Life's Inanities and Ironies

The house was small, the village smaller, and the night had been long—four centuries long. Then came a cry. Not the cry of the Messiah (not yet), but the cry of a baby born to a barren woman and a doubting priest. And with that cry, the silence of God shattered like dawn over the Judean hills . Elizabeth ’s neighbors expected the child to be named Zechariah Junior. Tradition demanded it. But when the Holy Ghost begins a new thing, He does not ask permission from family custom. “His name is John ,” the mother declared. The mute father wrote the same on a tablet, and instantly his tongue sprang free after nine months of divine discipline. The first words out of Zechariah’s mouth were not apology but prophecy: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel , for He hath visited and redeemed His people!” Church, when God names something, the debate is over. He named that child “John”—the LORD is gracious—before he ever drew breath. And He has named every blood-washed believer “redeemed,” “forgiven,...

 “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour…” (Luke 1:46-47 KJV) When the angel Gabriel left, Mary didn’t post a pregnancy announcement on social media. She didn’t call a crisis hotline. She didn’t even wait until the danger of Herod, the Great was past. The moment the Holy Ghost made the promise real in her heart, she burst into one of the most explosive celebrations of God in all of Scripture—the Magnificat . If a teenage Jewish girl facing scandal, shame, and possible death could magnify the Lord like that, how much more ought blood-bought, born-again, Bible-believing Christians celebrate Him today? 1. Celebrate Him for Who He Is— Holy, Holy, Holy    Mary didn’t start with her feelings; she started with His character: “Holy is His name.” The same refrain thunders around the throne right now ( Rev. 4:8 ). God has not changed. Culture has. Politics have. Your circumstances have. But “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, an...

There’s just something about that name. In a little nowhere town called Nazareth , an angel walked into the life of a teenage girl and forever changed history with eight words:   “Thou shalt call his name JESUS .” That name was no afterthought. It was no suggestion. It was the eternal decree of God. Seven centuries earlier, Isaiah had already seen it coming: “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace ” ( Isaiah 9:6 ). The angel simply delivered the invoice Heaven had signed before the foundation of the world. Jesus. Yeshua . Jehovah saves .   The only name under heaven whereby we must be saved ( Acts 4:12 ). The world this Christmas will shout a thousand other names: Santa , Rudolph , Amazon , Eggnog . But Bible believers know there is only one name that makes hell shudder, demons flee, and guilty sinners sing.   That name was promised in the prophets.   That name was pronounced b...

 Imagine the serene tropical dawn breaking over the azure waters of Pearl Harbor , Hawaii, on a quiet Sunday morning in 1941 . Palm trees sway gently in the breeze, sailors stir from their bunks aboard mighty battleships, and the scent of salt air mingles with the hum of routine naval life. Then, without warning, the sky darkens with the thunderous roar of 353 enemy aircraft—waves of Japanese Zeros and bombers unleashing hellfire. Explosions rip through the air like apocalyptic thunderclaps, black smoke billows like demonic clouds, and the once-proud USS Arizona erupts in a cataclysmic fireball, her hull groaning as she sinks into the oily depths. In mere moments, paradise turns to pandemonium: 2,403 American heroes perish in the flames and wreckage, over 1,000 more wounded, their cries echoing across the harbor. This wasn't just an attack; it was a seismic jolt that hurled the United States into the fiery crucible of World War II—a "date which will live in infamy," as ...

For decades Zacharias and Elisabeth prayed the same prayer: “Lord, give us a child.”   Year after year the altar of incense rose with their cry, yet the womb stayed shut. They watched younger couples dedicate babies in the temple while their own arms remained empty. They were righteous. They were blameless. They walked in all the commandments of the Lord. Yet heaven was silent. If you have ever prayed for revival and seen only apostasy,   if you have begged God to save your children and watched them walk away,   if you have pleaded for healing, for deliverance, for a move of God while the church grows colder,   then you know the ache of Zacharias and Elisabeth. We call it “the problem of unanswered prayer,” but the Bible never does. Scripture treats long silence not as a problem to explain away, but as a womb in which God is doing His deepest work. Look at Luke 1 again. 1. God’s delays are not denials      The angel said, “Fe...

 We remember Pearl Harbor . We remember 9/11 .   But there is one night in human history that deserves to be remembered with far greater sorrow and awe: the night Judas kissed the door of heaven shut, and armed men dragged the sinless Son of God into the darkness. This was not just an ordinary arrest.   This was the creature assaulting the Creator.   This was the blackest, most infamous act the world has ever seen. Four portraits of infamy stand out in Mark’s account : 1. The Kiss of the Ultimate Insider      Judas—one of the Twelve—leads the lynch mob. He had seen the dead raised, eaten the multiplied loaves, and called Jesus “Lord” to His face. Yet for thirty pieces of silver (the price of a crippled slave), he sells the Savior.      Church membership, baptism, preaching, miracles—none of it saves without a new heart. Religious privilege without regeneration = treachery. 2. The Violence of Religious Hypocri...

“And they all said the same.”   That’s the line in Mark 14:31 that always chills me. Not just Peter , but every last disciple stood there on the way to Gethsemane and declared, “Even if I must die with You, I will never deny You.” Hours later they were all gone, scattered like smoke. Peter, the boldest of the bold, was swearing he never knew the man. We love to shake our heads at Peter. “How could he?” we say. But if we’re honest, we’ve stood in the same place. Maybe not in a courtyard warming our hands by a fire, but in our hearts we’ve said: - “I would never compromise on doctrine .”   - “I would never look at pornography again.”   - “I would never let bitterness take root.”   - “I would never walk away from the faith.” Never say never. Pride is the original sin, and its favorite lie is “I’m the exception.”   Samson thought Delilah could shear-proof.   David thought one look wouldn’t cost him.   Solomon though...

In these tumultuous times, where the world spirals into moral decay and the church faces relentless assault, it's crucial we return to the unyielding truths of Scripture. Today, I share a homily delivered to a gathering of fundamentalist Christians—a message that ignites the soul and reminds us of God's sovereign justice. Drawing from Ezekiel 25:17, this exhortation calls us to awaken, repent, and proclaim the Gospel with unquenchable fire. Awake, O Saints! The Thunder of Divine Vengeance Awake, O saints! Rise up, you warriors of the faith! Hear the thunderous roar of the Lord from the pages of His eternal Word! Ezekiel 25:17 explodes with divine fury: "And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them!" This is no whisper, brethren—this is the battle cry of Jehovah God Himself, the King of Kings, who will not tolerate the mockery of His holy name! As fundamentalists cling...

 Most Christians want to be a blessing, but too many of us end up being a burr under everybody’s saddle. We rub people the wrong way with criticism, gossip, stinginess, and pride. The early church had the opposite problem: they had a man who rubbed everyone the right way, and his nickname literally meant “Son of Encouragement.” His real name was Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus. The apostles called him Barnabas, and in Acts 4:36–37 we’re told why he earned that nickname: “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.” That’s it. No fanfare. No GoFundMe campaign. No dedication ceremony. He simply saw a need, sold property, and quietly laid every dollar at the feet of the leadership so the gospel could stay free and the saints could be fed. Here are four timeless ways Barnabas still teaches us to rub people the right way in 2025: 1. Speak encouragement, no...

  I was raised in a little country church where the only trumpet we 99% of us ever heard was the pastor's kid on his slightly-off-key cornet every Easter. Rams’ horns? Those were Old Testament curiosities, something for Messianic congregations or the occasional prophecy conference. Then I actually started tracing the shofar through Scripture. What I found shook me so hard I went out and bought a 36-inch Yemenite kudu horn the next week. My wife thought I’d lost my mind. My neighbors definitely did when I started practicing at 5 a.m. But once you see what the Bible actually says about this blood-stained, battle-scarred trumpet, you can’t unsee it. Here is the scarlet thread of the shofar from Genesis to Revelation — told the way I now preach it to my own fundamentalist, dispensational, KJV-carrying, pre-trib, blood-bought congregation. 1. The First Shofar: A Ram Caught in the Thicket (Genesis 22) The knife glints above Isaac. Abraham’s hand does not waver — until the Angel stops him...

Every year during Holy Week , we walk slowly through the Passion narrative, and every year Luke 22 hits like a freight train. In just twenty-five verses we watch Satan enter one of the Twelve , we watch Jesus institute the Lord’s Supper , and we watch the disciples argue about who is the greatest—all at the same table, on the same night, just hours before the cross. That collision of darkness and light, of betrayal and redemption, of pride and servanthood is not just ancient history. It is a mirror held up to every Bible-believing church in 2025.  1. Satan Never Stopped Wearing a Church Name Tag    “Then Satan entered Judas , surnamed Iscariot , who was numbered among the twelve” (v. 3).   Judas had been baptized, chosen, sent out to preach and heal, and entrusted with the money bag. Yet the devil found a landing strip in his heart because he loved money more than the Master. Brethren, false professors have not gone extinct. They still carry Bibles, sing th...

 I’ve about reached the end of my rope. I could handle getting old, and I could handle being sick, but both at once is more than this old frame can bear. We got slammed with snow here in Indiana the last few days. My job at the fairgrounds still includes keeping the lots and sidewalks clear, so yesterday I was out there most of the day battling it, just trying to keep things open for an event. I can’t remember ever being so glad to hear the words “We’re shutting it down.” They canceled the rest of yesterday and today too. Indiana doesn’t throw many tantrums anymore, but when winter decides to roar, it roars loud. This morning the wind finally laid down and the snow quit falling, so I went back out. You couldn’t tell I’d done a lick of work except my snow piles kept getting taller. I thought I’d just fire up the snow blower and finish the sidewalks. Guess what’s still sitting at the repair shop  where its been since August ? Exactly. So I grabbed a shovel. Ten minutes later...

 “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”   — 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ( NKJV ) We live in a complaining culture. Social media feeds are filled with grievances, news cycles thrive on outrage, and even many Christians find it easier to grumble than to give thanks when life gets hard. Yet the Holy Spirit , through the Apostle Paul , issues a crystal-clear, non-negotiable command: in everything give thanks. Notice the little word “in.” Not “for” everything (though sometimes we can get there by grace), but **in** everything. In the diagnosis and in the healing. In the layoff and in the provision. In the prodigal’s rebellion and in the homecoming. In the coffin and in the empty tomb. This is not positive thinking . This is not “fake it till you make it.” This is the revealed will of God for every born-again believer. If you have ever wondered, “Lord, what is Your will for my life?”—here is one thing you never have to pray about again. God...

 “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” — Matthew 13:31–32 (ESV) We live in an age obsessed with size, metrics, and visibility. Mega-churches boast attendance numbers in the tens of thousands. Influencers measure success by followers, likes, and viral clips. Meanwhile, the little country church with cracked pews and thirty faithful souls on a Sunday morning is dismissed as irrelevant, dying, or “not doing enough for the kingdom.” Jesus begs to differ . Three times — in Matthew, Mark, and Luke — the Lord tells the same parable. The Holy Spirit thought it important enough to record it thrice. This is not a cute illustration about “having big faith.” This is a divine prophecy about how God’s kingdom actually advances: through what the world counts ...

 Brethren, the more we gaze upon these Separatist saints, the more we see the Word of God leaping off the page into real history. Their story is not merely “inspiring”—it is a divine typology. God wrote their voyage into the margins of our Bibles as a fresh exhibition of ancient truths. Here are more unbreakable parallels that ought to make every Bible-believing Christian fall on his face in wonder. 6. They were Abrahams, obeying the call to leave kin and country for a land they had never seen.    “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Heb. 11:8).      These Pilgrims forsook houses, lands, fathers, mothers, and the graves of their ancestors because Christ was more precious to them than England itself. They did not wait for a comfortable retirement package. They stepped onto the Mayflower with nothing but the promises of God in ...