Much has changed regarding the coronavirus since both my column March 7 and my colleague Rev. Will Wilson’s column March 14. Cases and deaths have increased. Markets have gone even lower. Food and other supplies are scarcer. Restrictions are tighter. More churches have completely shut-down or gone completely online.

Its 2020, and we all want clear vision. I’ve noticed a plethora of signs and advertisements from businesses, non-profits, and even churches who are seeking a “2020 vision” for the future.

Each day seems to bring increased fear and panic over the coronavirus (COVID-19). There is contagion confusion and market mayhem. There are devastating disruptions and panicked prices. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the State is responding to the cases here, no doubt with the best-available human wisdom.

A poll out this week suggests that less than 80 percent of U.S. Roman Catholics believe in the devil and that, of those, less than 80 percent (about 62 percent of the whole) believe the devil is not merely a personification or a symbol of evil but actually a fallen angel. Yet even those numbers are better than the quarter of American Christians surveyed more than a decade ago who said that they totally accepted the Bible’s teaching about the devil.

Its 2020, and we all want clear vision. I’ve noticed a plethora of signs and advertisements from businesses, non-profits, and even churches who are seeking a “2020 vision” for the future.

Yesterday being Valentine’s Day had something to do with it, but other reasons why I was thinking about love this past week included Pilgrim’s Board of Elders’ being set to study God’s Commandment against adultery and our reconstituted ladies group’s at its first meeting studying John 3:16.

Its 2020, and we all want clear vision. I’ve noticed a plethora of signs and advertisements from businesses, non-profits, and even churches who are seeking a “2020 vision” for the future.

The sudden death of retired NBA player Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash last Sunday again raised, by way of others’ public comments, a question about redemption, like that question raised in connection with Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 U.S. Supreme Court confirmation.

Colossians 1:19 and 20 read like this: “For in him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Paul, here, speaks of Christ’s incarnation (vs. 19) and Christ’s crucifixion (vs. 20) as the means through which God effects reconciliation. That is to say, reconciliation not just for us but for the whole of creation.

This Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, is the 47th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which gave women a constitutional right to abort the lives of children conceived in their wombs. That right may or may not withstand future Supreme Court scrutiny, such as that in a case related to a controversial Louisiana law, which will be heard in March of this year, by what is thought to be a more-conservative Supreme Court than that which heard its last case.

I recently listened to a convocation address given by the president of my undergraduate alma mater. One line of his speech jolted me: “The Bible is actually very clear that we come to know the will of God through our minds and not our emotions.” In other words, in all things spiritual the head has supplanted the heart. I believe that our culture, in many respects, feels the same in the privileging of the cognitive over the emotive in all aspects of life. Being “emotional” is considered a mark of immaturity while those who are more intellectually inclined are seen as more sophisticated and urbane.

Some time ago, people popularly wore and asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” Regarding the clothing, some said, “Jesus wouldn’t wear that!”, but a good answer to the question perhaps is more thoughtful.

Some time ago, people popularly wore and asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” Regarding the clothing, some said, “Jesus wouldn’t wear that!”, but a good answer to the question perhaps is more thoughtful.

Some time ago, people popularly wore and asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” Regarding the clothing, some said, “Jesus wouldn’t wear that!”, but a good answer to the question perhaps is more thoughtful.

Some time ago, people popularly wore and asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” Regarding the clothing, some said, “Jesus wouldn’t wear that!”, but a good answer to the question perhaps is more thoughtful.

Churches throughout Kilgore and East Texas have jumped feet-first into Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week, and hundreds of boxes are making their way to Forest Home Baptist Church.

As I wrap up my sermon series at the church on the Ten Commandments, I ask which one is the hardest for me to keep? By the way, none of us obey any commandment perfectly. We all break them, all of them, in one way or another.

Some time ago, people popularly wore and asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” Regarding the clothing, some said, “Jesus wouldn’t wear that!”, but a good answer to the question perhaps is more thoughtful.

“I cannot be an optimist, but I am a prisoner of hope.” These words spoken by Dr. Cornel West of Harvard Divinity School obviously assume a conceptual difference between optimism and hope. What is the difference? Are Christians called to be optimists or people of hope? Can we be both, or should we choose one over the other?

A religious symposium held Sunday on the Kilgore College campus dealt with a contentious issue in the modern church, at times sparking animated discussions.

People are anxious and tired. They want and need peace and rest. God the Father freely offers both through faith in His Son Jesus Christ by the power of His Holy Spirit.

All of us who claim a faith are theologians. Yes, you, even you, are a theologian! Before I define the word theologian, we must understand the word theology.

In connection with a televised town-hall on LGBTQ+ issues earlier this month, Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke said that he was in favor of revoking the tax-exempt status of churches that oppose same-sex “marriage”. Aside from the arguments for and against churches’ in general having such tax-exempt status, the federal government’s denying particular churches’ tax-exempt status because of what they teach or do certainly seems to be contrary to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution’s prohibition of “establishing” one religion or permitting another’s free exercise.

I’ve been preaching my way through the Ten Commandments. The first two speak to issues of idolatry; the first commandment prohibits worshiping false gods, while the second prohibits representing the true God in a false way. Allow me to say more about the second commandment.

Recently, two of my Canadian friends attended a Memorial Service for a member of their small community at a United Church (a merger of the Methodist, some Congregationalist, and some Presbyterian churches in Canada). My friends said that the service’s “sermon” shockingly did not even mention Jesus.

We all want success. We all want to be successful students, employees, parents, grandparents, and the list goes on. Those of you who own your small business, you want it to flourish and thrive. In our world, success is usually indicated by measurable outcomes such as good grades, job promotions and raises, and children who go to college to make a nice family. We preacher types are not immune to this world’s way of quantifying success.

Rev. Earl W. “Buddy” Duggins has seen many changes at Forest Home Baptist Church over the years. The pastor is marking his thirtieth year at FHBC and took time to reflect on the occasion Friday.

God made clear, already in the Old Testament, that the life of flesh was in the blood and that He gave it on the altar in order to make atonement for souls (Leviticus 17:11). So, there should be little surprise that, in the New Testament, Jesus’s blood sacrificed on the cross is said to reconcile us to God (Colossians 1:20). The many bloody sacrifices under the old covenant pointed forward to the single bloody sacrifice under the new covenant in Jesus’s blood (Hebrews 9:12-414; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

60 years of food, fun and fellowship.

God’s written word never ceases to be relevant. I encountered this truth first-hand while preparing my sermon on Matthew 25:31-46. This passage depicts Christ as both judge and king who separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep are placed on the right, signifying their righteousness. The goats are moved to the left, signaling their condemnation.

Although Genesis 6:5 can rightly suggest that in some sense things could not get any worse, our society seems to be sliding more towards lawlessness. Consider first the standoff last month in Philadelphia where six officers were shot by a gunman while crowds of onlookers taunted, shoved, and threw things at the police. Consider second a school curriculum with anti-police rhetoric proposed last month by the California Department of Education (but eventually withdrawn). And, other examples abound.

Aside from whatever other heart trouble any one individual might have, the real heart problem from which we all suffer is a moral evil so great that we ourselves cannot understand but which ultimately only the Lord can diagnose, as expressed in His Word (Jeremiah 17:9-10; confer Luke 16:15; Romans 8:27; Revelation 2:23).

God’s written word never ceases to be relevant. I encountered this truth first-hand while preparing my sermon on Matthew 25:31-46. This passage depicts Christ as both judge and king who separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep are placed on the right, signifying their righteousness. The goats are moved to the left, signaling their condemnation.

A year ago, Jessica Dunnavant struggled to envision today, but she’s seen things happen the past year she’s never thought possible. It’s no leap forward, though: there were many, many steps in-between, guided by Son Shine Lighthouse Ministry. Now, there are many more steps ahead, sure ones: “It’s given me a new outlook on life.”

At the risk of this column’s being mistaken for one by my syndicated Kilgore News Herald colleague Dr. Roach, I encourage everyone to take care for themselves, their families, and their pets in our August East Texas heat! Especially those who work outside should drink extra water and, when they can, take breaks inside air-conditioned spaces. And, after several fatalities nationwide, apparently not to leave either family members or pets in turned-off cars does not go without saying.

As we discussed in a recent Midweek Bible Study, the passage almost sounds like it is meant to be funny. After Jesus heard Martha and Mary’s sending to Him that his friend Lazarus was ill, St. John’s Gospel account essentially tells us that, “since” Jesus loved them, He stayed two days longer where He was before going to Lazarus. We might ask, “Who does that?” In this case, apparently Jesus did!

I am nearing the end of a sermon series on the parables of Jesus. After spending ten weeks preaching them, my favorite has to be the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).  This story does not let any of us off the hook, and most importantly, it is one of the best illustrations of our heavenly father’s unconditional love.

The Gospel Reading for many this past Sunday was the historical illustration of a Samaritan who loved as himself a man whom robbers left half-dead on the road in front of him (Luke 10:25-37; confer Leviticus 19:18). Jesus used the illustration to try to get an expert in the law to realize th…

I recently heard my seminary president, Craig Barnes, preach a sermon on the phrase “if only.” Dr. Barnes said that when “if only” surfaces in a conversation it usually focuses either on the past or the future. “If only I had saved better for retirement.” “If only I had taken that other job …

There was a crowd of superheroes dancing to the beat of their own drum in First Christian Church’s gym this week. They came to join the ‘Jesus League,’ to become super-followers of Jesus in the sixth annual Special Needs Vacation Bible School hosted by the Main Street congregation, and they found many sidekicks waiting to celebrate alongside them

A decades-old tradition in Kilgore continued Thursday as the Danville Cemetery Association held their annual picnic.

“How much poison does it take to kill you?” That was what the title of my presentation at a national youth conference this past week asked attendees. Of course, I was not trying to encourage them to take their own or anyone else’s physical life but to get them to think about how much false teaching it might take to end their spiritual life.

Self-help books flood the consumer market. Researchers claim that by the year 2022, the self-improvement industry will have a total market value of 13.2 billion dollars. The titles of these books speak for themselves.