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There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3) I built my first commercial vacuum sweeper in 1990. I was working for my friend Tom’s company at the time and he was launching a new business in the asbestos industry, manufacturing and selling “high efficiency” vacuums for

Roger in His Earthly Garden in 1975 A Reflection on Ephesians 5:15-17 My dad (as his dad before him) loved gardening. This picture from around 1975 shows him in his element in a massive flower garden he toiled to create in our backyard. Notice I said, “toiled.” I used that word intentionally because though it was a labor of love it was still labor. He is now in the Heavenly Garden so I can’t ask him, but I know the cultivation and maintenance of that backyard garden took year

The Self-Existence of God God has life in Himself, "He is a sun, a source, an ocean of good... He is the all-sufficient one, who needs nothing, but gives to all life and breath and everything." (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2, Part 1, ch. 3, p. 151). What makes God, God? From a popular perspective, most people who might even try to answer that would likely say it was because God is “so big.” I’m reminded of the song we taught our kids: “Our God is so BIG, so stron

A Careful Exploration of Divine Sovereignty and Human Will in Prayer Over the past years I’ve come to view the intercessory prayers of others as my secret weapon in some new crisis or trial. I have a few people who have proven they will pray for me when I ask–not just a platitude but actually stop and pray for my specific request. I can’t put into words what a source of strength for my own faith this is. I think my appreciation of the power of intercessory prayer had to go t

Scene of Lucifer's Fall in John Milton's Paradise Lost “If you truly, fundamentally believed that God told you this thing was demonic, wouldn’t you be afraid? Wouldn't you try to protect people from it?” (Louis Elizondo) If you have followed any of the disclosures about aliens and classified government programs related to UFOs over the past few months you have no doubt heard the name Louis Elizondo. It’s hard to doubt his credibility when he speaks. He was the former head of

An Ode to Scottish Common Sense Realism Three Scottish Common Sense Realists: Marian (Aunt Muggy), Ray and Herb My father-in-law, Herb McCormack (1912-2011) was a good man. I’d say he was a man who in a multitude of ways reflected what made America a great country: fear of God, love of family, hard work. He long ago passed to his heavenly reward . But his legacy–what I’m calling, “The World According to Herb McCormack” still lives in our family, particularly in his daughter,

A Biblical Reflection on the Creation Order I think I was 12 when I saw my first “jackalope”--a weird hybrid creature part rabbit and part antelope. My grandma took me and a couple others on a road trip to California and we stopped at a truck stop somewhere in Nevada. When we went into the restrooms, there it was, right at the front door, standing and staring at me in all its frozen weirdness. I won’t say I was frightened but that’s because it was obviously not going to eat

What does it mean to stand firm in the faith when your knees are knocking? A Reflection on Ephesians 6:13 My dad was a faithful man of God, serving as a pastor for nearly 60 years. The last few years of his life were tolerable, as far as health challenges (though he died from a stroke at the end). Though I suspect the hardest challenge for him at the end was not his body but his soul. As is the case for so many men, performance is the measure of their usefulness and usefulnes

Where do I begin…? Definitely not a summary of the topic–not if I intend this to be just a “quick peak.” I will say I’ve been studying the biblical and extra-biblical “scholarship” ( hope that’s what it is) for years now. Like many, I cut my teeth on the Unseen Realm by Heiser. And from there, over the last few years, I kept expanding the research. What started for me mainly as biblical exegesis, with important biblical theology implications, has now become more cultural and

Romans 6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4) I first memorized Romans

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) Poor old Thomas. Next to Peter, which disciples has gotten thrown under the bus in sermons more? The self-righteous snobbery of those who do this to those guys has gotten really annoying to me. We love to dump on Peter because of his denials and his impulsiveness. We do that to Thomas and even label him as “Doubting Thomas” as if his word

For though we live in the flesh (natural world), we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) In my younger years when the temptations of my mind leaned toward impure thoughts, I

I learned something unexpected recently about pigs. They are one of the few species whose “domesticity” can be lost within months. Cows and horses and dogs of course start off as wild and can become domesticated pets. But even if they escape back into the wild for some reason they remain genetically different from their wild cousins. I read about the genetic mechanisms but I won’t bother explaining all that here because my main concern is not to discuss pigs but natures. And

Within the “covenant epistemology” framework of Esther Meek (with thanks to Michael Polany), I am convinced that the most neglected and perhaps crucial step in our knowing is not the “explicit” (call it the domain of the Head Brain) but the “implicit”--what Meek calls tacit knowledge. I believe this is what the Bible would call the Heart. Though much of our energy is devoted to addressing and challenging the explicit knowledge in our heads, I fear not enough attention is give

I recently received a phone call from a contractor who did $30,000.00 worth of work in my home asking why I had not paid the outstanding balance of $700. I’ll spare the boring details other than to tell you I had never gotten a receipt from my earlier payments and, not hearing anything for twelve months, had no reason to even think I owed him money. (For the record, he was correct about it and I have paid him in full!). This got me thinking about the importance of business/l

J.E. Rose But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 167) What can we know about God? What can we say about Him? Well, obviously there are many things, but maybe the better question is, what can we know and say for sure? I want to focus on one particular matter of theological kno

The Personal Name of God by J.E. Rose Most of us who grew up in church heard the story of Moses in the wilderness and his experience with the burning bush: Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ God said mor

Hunger is one of the most basic experiences of our lives. Ironically, when we were in our mother’s wombs we never felt hungry. The cord that connected us to her meant a continuous supply of food. Of course, after we were born and the umbilical cord was cut, that meant we began feeling it and would for most of our lives. This simple picture of a child leaving the womb for the outside world illustrates beautifully the story of humanity. In the original creation, Adam and Eve w