Lutheran Spokesman

GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT Anyone familiar with the DIY Network has heard of Chip and Joanna Gaines. They are the married couple from Waco, Texas who find and “fix up” older houses for clients. The process includes demolition, “demo day”—loved by Chip—followed by renovation and refurnishing. A common response by many of the Read More

GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

“Going all in” is a phrase commonly used by poker players. With a short stack of chips, the player bets them all in a somewhat desperate attempt to win the pot. In other words, he commits everything to stay in the game. The Old Testament Hebrews lived in a time and culture when Read More

GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

King Saul, along with three thousand men, was again on the hunt. Out of jealousy, the king was pursuing a most elusive prey: David, the king-elect. Time and time again the outlaw king had eluded Saul with superior tactics and speed. But now David and his men were cornered in a cave near the Read More

GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

There was an old Lay’s commercial that challenged, “Bet you can’t eat just one.” The implied message was that their potato chips were so good that eating just one was impossible. You had to have more. Apart from potato chips, David understood the wisdom that one is not enough. We Read More

Forged In Fire is the name of a current TV show. Several bladesmiths are given various hunks of steel, and each one is asked to forge and create a knife of his own design. Their blades are then tested for sharpness, strength, and durability, by which tests the field is narrowed to two finalists, who then are challenged Read More

GEMS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

Any Sunday School student worth his salt knows of the three men in the fiery furnace. They might even remember their names — Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego—and that these three men had refused to worship a huge golden image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Daniel 3). Read More

With Christmas just past, we are reminded that the event of the birth of God’s Son was surrounded by prayers and songs—especially songs of praise. The choir of holy angels over a Bethlehem field was preceded by Mary’s Magnificat and Zacharias’s Benedictus, and followed by Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis. All thanked and Read More

“Politics is the art of compromise.” Thus politicians and pundits advise that the way things get done is through compromise. No one gets everything they want, but both sides get something. Compromise is necessary and good for the country, it is said. Perhaps, but not always. The founding fathers compromised on the issue of slavery so that Read More

Many people follow the Academy Awards show to see which nominees did the best at playing their respective roles. The winners are much applauded for their craft and professionalism. But at the end of the evening, what they gave us was just a movie, a work of fiction. There once lived in Israel a wise woman who also turned out to be an amazing Read More

Students of the Bible, and even many who are not, have heard of Judas Iscariot. What they may not understand is that his greatest sin was not his thievery or betrayal, but his rejection of his Savior’s mercy and forgiveness. In his despair, Judas committed suicide by hanging. Neither do most people know that tragic Judas had a brother—not a Read More