most of us are “pain avoidant.” We don’t want pain whether it’s physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, financial pain, or parental pain. I think it’s fair to say that we hate pain! Why? Pain gives us discomfort and we want the most comfortable life possible. Yet, is pain all bad? Why did God design us so that we feel pain? Can pain serve a good purpose in our lives? Here are my thoughts.

1. Pain warns us something is wrong.

Pain can be a blessing. When we feel any type of pain it’s telling us something is wrong; something is not working that should be. Like the ...